Scrubs/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Actor Allusion:
    • Dr. Maddox, played by Courteney Cox, makes fun of Dr. Perry Cox's last name.
    • It is revealed that The Janitor was in The Fugitive. Neil Flynn, who plays The Janitor, really did play that role.
    • A very dark one - you know that episode where Hooch threatens to run somebody over? Guess which actor actually had fatally run someone over in the early nineties. Go on. Guess.
    • In "My Last Chance", J.D. is watching Sixteen Candles (starring Molly Ringwald) with Dr. Molly Clock and internally exclaims "God bless Mollys everywhere!". That particular episode featured an ambulance driver played by Molly Shannon.
    • In "My Last Words", Turk tells a patient about how he used to be a football safety in college. Guess where the character played by Donald Faison, who played Turk, ends up playing in the movie Remember the Titans? He starts out on offence but is moved to safety.
    • In "My Unicorn", J.D. finds a patients son that has a problem with his name that "makes him sound like a old man." Did I mention he's played by Mathew Perry who also played a character with a name that "makes him sound like a girl."
  • Channel Hop: Moved to ABC in the eighth season. Interestingly enough, the show was ABC produced anyway but aired on NBC for some reason. This was because the show predated a change in what incentives each network looked for in a show. In 2001, it was more common for networks to buy shows from each others' production companies (though usually only after the network that technically produced it passed). This is true in the case of Scrubs: ABC originally declined to air the show), because the only way to profit off a show was through the network charging for commercial time (how much they charged was based on ratings), and an eventual syndication deal, through which the production company and the broadcast network would split the profits. By the mid-00's, broadcast ratings were down across the board (meaning networks couldn't charge as much for ads), but the DVD and online markets were rising. Only production companies made money from the DVD and online download sales. This was the tipping point at which networks started to only broadcast shows made by their own production companies, because then if the show didn't have great ratings but had a strong cult audience who would buy the DVD's, the parent company of both the network and the production company would still profit.
  • The Character Died with Him: John Ritter played J.D.'s dad in Season One and in a flashback in Season Two, while Ritter died during Season Three. Season Four had the character die and a few episodes spent with J.D. dealing with the repercussions, the shows own way of respecting Ritter's memory.
  • Creator Couple: Series creator Bill Lawrence and actress Christa Miller (Jordan Sullivan); the wedding video Dr. Cox watches in "My Bad" (Jordan's first appearance) is actually Bill and Christa's, which is why only Christa can be seen.
  • Directed by Cast Member: Zach Braff directed 7 episodes during the show's run, including the 100th episode. He also played a major role in the music used for the show; one of the biggest strengths of the show.
    • A lesser known example: Michael McDonald of Mad TV fame guest starred as a patient in 3 episodes before directing 6 episodes in the later seasons, some of which he acted in. This eventually led to him being hired as a consulting producer, staff writer, frequent director and sometimes actor on Bill Lawrence's next comedy series.
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Turk used to play football.
  • Post Script Season: The second ABC season has all the makings.
  • Prop Recycling: Some special-made props that feature in J.D.'s fantasies are often brought into the regular world. The giant stethoscope for "Dr. Toilet" is later shown as a prop J.D. uses when entertaining kids in pediatrics. In the sitcom episode, the Janitor is shown in a light blue uniform. In a later episode he asked for a new uniform and got the same one, learning that it made him less intimidating.
  • Reality Subtext: In the episode "My Catalyst", Michael J. Fox plays a doctor with OCD - a neurological disorder that all-but usurps control of the body from the active portions of the head - played by a man diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, which accomplishes the same thing in a vastly different way. In an interview after that episode aired, Fox stated that he allowed his frustration with Parkinson's to help inform the character of Dr. Casey.
  • Romance on the Set: The stunt actors for J.D. and Elliot met for the very first time filming the bungee jumping scene in the second season. They later got married.
    • The cast and crew even helped with the proposal.
  • Star-Making Role: For Zach Braff in particular. And while much of the cast has had some prior work, this series rose their standing significantly.
  • Throw It In: After realizing Neil Flynn was a great improv comedian, the writers began to write most of the Janitor scenes with the simple direction "Neil says something".
    • The outtakes definitely attest to the fact that often the crew had no idea what he was going to say in any given take.
    • Todd's last name. He once wore an ID tag that said Quinlan on it and fans theorized that was his last name. The show decided to roll with that theory.
  • What Could Have Been: Don Lamb could have ended up as J.D.
    • Neil Flynn auditioned for Dr. Cox originally.
    • Had the series been cancelled at the end of Season 1, the Janitor was going to be revealed as a figment of J.D.'s imagination (this was foreshadowed by the Janitor only interacting directly with JD and being seen by him... barring a few rare moments). This intention was continued early into Season 2, but Neil Flynn's insistence that he get to act with the other cast members (and consequentially be given more to do) reversed it.
    • Neil Flynn was contracted to return in Season 9 as a cast member, but only if he didn't find a regular role somewhere else. Had The Middle not been picked up, Flynn would've been a regular in the final season.
    • During one of the later seasons, there were conversations had about bringing Arrested Development Tobias Funke on as Sacred Heart's in-house shrink. It ended up being too complicated to work out a deal with all the parties involved.
  • The Wiki Rule: The Scrubs Wiki
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