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Scrubs (TV series)

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Scrubs are the shirts and pants worn by doctors, nurses, and others after "scrubbing in" for surgery. The wearing of scrubs has been extended outside of surgery in some hospitals.

Scrubs is an American sitcom on NBC created by Bill Lawrence, who also co-created Spin City. Since its debut in 2001, it has centered on the professional and personal lives of several characters working at a hospital in an unspecified city. The show distinguishes itself from other sitcoms through its use of narration, unusually verbose characters, abrupt segues between subplots, scenes of surreal escapism (usually presented as the thoughts of the main character), and poignant scenes where the characters address how doctors deal with death, the delivery of dire diagnoses, and other hospital-related issues. It also lacks a laugh track, a typical device in most sitcoms. The show plays in the fictional "Sacred Heart Hospital".

The cast includes:

  • Dr. John 'J.D.' Dorian (Zach Braff), the affably nerdish narrator and main character, initially, an intern, who provides the narration most of the time.
  • Dr. Elliott Reid (Sarah Chalke), initially, a fellow intern at the hospital. Their relationship provides the requisite sexual tension.
  • Dr. Christopher 'Chris' Turk (Donald Faison), J.D.'s best friend, a surgeon.
  • Nurse Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes), a strong-willed nurse and Turk's girlfriend, later fiancee and then wife.
  • Dr. Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins), the truculent chief of medicine for the hospital.
  • Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley), J.D.'s sarcastic, bitter mentor, who routinely belittles him, and addresses him using traditionally feminine names, or occasionally, classic dog names.
  • The unnamed janitor (Neil Flynn), who has made it his business to terrorize J.D.

In the 2003-2004 season, Michael J. Fox, former star of Spin City, returned to television for a two-episode role. Other recurring roles have been played by Tom Cavanagh, Scott Foley, Brendan Fraser, Heather Locklear, Christa Miller, Tara Reid, Freddy Rodríguez, Amy Smart and Heather Graham.

Sean Hayes, D.L. Hughley, Christopher Meloni, Jay Mohr, Ryan Reynolds, John Ritter, Alan Ruck (who previously worked with Bill Lawrence on "Spin City"), Rick Schroder, Nicole Sullivan, Dick Van Dyke, Jimmie Walker, and Kelli Williams have also guest-starred.

As most of the episodes are narrated by J.D., the episode titles usually start with "My...". As of October 2004 three episodes have been narrated by other characters : "His Story" (narrated by Dr. Cox); "His Story II" (Turk) and "Her Story" (Elliott).

A 2002 episode "My Old Lady" won a Humanitas Prize in the 30 Minute Category. Also in 2002, it won an Artios award for Best Casting for TV, Comedy Pilot from the Casting Society of America. In 2003, it won the BMI TV Music Award. It has been nominated for three Emmys, and numerous other awards.