So -- as alluded to in Part One, I say "Scrubs" is superior to all the preceding medical dramas in authentically depicting hospital janitor-lawyer-nurse-physician-board member relations. But drama? Wait - isn't it a comedy series?
Well, yes. Scrubs, like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, makes me laugh out loud. But goofy sight gags and witty twists of phrase, silly puns and spontaneous a capella singing aside, Scrubs delivers depth, character development, and a genuineness that House, ER and Grey's Anatomy could only hope to achieve.
The evidence:
1. The lyrics to "I'm no Superman," the opening song, relate to the recurring theme of all the characters' fallibility. No character is singularly smart, effective, or self-assured. It's probably no accident that the chest x-ray over which the title appears is backwards.
(See the heart? That bulge to the left side of the spine? Wrong. An xray is viewed as if you are staring right through the person; not like you are standing behind them. But the lungs are clear and there is no pleural effusion, and that's good.)2. GREAT writing. I mean GREAT. Only great writing could weave the weighty theme of every episode into the comedic fabric woven by Eliot's persistent lack of self-confidence, Carla's feisty Latina smarts, Turk's silly affection for his best friend, J.D., and J.D.'s narration that tells the audience his thoughts, culminating in a life lesson explored in each episode. Glimpses of the hilarious surreal fantasies in J.D.'s head add further texture to the story.
3. Speaking of weighty themes, Scrubs broaches taboos that Law & Order: SVU would not dare. Victims are not one-episode guest stars. Victims are everywhere, as in the real world. There are no reliable white male heroes. We learn in season 5 that Dr. Cox's harsh cynicism is rooted in his abusive childhood. His parents, we learn, were alcoholics who amused themselves by throwing baby bottles at him. After Carla gives birth during season 6, she is reluctant to return home with her baby, convinced she's incompetent as a mother, due to postpartum depression. This is not your usual comedy.
4. Carla. I love Carla. Level-headed, capable, self-doubting, loyal, sweet, and under-appreciated, she represents every nurse. No matter that the intensive care unit, oncology, pediatrics, and emergency department appear in the same location, and Carla's capable of nursing in all those specialty areas. I allow this inaccuracy to pass by me, because Carla and other characters don't take themselves seriously enough to invite such scrutiny. This is comedy, after all, so I suspend disbelief and go on loving her wisdom, compassion, and ability. Carla is so NOT the stereotypical television nurse. She's verbal - she advocates for her patients, she says so if the doc is wrong, she schools Turk and J.D. in the worlds of compassion, ethnicity, loyalty, and self-knowledge. She cleaves to fellow nurse Laverne's side, although Laverne shows she's been around the block a few times and can be as harsh as Dr. Cox. Carla is a genuine nurse hero; the first one I've ever seen on television.
5. My praise for Scrubs would be flawed without mention of The Janitor. The Janitor: mysterious, learned, menacing, and, once in a while, kind. No one knows his name. We've gotten hints of his past, but we don't know if he's pulling our leg or if his parents really were neglectful miscreants. And where did he gain all the arcane knowledge that slips out of him occasionally in conversation? Every drama needs mystery - the janitor provides it in bucketloads.
Rumor has it that Scrubs is going off the air after this season, its eighth. This "comedy" made me cry when Nurse Laverne died. I'll miss it.
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Anyway -- some fondly remembered highlights:
* An all-musical episode (a mini-opera, really) that featured Rikki Lake and included an hilarious number about constipation. The choreography was worthy of Broadway.
* The final scene of Eliot's dream-come-true romance with the dolphinc trainer at Sea World or wherever, in which they smooch while behind them a pair of dolphins erupt from the water and create a giant "heart" that frames them. I've seen synchronous dolphins before, but never synchronous dolphins-humans.
* The Brendan Frazier - leukemia episodes. As you said, such terrific -- and daring -- writing is a seems commonplace on Scrubs.
I could go on. But here's my two cents on why this is such a great hospital program, even compared to the "acknowledged" dramas that you so ably examine. Those shows are visually (though hardly realistically) authentic and they seem to value the appearance of authenticity above everything else. What Scrubs does, by being a wild-eyed comedy is explode the self-imposed limits of that drive for authenticity as deftly and radically as playwrights such as Pirandello did to the well-made play. Nothing on "Scrubs" is bound by expectation or TV's notion of realistic drama. It can say and do anything, and it does, with finesse and heart. It's free to be more than factual -- it's truthful.
That the show ever got made is a shock. That it has survived this long is a miracle, and a welcome one. So I raise a glass to "Scrubs," its creator, writers and hyper-talented cast and to a courageous approach to comedy that often makes us laugh until we cry.
http://open.salon.com/blog/scott_mendelson/2009/01/09/scrubs_tvs_best_show_returns_in_peak_form
Scott
Scott, nice to hear from you. Come here again and read further, if you like.
Dustbowldiva, Carla is a nurse hero! Watch her before she goes off the air! (Although of course Scrubs will be in reruns for years.) Carla struggled with the decision to further her education - not in medical school, no - as a nurse practitioner! Woohoo Scrubs!! Way to acknowledge our profession!!