TVSquad

(S07E04) This was kind of a quiet episode, wasn't it? It seemed to go at a relaxed pace that I haven't seen from the show in quite some time. As we've been finding out this season, Bill Lawrence and company have been trying to scale back the zany and make some episodes that were more reminiscent of the show's early years. But this one felt like an early one, like one of the first few half-dozen where even J.D.'s internal monologue was subdued.

But I liked it. It really got in and explored some of the characters' insecurities while giving us a few of the classic laughs that Scrubs is known for.

(S07E03) Based on the first two episodes, I was tentatively hopeful that the final season of Scrubs was going to be a good one. Now, after this third episode, my confidence in Bill Lawrence and company is almost fully restored after last season's awkwardness and inconsistency.

What worked this week? Well, having Tom Cavanagh come back to play J.D.'s older brother Dan always helps. But, like last week, we had a refreshing lack of insanity, punctuated by some funny situations that came out of the characters' personalities instead of zippy lines.

(S07E01) One thing I can say about the season premiere of Scrubs' seventh and last season: It wasn't as lurchingly awkward as last year's season premiere. Or most of the first half of last season, for that matter. But that doesn't mean it was good.

There were a few laugh-out-loud moments, but most of the jokes fell pretty flat. And none of the flatness had anything to do with the conclusion of last year's cliffhanger, where J.D. and Elliot, trying to escape some big life changes, lie next to each other, and kinda sorta lean in for a kiss...

Well, sort of.

Aloma Wright will return to the show this fall, even though her character, Nurse Roberts, was killed off earlier this season. It's part of a deal that she made with Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence: if the show returned for another season, then she could return to the show as Roberts' twin sister Shirley. She'll wear a wig.

Lawrence wasn't sure if there would be another season of the show when he planned her death, but now that they are returning after all he's going to stick to the deal. Which is a good thing. I really liked her character, and if the character can't come back at least the actress can.

NBC has been running some strange promos lately for the upcoming season finale of Scrubs. The promos refer to this month's episodes as "the final episodes" and "just four episodes left". Variety is quoting NBC "insiders" who are saying the promos are intentionally vague because the future of the comedy series is still up in the air. Basically, if NBC doesn't find anything it considers "better", then it'll give Scrubs another season. Ouch. That hurts.

If it's the end for Scrubs, that's news to Zach Braff and the gang. Zach recently posted on his website that he hopes Scrubs gets at least one more year because A) this month's finale is a cliffhanger of sorts and B) he signed on to another year (for a lot of money, which is one reason why NBC isn't sure it wants another season).

(S06E14) Here's the scenario: We all knew that the Scrubs crew was going to kill off one of its long-running cast members. They tried to fake us out by making Jordan bed-ridden after pre-natal surgery, but we weren't fooled (I mean, even Bill Lawrence doesn't have the balls to kill of his own wife).

(S06E13) If I had to sum up this week's episode of Scrubs in one word it would be 'jokey'. I know there was a common thread running through the show which was, in one word, 'trust', but it just didn't seem that it held a lot of substance. In the end it was just the glue attaching a constant barrage of jokes.

Now, before you point you finger at the flat screen and scream 'Of course they're jokes. It's a freaking comedy!' there have been plenty of episodes where the thread actually produced a nice story that wove around the show. A story where some of the humor would come from the situations rather than just from the jokes. Feh, what do I know? Maybe I'm looking too much into the episode. It just seemed to be more of a sitcom this week rather than a comedy. Am I off here, folks?

Anyway, despite all of what I said above, this was a pretty funny episode.

We've seen The Office as a suspense thriller. Now here's Scrubs edited as a serious drama.

Of course, it doesn't work quite as well, because Scrubs already has a lot of very serious moments. I was watching a repeat of Scrubs a few weeks ago, the episode where the woman dies and they give her organs to other patients and they die too because the docs didn't know the woman had rabies, and my roommate (who doesn't watch the show) said "I thought this show was a comedy?" And I explained that, yeah, it is, but it has a lot of serious, real moments too, and that's one of the reasons I like it. So this video isn't as good as The Office one.

But it's still well done. And they were wise not to include Dr. Kelso in the footage, because just hearing his mean, cutting voice and seeing his scrunched up face would have ruined the whole thing. Video after the jump.

(S06E07) Let's see, over the past five seasons J.D. has given his special narrating powers to Turk, Elliot, Carla, and even Janitor. So, it was logical that he would pass on his abilities to one of the two remaining bigwigs of the show. And he did so this week, as the inner monologue was passed on to Bob Kelso.

Its been awhile since we've seen Bob strut his stuff on the show. Yes, he had some significant singing parts during the musical episode, but he's been in the shadows recently. He certainly isn't the powerhouse that he was in the earlier seasons. That was actually the plot of this week's episode: the staff are no longer afraid of Kelso's tirades since he barely shows up anymore.

(S06E06) Well, it's finally here! The musical episode of Scrubs, that is, with songs composed by Avenue Q's Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. A brief synopsis of the plot: a patient (Stephanie D'Abruzzo, an original cast member of Avenue Q) is admitted to Sacred Heart after a fainting spell. From that point on everyone around her is singing and dancing. There are also two additional subplots. One deals with Carla's indecision to return to nursing after being home with her baby, and the second deals with Elliot moving into her own house without J.D. as a roommie.

But, the stories don't matter. What matters here is if this musical experiment paid off. It most definitely did! I would certainly put this behind 'Once More, With Feeling' the musical episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and far ahead of the one that 7th Heaven aired a season or two ago. Gosh, I'd put the musical episode of The Love Boat ahead of the 7th Heaven episode.

I digress. After the jump I'll give you a recap and a review of the big numbers in this week's show.

It doesn't take much to get Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence going. I fully intended to speak to him only about his show's musical episode, which airs tomorrow at 9. But Bill managed to launch into monologues on current shows, the network testing system, Scrubs' weird history, and other topics. But he dropped a lot of interesting information, some of which I mentioned a couple of days ago.

For a guy who isn't quite 38 yet, Lawrence has had quite a successful career. He already has two long-running shows under his belt (he co-created Spin City in 1996), and has been involved in a number of other series. Included in his credits is the Internet phenomenon Nobody's Watching, which scored an NBC development deal after the pilot was "leaked" to YouTube.

After the jump is the freewheeling phone interview I conducted with Lawrence last week. Keep tuned to TV Squad for a Scrubs set visit video, which will be posted next month.

(S06E04) Before we get to this week's review (and it's a good one) I just want to give everyone some advanced notice to mark January 18th on their calendar. Yes, that's my birthday (large denomination bills are fine as gifts), but that's not why I want you to mark it off. That will be the day that the Scrubs musical episode airs. From the preview clips I've seen it looks pretty good. So, make sure you set your DVR's (and primitive VCR's) for the occasion.

Oh, one more thing before we begin . . . I didn't know kittens could cause erectile dysfunction? Now it all makes sense!

All right. As mentioned by the lovely and talented Anna Johns this episode of Scrubs spoofed the slightly more serious medical drama House. Well, it wasn't a out-and-out spoof like, say, the movie Airplane was to all of those Airport movies. But, it definitely got a lot of reference on this week's show, especially during the last ten minutes or so.

(S06E03) I know I said last week's episode of Scrubs felt almost normal, but that was before I saw this week's episode. After a few weeks of baby-centric episodes we got back to the day-to-day antics of Sacred Heart. All in all, it was a good one. Not belly-laugh funny as last week, and certainly not as, um, bad, as the season premiere. There was just some solid storytelling, a few good laughs, and new character development.

What I liked most about this week's episode was that there was finally some decent interaction between J.D. and Turk. During the first two weeks there was barely any connection between the two, and this is a pair of friends who could compete in the man-love contest against Boston Legal's Denny Crane and Alan Shore. Yes, The season premiere was a focus on J.D. and his discovery that he would be a father, and last week was about Turk and Carla's new baby. During those episodes I missed the camaraderie that these two have shown over the last five seasons, and it was good to have it back this week.

(S06E02) Greatest. Show. Ever. -- The Todd

Much better episode! After last week's rough start Scrubs got back to normal. Where I had one or two chuckles last episode last week I got in some good belly laughs this time around.

This week's theme was parenthood. The main story was Carla going into labor and it was the funniest part of the episode. I mean, broadcasting live pictures of Carla's woo-hoo over the closed-circuit hospital television station was classic sitcom fare. And the comments coming from those watching the show were very amusing ("Oh look, Swamp Thing"). Plus, we also got to see Carla showing a bit more vulnerability than we normally see from her, and Turk nearly missing another important event in his life with Carla.

I usually bypass gossipy items like this, but this one caught my eye for two reasons: it involves one of my favorite actors on television, and because this story didn't give me the dry heaves. Scrubs star and former TV Squad interviewee John C. McGinley revealed to People magazine how he got engaged to his new fiancée, yoga instructor / birthing doula Nichole Kessler, on Aug. 19. Zap2It.com reports that McGinley told People about the engagement on the red carpet of the Creative Arts Emmys, which happened to be later that same day. The story itself sounds like it was very low key; he called Kessler down to their garden to ask her about some flower ideas, they sat down to look at the ocean, and he produced the ring. Very nice. Well, at least it's a whole hell of a lot better than putting the proposal up on the Jumbotron at a Yankee game.

Anyway, it sounds like the type of engagement story that most other couples have. Well, except for the Malibu estate. And the fact that they live in a bird sanctuary. And the huge ring. And the whole birthing doula thing. But other than that, they're just regular folks, right?