Scrubs: The New Class

The transformation is almost complete. John Dorian has become Eric Forman. The Janitor has become Richie Cunningham, Elliot Reid is the new Zach Morris, and Bob Kelso has become...well, Kelso.

You can track down a plethora of names from past TV characters who left their arena before the show crashed and burned without them. Happy Days had Fonzi but they lost Richie. That 70's Show had Fez, but lost Kelso and Forman. Scrubs has Turk and Dr. Cox, but no longer has JD, Janitor and Elliot. Welcome to Scrubs Version 2.0, the hospital version of Saved By The Bell: The New Class. Or, you can just call it the new ER. Just like when George Clooney and the other original stars of ER left for superstardom, Scrubs is hoping to retool its character base and plot heading into its ninth season.

Gone is Sacred Heart. It's been replaced by a slick, modern hospital, which is a stark contrast to the haunting halls of the SH. Gone is Kelso. The new leadership team of Dr. Cox and Turk are in charge. Gone are JD and Elliot, although at least Zach Braff is guaranteed to appear in six episodes. And, finally, gone is the Janitor. He, or Neil Flynn, has his own sitcom now, but he stated last week that he hopes to make one more appearance on the show.

Jan-i-tor summed it up best at the press junket for his new vehicle, The Middle. "We were done," he noted. "The show ended and we were free to go and find other employment, but then it started up again. I'm done with Scrubs, but I'll probably show up one more time." Asked what happened to the Janitor, Flynn quipped he's "moved to Indiana and has 3 nice children," a reference to his new pilot. I am proud to call Janitor a fellow Hoosier patriot.

Nevertheless, although some things change, others remain distinctly the same. The title won't change, the humor style remains, and Dr. Cox remains Dr. Cox. Turk, also known as Donald Faison outside of my blog, granted an interview to IGN just two weeks before Scrubs begins shooting the new season. Turk said that he's the new Mr. Belding and Dr. Cox is the new Screech, referring to the show's parallel with Saved By The Bell: The New Class.

Turk cites Fraiser's departure from Cheers to form his own hit show as the dream for the people who stayed on with Scrubs. But, even Turk tried to get his own new show before Scrubs was renewed. Turk and Cedric The Entertainer tried to combine comedic efforts to get a pilot but the show flopped, leaving Turk without a job until Scrubs creater Bill Lawrence came a-callin' with a new offer to be the headliner of Scrubs. For the unemployed Turkleton, it was a no-brainer.

So let the moral dilemma begin. Biblical characters had it easier than this. What am I supposed to do when my all-time favorite show splits in half, moves to a new location, but is still featuring Dr. Cox? Well, let's go through this slowly:

1) This isn't Scrubs. I don't care if they call it the same name or even have the same intro music and video, this is NOT Scrubs. Repeat that after your daily prayer. When a sitcom changes locations, it is no longer that show. That's 70's Show, through all its faults in the last two seasons, at least kept the basement in tact so the show could remain a shell of its former self. But when you change buildings and change charcters, it's not the same show. Only in porn can you change the backdrop of a scene and get the same effect. Unfortunately, Scrubs isn't a porn. Or isn't it?

2) I really thought the show could go on without Zach Braff. Everybody knew he'd be the first to leave at some point so he focus on directing and starring in feature films, but no one knew that if he took half the cast with him, they'd still make the show. No JD or Janitor? No Elliot? Yes, these characters ran their course. There was not much else to explore as we knew JD still struggled to mature even though he fathered a child, while Janitor got married and the relationship between JD and Elliot had climaxed, so it was time to go out in a blaze of glory like the final episode of the eighth season. So, Scrubs isn't Scrubs without them. I'm not sure what else Dr. Cox can even offer. Maybe Turk grows up and adds several dimensions to his "teenage" personality. Maybe he divorces Carla after he sleeps with the entire nursing staff. Maybe he and the Todd start a relationship. I don't know, the ideas are just flowing right now.

3) Speaking of the Todd, will any of the "part-time" players be back? I'm sure if Scrubs is offering a paycheck they will be on there way, but many of them could have found other dutiful employment while Lawrence twidled his thumbs contemplating whether to bring the show back. I can't imagine not seeing Beardface not walking the halls of Sacred Hea...oh year, wrong hospital.

4) I've already decided there will be a distinction in my own head between Scrubs, Seasons 1-8, and Scrubs 9-and-beyond. So will I follow this new incarnation as religiously as the past? Looking at my own viewing habits, the answer is probably not. I've given up on any show that changed characters between seasons with the exception being triumphant show of this decade, aka The Wire. It's a complex of getting too familiar and too fanatical with the original, and not being able to ever accept the second act as better than the first. Let's include my obligatory Beatles reference here. When George helped John record on his album Imagine, even though it was with a different band and different styles of music from the Beatles, it's still compared to the Beatles. Unfortunately, it has no chance of being as good, better or more valuable then anything the Beatles created. I wanted to watch this new Scrubs version with open arms, but I'll always compare it to the original and it will come up short. It's just the way it works. Blame God.

So Scrubs is the 2009 version of 1993's Saved By The Bell: The New Class. As bad as that sounds, it actually is a good omen. The last incarnation of SBTB lasted a hearty seven effin' seasons. Seven! That show stayed on the air from 1993-2000. I swear that I was alive during those years but have no recollection of this event taking place. If you had given me the over/under on how many seasons it had lasted, I would have said "under 1" as I was certain it was canceled halfway through it's initial run. But it demonstrates how much knowledge I have about TV -- zilch. Maybe Scrubs: The New Class goes on to better even the original Scrubs in content and in ratings. But for me, the curtain has closed.

As John Lennon once said, "the dream is over" (I knew I could sneak a second Beatle reference in there).