Scrubs

2 0 0 1 – 2 0 1 0 (USA)
182 x 30 minute episodes

A workplace comedy about a group of newly minted doctors feeling their way through their first years of practice, Scrubs leaned hard on the theme that laughter is the best medicine.

Narrated in an ongoing voice-over by young attending physician John Michael “J.D.” Dorian (Zach Braff), Scrubs opened on the first day of his residency at Sacred Heart Teaching Hospital as a clueless medical intern and followed him through his professional and personal life with brilliant but prickly mentor Dr Perry Cox (John C. McGinley); his lifelong best friend and roommate Turk (Donald Faison); his terrifyingly efficient girlfriend Carla (Judy Reyes); his on-again-off-again love interest Elliot (Sarah Chalke), and his nemesis, the nameless janitor (Neil Flynn).

Scrubs wore its heart on its sleeve. No thought or feeling went uncommunicated, and no good deed went unpunished. But the show leavened this with screwball comedy.

The show aired for seven seasons on NBC. After a writers’ strike and a cancellation threat, ABC picked up the series for an incredibly well-received Season 8, which ended with a definitive, highly emotional hour-long finale that perfectly wrapped up JD’s story arc.

ABC subsequently renewed the show for a controversial Season 9 (subtitled Scrubs: Med School). The setting shifted to a medical school, most of the original cast left or were reduced to guest appearances, and new student protagonists were introduced.

This final season was poorly received by fans and critics alike, leading to its official cancellation in 2010

Dr John “JD” Dorian
Zach Braff
Dr Christopher Turk
Donald Faison
Dr Elliot Reid
Sarah Chalke
Carla Espinosa
Judy Reyes
Dr Perry Cox
John C. McGinley
Dr Bob Kelso
Ken Jenkins
The Janitor
Neil Flynn