Scrubs – The Complete Second Season
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: B- Episodes: B
Zack Braff has been on a role with his independent hit
feature film Garden State (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and his hit
TV series Scrubs is on a roll. After
so many medical dramas and the occasional gem like St. Elsewhere, a
comedy set in a hospital is very welcome, but especially when it is this smart
and entertaining. Dr. Dorian (Braff) is
the focus of the show, including his own perception of reality. The show will tackle any subject, person and
is not politically correct, like all great television comedies.
Picking up with The Complete Second Season, all 22
episodes from this 2002 – 2003 season are solid thanks to a combination of
exceptional casting and fine writing.
Though the sitcom was supposedly dead and critics were putting their
money on the just-cancelled Arrested Development (which had its
moments), Scrubs already proved the situation comedy was not dead,
though critics, the media and Emmy voters may have considered Arrested
Development the safer of the two.
Some comparisons to the quickly burnt-out Ally McBeal, but the
show is more about edgy humor than just surrealism (which it has) and
tricks. The show still has its
confinements like any other sitcom or series TV show, but knows where to go
with the structure and the results are very welcome.
The 1.33 X 1 image is not bad either, and when you zoom in
on the image with captioning at 1.78 X 1, it still looks good. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is a lively
enough mix as well, so playback is good.
Extras include featurettes on John C. McGinley, use of music on the
show, “stunt casting” on guest stars purposely booked to pump up ratings,
behind the scenes items, outtakes with alternative lines, deleted scenes, Imagination
Gone Wild on their surrealism, audio commentary on six select episodes and
a few other brief items on DVD 3 that are better left un-discussed until you
see the shows. Creator Bill Lawrence
has done something very impressive with this series, and for all intents and
purposes, it has yet to see its peak.
Catch the DVD version of Scrubs because it does more justice to
the series than mere broadcasts of the episodes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
