For Scrubs, the Doctor is Almost Out

After six seasons of jokes, fantasies, rants, and the occasional medical mystery, Scrubs checks in for its seventh and final season tonight.

In case you’ve actually been in a hospital since Scrubs’ premiere, the show follows the lives of the doctors, nurses, and patients of Sacred Heart Hospital. Dr. J.D. “insert girl’s name here” Dorian is the lovably quirky man-child whose voice-over narrations have guided most of the last 139 episodes. He and his best friend Turk form the most adorable couple on TV (even though Turk’s married to authoritative nurse Carla) and J.D.’s on-again, off-again relationship with spastic Elliot (yes, that’s a girl) have kept viewers on their toes. Mentor—and resident grouch—Dr. Cox presides over the group and the Janitor (he doesn’t have a name—yet) exists just to torment J.D. In a nutshell, those are the major characters whose ups and downs loyal viewers have followed since early October 2001.

“We have the coolest job on earth,” said Bill Lawrence, creator and executive producer, in a conference call last week. When speaking with him or star Zach Braff for even a minute, it becomes abundantly clear just how special this show is. These people have been working together for over six years and not only do they still enjoy working together, it’s as if they’ve become a family. Braff continues, “And it’s like winning the lottery in more ways ... getting to be on a television show for seven years where you really respect what you’re doing, and you respect who you work with, and you’re laughing a lot.”

While the behind-the-scenes bonding makes Scrubs unique as a show, it’s also not your typical sitcom on-camera, either. In fact, some of Lawrence’s favorite episodes have been “when we bridge the gap between kind of broad, goofy comedy and emotional episodes.” These have included such memorable episodes as “My Old Lady” from season one when three patients died and “My Screw Up” from season three that dealt with the passing of Dr. Cox’s brother-in-law. According to Lawrence, “We always treat those stories with the utmost of respect and attention. ... I think that the actors really relish their opportunity when they get a script that says, ‘Oh wow, something real is happening to my character.’” Braff adds, “We do so much comedy ... when there’s a chance to do something in 180 degrees, I think we all really look forward to it.”

Speaking of memorable episodes, Scrubs has pulled some incredibly original ones. As Lawrence says, “Every year we choose one episode to spend a whole lot of money on and try to be our showcase thing.” The show’s 100th episode was a Wizard of Oz-themed blowout, and last year viewers were treated to an all-out musical extravaganza. “This one’s an homage to The Princess Bride. And Zach’s the village idiot and Sarah’s [Chalke, the actress who plays Elliott] the princess. And the Janitor is a giant. But Todd is the Fairy Todd Something,” Lawrence teases.

Even though we’ve seen these characters over the course of six years, it’s hard to tell if they’ve evolved at all. Braff has his own take on J.D. and whether or not fans want to see him grow up. “I find that the audience really wanted to sort of check in with their favorite characters and see what they’re going to do this week,” he says. “They want to come home and check in with the people that make them laugh. They want to see the Janitor be the Janitor and Todd be bisexually weird. They want to see J.D. be a goofball and Dr. Cox yell at him. So I think that we’ve done a good job of evolving them slightly, but only just, giving the fans what they want, which is to see the characters be themselves.”

But as the end approaches, will J.D. finally become a man? Says Lawrence, “I think that the ending of this show will be unsatisfying for people if they don’t feel like his character has finally grown up.”

Going into the final season, Scrubs has the luxury of knowing that these 19 episodes will be the last—unlike a lot of other shows. According to Lawrence, “I think that what we’re going to do is kind of spend the year tying up any loose ends between characters and dynamics and stuff. And at the end, just do something that we hope is kind of a sweet, funny goodbye to the people that actually watch the show. ... Our one responsibility is for people that like the show to watch the finale and leave satisfied and happy about what they saw.”

So will fans ever see an answer to the on-again, off-again relationship of J.D. and Elliot? Lawrence promises, “Zach and Sarah, as an actor and actress, have made people invested in this [their relationship]. So I am going to resolve it, but I’m not going to make that the end of the series. I think that it’ll happen before people expect it to happen. I think I put a lot of clues what I’m going to do along the way.”

As for the future, Lawrence is staying with the past, “I’ve been around long enough to know that the next experience out there ... the odds are that it’ll never be this good again.” Based on just how good the show has been, we can only hope it comes close.