(Season 8, Episodes 3 & 4 – “My Saving Grace” 
& “My Happy Place” )
Dammit, they did it again. Another two solid episodes of Scrubs, and another week shaved off of the total run time of this season. Unfortunately, ABC currently has this entire 18 episode season scheduled in this back-to-back format, meaning that instead of 18 weeks of new Scrubs, we have barely more than two months. With the last episodes on the marquee for March 10, it seems they’re in a big hurry to burn through them. Or maybe they just don’t have any compatible comedies in their lineup. Certainly According to Jim is no good fit.
Strangely enough, those vaunted interns on whose shoulders ABC is resting the continuation of the series should it in fact continue were conspicuously absent during this hour. Only the self-centered egomaniacal young lady was featured, and then only to allow Carla to humble her and get through to her. But still it was an entertaining hour. We got the janitor back, in what hindsight shows is the only way it could have really happened, including a much earned “pay raise.”
The slapstick/fantasy sequences were kept mostly inside J.D.’s head, except for the bit where Kelso can clear a room instantaneously. But I can forgive that. What was a bit disappointing was how quickly the show cleared out Courtney Cox’s Dr. Maddox. I understand that she was probably an expensive “get,” and more a gimmick to try and lure in viewers, but I kind of liked her brand of evil as the chief of medicine. And even after her elimination, we still haven’t gotten Kelso installed as the chief yet. Instead he’s just hanging out enjoying his muffins at the hospital cafe.
And speaking of viewers, Scrubs is doing well for an ABC comedy, but took a huge hit against the American Idol juggernaut last night. Luckily, as it airs in the 9:00 hour, it won’t have to always compete with the Idol, just when the behemoth bloats to two hours on Tuesday. It happens a lot, but at least it’s not every week. I hope the ratings can stay strong, and ABC finds a way to stick with this ship even without it’s captain and star vehicle.
At the same time, though, I’m just not sure if it would be the same show. Elliot without J.D. to have awkward gah-gah eyes with is difficult to fathom. Turk without his true lover is unfathomable. But, this is a talented cast and a brilliant staff of writers, so should they continue I think they could find a way to keep the charm and the funny that’s made it one of the most unique comedies on television.
Speaking of life without J.D., there was some romantic rekindling between him and Elliot this week. And they even got to share a special moment with Bob Kelso. In fact, Kelso and Cox even sort of had a bonding moment as well. Is Dr. Kelso becoming the big-hearted grandfather of Sacred Heart? Say it isn’t so. He’s getting soft in his forced retirement.
I think it’s a good idea to explore a relationship at this time with J.D. and Elliot. It’s kind of been the Moonlighting elephant in the room since the first season, and with this being the last (at least with J.D. if not altogether), they need to get back on track and see if these kids can make it work out. I wonder if that means should the series be picked up, they won’t work out after all and we’ll have to hope for J.D. pulling a Diane a la Cheers and coming back to whisk her away on the true series finale.
As it stands, the series is in fine form for now. Some highlights of the night for me:
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Jan 14, 2009 @ 19:45 EST5EDT
I don’t really expect Kelso to be reinstalled.
I hope Kelso isn’t re-installed. The actor’s voice seems off and I’d rather see a parade of evil directors to keep up the energy. I like how well they integrated the new interns by giving them solid personalities without overwhelming the old staff. I think Elliot, the janitor and Cox’s wife seem to be totally in character and selling it. However, I definitely feel that the energy McGinley & Braff brought to seasons 1-3 isn’t the same, so I wouldn’t mind if their characters slightly modified to match that.
Either way, I hope this is the final season/year, even if they push out 4-8 eps of Scrubs: Interns in April.
I, quite honestly, hope we get to see a Chief that has two thumbs and thinks JD is a girl.
:-D
Just made that joke yesterday at a drugstore with my brother when he had to buy “stuff” for his girlfriend.
Yeah it might be fun to see Perry in that role.
To be honest after the last couple of seasons I still can’t believe how good Scrubs is at the moment. It’s insane how funny it is and how much it feels like the first three seasons. It’s just great and awesome :-)
Are they just ignoring the fact that Elliot moved into private practice, or did I miss something? Would she really be training the new interns as a PP doc?
Bob: I caught that too, and figured that I’d just missed something that explained how that would be happening somewhere along the way. But now that someone else has mentioned it…
After the fairytale episode I’m willing to let that slide ;-)
To be honest I didn’t even notice I love the other stuff so much my teeth hurt ^^;