TV: Scrubs

A detour into television this week, purely because I’m hooked on this show. I watch a lot of TV, and even 12 years after the Scrubs pilot first aired, 4 years after its brilliant finale, and 3 after its shockingly terrible spin-off season, it’s still my favourite comedy. I love Arrested Development, Community, Fawlty Towers, Extras, 30 Rock and so much more comedy television, but Scrubs still rests on top of the heap.

Now, much of my appreciation for the show is born of nostalgia – I was 8 when the show first aired, so it was on during most of my adolescence, and it’s true that as it wears on, it dips into farce a little too often and its quality wavers. Still, its first 3 seasons are a great blend of wit, great acting and dramatic moments, with the show’s trademark absurdity used sparingly. It’s also generally accepted that compared with hospital dramas like Grey’s Anatomy (how is that show still going?) and House, Scrubs – particularly its first season – is a fairly realistic depiction of working at a hospital.

What makes the show are its characters, and its protagonist “J.D” is my favourite on TV. In most shows, he’d be the sidekick or comic relief, but putting him front and centre marks the series as something a bit off kilter. What works about him is that he’s real – funny and compassionate, but also selfish and narcissistic – and the show doesn’t shy away from these flaws. Also setting it apart from the rest are its dramatic moments. It doesn’t revel in them, or build them up, they just exist in the Sacred Heart universe – people get sick, and sometimes they die. Brendan Fraser’s arc on the show is still one of the best depictions of grief on TV.

So there’s my little rant. I always feel a little awkward writing these, because who the hell cares what I think? But I wrote it anyway. So there we go.