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Scrubs is an American situation comedy that premiered on October 2, 2001 on NBC. It was created by Bill Lawrence, who also co-created Spin City. The show focuses on the professional and personal lives of several characters working at Sacred Heart Hospital, a fictional teaching hospital in an unspecified city (likely located in southern California). It uses first-person narration, unusually verbose characters, abrupt segues between subplots, breakneck pace, and surreal escapism (usually presented as the thoughts and reveries of the main characters), counterpointed by poignant scenes where the characters address how doctors deal with death and issues in their personal lives. The combination of these diverse elements distinguishes it from other series. Scrubs has been advertised as "half as long as ER and twice as funny." Unlike most situation comedies, Scrubs uses a single camera setup (as opposed to a multiple-camera setup). It also lacks a laugh track, a traditional device in many American situation comedies. The show is structured around multiple storylines thematically linked via voiceovers by protagonist and narrator Dr. John "J.D." Dorian. At the end of each episode, J.D. summarizes the story's moral or theme, in a sequence of shots that show how it has affected each of the characters. The series is also notable for numerous guest appearances by major movie actors not generally seen on episodic television. Cast
Episodes Season 5 Though a full season of 24 episodes was produced for the fifth season, NBC decided against airing them during the 2005–2006 fall schedule. On December 1, 2005, NBC announced the return of Scrubs for mid-season. At first, two new episodes were aired back-to-back every Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. ET. The first twelve episodes of the season aired in this fashion, then NBC returned to airing one new episode every week (still at 9:00 p.m. ET), followed by a Scrubs rerun. For the first three weeks of this, the old episode was a cast favorite episode, with available audio commentary tracks on NBC's website to accompany the episodes. After this, with the premiere of Teachers in the 9:30 p.m. timeslot, Scrubs continued to air new episodes at 9:00 p.m., with previous season five episodes airing in the 8:30 p.m. timeslot before. When Teachers ended, Scrubs reruns returned to 9:30 p.m.. Season 5 began on E4 in the UK on July 13th. Season 6 On 15 May 2006, NBC announced that Scrubs had been renewed for a full season (2006–2007). Although it was originally supposed to air midseason, NBC announced on October 25 that the show would air Thursdays at 9 p.m. starting November 30.• The first episode will be a continuation of Season 5's finale entitled "My Mirror Image." Producer Bill Lawrence has previously indicated that Season 6 would most likely be the final season of Scrubs , but more recent interviews with Zach Braff have indicated that they intend to go on into Season 7, regardless of whether Zach Braff leaves . Around the world Location Scrubs is filmed on location at the North Hollywood Medical Center (), a real decommissioned hospital on Riverside Drive in Sherman Oaks, California. However, the location of Sacred Heart Hospital within the fictional world of Scrubs is a well-kept secret. Much like Springfield on The Simpsons, the Scrubs city is meant to remain anonymous to reinforce that the situations apply to all locations, according to staff. Cast and crew on the show refer to the location as "San DaFrangeles" — a portmanteau of San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles that is meant to encompass a large part of California. However, many fans continue to speculate about where exactly the show might take place, and based on current clues, the show does seem to take place somewhere in the state of California. DVD Releases The Regions 2 and 4 releases of Season 3 did not have as many special features as the Region 1 equivalent. This was due to the earlier release dates of the DVD in those regions. Music Music plays a large role on Scrubs. A wide variety of rock, pop, and indie artists are featured. Almost every episode ends with a musical montage summing up the themes and plot lines of the episode, and the music for these montages are often picked even before the episodes are written.• Producers plan to expand Scrubs musical emphasis with a musical episode early in the sixth season.• A complete list of music used on the show can be found here. Theme The theme song of the series, performed by Lazlo Bane, is titled "Superman", and can be found on the album All the Time In the World, as well as on the first Scrubs soundtrack. Bill Lawrence credits Zach Braff for finding and suggesting "Superman" as the theme song. The lyrics "I'm no Superman" relate to the show's theme of its characters' fallibility. The Scrubs version of the song is normally played at a faster speed than the original recording of the song. The original, slower recording was used briefly at the beginning of Season 2, played during an extended version of the title sequence (that included Neil Flynn and full cast credits). However, fans and the studio complained about the new titles, and the original title sequence was restored. Soundtracks Two official soundtracks have been released. The first one was released on CD on September 24, 2002, and a second — an iTunes exclusive — was released in mid-2006. An iMix on iTunes of the music used through the first five seasons has also been released.* Featured musical contributors The Worthless Peons The Worthless Peons (also known simply as Ted's Band) are an a cappella group made up of hospital employees from different departments. They are a cover band, and often sing songs from a specific theme. They have appeared in several episodes: Episode 1.23, My Hero (cartoon theme songs: "Speed Racer" and "Underdog"); Episode 2.02, My Nightingale (prime time theme songs: "The Facts of Life", "The Six Million Dollar Man", and "Charles in Charge"); Episode 2.14, My Brother, My Keeper ("Hello! Ma Baby"); Episode 2.19, My Kingdom (commercial jingles for Folgers Coffee, Mennen, and McDonald's); Episode 3.22, My Best Friend's Wedding ("Bridal Chorus" and "Eight Days a Week"); Episode 4.13, My Ocardial Infarction ("No, Not Much"); Episode 5.07, My Way Home (songs from classic movies: "Maniac" from Flashdance, as well as "We're Off to See the Wizard" and "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz); and Episode 5.24, My Transition ("Baby Back Ribs," the Chili's jingle). The Worthless Peons are played by The Blanks, a real-life a cappella band made up of Sam Lloyd (who plays Ted), George Miserlis, Paul Perry, and Philip McNiven. The Blanks' album, Riding the Wave, features guest appearances from Bill Lawrence and members of the Scrubs cast. Colin Hay Colin Hay, who is the former frontman of Men at Work, has been featured in Episode 1.24, My Last Day ("Beautiful World"); Episode 2.01, "My Overkill" (Men at Work's "Overkill," performed by Hay, who follows J.D. around the hospital); Episode 2.13, "My Philosophy" ("Waiting for My Real Life to Begin," performed by the entire cast at the end of the episode); Episode 2.22, "My Dream Job" ("My Brilliant Feat"); Episode 3.13, "My Porcelain God", (Men at Work's "Down Under," performed by J.D.); and Episode 4.17, My Life In Four Cameras (the Cheers theme song, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", performed by Hay). It is interesting to note that the Men at Work song "Overkill" (which was performed by Hay on Scrubs) was covered by Lazlo Bane on Bane's album 11 Transistor, which was released before Scrubs was ever aired. Joshua Radin The music of Joshua Radin, who is a friend of Scrubs star Zach Braff, has appeared in several episodes, including Episode 3.14, My Screw Up ("Winter"); Episode 4.14, My Lucky Charm ("Today"); Episode 4.19, My Best Laid Plans ("Closer"); Episode 4.22, My Big Move ("Don't look Away"); and Episode 5.06, My Missed Perception ("These Photographs"). The friendship between Radin and Braff has been quite productive. Braff directed the music video for Radin's song "Closer" and is credited as playing the triangle on the song "Today" from Radin's debut album First Between 3rd and 4th. Radin also had in a small cameo in Braff's film Garden State, playing a partygoer in one scene. The version of Radin's "Winter" that aired during My Screw Up was a demo version of the song sent to Braff by Radin for use in the episode. Due to the popularity of the as-yet unreleased song, it was made available for download at Joshua Radin's official site for a time, though it was removed when a studio version of the single became available. Awards In its first three seasons, Scrubs received Emmy nominations for casting, editing, and writing of a comedy series. Following Season 4, the show received additional nominations for Best Comedy Series, Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Braff), Best Editing for a Multi-Camera series (although the series is predominantly shot single-camera, Episode 4.17 "My Life in Four Cameras", has a brief segment shot multi-camera, sitcom-style), and casting. The show also won the 2002 Humanitas Prize, 30-minute category, for season 1 episode 4 "My Old Lady". Braff was nominated for the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical in 2005 and 2006, but lost to Jason Bateman for Arrested Development in 2005 and to Steve Carell of The Office in 2006. Trivia Pop Culture Official websites Selected fansites | |||||||||
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