Scrubs: The TV Show

Most people think of scrubs as those plain uniforms doctors wear to work. Here, scrubs are people too.

The show started in 2001 on NBC and is soon to be in its ninth season on ABC. It's also in syndication on several channels, including Comedy Central, where you can watch it weeknights at 7pm EST.

Scrubs follows the life of Dr. "JD" Dorian (Zach Braff) from the start of his career at Sacred Heart Hospital. He befriends several other characters, including fellow newbies Eliot Reid (Sarah Chalke) and Turk (Donald Faison). Dr. Cox, played by John C. McGinley, acts as a sort of mentor (even though he heavily denies it throughout the course of his biting rants) to the newbies, while Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins) plays the devilish, hated Head of Medicine.

Most of the show is told from JD's point of view towards his life, career, and the people he works with. He tends to daydream insane, yet hilarious, scenarios about how his life could be. JD looks to Dr. Cox as his mentor, fantasizes about his dream girl, Elliot, and parties with his chocolate bear, Turk.

Zach Braff was born to a Jewish family in New Jersey on April 6, 1975. His parents divorced and married others during his childhood. Zach graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Film. He wrote, directed, and starred in Garden State, which was released in 2004 and set in New Jersey. He has also directed several music videos, starred on other TV shows, and won a Grammy.

Filmography includes The Last Kiss, Chicken Little, The Broken Hearts Club, and The Ex.

Dr. Cox asserts an attitude of malcontent and irritation at his newbies. When angered (which is frequently), he tends to call men girl names, including, but not limited to, Nancy, Barbie, Shirley, Ellen, and Ginger. He's by far my favorite.

John C. McGinley was born in New York on August 3, 1959, and raised in New Jersey. He married Lauren Lambert, a production assistant. In 1997, they had a son, Max, who was born with Down Syndrome. However, the couple is now divorced. John lives in Malibu with his son and two dogs.

Filmography includes The Animal, Any Given Sunday, and Office Space.

His latest movie role is in Are We Done Yet? with Ice Cube. It hits theaters Wednesday, April 4th.

Elliot is most likely considered the most unstable of all the Scrubs crew. Since the beginning of the show, she has struggled to excel at Sacred Heart while odd situations and Dr. Cox's negative criticism try to hold her back. However, over the past few seasons, Elliot has changed her look, gotten a backbone, and stood up to all those meanies.

Sarah Chalke was born August 27, 1976, in Canada, where she was raised with two sisters. She is of German heritage, which is referenced frequently thru her character on Scrubs. In 1993, she took over the role of Becky on the hit sitcom Roseanne. She is currently engaged to entertainment lawyer Jaime Afifi.

Carla plays the part of a sassy, opinionated nurse of Dominican heritage. She's very maternal, taking JD under her wing and calling him Bambi. However, sometimes her instinct to help and protect her friends and colleagues comes off as being a busybody who likes to boss everyone around. Carla and Turk get married in season 3, and Carla gives birth to their first child, Isabella, in season 6.

Judy Reyes was born on November 5, 1968, in the Bronx. She became interested in acting while attending Hunter College in Manhattan. She is also credited as a founding member of the Labyrinth Theatre Company. She has 3 sisters, one of whom is a fraternal twin. Currently, she is married to Edwin Figueroa, a fellow actor.

In addition to her role on Scrubs, Judy has played parts on The Sopranos, NYPD Blue, Third Watch, and Oz.

Her movie roles include Dirty, King of the Corner, Washington Heights, and King of the Jungle.

Turk plays the part of an ambitious, confident surgeon and best friend to JD, who he met in college. His attitude and mood easily adapt to any situation: if his wife Carla is feeling down, he'll dance; if JD is going through chick problems, he's the voice of reason.

Donald Faison was born June 22, 1974, in NYC. His interest in acting began while he attended the Professional Children's School in New York.

In addition to Scrubs, he has appeared in Clueless (the movie & TV series), Waiting to Exhale, Uptown Girls, Can't Hardly Wait, Felicity, Robot Chicken (voice), Remember the Titans, and Punk'd, where he played a prank on real-life best friend Zach Braff (JD). He is currently working a new movie titled Homie Spumoni, in which he plays the main character.

Donald has 4 children: one with childhood friend Audrey Ince and 3 with Lisa Askey, whom he married in 2001 and divorced in 2005.

The Todd may be considered a sexual predator by some or just plain funny by most. He constantly utters sexual innuendos, double entrendres, and hilariously-lame pick-up lines. The Todd also has a tendency to high-five in every situation. A few famous fives include the Mental Five, Face Five (being slapped), Sterile Five, Fist Five, Miracle Five, and Euphemism Five. Despite his frat-boy attitude, The Todd is a highly skilled surgeon.

The real Todd, Robert Maschio, was born August 25, 1966, in New York, but grew up in Long Island. He graduated from Columbia University in 1988. He started his career in New York as a stand-up comedian and theater actor, but moved to Los Angeles to pursue a television.

Robert also appeared in Spin City, Veronica Mars, and As the World Turns.

Fun fact: He draws his inspiration for The Todd from Michael Richards' role as Kramer on Seinfeld.

No one knows what Janitor's real name is. What we do know is he is the lurking, plotting, hospital bully. His main focus is JD, partly due to his vulnerable nature and partly due to his encounter with Janitor on the first day of work at the hospital. Most of Janitor's bullying is prompted by sheer amusement, but some of his pranks (like locking Dr. Cox in the morgue for two hours) can be a bit severe. He is known to speak several different languages and dialects. Flashbacks reveal that his bullying and insecurity stems from his father and his career of choice influenced by his strict mother.

Neil Flynn was born November 13, 1960, in Chicago, and raised in a nearby suburb. After he graduated in 1982 from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, he moved back to Chicago to pursue an acting career. There, he performed with Goodman and Steppenwolf Theaters, ImprovOlympic, and the Second City Comedy Troupe.

In addition to Scrubs, Neil has also appeared on Seinfeld, CSI, Smallville, and That 70's Show. He's also appeared on The Drew Carey Show, where he played Christa Miller's husband.

Neil's movie credits include Mean Girls, Magnolia, Anchorman, and Rookie of the Year.

Ok, in actuality, Dr. Kelso may be Sacred Heart's resident devil. He's the greatly hated Chief of Medicine, and for good reason, too. He embraces nepotism, adultery, scams, and self-indulgence. He's made a whipping boy out of the hospital attorney, Ted. Kelso's main enemy remains to be the slightly more ethical Dr. Cox; the two constantly butt heads over everything from the hospital budget to putting deserving patients into medicine studies. It's hard to find a soft spot in his cold cold heart. However, in the second season, Dr. Cox pulls a prank that leads the staff to believe Kelso's dead, which really gets to him. Later, Elliot finds out he used to write country love songs for his wife Enid.

The man behind the horrible mask, Ken Jenkins, was born in Dayton, Ohio, on August 28, 1940. His acting career began in high school, and from there he went to Antioch College. During this time, Ken also performed on Broadway and co-founded the Actor's Theatre of Louisville in 1969. Throughout his 30 years in theater, he has been associated with approximately 300 different productions.

Aside from his role on Scrubs, Ken has guest-starred on The X-Files, Chicago Hope, Beverly Hills 90210, and NYPD Blue. His film credits include The Sum of All Fears, I Am Sam, Gone in Sixty Seconds, and the 1998 remake of Psycho.

Ken married actress Katharine Houghton in 1970, and the couple has three children, one of which, Daniel, is also an actor.

Fun fact: Dr. Kelso's dog on the show is Ken's real dog, Baxter.

To Dr. Cox, Jordan could possibly be evil incarnate. She is the only one to equal his acerbity, coldness, cruel comebacks, and overall unpleasant nature. The two are ex-husband and wife, though they got back together when Jordan became pregnant the first time. Originally, she was on the hospital's board of directors, which only required her presence every now and then. Recently, however, she became a full-time employee, thus spending more time at Sacred Heart and more time irritating Cox. She's a manic depressive who takes lots of medications and undergoes Botox regularly. Since her second pregnancy in the sixth season, she has become a little more pleasant and friends with Carla and Elliot.

Most of you know Christa Miller from The Drew Carey Show. She was born on May 28, 1964, in NYC to 1960's model Bonnie Trompeter. Her career began as a child modeling in commercials and advertisements. After attending the Convent of the Sacred Heart, she returned to modeling for a stint, but soon started acting classes and moved to Los Angeles, dropping modeling for good.

Christa has made appearances on Seinfeld, Clone High, Party of Five, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but her most noted role is that of Kate on The Drew Carey Show.

She is married to Scrubs creator, Bill Lawrence, with whom she has three children. Christa actually became pregnant during the fifth season of the show, which prompted two other couples on the show to also deal with a bun in the oven.

The first season introduces J.D. and his best friend Turk in their first year out of medical school as interns at Sacred Heart Hospital. J.D. quickly meets: his reluctant mentor, Dr. Perry Cox; an attractive young woman (and fellow intern) named Elliot, on whom he has a crush; the hospital's janitor, who goes out of his way to make J.D.'s life miserable; the Chief of Medicine, Dr. Bob Kelso, who appears to be more concerned about the budget than the patients; and Carla Espinosa, the head nurse and Turk's new girlfriend, who puts Turk through the trials and tribulations of being in a serious relationship. The characters face romances and relationship issues, family obligations, overwhelming paperwork, and a tremendous number of patients.

The second season focuses on J.D.'s second year practicing medicine at Sacred Heart, where he is now a resident. As the season develops, J.D.'s older brother Dan (Tom Cavanagh) comes to visit, money issues affect J.D., Elliot, and Turk, Turk proposes to Carla, and Elliot finds a new boyfriend, a nurse named Paul Flowers. (Rick Schroder) Dr. Cox resumes a sexual relationship with his ex-wife Jordan, with quite unexpected results.

In the third season it's J.D.'s, Elliot's, and Turk's third year at Sacred Heart and second year as residents. As the season opens, Elliot decides to change her image, with some help from the Janitor. J.D.'s undeniable crush on Elliot emerges again, but J.D. instead begins a relationship with Jordan's sister Danni (Tara Reid), who is also dealing with feelings for her ex. Turk and Carla are engaged and planning their wedding. Turk, along with the Todd and the other surgical residents, deal with the new attending surgeon, Dr. Grace Miller (Bellamy Young), who dislikes Turk and considers him sexist. Dr. Cox and Jordan are doing well with their relationship and their son Jack, although Dr. Cox develops a schoolboy crush on Dr. Miller. He also struggles with the death of his best friend. Elliot gets into a serious relationship with Sean Kelly (Scott Foley) and tries to work out their long distance relationship while he's in New Zealand for 6 months.

In season four, J.D. finishes his residency and becomes a full-blown colleague of Dr. Cox, although their dynamic does not change much. As the season opens, Turk arrives from his honeymoon with Carla but they soon have issues when Carla tries to change many things about her new husband. Their marriage and Turk's friendship with J.D. are also endangered when J.D. and Carla share a drunken kiss. Dr. Cox and Jordan learn that their divorce was not final, but this seemingly good news causes friction. Elliot is still angry with J.D. for breaking her heart, and the situation becomes more uncomfortable still when she dates J.D.'s brother. J.D. has a new love interest of his own when a new and very attractive psychiatrist, Dr. Molly Clock (Heather Graham), arrives at Sacred Heart. Molly also serves as Elliot's mentor during her time at the hospital.

Season five begins with J.D. living in a hotel . He has become an attending now on the same level as Dr. Cox. Elliot has taken a new fellowship in another hospital. Turk and Carla are trying to have a baby, despite Turk still having doubts. Finally, some new interns have arrived to Sacred Heart, chief among them being Keith Dudemeister (Travis Schuldt) who Elliot soon makes her new boyfriend, much to J.D's dissatisfaction.

The sixth season sees J.D. and the other characters mature to fill the different roles required of them. J.D. is cast in the role of expecting father since his girlfriend, Dr. Kim Briggs (Elizabeth Banks), is pregnant with his child. Turk and Carla become parents when Carla gives birth to their daughter, Isabella Turk. Elliot plans her wedding to Keith, although she and J.D. still harbor feelings for each other. Dr. Cox, as father of two children with Jordan, struggles to prevent his foul disposition from affecting his parenting.

In season seven J.D. and Elliot struggle once again to deny their feelings for one another, despite Elliot soon to be marrying Keith and J.D. to have his first son with Kim, whilst the Janitor may have a new girlfriend, Bob Kelso's job is also put on the line as he approaches the age of 65, J.D's brother Dan also returns to town.

The eighth season sees Dr. Kelso's replacement arrive; Dr. Taylor Maddox (Courteney Cox-Arquette), who quickly makes a lot of changes affecting the way doctors treat patients, Elliot and J.D. finally discuss their true feelings for each other, Janitor and Lady (Kit Pongetti) marry, while Dr. Cox is promoted to chief of medicine, J.D. prepares to leave Sacred Heart to move closer to his son, along with Elliot. Turk is also promoted to chief of surgery at Sacred Heart. Coinciding with season eight, Scrubs: Interns was also launched, focusing around the eighth season's medical interns Sunny Day (Sonal Shah), Denise (Eliza Coupe), Katie (Betsy Beutler) and Howie (Todd Bosley) the Interns learn from various characters of the show about life in the hospital.

The ninth season will see Dr. Cox and Dr. Turk becoming medical school professors whose students occasionally rotate through Sacred Heart. There are also rumours that Elliot (Sarah Chalke) and JD (Zach Braff) will be appearing in the first 6 episodes to help introduce the audience to the new cast.

Read more about Scrubs on Wikipedia.