Over a Candle

So I’ve caught up on my Scrubs watching and have begun to form an opinion about the new season of one of my favorite shows.

After seeing the season 8 finale, I was really skeptical about a ninth season. I think the show ended almost perfectly. I really enjoyed the eighth season, which seemed to take itself a bit more seriously.

What I’ve always liked about this show was J.D.’s ability to reflect and the willingness to tackle more complicated subjects than your average sit-com. Into seasons 4 and 5, it seemed that J.D. kept becoming more and more a caricature of himself. The show itself was still dealing with interesting issues, but the characters were becoming flatter, more two-dimensional. The eight season seemed to recapture some of the original depth and charm of the characters.

They accomplished that, in part, by introducing new interns that required the main characters to mature and deal with these newbies as real teachers. We got to see all of our familiar characters grow into the prime of their adult lives.

Season 9 seems intent to continue that tradition. By focusing on a group of med students (being taught by some of the regulars from the first eight seasons), we get a return to the wonders, and hardship, of learning to be a doctor. It feels funny and fresh. We aren’t rehashing the same relationship difficulties that we’ve seen for years. These are new people, with new quirks. J.D., Turk, Cox, and Kelso are back, but they don’t take center stage as much.

I still really enjoy the finale that season 8 left us with. But I’m really getting a kick out of the new season. I’m enjoying it much more than I expected to. It’s a nice surprise.

It’s a good thing I’m on Facebook. I don’t know when I would have heard about this except for a post from the official Scrubs page on the social networking site. It looks like the fun isn’t over. I’m sure Ronni won’t be happy. But I’ve got another season of Scrubs to look forward to! I guess sometimes the television gods smile on me.

I’ll be very curious to see how the new roles of our main characters really play out. We’ll see if season 9 can manage to keep the same humor and energy that season 8 seemed to recapture.

Less than two weeks!

Scrubs – Season 9 – Press Release:

ABC ANNOUNCES THE SEASON PREMIERES OF ‘SCRUBS’ AND ‘BETTER OFF TED’

Back-to-Back Episodes of ‘Scrubs’ Air Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 9:00 and 9:30 p.m., ET; ‘Better Off Ted’ Premieres Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 9:30 p.m.

The hit half-hour comedy series ‘Scrubs’ will return to ABC this December for its ninth season. This irreverent and offbeat comedy will debut TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, with back-to-back episodes from 9:00-9:30 and 9:30-10:00 p.m., ET. On TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, the critically acclaimed comedy ‘Better Off Ted’ will begin its sophomore season at 9:30 p.m., ET, following an original episode of ‘Scrubs.’

‘Scrubs’ focuses on the unique point of view of Dr. John ‘J.D.’ Dorian (Zach Braff). Having left the hospital temporarily for a job at another hospital, he returns to Sacred Heart to teach med school. Together with Drs. Turk (Donald Faison), Cox (John C. McGinley), Kelso (Ken Jenkins) and intern Denise (Eliza Coupe), he is now professor to a class of brand new medical students Lucy (Kerry Bishe), Drew (Michael Mosley) and Cole (Dave Franco) while continuing his romance with the beautiful but socially awkward Dr. Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke).

Well, we’re about six weeks into the new season of Scrubs. So far it has been terrific. This comes as a bit of relief to me. The seventh season was a bit uneven, I suspect due to the writer’s strike. There were still good moments, but it ended with a very odd fantasy episode. With the shift in networks, I wasn’t sure if it would feel like the same show.

The show this season has seemed really solid. Several of the characters have really developed and grown this season. Kelso and Cox have both really shone this season. And I have enjoyed the introduction of more three-dimensional characters as interns. (The previous class of interns on the show have been little more than scenery, which was fine at the time.)

The silliness that had become an increasingly larger part of J.D.’s character has also been toned down this season. I think this is another change for the good. And, despite my reservations, I don’t mind J.D. and Elliot having yet another romance.

It just feels like the show has grown up a bit and still maintains the charm it had from the beginning.

Definitely the best half-hour of television on right now. I’m just really happy to have gotten an eighth season of this show.

* The eighth season of Scrubs is rocking.

* People who don’t know me who feel the need to slam my profession suck.

* I wonder what my cat is really thinking when we play fetch.

* If it takes me longer than a minute to start typing, is it really a “random” thought?

* I like winter, but even I wouldn’t mind getting about zero every now and then.

* A random thought list shouldn’t take over 24 hours to compose.

* The second half of the third season of Heroes is also off to a great start.

* Meetings that go past 9:00 pm have gone on way too long.

* I sometimes wish I could stay home and play fetch with my cat all day.

* I’m not sure how to justify buying a new laptop, but I still want one.

* Every time I watch News Radio, I’m saddened a little that Phil Hartman is dead.

* Why do my cats wait until I go to bed to start fighting?

* A random thought list of 38 items is beyond my capabilities at this point.

* Silence may be golden, but it’s also very loud.

* Being tired is actually not conducive to having random thoughts.

In just a few short hours (just over four by my count), we will get new episodes of Scrubs!!!

ABC has taken over the comedy and will begin airing new episodes tonight. It looks like they’re going to air two episodes tonight.

Given the rather odd fairy-tell story that NBC ended the show’s run on last season, it will be a welcome return for the show. Even if the show doesn’t last more than another season, I’m hoping for a better ending to what has consistently been one of the strongest comedies on television.

So fire up the DVRs! Cox, J.D., Turk, and the rest of the gang return tonight!!! I know what I’ll be doing.

I’ve been wallowing in the political nonsense too much. Time for a bit of a lighter interlude.

So yesterday, I saw ads on Comedy Central for Scrubs. But not just ads for Scrubs. They were for NEW episodes of Scrubs. I knew that the show had left NBC, and I remember there had been rumors of it resurfacing on another channel. So I thought that maybe Comedy Central had landed the eight season. I was thrilled!

The chance that I was finally going to get new episodes seemed too good to be true. Thus, I began digging around online. I recalled what they say about things that seem to be too good to be true. And I started to get a sinking feeling.

There was no evidence that the eighth season was on Comedy Central. The latest news I could find, months old, was that it would be a mid-season replacement on ABC. But that still left a question… What was going to be on Comedy Central next week?

Probably anybody that had gotten more than six hours of sleep on any night in the last week could have figured it out. But I had to go to Comedy Central, and look up the Scrubs viewing schedule. That’s when I realized that the episodes airing next week had numbers in the 700s. Comedy Central is going to start airing season seven next week. (So far, only seasons one through six have been in rotation in syndication.) The new episodes next week are thus “new” only to Comedy Central, not to the viewers.

Ah well. At least it means season seven is going to be coming out on DVD soon (November).

Stupid misleading commercials.