Scrubs Saves NBC Thursday from Becoming Obsolete

Scrubs on Thursday nights has been a routine for myself and my husband since the show began. Originally, we were watching other things, and simply left the television on NBC because it was easier than changing the channel, but we were quickly drawn in to the delightful show's world where hospital care can be funny as well as serious, where doctors aren't perfect, and where patients can be annoying or cute, depending on the show.

The cast of characters is superlative, and the mix of tear-jerking drama and side-splitting laughter is really above and beyond any other television show out there. I cannot say enough good things about the writing on this show. The actors bring it to life, but without the good scripts to give their characters depth, it would not be as good a show as it is.

Each individual character is fully realized, from JD, the lead doctor, who is geeky and insecure but has a warmth and enthusiasm for life and his job that makes him a great doctor and a character that you want to root for. His mentor, Dr Perry Cox, is abrasive and sarcastic, but his flashes of humanity and compassion make him real and likeable despite his rough edges. JD's on-again, off-again girlfriend and best friend Elliot, the scatterbrained yet brilliant doctor who in later seasons becomes a private practice doctor (earning the scorn of Dr Cox) is so vulnerable and insecure in so many ways you can't help but want to protect her, and you understand JD's desire to do the same. JD's other best friend and former college roommate, Christopher Turk, is an attending surgeon and in the beginning of the show, the relationship between JD and Turk is the source of a ton of jokes. Their relationship is compared to that of an interracial gay couple on more than one show, and even after Turk begins dating nurse Carla Espinoza, their need to play silly jokes on one another and be near one another creates exasperation and annoyance from her. Carla and JD became friends because Carla helped JD when he first came to the hospital, helping him learn his way around and learn procedures. Eventually they had a bit of a falling out because JD objected to her nickname for him ("Bambi") but they patched things up.

The bane of JD's existence on the show is the Janitor, whose name is never given. In the first episode, the Janitor was fixing a door, and JD innocently suggested that perhaps it had been broken by having a penny shoved into it. After the Janitor found a penny in the door, he declared that he was going to make JD pay, and has proceeded to torment JD in every episode but one ("My Lucky Day") since. Most of the torment is harmless, but some of them are downright cruel (locking him in a water tower and destroying his scooter).

The other "bad guy" in the show is the Chief of Medicine, Bob Kelso. Dr Cox refers to him by various nicknames including "Beelzebob" and "Satan" because he seems to have no ethical standards what-so-ever, rather everything is about the budget and money, but we have seen a few moments of lightness over the years, including that Kelso turns a blind eye to the staff scheduling surgeries for patients without insurance when another patient scheduled to have said surgery dies unexpectedly. He is proof that the "bad" characters are never as bad as they seem.

But truly, this show is evidential of the way that guest stars can make or break a show. Brendan Frasier's turn as Jordan Sullivan's brother who is diagnosed with leukemia is one of the greatest guest turns ever, and the two episodes he starred in were the best this show had at the time. Michael J Fox's guest starring role as a doctor with OCD was heart wrenching and truly awesome. Jay Mohr's turn as the private practice doc who is the reason that Perry hates private practice doctors was fun and gave me yet more proof that Mohr is one of the most underrated actors of our time.

This show is awesome, and if you're not watching it, why not?

Tune in, you won't regret it.