Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Scrubs: “My Jerks”

I was all set to give up on this show after the seventh season since it seemed to be repeating itself more and more. Nor did I like how the show's writers kept treating a main character's love interests (especially a lady doctor played by Elizabeth Banks, who seemed to be treated especially unfairly).

However, I was convinced by an essay on Byzantium's Shores to give it another try and so far I have been quite impressed.

One of the reasons I started becoming disenchanted with the series was its refusal to show growth in the main character, John “J.D.” Dorian, a former medical intern whose constant pursuit of women who were always wrong for him and just plain refusal to grow up were becoming more and more pathetic.

In this season, Dorian actually seemed to be maturing -- or at least trying to -- and doing his damnedest to follow in the footsteps of his mentor, Dr. Perry Cox. Dr. Cox in turn seemed likely to follow in the footsteps of his former nemesis Bob Kelso, the former Chief of Medicine.

The season also introduced a new set of interns for Dorian to teach: Katie, a enthusiastic brownnoser, Denise, a callous tomboy, and Ben, a lazy Indian who seemed intent on singlemindedly undermining the usual hard-working model minority stereotype. The season also showed the usual characters (Dorian's surgeon friend Turk, Dorian's former girlfriend Elliot, and Dorian's nurse/mentor Carla) but with more emphasis on the interns and their problems than usual.

This was supposed to be actor Zach Braff's last season on the show and indeed, there was a rumor that this was supposed to be the show's last season as well. However, a ninth season has already been announced and as far as I know, Braff -- the actor who played Dorian -- will not be returning.

Will the rest of the eighth season be as good as Jaquandor suggested? That remains to be seen, but so far, it has promise.

Oh, Where Oh Where Can This Movie Be?

I liked actor Zach Braff well enough in the TV show Scrubs -- at least for the first few seasons. But in 2006's The Last Kiss? No way.

On Scrubs, Braff initially came across as an otherwise likable guy. In this film he came across as an egotist. Not content with the prospect of an upcoming marriage to the mother of his future child, Braff’s character Michael sought escape from the horror of impending monogamy and fatherhood by pursuing a relationship with a young female college student -- a student whose romantic interest seemed more a wish fulfillment fantasy than part of a believable relationship.

To be fair, Michael came across as being not all that bad compared to his male friends -- most of whom had little interest in settling down and who all seemed quite eager to run away from even the slightest hint of a monogamous relationship. But even those jerks were honest with themselves in a way that Michael never was. And it is Michael's insistence on playing the role of “nice guy” -- even when he was not a nice guy -- that ultimately diminished my sympathy for his character.