Studio: Buena Vista Home Video
Release Date: October 10, 2006
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 25
Running Time: 542 Minutes
MSRP: $39.99
Creator:
Bill Lawrence
Cast:
Zach Braff”¦”¦”¦.Dr. John ‘J.D.’ Dorian
Donald Faison”¦”¦”¦.Chris “Turkelton” Turk, M.D.
John C. McGinley”¦”¦”¦.Perry Cox, M.D.
Sarah Chalke”¦”¦”¦.Dr. Elliot Reid
Judy Reyes”¦”¦”¦.Carla Espinosa, R.N.
Neil Flynn”¦”¦”¦.The Janitor
Ken Jenkins”¦”¦”¦.Bob Kelso, M.D.
Robert Maschio”¦”¦”¦.Todd Quinlan (aka “The Todd”)
Almoa Wright”¦”¦”¦.Nurse Laverne Roberts
Sam Lloyd”¦”¦”¦.Ted Buckland
Christa Miller Lawrence”¦”¦”¦.Jordan Sullivan
Scrubs may just be the quirkiest show on television. For five years — soon to be entering its sixth season — this thirty-minute, no-laugh-track-needed medical comedy has been all over the NBC line-up. From “Must See TV” Thursdays to Tuesdays competing against that cankerous doc, House, M.D., the series has managed to stay on the air despite dwindling ratings. Its biggest boost in visibility has come from DVD sales and syndicated reruns on Comedy Central, Chicago’s WGN, and other stations. But this doesn’t really help NBC, since the studio that produces the show is Buena Vista, a division controlled by the Walt Disney Company — the same corporation that also owns the ABC Television Network, one of NBC’s chief rivals.
So why does NBC continue to use it as a band-aid to repair its fall or mid-season schedule?
Well, considering how comedies in the television landscape are a rare occurrence nowadays, typically substituted by cheap reality shows, when a network finds a good-to-great one it wants to hold on to it for a very long time. The Peacock Channel has had winners like The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, and Friends as programs they could build around. Unfortunately, those comedies believed to be surefire hits next to established shows rarely pan out to be the next big thing.
When it premiered in 2001, Scrubs was not like other comedies. It did not have the traditional four-camera set up and it wasn’t taped in front of a live audience; the show is an aberration in the prime-time schedule. It was, anyways. The series is a situation comedy. And it is a style that has become popular with shows like The Office and My Name is Earl making their way to primetime — coincidentally, also on NBC.
Every season represents a year in the life of the medical staff at Sacred Heart. John Dorian, aka J.D. (Zach Braff) is the central character and narrator. His thoughts provide a unique point of view. J.D. makes comments internally on his mentor-father figure Dr. Cox, his friends and love life. After an awkward night with his girlfriend Kylie (he was looking forward to sex, she wasn’t), J.D. returns to his apartment agreeing with his best friend Turk (Donald Faison) that he “hit that.” But as he heads to his bedroom he says to himself, “and now it is time for nightly ritual. Pleasure myself, weep and repeat.”
This style of comedy, full of sexual innuendo, quick flashbacks and insults, can be unnerving for some. But that masturbation joke is the tip of the iceberg of comedic bliss that comes with watching the medical staff at Sacred Heart.
In the fourth season, J.D. is now a Co-chief resident for the hospital; so if a patient dies he can no longer use medical intern as an excuse. Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke), his on-again, off-again romance, is the chief resident. She’s a little scatterbrained, still reeling after having been chased by J.D. for most of the third season, only for him to break-up with her as the season came to a close. As residents now, they are bound to run into one another. J.D. wants to let bygones be bygones, but Elliot would rather make him suffer. In the season premiere she gives J.D. a shot that causes him to collapse and lose consciousness inside an elevator.
While J.D.’s love life is all over the romantic spectrum, his best friend is happily married to Carla (Judy Reyes), one of the hospital’s head nurses. Turk is a self-assured surgeon who believes he’s God’s gift to the profession. The relationship they have really grounds the show. The couple has their good times and bad times, suffering through petty squabbling and making sacrifices. One of the principal problems in maintaining marital bliss is living in a two-bedroom apartment with J.D. Sometimes referred to as a couple in the heterosexual life partner sense, J.D. and Turk have been roommates ever since college. Flash-forward to now, J.D. is the third wheel.
Poor J.D. Now who will he share his love of Sanford and Son night or dancing “The Robot” in nightclubs? Not to mention understanding his whimsical flights of fantasy, exaggerated daydreams and flashbacks. It surely won’t be Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley). Arguably the best character on the show, this head resident has a silver tongue, forcing him to deliver vocal tirades on just about anyone. He refers to J.D. by a memory Rolodex of female names and calls Elliot “Barbie”. Even Hugh Jackman isn’t immune to being mentioned by the verbally flexible Dr. Cox.
One of strongest aspects of Scrubs is its supporting cast. Zach Braff may be central to the series, but he’s constantly outperformed by the likes of Faison, Chalke and McGinley. Neil Flynn plays the Janitor. A diabolical genius, he is not. More like J.D.’s chief nemesis. His background isn’t really known. Little nuggets of information about his life are divulged, only to be unsubstantiated or changed later on. In what Bill Lawrence likes to refer as his “Weapons Chest” — his arsenal of secondary characters — we have Robert Maschio as “The Todd”, the frat boy surgeon who spouts double entendres as if they were always warranted and lounges around in a tiger-print thong. Sam Lloyd is the sad sack, still-lives-at-home-with-mom hospital lawyer Ted. Christa Miller is Dr. Cox’s wicked witch of a significant other Jordan. New this year is Heather Graham as Dr. Molly Clock, the hospital’s new psychotherapist and a potential love interest for J.D. She had an eight-episode arc for the season, and came back for episode nineteen “My Best Laid Plans.”
Also adding to the support staff is a cavalcade of guest stars. SNL alumna Molly Shannon, sans her “Superstar” hands under the armpit routine, plays a paramedic who Dr. Cox must partner with. Matthew Perry is an air-traffic controller of a small airfield, who spends his days watching reruns of Wings while awaiting incoming flights. Richard Kind (Spin City) the hypochondriac who is a frequent visitor to Sacred Heart returns. Tom Cavanaugh (Ed) plays his kid brother a visit after their father passes in the episode “My Cake”. (This is where truth meets fiction, as the sudden death of John Ritter, who played J.D’s father, is written into the series.) Despite the name recognition of having Colin Farrell as an Irishman who is admitted to Sacred Heart for injuries suffered in a barroom brawl (what a stretch), the best guest star for the fourth season was Julianna Margulies (ER). As the cunning malpractice attorney Neena, we get a character that makes Ted sweat profusely, and a woman who can walk the hospital corridors hurting everyone in her path. It isn’t until she meets Jordan that she finds a worthy adversary. And it’s fitting that they their quarrel is done Kill Bill style.
Though Scrubs is primarily a comedy, there are moments where the series slows down and puts everything into perspective. These are doctors and they are faced with moments in which their decisions will either help or harm others. Both inside and outside the hospital. Harder lessons are learned whenever a patient dies, whether in the presence of J.D. or other docs. Like in final moments of “My Life in Four Cameras”. This episode has J.D. imagining what life would be like if it was more like a sitcom. When a former Cheers writer is admitted everything seems peachy keen. But when a health problem surfaces (lung cancer) and the writer passes away it makes J.D. reflect: “Unfortunately around here, things don’t end as neat and tidy as they do on sitcoms. Relationships aren’t always magically fixed in thirty minutes. You have to work on them. Problems don’t always have easy solutions. And around here, nice people don’t always get better.”
Those five sentences are Scrubs in a nutshell. It encapsulates everything that is great about the series. Romances aren’t cookie-cutter affairs and real problems can’t be solved in the time it takes a pizza delivery guy to arrive at your doorstep. If life were more like Scrubs, then more people would be like Elliot and say “Frick!” when times get tough. Less spouting of expletives, always a good thing.
THE VIDEO
(Presented in 1.33:1 full frame)
Since Scrubs is shot in full frame, its TV format remains intact on DVD. The video is good for the most part, but number of episodes on a single disc — sometimes as many as nine — can cause compression problems. The result is graininess for various scenes and colors are muted. But the episodes near the end of the season are of greater quality than those in the beginning.
THE AUDIO
(English — Dolby Digital 5.1)
This 5.1 mix has a better presentation than the video transfer. Sound effects and score are accurate in your home theater surround sound scheme, while the dialogue is clearly and cleanly heard on the center speakers. English subtitles are available for hearing-impaired and multilingual viewers.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Every season is a new experience, as far as packaging is concerned. The first and third seasons have a clear slipcover over a three-tier gatefold digipack with clear plastic trays for the discs. The second and fourth seasons have the same collapsible digipack as season one and three, but they fit into a cardboard slipcase featuring a series synopsis, a list of bonus materials and tech specs about the set.
This set comes with five featurettes, deleted scenes, alternate lines and the music video “Half” by G Tom Mac on the third disc. The first disc and second discs have optional commentary tracks. “My Last Chance” on disc one has Zach Braff on the mic; “My Life in Four Cameras” on disc two has Sarah Chalke.
The commentaries aren’t very revealing, unless you think Clay Aiken, guest star on “My Life in Four Cameras”, being allergic to almost everything is earth-shattering, need-to-know information, you are better off not knowing. But if you do listen, you’ll hear Chalke and Braff point out other acto’s stand-ins and crewmembers that make appearances.
The featurettes are a better alternative in learning more about the series. They highlight the little guys, the supporting characters that just don’t get enough credit. Will You Ever Be My Mentor? (4:37) talks about the ever-evolving relationship between J.D. and Dr. Cox, and how J.D. is always in search of the hug he’ll never get. The Sweethearts of Sacred Heart (11:02) breakdowns the myriad relationships on the show, everything from The Janitor and Elliot to J.D. and Turk. The Weapons Chest (9:23), which I wrote about earlier, is all about the ancillary character like Nurse Laverne Roberts, Doug Murphy (the worst intern ever who becomes a great pathologist), Ted and The Todd. They may have a few lines an episode, but they are lines that can easily be an episode’s greatest one-liner. Who Is That Man (4:41) takes a closer look at The Janitor. This feature is more fun than fact as the actors speculate the character as if he was a failed actor in another life (Flynn has roles in Rookie of the Year and The Fugitive), and they offer up theories on just who this janitor really is. The last featurette is Donald Keeps Talking. For sixteen minutes Donald Faison tells us about the audition process; on what it is like being the young, charismatic black surgeon Chris Turk; the chemistry and meeting the cast for the very first time; and the policy the cast and crew have when it comes to guest stars.
The deleted scenes and alternate line extras are essentially the same thing, as there are alternate lines that should be in the deleted scenes package and vice a versa. For the deleted scenes, there are twelve scene extensions. The rough cut of the extension plays after the TV cut. The best bets are “Going for a Beer” and “Egg Gum”. Still, there is much fun to be had watching the alternate lines and see how they can improve the punch line of a joke.
THE INSIDE PULSE
Scrubs is one of the funniest shows on television, and The Complete Fourth Season doesn’t disappoint. Changes are in the air as J.D. and Elliot, once lovers, now co-residents, must make amends and become friends. Turk and Carla are newlyweds and must deal with the pitfalls that face most husbands and wives. This ensemble casts continues to shine in an era where comedies are becoming an endangered species on network TV. With the perfect blend of comedy and drama, the series gets laugh while making us care about the characters and their actions. Definitely a show you will want to add to your DVD collection.
