Welcome back Scrubs heavy

by Jennifer Squires Biller

At 10 p.m. Tuesday night, I was sobbing like a baby. My eyes were swollen, tissues were littering my floor, and my nose looked like Rudolph.

Thank you Bill Lawrence. (Scrubs’ head honcho.)

The Scrubs debut on ABC was not what I expected. Oh sure, it had the trademark silly scenes we’ve all come to expect, the inside jokes about the Janitor’s name and Ted’s ongoing depression, a fun little musical ditty between Turk and JD, and JD’s fun sexual fantasies. But these Scrubs episodes had a serious tone that we haven’t seen from the show in quite sometime.

JD and Turk sat with a scared patient who was dying, discussing their own fears about the subject and granting his last wish, a can of cold beer. It was sobering. The dialogue - not the cold beer. Beautifully written and perfectly executed, it made me ponder my own feelings about death, and what the end may be like, heavy stuff from a show that uses a stuffed dog as one of its many ongoing jokes.

Courteney Cox Arquette was fabulous in her new role as chief of medicine. JD seemed more mature. (Thank you Bill! It’s about time.) And we even got a scene with Dr. Kelso, who apparently now likes to spend his time eavesdropping on hospital gossip at the coffee shop.

I don’t expect this comedy to suddenly lose its “fun factor” but it’s clear from these first two shows that Lawrence and his crew have a different plan for this year’s show. It’s more mature, a little more sentimental, but still as entertaining as ever. I hadn’t cried during a Scrubs episode since the Brendan Fraser arc. Well done, Scrubbies! I look forward to a great season.

And thanks to all of you for tuning in. The show averaged 6.7 million viewers for the two episodes, a 25 percent improvement over its last episode on NBC. Take that, Peacock! (Yes, I know it’s petty, but let me revel a little, will ya?)