Scrubs Review: ABC Revival Charts the Same Goofy Comedy and Potent Drama

Doctors often say that the two most accurate shows about their profession are Scrubs and ER — ER for its science, and Scrubs for its emotion. Scrubs captures the workplace politics of a hospital and the feeling of how quickly moments can change from funny to sad. Because good medical shows are as difficult to pull off as they are valuable, both shows have (sort of) returned in the past year, at least in a way. ER returned as The Pitt, which reimagines ER's jargony immersion with some of the same personnel (how much The Pitt is actually like ER is for the lawyers to decide). And Scrubs is back as itself, the same warm, goofy, and occasionally gut-punching series it's always been. 

As the revival begins, John "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff, who also directs the first episode) hasn't worked at Sacred Heart Hospital in many years. He's a concierge doctor for wealthy patients, which is a role he finds boring and not particularly meaningful, but it doesn't consume his whole life. One day, he ends up going to Sacred Heart to see one of his patients, and he quickly gets pulled back into the hospital's familiar rhythms. His friends and family — surgeon Turk (Donald Faison), nurse Carla (Judy Reyes), fellow physician Elliot (Sarah Chalke), and chief of medicine Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) — still work there, and the nervous but well-meaning interns remind him of himself at the beginning of his career. While he's there, he's presented with a choice. So he finds himself back where he started, but at a different stage of life. Cox used to call him "Newbie," but now he's "Oldie." 

7.2

Scrubs

at ABC

Like

• Chemistry is still there
• Good blend of comedy and drama

Dislike

• Dated humor
• Not enough Dr. Cox

At least through the first four episodes, the revival doesn't bring back every familiar face — Neil Flynn's Janitor is notably absent, and Dr. Bob Kelso actor Ken Jenkins is retired. The late Sam Lloyd, who played Ted, is also missed. But the ones who matter most to the story are there. Keeping the focus on J.D., Elliot, and Turk fixes the cardinal sin of Scrubs' ill-fated ninth season, its last before the revival. That season tried to transition to new main characters while phasing out the original cast. This one keeps J.D. as the main character — his narration and imaginative flights of fancy return — while the new interns get their own subplots. So far, the new interns aren't as memorable as their first-year counterparts on The Pitt, but they have the potential to grow. Of the interns, Ava Bunn as Serena (an influencer whose social media presence makes older people underestimate her) and Layla Mohammadi as Amara (an aspiring surgeon whose confidence isn't where it needs to be) make the most impact in the early going. 

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Mostly, though, the revival tries to recreate the things that worked the first time, more successfully with some than others. Years of doing T-Mobile commercials and podcasting together have kept Braff and Faison's chemistry strong, and Braff and Chalke still have a spark, too. When it comes to comic timing, none of them have lost a step. They could probably play these characters from muscle memory. It's been a while since we've seen Braff in a lead role, and the revival is a potent reminder of why he had such a moment in the 2000s. It's not an easy part, and in lesser hands J.D.'s blend of silliness and sentimentality would be annoying and unlikable, but Braff has always pulled it off. He knows how to precisely calibrate his performance so that there's a little bit of melancholy in comedy scenes and a little bit of levity in dramatic scenes. 

Braff's best scenes, however, were always with McGinley, and their dynamic is missed in the revival. McGinley has a greatly reduced guest-starring role, and the show is worse off without his regular prickly rants and injections of heart. And while some of the medical themes have smartly evolved for the 2020s — the hospital's mandate that doctors see five patients an hour to maximize profits is sadly ripped from real life — some of the humor has not. The show still makes bawdy jokes about race and sex like it's 2006, but then comments on how inappropriate they are in 2026. It's like the show is shaking its head in disapproval at its own jokes, which quickly becomes tiresome. It's a halfway choice that's unsuccessfully trying to have it both ways. 

Evolution is always a difficult line for a revival to walk. How does a show change with the times without losing what worked in the first place? How much can its characters grow with the passage of time? How can things that have or haven't changed be explained? Without getting into spoilers, Scrubs doesn't really have satisfying answers on a plot mechanics level, but it mostly works emotionally, which is more important anyway. In the early going, there aren't any devastating, unforgettable dramatic moments like "Where do you think we are?" that will make viewers sob, but there are smaller ones that produce a lump in the throat and water in the eye. 

Overall, by the lowered standards of revivals, Scrubs is off to a promising start. Revivals that match the original in quality are nearly nonexistent. A revival only has to be almost as good as the original to not be a failure. And Scrubs is not a failure. If Braff and creator Bill Lawrence can't go the Pitt route and make a new show where Braff plays a different doctor, this is about as good as a Scrubs revival could be. 

Premieres: Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 8/7c on ABC. Streaming next day on Hulu.
Who's in it: Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, John C. McGinley, Ava Bunn, Jacob Dudman, David Gridley, Layla Mohammadi, Amanda Morrow, Joel Kim Booster, Vanessa Bayer
Who's behind it: Bill Lawrence (creator); Aseem Batra (executive producer/showrunner); Zach Braff (executive producer/director)
For fans of: Scrubs, 2000s nostalgia
Episodes watched: 4 of 9