Starring:
Zach Braff as Dr. John ‘J.D.’ Dorian
Donald Faison as Chris “Turkelton” Turk, M.D.
John C. McGinley as Perry Cox, M.D.
Neil Flynn as The Janitor
Ken Jenkins as Bob Kelso, M.D.
Judy Reyes as Carla Espinosa, R.N.
Sarah Chalke as Dr. Elliot Reid
Special Features:
All 24 episodes from the 2001-02 season
Newbies – A retrospective on the actors before they were cast
The Doctor Is In – one on one with Zach Braff
Not Just Another Medical Show – making-of featurette
Favorite Moments – cast and crew on their favorite episodes
Alternate Lines: A Second Opinion – shows the cast’s unique ability to improvise
Audio Commentaries with creator and cast
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
“Superman” Music Video
Other Info:
Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Dolby Digital
Synopsis:
The following is from the DVD cover:
“Check into the surreal world of Sacred Heart Hospital, where the staff is bizarre and the laughter is contagious. Fresh-faced J.D. (Zach Braff) and his fellow new medical residents weave their way through each unpredictable day with hilarious results. SCRUBS is “a masterpiece,” raves Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe. Now relive all 24 episodes of the groundbreaking show’s highly acclaimed first season. With a host of great bonus features, including deleted scenes and a fascinating retrospective documentary, this spectacular three-DVD set is off-the-charts entertainment you’ll want to watch over and over again.”
Scrubs: The Complete First Season is rated TV-14.
The Series:
I watched a couple of episodes of Scrubs when it first aired, but I have to admit that I wasn’t very impressed. I thought the show was a bit snarky and sarcastic for my tastes. But over the years I’ve caught more and more episodes and I’ve enjoyed it more each time. Now I have the whole first season to go back and enjoy with a new perspective.
If you’re a fan of the show, then you already know whether you want to buy this DVD or not. If you’ve never watched Scrubs, then you may want to check it out. It’s essentially a sitcom version of ER. Take that show and cross it with the fast paced comedy of Malcom in the Middle or Arrested Development and you have Scrubs. Besides the comedy of the trials and tribulations that medical residents face, a big part of the show is a series of fantasy sequences as viewed by J.D. The scenes do everything from parody films to being cartoon extreme interpretations of the situations. You just have to see it to believe it. Scrubs is also rather free form in that they throw in a bit of drama among all the wacky moments. It was a bit of a risky experiment, but it worked.
Scrubs features a great cast. Leading them is Zach Braff as Dr. John ‘J.D.’ Dorian. Braff acts as the eyes and ears of the audience guiding them through each episode. He’s great at comedy and it’s easy to see why he went on to gain fame in bigger roles (like Garden State, the film he wrote, directed, and starred in). Joining him is sidekick Donald Faison as Chris “Turkelton” Turk. You may remember him best from Clueless. Braff and Faison have great chemistry together and really come across as best friends. Sarah Chalke is also excellent as Dr. Elliot Reid. (She was the second Becky on the TV show Roseanne.) Chalke is spirited, funny, and fast-talking. She’s a great on-again off-again love interest for J.D. John C. McGinley is good as Perry Cox. He’s alternately good and evil, so it’s a bit hard to pin down his character. His insults and barbs are often some of the biggest laughs on the show. Rounding out the main cast are Neil Flynn as the psychotic Janitor, Ken Jenkins as the evil Bob Kelso, and Judy Reyes as the sassy nurse Carla Espinosa. Scrubs also features a lot of great guest stars. Look for John Ritter as J.D.’s father in “My Old Man”. Also look for a St. Elsewhere tribute in cameos by William Daniels, Ed Begley, Jr., Stephen Furst, and Eric Laneuville. Jimmie Walker can also be seen in a lot of cameos throughout the show. Brendan Fraser also has a memorable guest appearance as a leukemia patient.
If you like comedies or medical dramas, then Scrubs is a show you’ll want to check out at least once. You may be pleased to find a “Must See” show worth viewing.
The Extras:
For a TV show DVD, this set has a great selection of bonus features:
Newbies In this feature every cast member is interviewed. They talk about their characters, how they auditioned for the roles, and more. Everyone from J.D. to the Janitor is interviewed. The featurette also interviews series creator Bill Lawrence as well as his real life inspirations for the show.
The Doctor Is In This is an extensive interview with Zach Braff. He discusses what life on the set is like, how he got the part of J.D., and other such goodness.
Not Just Another Medical Show This is a “making of” feature showing the actual closed hospital that they film at, secrets of the show, medical advisors, and other stuff.
Favorite Moments As you can guess from the title, the cast and crew share their favorite moments from the series. It’s a fun highlight reel of sorts.
Alternate Lines: A Second Opinion This featurette shows the cast members improvising on the show. Alternate takes of various scenes are shown. They mostly feature Braff, John C. McGinley, and Neil Flynn.
Audio Commentaries with creator and cast Quite a few of the episodes have commentaries on this DVD. Bill Lawrence is on most of them accompanied by various cast members. In the commentary with Braff, the two actually have the flu and suffer through the discussion yet still manage to be funny.
Deleted Scenes Most of the deleted scene are extremely brief, but there are a lot of them. The most memorable of the lot for me was a scene where Dr. Perry Cox puts a man who thinks he’s Jesus in the same room with a man who believes he’s Satan. Hijinks ensue.
Outtakes This is your standard blooper reel with flubbed lines, laughing, and other such goodness.
“Superman” Music Video This is the full version of the opening song. The band that sings it is shown on the Scrubs set while clips from the show play.
The Bottom Line:
With a good cast and a lot of laughs, Scrubs is a fast-paced comedy that’s well worth checking out if you missed it on TV.
