Scrubs is an American medical comedy television series created by Bill Lawrence that aired from October 2, 2001, to March 17, 2010, on NBC and later ABC. The series follows the lives of employees at the fictional Sacred Heart teaching hospital. The title is a play on surgical scrubs and a term for a low-ranking person because at the beginning of the series, most of the main characters were medical interns.
The series is fast-paced, with slapstick and surreal vignettes presented mostly as the daydreams of the central character, Dr. John “J.D.” Dorian, who is played by Zach Braff. Actors starring alongside Braff in all but its last season included Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, Ken Jenkins, John C. McGinley, and Judy Reyes. The series featured multiple guest appearances by film actors, such as Brendan Fraser, Heather Graham, and Colin Farrell.
In its ninth and final season, the show’s setting moved to a medical school, and new cast members were introduced. Of the original cast, only Braff, Faison, and McGinley remained regular cast members, while the others, with the exception of Reyes, made guest appearances. Braff appeared in six episodes of the ninth season before departing. Kerry Bishé, Eliza Coupe, Dave Franco, and Michael Mosley became series regulars, with Bishé becoming the show’s new narrator.
Scrubs, produced by the television production division of Disney–ABC Television Group, premiered on October 2, 2001, on NBC. The series received a Peabody Award in 2006. During the seventh season, NBC announced that it would not renew the show. ABC announced it had picked up the eighth season of the series, which began January 6, 2009. The ninth season premiered on December 1, 2009.
On May 14, 2010, ABC announced that the show had been officially cancelled.