Scrubs-Charming

July 24

Although the past few seasons Scrubs had descended slightly from the levels it had achieved in its first few brilliant seasons, its final season managed to recover afair amount of its previous charm. Buoyed by several new interns there was some fresh blood in the cast and there were a lot of nice storylines to keep the interest up. There was an expected resolution of JD and Elliott's story. And we even sorta, kinda learned (maybe) the Janitor's name (Tony).

There is some talk that there might be either a Season Nine of Scrubs , with significant cast changes. But I hope that doesn't take place. Better to have a show go away with some gas in the tank than have it continue on fumes.

Scrubs 8 saw a lot of major changes. With Bob Kelso gone and no longer head of surgery, Perry Cox becomes the new head of Sacred Heart. Ted actually finds a girlfriend (a ukulele abusing one to boot). Turk becomes chief of surgery while he and Carla expect their second child. And Janitor finds a woman of his own (known as "Lady") and gets married. But the biggest changes involve JD and Elliott. They get back together and unlike in the past, JD doesn't panic at all, but instead delights in being with her, even embracing all her eccentricities. And the final big change involves JD leaving Sacred Heart so that he can live closer to his son (with Elliott sneakily moving in with him by slowly sneaking her stuff into his place). The series began with JD preparing for his first day at Sacred Heart and the series ends with him leaving. And in a cameo that puts one in mind of J. Michael Straczynski's showing up at the end of BABYLON 5 and Ron Moore popping up at the very end of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, Scrubsâ€™ creator Bill Lawrence shows up in the final scene.

I'm going to miss this show . At its best it was one of the most refreshing, inventive comedies on TV. Even at its worst it was at least enjoyable. I'll miss all the characters and I'll even miss Sacred Heart itself. They actually bought a closing hospital in which to film the show and house the production company offices. The result was a feeling of concreteness and reality that none of the dramatic hospital series on TV could fully match, wedded as they were to sets rather than locations. The Sacred Heart grounds were something that they had complete access to, rather than something that they just visited. The cars on the lot were probably those of the actors and production crew. The whole show just seemed at home.

The good news is that we got eight whole seasons . This translates in to lots of DVDs that we can watch and rewatch. The show has ended but it won't really be going away.

Well, looks like Scrubs is going to be back in Season Nine. Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke will be back for six episodes to provide a transition to new doctors (the interns of Season Eight?) to take center stage on the show . Donald Faison (Turk--though, do we really want Turk without JD?--having Turk go on without JD would seem to belie the joined-at-the-hip mythology of the past 8 years), John C. McGinley (Cox), and Neil Flynn (Janitor) will be back if their new pilots aren't picked up, and I assume the rest of the cast will be back. But I'm not terribly excited at this point about Scrubs without JD, Elliott, and Turk-on-his-own-without-JD. But I'll give it a try. Also, it undercuts what was a near perfect finale episode.

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