Scrubs: There is a Reason it Plays on so Many Channels

I was first turned on to the television series Scrubs when my husband and I moved to a new place. We were expecting a child and thought we'll save money and just watch whatever our antenna picks up. It just happened that at 10pm on what is now the CW channel they played Scrubs. Not much competition from other shows in it's time slot (as I'm not a news watcher and never been much for the late night talk shows), we have come to love watching this series.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, I'll start with the basics. It centers around the career of a young doctor, John Dorian or J.D. (played by Zach Braff) as he begins his internship, and continues his career as a physician in a surreal hospital surrounded by interesting characters, both staff and patients. J.D.'s closest friend (an ongoing friendship that started in college, progressed through med school and landed them in the same hospital), Chris Turk (played by Donald Faison), is part of the elite social group that are the surgical staff. The staff also features the beautiful blond, but socially inept, Elliot Reed who finds herself struggling with relationships of all sorts. Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes), a seasoned nurse who develops a relationship and then marries the young surgical intern, takes the interns under her wing and helps them to learn to cope with the daily mix of patients. Also helping them along the way is Dr. Perry Cox (John C McGinley), whose years of working in the hospital has made him "hard" guides the interns with a "tell it like it is" attitude which occasionally lets through his softer side when things become personal. Things wouldn't be complete without the tightwad Chief of Medicine, Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins), who makes sure everyone and thing stays within the budget and occasionally does things just for funsies. Last but definitely not least, the Janitor (Neil Flynn), who remains nameless to this point and continues his personal crusade to make life difficult for the staff, especially J. D.

Throughout the six seasons the show has seen: J.D. and Elliot's on again off again relationship develop into the type of best friends that can't get over what had been and could've been, Turk and Carla get married and have a child, Dr. Cox and his ex-wife Jordan (and she was and still is ex-wife) have two children together, and J.D. about to become a father.

Scrubs has faced a few tragedies along the way. The loss of a long time patient who'd developed friendships with much of the staff, the loss Jordan's brother, and the loss of a staff member, Lavergne, a long time nurse and friend to many.

I won't even attempt to reveal all the events that have happened along the way, but it is definitely a show that after watching a few episodes you'll be addicted.

New Episodes of Scrubs can be seen on NBC on thursday nights at 8:30pm central time.

Re-runs are played on WGN, CW, and Comedy Central. Check your local listings.