Scrubs

...Will you tell me the answer to this question: Do you want to be the big spoon, or the little spoon?

If you want to read more then go to www.scrubs.mopnt.com. A Scrubs DVD is due out soon but no dates or price as yet.
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Great American sit-coms have reached our shores by the boat-load in recent years, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Will and Grace, Spin City, M*A*S*H, Malcolm in the Middle, and although it is a cartoon The Simpsons also has to be included in this list (well it does when I am writing it). You may have a couple of others to add to this, my addition would be Scrubs, a medical comedy currently showing on Sky One on Sunday nights at 730-8pm.

Written by Spin City co-creator Bill Lawrence who was inspired by his three doctor friends, one of whom now acts as technical advisor on the show, the acting is clinically good and the humour is scalpel sharp, usually applying a liberal dose of sarcasm, and with fantasy cut-away scenes often administered with better effort and effect than they were on Ally McBeal.

The main medical staff of Sacred Heart Hospital are:

John ‘JD’ Dorian (Zach Braff) is a slightly geeky and continuously daydreaming young doctor who is the main narrator of events. As well as being prone to flights of fantasy he is also a terribly fawning hero worshipper who never really knows when to draw the line in his praising of others, or when to keep his mouth shut when someone is in earshot. He tries to see the best in everyone and at the end of his day always sums up what positive lesson he has learnt from events. He rivals Steve Martin as the whitest man ever (and no I don’t mean he is anaemic) and this can provide some hilarious moments when he tries to “be street” with his best friend and roommate who is black.

Chris Turk (Donald Faison) is JD’s best friend since childhood and their bond is one of brotherhood, he is always willing to join JD in acts of silliness and they share a number of equally silly old memories. He is a gifted surgeon but lets himself down by being overly competitive and arrogant, however he also has a very gentle warm and caring side best evidenced by his love for Nurse Carla.

Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes) is a don’t mess with me Latino, equally prone to scathing outbursts and motherly kindness to anyone around her. She often picks up the pieces behind the rushed doctors without seeking any credit. She is also the only person who can out talk the senior doctor Perry.

Perry Cox (John C McGinley) is the senior doctor in charge of JD and the other young doctors. He controls everyone around him with the harshest sarcastic tongue you have ever witnessed in a character and he does not stop when he has reduced someone to tears, often just putting his hands to his eyes and mocking their tears and calling them Barbie, his humour in doing this is brilliant as is his medical expertise. Other than Carla only his ex-wife Jordan can hope to get the better of him, although his arch-nemesis Bob Kelso frequently tries.

Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins) is the chief of medicine and a particularly superficial and cruel individual, who is often viewed with horns and cloven hoofs. His sarcasm is as equally funny but possibly more venomous than those around him as he is singularly self-serving. On the receiving end of the majority of his wrath is his legal advisor come P.A. come dogsbody Ted the Lawyer.

Ted the lawyer (Sam Lloyd) is physically perfect for the role of a downtrodden man appearing something like a human Droopy. He is forever contemplating either committing suicide or strangling his boss; when he incorrectly hears that Bob Kelso is dead he arranges a party. His one job is to ensure the hospital isn’t sued, a feat at which he is pretty inept.

The Janitor (Neil Flynn) is a permanent feature of the show. A pernickety man driven by hounding JD, telling awful elaborate lies and keeping everything spotlessly clean he is also obviously desperate for acceptance and friendship although he would never admit it.

Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke) is a neurotic intern who uses sex “to break the ice”, she is the focus of JD’s affections and despite several liaisons with him is currently in love with a Dolphin trainer.

There is a superb supporting cast of actors including: Todd aka The Toddmeister a surgeon juvenilely obsessed with sex and high-fives, Nurse Laverne Roberts a big mama style character who only has to give a look to stop any nonsense, and Jordan Sullivan an ice-queen hospital board member and also Dr. Cox’s ex-wife with whom he has just had a baby “well its between you and that cute cabana boy and considering the baby’s constant crying and funny looks I am going with you” (or words to that effect). There has also been a number of special guest stars including Brendan Fraser, Michael J Fox, Heather Lockyear, Dick Van Dyke and Tara Reid. Finally mention must be made of Rowdy, the stuffed Labrador that JD and Turk keep in their flat and usually position just outside the toilet door ready for Elliot’s exit and generally treat as if it were alive “Down Rowdy. Bad boy”.

The show tackles a number of themes both medical and personal. It has carefully portrayed a number of serious illnesses and their impact on the patient and those around them as well as the toil this endless stream of death and despair can take on the staff treating it, in this sense it is quite like M*A*S*H, except they don’t try and post a local orphan back to America every week. The show is prepared to deal in detail with tragedy, often through poignant but black humour, as you would expect of such a profession. Some shows have a happy ending but an equal number do not. Intertwined within this are the relationships between the staff. Turk and Carla’s love and pending marriage, although Cox believes he carries a torch for Carla and Turk is not worthy of her. JD and Eliot’s off and on love affair set against her parental induced neurosis. The constant battle of wills between JD and the janitor over trivial matters juxtaposed with the battle of wills between Cox and Kelso over actual life and death matters. Throughout this the supporting cast and special guest stars also regularly chip in with their own stories, Michael J Fox was brilliant as a world renowned doctor who had an obsessive-compulsive disorder that controlled his life, again the humour used in this was both dark and touching as we saw him exit the show several times as his disorder forced him to keep coming back in and out of the doors until he got it just so.

The writing cannot be flawed, there is such a mix in the styles of humour on display, that range from the sublime to the ridiculous, and as I have said with huge amounts of vitriol, darkness, subtlety, fantasy and sarcasm thrown in it really does indicate a very sharp mind in the writer. Of course this would mean nothing if it was sloppily executed by the actors, but this is not the case, each brings both realism and history to the character they are portraying, so that you feel that when the credits go up that their lives actually carry on at the Sacred Heart, to me this is a depth I haven’t been accustomed to in comedies.

The show features both special effects and music in liberal doses. Some of the fantasy scenes rely heavily on the aforementioned special effects and when this is the case they are good in a cartoon quality, but more often than not the fantasy scene will simply involve a character dressed up in some ridiculous props outfit, which adds even more to the humour. A range of music features on and off in the show, the most memorable being Ted the Lawyers barbershop quartet singing in the lift (better acoustics!). A CD of the music used is going to become available but I have not been able to find a play list as yet.

The direction is quick but smooth, with each episode being a series of intricately connected set scenes, mostly in and around the actual working hospital it is filmed at. I have never noticed any continuity errors but then I am usually too busy laughing to care. To get the full impact you really have to watch it, but to encourage you to do this I have included to the best of my ability a few lines from the scripts, imagine the best comedy actors delivering the following lines and if it makes you chuckle then I think you will like the show a whole lot more.Dr. Cox: [referring to the patient, an elderly man] Why does this gomer have to try and die every day during my lunch!
J.D.: [timid] That's a little insensitive.
Dr. Cox: The man's 92 years old, he has full dementia; he doesn't even know we're here. He is inches from Carla's rack and he hasn't even flinched.
J.D.: What about his subconscious?
Dr. Cox leans down to the patient's ear.
Dr. Cox: Eisenhower was a sissy.
He rears back and puts up his fists. Nothing happens.
Dr. Cox: I think, by the grace of God, we're gonna be okay. Oh, and from now on, whenever I'm in the room Barbie, you're definitely not allowed to talk.

• * * * * *
  Dr. Cox: It's regular-strength Tylenol! Here's what'cha do: Get her to open her mouth, take a handful, and throw it at her. Whatever sticks, that's the correct dosage
• * * * * *
  J.D.: How's it going?
  Janitor: I'm 37 years old, and I'm a janitor; how do you think it's going?
  J.D.: Now, there is nothing wrong with being a janitor.
  Janitor: Really? Thank you. You...you've turned my life around. I'm gonna have to go tell my janitor wife and all our janitor kids that life is worth living; and that comes straight from our hero, Dr. Whoozitz.... Dr. Nothin'.
  J.D., tired of being mocked, closes his chart and walks past
  Janitor: [continuing] No, seriously, come on. You can come over to my humble house and point out things that are cheap.

* * * * * *
Elliot: Just because I occasionally say something stupid doesn't mean I'm in the hospital going door to door annoying people, like some crazed Jehovah's Witness.
J.D. uncomfortably gestures towards Turk, who has been sitting on the couch next to Elliot reading the paper.
Elliot: [to Turk] Oh. You're not?
Turk: No.
Elliot laughs, relieved.
Turk: But my mother is.
He gets off the couch and leaves the room as Elliot chokes on her beverage.
J.D: He's black, too. You should tease him about that.* * * * * *
JD: Oh, Dr. Cox, I know I'm being annoying. But I--I'm really getting used to talking to patients. I mean, this is why I became a doctor, right? Right?
Dr. Cox: I heard "I know I'm being annoying," and then...white noise.

* * * * * *
Carla: [reading one of the prescriptions she was sorting] "Take two Turks as needed, apply to sensitive area..." Who wrote this?
Turk: [stepping from around the corner] Oh come on, Carla; give me one good reason why you won't go out with me.
Carla: Well, you're a surgeon. So, you've got the god-complex, the cockiness, the whole "married to the job" thing. You're cute, but you're very, very aware of it. You have no idea what I'm like, so all of your feelings for me are coming from [she points to his midsection] down there. But most of all, I'm looking for the real thing; and you're nothing but a little boy who's not used to being told "No." So there's a bunch of reasons. Pick your favourite.
J.D.: I'd go with the "god-complex".
Turk shoots him a look.
J.D.: But it's hard to choose, you know, they're all so good.

* * * * * *
JD turns up at Dr. Cox’s house to try and reach the “real” him.
Dr. Cox: Well, actually, you have a point. [he sits on the couch next to J.D.] I guess watching the game by yourself with a scotch isn't, really, the only way to watch a game, huh. I don't know. I just, I've always thought of needing people as a sign of weakness.
J.D.: It's not.
Dr. Cox: Then, would you stay... and watch the game with me? Maybe have a slice of pizza?
J.D.: [smiling] Of course I will.
Dr. Cox: I can braid your hair.
J.D. looks worried
Dr. Cox: [turning] No, I know the couch isn't very deep, but we can move the back cushion... and spoon.
J.D. looks terrified. Just then, Cox's front door opens, and several men happily walk in and greet him.
Dr. Cox: Hey, guys, whatta ya say. Beer and chips in the back.
The guys move on.
Dr. Cox: [to J.D.] Just ignore them. Will you tell me the answer to this question: Do you want to be the big spoon, or the little spoon?

If you want to read more then go to www.scrubs.mopnt.com. A Scrubs DVD is due out soon but no dates or price as yet.
 

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