Television has certainly had its share of doctors, but few have been followed from their first day on the job.
That’s the world depicted by “Scrubs,” the new NBC comedy series that premieres Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ). The show follows the trials of three medical newcomers — played by Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke (“Roseanne”) and Donald Faison (“Felicity,” “Clueless”) — as they deal with patients under the watchful eyes of a trio of very different supervisors. One (Ken Jenkins, formerly of “Homefront”) is as nurturing as another (John C. McGinley, a regular in director Oliver Stone’s films) is harsh, with a slightly cynical nurse (“Oz” semi-regular Judy Reyes) rounding out the interns’ mentors.
“We’re exaggerating things a little bit,” allows “Scrubs” creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence (formerly of “Spin City”), “but we went to actual doctors beforehand (for advice). In fact, the character J.D. (played by Braff) is really a buddy of mine, a cardiologist in Los Angeles. He’s the medical consultant on the show. We’ve talked to interns and doctors and gotten stories from them, and you wouldn’t believe what goes on in hospitals.”
Indeed, Lawrence shares one tip he has picked up: “My friends (in medicine) all told me never to go to an emergency room in July. The first week of July is when all interns start, so the odds are if you’re getting stitches or an IV, the guy who’s doing it for you is doing it for the first time ever. The reality is that nurses have been around and know more, medically, than young interns.”
However, Lawrence insists that “Scrubs” will treat the medical profession irreverently, not disrespectfully. “Hospitals are really among the last places left for young heroes. In the pilot, we’re looking at a bunch of young people who don’t know what they’re doing yet, but I certainly don’t think it’s going to continue that way. I’m hoping that people will watch them learn and watch them get better at what they do, and invest in them as characters that way.”
Braff, who appeared in last year’s acclaimed independent film “The Broken Hearts Club,” has gotten a firsthand sense of the job he is now depicting. He reports that he and his “Scrubs” co-stars “all went on rounds with actual doctors and interns in county hospitals all over Los Angeles, and we gained so much respect for what these people do. I had an idea of it on paper, but until I actually saw what these people go through . . . .”
Known for his often-broad, sometimes-sinister portrayals in everything from “Platoon” and “Wall Street” to the miniseries “Intensity” and “Sole Survivor,” McGinley cites a serious reason behind the “Scrubs” humor he’s now doing. “I have a son who was born with Down syndrome,” he explains, “and the first four weeks of his life, he was in the neo-natal intensive care unit. The most incredible people I’ve ever met in my life were the doctors and nurses in that unit, and when I read this, I was like, ‘Holy cow!’ It’s right in there. They’re heroes, remarkable people.”
Still, McGinley relishes the abrasive quality he’s allowed to give his new alter ego, Dr. Phil Cox. “Somebody told me that his tough-love approach was, `A cup of sugar, another cup of sugar, then a spoonful of dirt,’ and that makes a lot of sense to me. It’s like, ‘Before you spank them, give them a hug.’ Having a child with special needs has made it more clear to me that the fundamental of everything is love and support. That’s what is way underneath all this stuff (with Cox). If you peel all the layers back, there’s a huge, stinking, romantic heart, but he doesn’t want anybody to know.”
