As a millennial born in the early 1990s, I was privileged enough to witness television shifting from a medium seen as ‘beneath’ cinema, to a respected art form that can go toe-to-toe creatively with what the silver screen has to offer. While much of the credit goes to the likes of The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men, whose influences resonate to this day, one show that doesn’t get enough credit during the movement’s early years is the medical sitcom Scrubs.
While it must be said that I don’t consider Scrubs to be in the same tier as these groundbreaking shows, I still believe it is, to this day, one of the most unique TV comedies ever made. So much so, I believe you would be hard pressed to find another comedy with a similar combination of zany characters, unpredictably hilarious day-dreaming sequences, and a tone so gracefully handled that it was still able to deliver some of the most emotionally resonant scenes ever in a workplace comedy.
And remember, this show was doing its thing on American television thing before the likes of The Office and Parks and Recreation ever came along. In fact, the closest thing to Scrubs today is Ted Lasso, which was co-created by the creator and showrunner of Scrubs, Bill Lawrence, who has been confirmed to be returning for the recently announced revival of the hit show as a producer, while Tim Hobert and Aseem Batra, former scribes and producers on the original show, will serve as its showrunners.
Bear in mind, this is not exactly the first time Scrubs has been revived. Right after the show had come to its natural (and well-conceived) conclusion in 2008, it was decided that Scrubs would return for a ninth season in 2009, which focused on a largely new cast of doctors (which included a very young Dave Franco) in a medical school led by Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley). Sadly, the new structure fell rather flat, something even the show’s original lead, Zach Braff, admitted in a Facebook post at the time, saying, “It appears that ‘New Scrubs’, ‘Scrubs 2.0’, ‘Scrubs with new kids’, ‘Scrubbier’, ‘Scrubs without JD’ is no more. It was worth a try, but alas… it didn’t work.” The unceremonious ninth season was made much too soon after the show’s initial finale, and more recently Braff admitted that the staff were “exhausted” and that the show had begun to repeat jokes.
Yet, now feels like the right time to bring back the beloved cult classic show, especially as the original show seems to have somewhat slipped outside of pop cultural discourse. What’s more, the core trio of Braff, Donald Faison, and Canadian actress Sarah Chalke are confirmed to be returning, under a promising premise that, according to Deadline, will see them returning to Sacred Heart Hospital as they navigate a medical field that has changed over time. It also notes that JD (Braff) and Turk’s (Faison) endearing “bromance has stood the test of time,” but what’s even more enticing is that Deadline also notes that “Characters new and old navigate the waters of Sacred Heart,” indicating that we are going to see even more classic characters from the original series.
Who that might be, however, remains to be seen, as the central three actors are the only original cast members confirmed to be returning, though Judy Reyes, who played Sacred Heart nurse and Turk’s eventual wife, Carla, has already expressed interest in returning. Less certain are fan favourites Dr. Perry Cox and the Janitor (Niel Flynn), but their return has not been ruled out yet. However, one beloved character who will sadly not be returning is hopeless hospital lawyer Ted Buckland, as the actor who portrayed him, Sam Lloyd, passed away in 2020.
Little else is known about the upcoming Scrubs revival, as the start date of its principal photography has not even been released yet. As things stand, a release some time 2026 is most likely.
So, stay tuned for more Scrubs news down the line!
