Scrubs Will Survive to Someday Witness the Onslaught of Our New Robot Commanders

Seriously. I mean, c’mon.

Scrubs has been renewed again? Who is still watching this show? I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had conversations with friends, like surely many of you have, where the phrase “Yeah, that show’s kinda funny,” was mentioned. Cut to: eleven years later. If anyone tries to tell you the American sitcom is dead, drag out Scrubs. Because apparently, it’s indestructable

Let me break down the Scrubs saga for you. And you can take this to the bank. The Bank of Television Opinions. Which doesn’t really exist. Yet. 

The show premiered in 2001, after Friends. A solid lead-in. I don’t think anyone’s going to dispute that.  At the time, it was an interesting diversion. A cast of wacky doctors-to-be having hilarious daydreams and dealing with the frenetic environment of a hospital. All well and good. And at the time, I guarantee the people you know who were loving it the most were medical students and nurses. Because there’s a lot of those. You all know at least one. And people in the medical industry seemed to find it hilarious (funny because it’s true). Plus, it wasn’t altogether unfunny. So for the first few seasons, it was relatable to a lot of people in this country. The cast was fresh, good-looking. Entertaining enough. No reason it shouldn’t stay on. Everyone wins.

Let’s say that good feeling lasted for, oh, three seasons. Then our collective interest, those of us who were not nurses, doctors or med students, began to wane. Formulas began to show through — the “comedy + comedy + here’s-the-life-lesson-I-learned” equation was one, the “I’m-a-mean-doctor-to-you-but overall-it’s-only-because-I-actually-care” being another. This, I suspect, is when the show’s ratings began to drop. Again, it still wasn’t unfunny. But the schtick was aging.

Then a funny thing happened. In 2004, male Scrubs lead Zach Braff had a huge indie hit with Garden State. And for a bit, it looked like Zach Braff was going to be a star (this was before he would go on to tank all that with The Last Kiss a few years later). Okay. Now, you’re NBC. Here’s a show on the ropes. But suddenly the lead in your faltering show is going to be a big star. So let’s keep it on the air, right? Because if you’re NBC, having a movie star stay on board your show is a big plus — not like that sonofabitch Clooney. And also, we can always just return to the equations (see above). So let’s let it ride.

Alright. Now we’re cooking. Big star in the lead. The show’s coasting on a comfortable groove. Now we begin to trot in the hot love interests for Braff. Tara Reid (pre-skank). Heather Graham and Elizabeth Banks (interchangeable, really). Suddenly Braff’s new celebrity status is bringing lots of other Hollywood folk to the table, and as we all know, that guarantees at least another season or two.

Now, we’re at about 2006. The show, again, is on its last legs. But wait. Here comes Comedy Central, to buy up all the syndicated episodes, which they proceed to air every second of every day. Suddenly, people who hadn’t watched Scrubs in years were catching an episode here and there again. People at gym stairmasters put it on their little gym stairmaster TVs. And before you know it, people are watching the show again. Which means people start watching the current season again. And once again, the all-too-cute cast is saved from execution.

Oh, but then the writers’ strike hits in 2007. Too bad for scripted shows like Scrubs, which is finally axed by NBC. Game over for Braff and friends. So let’s wrap this thing up with a nice little finale, again following the comedy + comedy + life lesson formula, only for this one let’s really trump up the life lesson. And the cast rides off into the sunset. Finally.

Meanwhile, as the strike nears its resolve, ABC looks around and thinks to themselves “no one is watching our network. We have no hits aside from Lost.” An executive realizes that Scrubs, although not really great anymore, must be okay if someone is still watching it (doctors/nurses/med students/stairmaster users). Said executive comes up with the great idea of just buying the show and leaving it on the air. Better than nothing, or crap, right?

So the cast comes back again, this time at ABC. The alphabet network doesn’t really have any place for it, so they just stick it in the lineup here and there — one week on a Monday, the next week on Tuesday, back-to-back episodes the next Monday again, maybe a Thursday here and there — and the show drags on like Old Yeller without the mercy. The cast is all forty years old now, still playing cute. It’s like St. Nowhere. 

That brings us to today, where Scrubs has been renewed — again — for a ninth season. I can’t imagine this comes as a relief to even the stars at this point. Somewhere, I have to believe even Zach Braff is sitting in his Hybird at a Hollywood red light, texting “WTF?” to Donald Faison on the set of his latest direct-to-video Anthony Anderson buddy comedy.  And WTF, indeed. There literally has never been an American show this fortuitous in the entire history of television. 

Oh, but hey, doctors, nurses and medical students. Enjoy!

Link: Scrubs Officially Scrubs in for a Ninth Season (E! Online)