I don’t want no (more) Scrubs: why the hospital comedy dragged on too long

They say laughter is the best medicine, but a “doctor doctor” joke isn’t going to help much if you have been run over by a truck. Which is probably why most hospital TV shows are largely guffaw-free. There was nothing to chuckle about in ER or Grey’s Anatomy, little to tickle your ribs in Casualty and Holby City, while the aisles remained roll-free in House. Even Doogie Howser, MD wasn’t that funny. But that’s because Doogie was 14, and you were eight.

Scrubs pitched itself as a medical comedy-drama. Not by accidentally slipping on a mislaid colostomy bag and yanking out the power to a life-support machine, but by way of the cartoon characters, each with idiosyncrasies jammed to the max. Life at Sacred Heart hospital is viewed through the inner monologue, hallucinations and flashbacks of new intern John “JD” Dorian (Zach Braff). Love interest and fellow intern Elliot is a mouth-not-wired-to-brain chatterbox. Surgical intern Turk plays jock to JD’s nerd, accompanied by nurse girlfriend Carla. Physician Dr Cox has had all emotion replaced by searing, apathetic wit. Dr Kelso is the hard-nosed chief of medicine. The hospital janitor is bonkers. Difficult matters like mortality are still dealt with (notably the death of Cox’s best friend in series three), but so are taboo subjects such as falling in love with a coma patient’s wife. It’s all done with humour, but also the poignancy such subjects deserve.

Scrubs ran on NBC for seven seasons between 2001 and 2008, with the gang qualifying as proper doctors in series four, and finished on a terrible episode in which hospital life was reimagined as a medieval fairytale. ABC picked up the show for one final “oh-go-on-then-but-that’s-definitely-it” eighth series, bunging in Monica from Friends as the new chief of medicine. In the double-episode finale, JD completes his final shift at Sacred Heart while hallucinating as many ex-girlfriend, former patient and ex-work colleague bit-part characters from seasons gone by that the programme-makers could track down and crowbar in. He then fantasises a three-minute montage of his future projected on to the giant “Goodbye JD” banner hanging outside Sacred Heart. He is married with children to Elliot, shares Christmas with the Turks, and even Dr Cox is around to shrug off a festive jumper yuletide hug.

But that wasn’t goodbye, merely au revoir. Scrubs was exhumed from its grave for a ninth season and semi-rebooted as Scrubs: Med School. This focused on a gaggle of fresh-faced medical students about whom it was hard to care, especially when one of them was Dave Franco. JD, Turk, Cox and Kelso cameoed as teachers, but you could see the “what-the-arse-are-we-doing-here?” looks on the actors’ faces. New med student Lucy’s inner monologue now narrated each episode. Luckily, series nine only lasted 13 episodes before someone did the humane thing and pulled the plug on this dying hospital comedy. So, here lies Scrubs. Gone, but not forgotten. Inner monologues will never be the same again. [Thinks]. Or will they? [Thinks again]. Er, no, they won’t.