Not As Awful As I Feared

I've had January 6 marked on my calendar for about a month, and no, it's not because today is Marlon Anderson's birthday. It's because today is the day that brought upon the return of "90210" and "Scrubs." And while I realize my affinity for the former might make me lame, I've already made it clear in this blog that I enjoy the show, so there is no use getting defensive about it now.

I won't go too much into "90210", other than to say that it was more of the same. In other words, I loved it. Instead, I'll focus on "Scrubs," which moved from NBC to ABC after a year-and-a-half hiatus. I'm not exactly sure if it was that long, but they made reference to it during the first of two episodes, so I'll go with that.

I wasn't actually a fan of "Scrubs" from the beginning, but after my sister insisted I would love it for about five years, and I finally started watching it when re-runs began appearing on Comedy Central a couple of years ago. I was living in North Carolina at the time, and since I was regularly bored while I was there and Comedy Central was showing "Scrubs" roughly 12 times a day, I was able to catch up with it pretty quickly. My sister was right, I thought it was hysterical, and it quickly became my favorite show since "Seinfeld" (though "90210" might be giving it some competition).

Like most comedies, "Scrubs" started to lose it's proverbial fastball during its most recent seasons, and I wasn't really expecting much from the new episodes. In fact, I expected them to suck. However, after devoting so many hours to this damn show, I figured I would watch the last few episodes to see how it turns out. Besides, it's not like I have anything that much better to do on a typical Tuesday. (Note: I read that this might not be "Scrubs" final season, but it is Zach Braff's final season. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, it's the final season. I'm not like a huge Zach Braff fan or anything, but he is the star.)

Because my expectations were so low, I have to say that tonight's two episodes weren't that bad. I was fully prepared to do a full-on rant about how much it sucked, but it was surprisingly not terrible. I even laughed a few times. But all in all, I wasn't pleased. First of all, they fired the janitor. I never found him that funny as compared to other characters, but this is an ensemble cast, and he was a big part of the show. Second, they had Dr. Kelso retire, and Kelso was probably the funniest character on the show. If he wasn't the funniest, it was his son Harrison who was the funniest, even though we never see Harrison. I'd go so far as to say that Harrison is the funniest imaginary character in TV history, with only Bob Sacamano ("Seinfeld"), Maris ("Frasier") and The Gooch ("Diff'rent Strokes") as competition.

***Quick triva (answer at the bottom): Besides having an awesome imaginary character, what else does "Scrubs" have in common with "Diff'rent Strokes?"

Yes, Dr. Kelso made a cameo in the first episode, but he has been replaced by Courtney Fucking Cox. I realize the producers probably thought she would bring ratings, but her character is the a combination of the worst parts of Monica Geller and Kelso. Hey "Scrubs" writers, we get it, medicine can be a business. Stop hitting us over the head with that for the eighth straight season. Also, according to a New York Times article, Disney (parent company of ABC) asked that The Todd no longer wear his signature "banana hammock" because they thought it was distasteful. Disney signs my checks, so I won't go off on this too much, but I'd like to. I guess it was moot anyway because The Todd didn't make an appearance for some unknown reason. OK, so maybe this is turning into a rant.

Like I said, I'll probably keep watching just to see how they decide to end, even though it's pretty clear that J.D. and Eliot will end up together somehow. In that way, it's fitting that Cox (Courtney, not Dr.) is involved, because the end will be just like "Friends." The "will they or won't they" plot line will be resolved years after the show stopped being funny. But even if the final season sucks, it wouldn't be the first time that happened. "Scrubs" has given me many laughs while asking for nothing in return, and for that I will be thankful.

***Trivia answer: Both "Scrubs" and "Diff'rent Strokes" switched networks. "Diff'rent Strokes" switched from NBC to ABC in 1985. Stupid ABC, always poaching other networks' shows. I mean, "I love ABC, their parent company signs my checks!"