I'm No Superman (Scrubs)

Member Name: pablodiablo

Product:	Scrubs
Date:	02/04/02 (1933 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: HIlarious, touching., Bizarre,The janitor., Quotable ( WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG< WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG) ( watch episode 9)

Disadvantages: Sometimes wonder years style voiceover is annoying

Scrubs is a new comedy created by Bill Lawrence (spin city) and directed by Adam Bernstein ( the incredible 'oz' ) and at first hearing about it i believed it had as much chance of being any good as eldorado has of returning to a bbc1 primetime slot. The show is based in a surreal hospital where the staff are sicker (in the head) than the patients. The star of the show is John 'jd' Dorian (Zach Braff, manhattan murder mystery) a fresh faced intern who is thrust into this strange world. His best friend Chris Turk (Donald Faison, clueless), a highly skilled surgeon who is dating the feisty Carla Espinosa (judy reyes, the sopranos), a nurse who is a bit of a motherly figure to JD. Fellow fresh faced intern Elliot Reid (sarah clarke, roseane, one of the beckys) is well meaning and very skilled but has a habit of annoying everyone. JDS' 'mentor' is Dr Cox (john c mcginley, any given sunday, platoon), a hard faced doctor who has a heart of gold, very deep down.

Now these characters seem to be the base of a slightly formulaic comedy, think of that terrible comedy 'nurses' that used to be on channel 4. However, the creator has given the show a twist by injecting fantasy sequences, a bit like ally mcbeal. So a joke will be given that extra kick by backing it up with a ridiculous sequence, nothing is what it seems. Take Dr Bob Kelso (ken jenkins, the abyss, i am sam), the guy in charge is an uncaring ruthless man who cares more about the money than the patients. His personality clashes with Dr Cox who has no respect for the rules and does whatever he likes as long as it is good for the patients. It's these kinds of relationships that give the show its hidden depth.

The show is narrated by JD in a style that, at times can be annoying with its daily lesson style 'i've learnt something today', the performance cannot be faulted. In fact everyone who is on this programme is exceptional. My favourite character
is the janitor (Neill Flynn) who, for some unknown reason, intensely dislikes JD. Every time he sees him he has some comment or insult for no reason. The way he plays it really straight means he is menacing but also hilarious ( trust me, watch a few episodes and you'll see what i mean ).

As i said earlier the shows strong point is its relationships and the central one is that between JD and Dr Cox. As JDs' mentor Dr Cox is very hard on him and at first seems to intensely dislike him. This is the way he is with everyone, he has a very dry sense of humour but as the series has gone on we can see that he is warming to JD. He seems to see him as a son and is trying to make him be the best and to teach him valuable lessons. Thats the reason i love this show, it's got heart and can move the viewer without being dawsons creek style slushy. Sure we can guess what the lesson of the day will be well before the end of each episode, but the journey always has a few twists in it.

This show is great, and i would recommend to anyone who likes a chuckle but likes to think as well. As it is described in the promo ' its like ER but half as long and twice as funny ' or as Bill LAwrences' mother describes it ' M*A*S*H meets Wonder Years ' you watch it and decide.



Oh its on Sky One on thurday at 10:00 ( after buffy and angel, thursdays are great). and is 11 shows into the 1st series. In america they are on episode 20 so there are a lot of episodes. A second series has been commisioned.

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