"Since I was a kid, I've been able to sleep through anything - storms, sirens, you name it. Last night, I didn't sleep. I guess I get a little goofy when I'm nervous. You see, today isn't just any other day. It's my first day. And four years of pre-med, four years of med school, and tons of unpaid loans have made me realize one thing: I don't know jack." - Zach Braff as John "J.D." Dorian
Scrubs: The Complete First Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Most people go out of their way to avoid hospitals. The funny smells. The scary medical procedures. The food that will definitely make you ill even if you weren't before. There is one exception, though. From General Hospital to E.R., we love TV shows set in hospitals. With the DVD release of NBC's sitcom Scrubs: The Complete First Season, viewers now have another TV hospital worth checking into.
The series follows three new interns at Sacred Heart Hospital: J.D. (Zach Braff), who's so doe-eyed that the nurses call him "Bambi," Turk (Clueless' Donald Faison), J.D.'s cocky best friend and roommate since college, and Elliott (Roseanne's Sarah Chalke), a talented but neurotic basket case who J.D. befriends. Turk is a member of the hospital's hotshot surgical intern team, while J.D. and Elliott are medical interns. As such, they fall under the guidance of Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley), a bitter, cynical doctor whose gruff exterior hides his caring heart. The hospital's chief of medicine, Dr. Kelso (Homefront's Ken Jenkins), at first appears kindly and affectionate, but he's actually so evil he makes Hitler look like someone you might want to shoot pool with and ask to be your kid's godparent. Carla (Judy Reyes) is a ballsy nurse who isn't afraid to stand up to Cox and Kelso. The hospital's nameless janitor (Neil Flynn) quickly becomes J.D.'s nemesis, stalking him around the hospital and making snide comments about his doctoring abilities.
Scrubs is a goofy comedy with the complex characters of a drama (don't use the word "dramedy." TV execs don't like it because it sounds too wishy-washy). The comedy is often Looney Tunes-esque. Cartoon-like swooshing sound effects accompany every sudden head turn. When asked a question he doesn't know the answer to, J.D. imagines himself as a deer caught in headlights, including a giant rack of antlers atop his head. When someone else easily gets the answer, he becomes a deer run down by a Mack truck. The thought of sex conjures up a marching band in his bedroom, complete with a cymbal-playing monkey. In a Happy Days-inspired fantasy sequence, J.D. envisions himself as the Fonz, saving a dying patient by elbowing him in the chest much as the Fonz did with Al's jukebox.
For all of its goofiness, Scrubs' portrayal of hospital life is actually quite reassuring. The doctors and nurses are human and fallible, but despite their foibles and quirks, they are truly concerned for the patients under their care. In "My Old Lady," J.D., Turk, and Elliott each make friends with three separate patients. Complications arise in the three patients, however, and the newbies have to deal with their first deaths. The episode is both funny (Turk quite literally "bowls" with his charge, using the wheel chair-bound patient as a giant bowling ball) and touching (J.D.'s patient has to comfort him after she decides to refuse life-saving medical treatment). The tables turn on J.D. when he becomes hospitalized for appendicitis in "My Day Off." The result: he discovers that Elliott has very little bedside manner ("Your hands...it's like you're a yeti") and that he's uncomfortable with having Turk operate on him. "My Day Off" effectively explores both friendship and doctor/patient relationships.
To its credit, the characters on Scrubs are also much more complex than those in ordinary sitcoms. "My Two Dads" illustrates the difference between Kelso and Cox. Kelso's smarmy compassion hides his corporate, bottom line mentality. He would turn away his own mother if she lacked proper insurance. This is in stark contrast with the rest of the hospital's staff. Cox, for example, acts unconcerned and jaded ("If you push around a stiff, no one will ask you to do anything"), but he is a humanitarian willing to fight for his patients.
Some of the episodes are downright melancholic. "My Tuscaloosa Heart," for example, has its share of laughs, but it is mostly wistful. Cox finally realizes that he's been sabotaging his love life, and why. Even so, he still ends up alone at the episode's end. Turk and Elliott find out that Kelso was once a coffeehouse troubadour during his college days. They even dig up a tape of his music, hoping to somehow use it against him. Instead, they become intrigued by the "Bunny" to whom all of the songs are addressed. Kelso denies ever having been a musician, but in a bittersweet moment, we discover Bunny's true identity. J.D. worries that his lack of respect for a vile patient may have contributed to the patient's death. Toss in J.D.'s touching relationship with a developmentally challenged patient who shares his name, and you have a half hour sitcom that is more emotionally resonant than most hour long dramas.
Brendan Fraser guest stars in the two-part "My Occurrence"/"My Hero" as Ben Sullivan, Cox's former brother-in-law, who visits the hospital after a nail gun accident. (The sight of Fraser waving around his bloody hand, still nailed to a two-by-four, is a near-perfect visual gross-out gag.) Once his wound is stitched up, Cox becomes concerned that the bleeding has not been staunched. Cox, who likes his ex-brother-in-law much more than he ever liked his ex-wife, cannot bring himself to run the necessary tests, so he puts J.D. in charge. When it becomes clear that Ben has leukemia, J.D. holds out hope that it is all just a mistake - and that he won't have to deliver the news to an obviously spooked Cox. Fraser delivers a pitch-perfect performance, effectively portraying Ben's cockiness and his underlying fear. He would return to the role two years later in another hard-hitting episode.
Fraser's isn't the only familiar face to appear in season one. Be on the lookout for Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives), Travis Wester (Eurotrip), Louie Anderson (Family Feud), Jimmie Walker (Good Times), Sean Hayes (Will & Grace), Carrot Top (the ninth circle of hell), DJ Qualls (Road Trip), Hattie Winston (Becker), John Ritter (Three's Company), Markie Post (Night Court), Lane Davies (Whoops!), R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket), and Scott Foley (Felicity). Fans of St. Elsewhere, another medical series that effectively mixed humor with drama, will want to check out "My Sacrificial Clam" which reunites four of that show's stars: Ed Begley Jr., William Daniels, Stephen Furst, and Eric Laneuville.
Part of the show's success is that its regular cast appears to be absolutely fearless. They aren't afraid of being seen in an unflattering light. In season one alone, Braff wears a shaving cream bra, shoves a whole Hostess cupcake into his mouth before delivering his lines, and gets roped like a calf. Chalke, McGinley, and the rest of the cast also seem to share this "anything for a laugh" attitude that makes the series so winning.
Scrubs is far from perfect. Despite some funny lines and a game performance by Flynn, the war between J.D. and the janitor is often more annoying than amusing. The series' tightrope walk between wacky comedy and tender drama isn't entirely successful. The comedy often mutes the drama rather than complementing it. It's as if the frantic pace holds us at arm's length, preventing us from taking the characters seriously. Conversely, the dramatic portions prevent the show from being out and out funny. As a result, it's sometimes hard to really connect with the show and the characters. Flaws, yes - but not fatal ones. The series is so unique that it remains hard to resist.
The twenty-four episodes that make up season one are divided onto three discs. Each of the three metallic gray discs are decorated with portraits of the interns - J.D. on disc one, Elliott on disc two, and Turk on disc three. The discs are housed in a metallic foldout case cleverly designed to look like a medical clipboard, complete with x-rays and cast photos "taped" on with Band-Aids. The three discs attach to two panels - one of the panels holds two discs, one on top of the other in a figure eight pattern. One panel of the foldout case holds a mock "folder" that lists the episode titles found on each disc. Unfortunately, no plot synopses are included, making it a little more difficult for viewers to choose individual episodes. The front of the case holds a removable "x-ray." The case slides into a partially transparent plastic sleeve featuring a group photo of the show's cast. The design of both the outer sleeve and the foldout case are incredibly eye-catching and imaginative. It's inconvenient to remove one of the "figure eight" DVDs in order to get to the other, and an episode guide would have been welcome, but the design of the set almost makes up for these flaws. Almost.
The terrific design sensibility carries over to the DVD menus which feature an x-ray light box theme. Viewers can play all of a disc's episodes or choose an individual one. The episodes are not divided into chapters.
