Scrubs

From The TV IV

Scrubs

Premiere	October 4, 2001
Finale
Airs	on hiatus
Creator	Bill Lawrence
Network	NBC (seasons 1–7) ABC (season 8—)
Style	30-minute medical comedy
Company	Doozer Touchstone Television (seasons 1–6) ABC Studios (season 7—)
Episodes	150 (through season 7)
Seasons	7
Status	Renewed through season 8, final season (2008-09)
Origin	USA

Scrubs (2001—) is a medical sitcom created by Bill Lawrence.

The series tells the story of Dr. John "JD" Dorian and his friends and colleagues at Sacred Heart Hospital, a fictional hospital in an unnamed location. The first season began with JD and Christopher Turk starting as interns in different sections of the hospital (medical and surgical, respectively) and continued each year (with a new season being equivalent to a new year) as they worked through their residency.

Although the plots generally deal with J.D., Turk or Elliott Reid, the series is an ensemble comedy at heart and incorporates other nurses, doctors and interns into the story. Most notable of these supporting doctors are Dr. Cox (J.D.'s unwilling mentor), Dr. Kelso (the chief of medicine), Carla Espinosa (Turk's wife and part of the nursing staff) and the ubiquitous Janitor, who spends most of his time tormenting J.D.

The series is an oddity on several fronts, most notably its single-camera format, lack of a laugh track and heavy use of narration from a character in the actual episode (as opposed to the Narrator of Arrested Development or "Future Kevin" in The Wonder Years). Because of the setup of the program, it is filmed in an abandoned hospital located in Sherman Oaks, CA to keep with realism. But because the hospital is real and is easy to find from the 101 Freeway, it has led to an occasional real patient looking for medical help stumbling on set.

The fifth season of the series began as a midseason replacement on January 3, 2006 after being delayed due to My Name is Earl becoming a breakout hit. In the 2006-2007 Upfronts, it was announced that Scrubs would be returning for a sixth season, but would, again, be a midseason replacement. Despite the initial uncertainty of cast and crew, particularly Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff, the series was officially renewed for its seventh and, then, final season on NBC on May 14, 2007.

Although the series was meant to head towards a finale in the 2007–2008 season, television programs were disrupted for a period of four months during the writers strike. In the case of Scrubs, only 12 of the 18 ordered episodes were completed before the set was shut down. There was talk at NBC about scrapping the remaining episodes as a cost-cutting manner, including what would have been the series finale. Lawrence rejected this idea and assured fans that if he had to, he would record himself explaining the ending of the series and upload it to YouTube to give them closure.

In 2008, ABC showed interest in picking the series up for another 18 episodes. ABC Studios had produced the series since its first season. Because Scrubs was not included in NBC's 52-week program strategy, released in April 2008, it is expected that ABC will announce that it has acquired the show when it delivers its own upfronts address.

On September 18, 2006, the series began syndication in the United States on Comedy Central and in various local markets.

1 Cast
2 Seasons
3 In-Depth
4 DVD Releases
5 External Sites

[edit] Cast

Actor	Character	Duration
Billed Cast
Zach Braff	Dr. Johnathan Michael "JD" Dorian	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Donald Faison	Dr. Christopher Duncan Turk	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
John C. McGinley	Dr. Percival "Perry" Cox	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Sarah Chalke	Dr. Elliott Reid	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Judy Reyes	Nurse Carla Espinosa	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Ken Jenkins	Dr. Robert "Bob" Kelso	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Neil Flynn	Janitor	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Supporting/Recurring Cast
Aloma Wright	Nurse Laverne Roberts	1	2	3	4	5	6
	Nurse Shirley							7
Sam Lloyd	Theodore "Ted" Buckland	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Christa Miller Lawrence	Jordan Sullivan	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Robert Maschio	Dr. Todd Quinlan	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Johnny Kastl	Dr. Doug Murphy	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Scott Foley	Sean Kelly	1		3
Thomas Cavanagh	Dan Dorian		2	3	4	5		7
Bellamy Young	Dr. Grace Miller			3
Tara Reid	Danni Sullivan			3	4
Michael Hobert	Nurse Lonnie			3	4	5
Heather Graham	Dr. Molly Clock				4
Travis Schuldt	Dr. Keith Dudemeister					5	6	7
Elizabeth Banks	Dr. Kimberly "Kim" Briggs					5	6	7
Season numbers in red indicate a recurring or guest role in that season.

[edit] Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale	#
NBC
Season One	October 2, 2001	May 21, 2002	24
Season Two	September 26, 2002	April 17, 2003	22
Season Three	October 2, 2003	May 4, 2004	22
Season Four	August 31, 2004	May 10, 2005	25
Season Five	January 3, 2006	May 16, 2006	24
Season Six	November 30, 2006	May 17, 2007	22
Season Seven	October 25, 2007	May 8, 2008	11
ABC
Season Eight	Winter 2008	—	18

[edit] In-Depth

At a Glance: Additional information about the series
Characters: A listing of recurring characters from the series

[edit] DVD Releases

Title	Release Date	#
Season Sets
The Complete First Season	May 7, 2005	3	purchase
The Complete Second Season	November 15, 2005	3	purchase
The Complete Third Season	May 9, 2006	3	purchase
The Complete Fourth Season	October 10, 2006	3	purchase
The Complete Fifth Season	May 22, 2007	3	purchase
The Complete Sixth Season	October 30, 2007	3	purchase
The Complete Seventh Season	November 11, 2008	2