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"Scrubs" The Complete Second Season DVD Review
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Scrubs: Season Two (2002-03) Show & DVD Details Directors: Michael Spiller, Marc Buckland, several others Regular Cast: Zach Braff (Dr. John "J.D." Dorian), Sarah Chalke (Dr. Elliot Reid), Donald Faison (Dr. Chris Turk), Neil Flynn (The Janitor), Ken Jenkins (Dr. Bob Kelso), John C. McGinley (Dr. Perry Cox), Judy Reyes (Nurse Carla Espinosa) Recurring Characters: Christa Miller Lawrence (Jordan Sullivan), Sam Lloyd (Ted Buckland), Robert Maschio (Dr. Todd), Aloma Wright (Nurse Laverne Roberts), Rick Schroder (Nurse Paul Flowers), Amy Smart (Jamie Moyer), Heather Locklear (Julie Keaton), Sarah Lancaster (Lisa), Johnny Kastl (Dr. Doug Murphy), Charles Chun (Dr. Wen), Joey Saravia (Ralphie), Lindsey Stoddart (Lauren), Masi Oka (Franklyn), Robert Clendenin (Dr. Zeltzer), Cody Estes (Young J.D.) Notable Guest Stars: Colin Hay (Troubadour), Michael McDonald (Mike), Ted Lange (Mr. Blair), Tom Cavanagh (Dan Dorian), Lane Davies (Dr. Simon Reid), Cole Williams (Mike), Alan Ruck (Mr. Bragin), David Copperfield (Himself), John Ritter (Sam Dorian), Richard Kind (Mr. Corman), Phyllis Applegate (Mrs. Kaye), Jill Tracy (Elaine), Dick Van Dyke (Dr. Townshend), D.L. Hughley (Kevin Turk), Eric Bogosian (Dr. Gross), Jay Mohr (Dr. Peter Fisher), Jay Leno (Himself), Fred Berry (Himself), Ryan Reynolds (Spence) Running Time: 457 Minutes (22 episodes) / Rating: TV-14 1.33:1 Fullscreen (Original Broadcast Ratio) / Dolby Digital 5.1 (English) Subtitles: English; Closed Captioned DVD Release Date: November 15, 2005 Season 2 Airdates: September 26, 2002 - April 17, 2003 Three single-sided, dual-layered discs (DVD-9); Suggested Retail Price: $39.99 Six-sided fold-out Digipak with embossed cardboard slipcover |
For many television shows lucky enough to receive a second season, the sophomore year brings great change. The dust has settled from the water-testing season, leaving the creators and executives behind the camera to make revisions in the name of improvement. Casts may change, frequent scene locations may be added or dropped, and in more dramatic cases, even the focus or mood of the entire series can be tweaked. For "Scrubs", that was not at all the case. That nobody tinkered with the show's formulas can only be classified as a minor surprise, because "Scrubs" was pretty successful as far as first-year TV programs go. No, it did not become the instant talk of the town or a regular Top 10 in the Nielsens the way those rare lightning-in-a-bottle freshman phenomenons do. But it garnered some award nominations (including two Emmy nods) and strong reviews, while posting solid viewership in its Tuesday night slot. All of that likely contributed to NBC's decision to throw its support behind the show. The network did this in a grand fashion, sandwiching "Scrubs" between its two most popular sitcoms, ratings king "Friends" (beginning its 9th season as the top-rated show in the nation) and veteran Emmy favorite "Will & Grace", as part of the still-quite-potent "Must See TV" Thursday night lineup. Needless to say, the audience for "Scrubs" grew considerably, making it the 15th most watched program of the season. The series also received a boost in visibility from the memorable (albeit synergetic) appearances of five cast members and creator Bill Lawrence in NBC's It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, which aired Thanksgiving Weekend 2002.
With higher stakes and higher ratings, the talented cast and crew of "Scrubs" stuck to their guns and stayed remarkably true to the series' original sensibilities. Why shouldn't they have? It was these sensibilities that made "Scrubs" a fresh alternative to the reality programming and hour-long crime dramas that were dominating the airwaves its premiere season.
Season Two picks up where Season One left off, with the show's focus still squarely on a trio of young doctors, a nurse, and two clashing authority figures at Sacred Heart Hospital. Those young doctors are now no longer interns, but residents: goofy protagonist John Dorian (played by Zach Braff and more frequently known as J.D.), his longtime best friend and roommate, surgeon Chris Turk (played by Donald Faison and rarely referred to by his first name), and the neurotic, desperate-for-attention Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke). Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes) is the nurse, quick-witted and caring to the central three, especially towards Turk, who has been her boyfriend from nearly the start of the series. Comprising their opposing superiors are the hospital's fiery chief of medicine Dr. Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins) and the hard-edged veteran Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley). The only addition to the regular cast is barely worth mentioning. Having appeared in every episode of the first season as the unnamed janitor who often torments or is accidentally victimized by J.D., Neil Flynn retains the role and is upgraded to opening credits billing. Though still unnamed, this season bestows upon the Janitor the privilege of interacting with other hospital workers besides J.D. and, eventually, other regular cast members as well.
Last season's finale left things in a deliberate mess, as Dr. Cox's caustic ex-wife Jordan (recurrent guest Christa Miller Lawrence) dropped months' worth of secrets upon the cast, throwing awkward hitches into most of the series' central relationships. The newest and most noteworthy unease was created between J.D. and Elliot, friends who briefly tried to be something more, Turk and Carla, faithful lovers who still had tough-to-pinpoint problems, and J.D. and Dr. Cox, his reluctant mentor who continues to call him by an endless list of women's names. After quickly resolving each of these issues, it's business as usual around Sacred Heart Hospital, and such business remains frequently funny, occasionally hilarious, and once in a while, pretty poignant.
In its second season, "Scrubs" relied upon the same unlikely but unfailing recipe for quality entertainment. The comedy becomes increasingly on-target as viewers are allowed to observe and discover more of the mannerisms of the quirky ensemble. The humor also remains boldly present in the show's surreal asides, both in J.D.'s omnipresent everyman narration and in the continuing clever visual fantasies, the broad strokes of which regularly pay off in the form of large laughs. A few secondary characters again appear from time to time purely to divert with their characterizations. Among the most consistently amusing: the hospital's emotionally-abused lawyer Ted (Sam Lloyd) is usually reduced to being Kelso's secretary, but takes pleasure in small victories such as performing around the hospital with his acapella quartet (who this year graduate from television theme songs to commercial jingles); Todd (Robert Maschio), the surgeon who refers to himself as "The Todd", has a sense of humor which is stalled on sexual innuendos and validated by overzealous, self-initiated high-fives; Nurse Laverne Roberts (Aloma Wright) seems to exist in a world distant from the rest of her co-workers, but she finds her way into their business and puts up with their hoopla to varying degrees.
As in the past season, "Scrubs" is not content just to make you laugh for a half-hour. The hospital setting inevitably lends itself to drama and the second season embraces it as much as and a little more than Season 1. J.D.'s underlying narration of his scenes and the episodes at large again proves successful at helping the series balance its random broad comedy with diverse but widely relatable problems that all of the characters grapple with. The show doesn't always pull off its straight-faced musings perfectly, but it hits its targets far more often than it misses. The versatility it shows in attempting to waver between "wildly silly" and "emotionally poignant" within the same episode is commendable; many entertainment forms that try this fail miserably. This quality makes it tough to label the series a "sitcom"; how many of the shows we can instantly call from our collective consciousness to fit that definition ever tactfully pulled off dramatic storylines or elements?
Likewise, loud though most of the personalities of "Scrubs" may be, they are anything from the caricatures that often occupy situation comedies. The happenings of most episodes contribute some layer to the central cast that help us see them in a different light. In Season Two, you'll notice how their experiences drive Dr. Cox and Dr. Kelso to become more and less human, respectively.
Big name guest stars continued to be abound in the second season. As a bonus feature points out, these fall into a few groups. There are brief appearances made by pop culture icons often playing themselves, such as Jay Leno, David Copperfield, and Fred "Rerun" Berry. There are familiar faces who memorably show up for one episode including, most notably, Dick Van Dyke, D.L. Hughley, Ryan Reynolds, Tom Cavanagh, and Jay Mohr, plus Alan Ruck and Richard Kind from creator Bill Lawrence's previous primetime success "Spin City." Then there are celebrities who join the proceedings for a number of episodes: former child actor Rick(y) Schroder, film actress Amy Smart (of Road Trip, Varsity Blues, and others), and Heather Locklear (of "Melrose Place" and also "Spin City"). Though "Scrubs" has a very distinct style, these guest actors almost always integrate into its world nicely and seamlessly.
The second season of "Scrubs" relies a bit more on overarching storylines than standalone plots, though it is defined by another mixture of both. The focus again lies on the three doctors' abilities to fit in at the hospital in their second year and to accept the realities of a career filled with life and death. The season also explores several areas of their personal lives. J.D. struggles romantically, moving from getting over Elliot to going back to her and onto a gift shop girl and a comatose patient's wife with a drama fetish. I've dispatched plenty of praise for "Scrubs" both here and in my review of its first season DVD (which you should have already read and if not, do so now!) and cannot fail to approve of its willingness and ability to entertain in methods unlike past half-hour television series. The second season proves to be as pleasing as the first, and with very little change needed or introduced. Still, I can't rank "Scrubs" among my absolute all-time favorite TV shows and can only think of few explanations for this. As I mentioned last time, it is again a challenge to fully identify with these characters. That could be irrelevant -- you don't need to have Mafia experience to appreciate The Godfather or have done time to like The Shawshank Redemption -- but for some reason, while it's easy to care for these characters, their actions and quirks do create a bit of distance and detachment from the viewer. Even the widely-appealing protagonist stretches the bounds of our sympathy with his romantic actions late in the season.
The only other drawback I can pinpoint is that the episodes here simply aren't long enough. Even with the show's rapid-fire pacing (which results in a volume of dialogue that's maybe twice as much as other half-hour laugh track-backed series) and unusually brief opening title sequence (running about 10 seconds), each episode of "Scrubs" feels cut short at just over 20 minutes plus end credits. There are a couple of "supersized" episodes (which add 4-7 minutes to the runtime) and these feel noticeably more fleshed out, but the rest are left to wrap up angst-creating problems in too short a time. Obviously, the blame here must lie with stupid commercials. On average, Season 2's shows allow for an extra minute of advertising space, which is surely dictated by the realities of the television marketplace but no less frustrating even with the commercials are excised, as they are on DVD. Such is a shortcoming of network television; hour-long "Scrubs" episodes might feel excessive, while something in between is typically not conceivable, outside of the occasional "supersized" promotion.
After making its DVD debut last May with a considerable amount of hoopla and chart-topping sales numbers, "Scrubs" returns to home video in similar fashion. Like its predecessor, The Complete Second Season holds three discs and greater-than-average behind-the-scenes bonus material from the cast and crew who clearly care for their fans. Originally scheduled for release in October, the DVD was bumped six weeks and is now part of a month filled with television box sets from Disney and other studios alike. Since the last set was issued, Buena Vista Home Entertainment has begun to price its box sets of half-hour sitcoms at $39.99 SRP, as opposed to the previous $49.99 list price. That means you'll be able to enjoy the numerous hours of fun at about $7-10 less than Season 1, with no decrease of effort or quality and for the most part, improvements abound.
A star ( Disc 1
1. My Overkill (21:03) (Originally aired September 26, 2002)
4. My Big Mouth (21:04) (Originally aired October 17, 2002)
7. My First Step (25:28) (Originally aired November 7, 2002)
Disc 2
10. My Monster (21:14) (Originally aired December 12, 2002)
11. My Sex Buddy (21:08) (Originally aired January 2, 2003)
12. My New Old Friend (21:10) (Originally aired January 9, 2003)
13. My Philosophy (21:09) (Originally aired January 16, 2003)
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) denotes my ten favorite episodes from the season.
