For Donald Faison, stepping again into the footwear of Turk — the lovable surgeon who for about a decade was one half of the zaniest bromance on tv — was like using a bike.
“By the time I got to the end of the block, I’m already doing wheelies and all of that stuff again,” Faison mentioned.
Faison is again — alongside with Zach Braff as J.D. and Sarah Chalke as Elliot — for a revival season of “Scrubs,” proper when a lot of viewers may use a good snigger.
The new season, which premiered Wednesday on ABC, options extra acquainted faces, together with John C. McGinley as Dr. Cox and Judy Reyes as Carla. Even creator Bill Lawrence, whose latest hits embrace “Shrinking” and “Ted Lasso,” is again as govt producer.
Like the unique “Scrubs,” which premiered in 2001 and started by chronicling J.D.’s journey as a medical intern, the revival serves up a wholesome dose of comedic and heartfelt moments interspersed with J.D.’s signature wacky daydream sequences and voiceovers.
But not the whole lot’s the identical. J.D., now divorced from Elliot, is again at Sacred Heart Hospital to take over as chief of medication whereas Dr. Cox retires. The characters have grown and medication has modified since “Scrubs” went off the air in 2010 (Lawrence and revival showrunner Aseem Batra confirmed the new collection ignores the ninth season, successfully a spinoff that featured little of the unique solid).
“I was just trying to figure out what the 50-year-old father, excellent teacher version of J.D. is and have it be real, while still being a guy who’s sort of goofy and silly like I think I am in real life,” Braff mentioned.
The celebrated bromance between Turk and J.D. stays a key a part of the present. Braff and Faison are famously good mates offscreen, and have appeared collectively in T-Mobile commercials and in addition collaborated on the podcast, “Fake Doctors, Real Friends.”
“I think that’s one of the reasons ‘Scrubs’ worked is that Donald and I just instantly clicked. And then obviously with Sarah as well, we loved each other,” mentioned Braff.
“Scrubs” is way from the primary present to be revived lately, however bringing it again felt proper to a lot of the solid and crew, who mentioned there’s at all times room for a tribute to medical professionals. Plus, the solid nonetheless has chemistry.
“Now more than ever, we need to laugh,” mentioned Faison.
The new “Scrubs” Season 1 works arduous to deliver the present into 2026, whereas additionally capturing the essence of basic “Scrubs” episodes that balanced comedy with coronary heart, Batra mentioned. To assist accomplish this, Lawrence wrote the revival’s first episode, and weighed in on the remainder of the season the place he may. The attraction of Lawrence’s reveals, Chalke famous, is that he “always writes with a real element of hope.” It’s a giant a part of why Lawrence is glad to see the story revisited at this time.
“A lot of TV I do right now has an undercurrent of hopefulness and optimism in humanity,” Lawrence mentioned. “If anyone’s working in a teaching hospital, they’re doing it because they want to be of service, and they’re doing it because they think there’s a greater good out there. And stories like that mean more to me right now than ever.”
‘Oldies’ and newbies
For the youthful solid members, being the new “newbies” may have been intimidating — a few of them admitted to being round a yr previous when “Scrubs” first premiered. But collection veterans made a level of welcoming everybody into the fold. Braff, for instance, hosted Saturday evening dinners for the solid each week.
“We’d go to set, do our work and every Saturday, we’d bond and have a drink and laugh, and the director of the episode normally would come and join us,” mentioned Layla Mohammadi, who performs surgical intern Amara.
“I felt like I was in college all over again,” mentioned Ava Bunn, who performs the perpetually on-line medical intern Sam Tosh — or “TikTok Doc,” as Dr. Cox calls her. “It was very, very fun.”
The new class of characters additionally consists of Jacob Dudman and David Gridley as medical interns Asher and Blake, in addition to Amanda Morrow as surgical intern Dashana.
“They bring in that new vibe of what the changes in the medical industry have been, but also they bring in a complete transparency and lack of apology in approaching their work,” mentioned Morrow.
Meanwhile, a number of the present’s legacy characters current a extra cynical standpoint. “It’s the same group of mediocrity,” mentioned McGinley of surly Cox’s emotions about instructing one more batch of interns.
While returning characters are nonetheless captivated with caring for folks, indicators that the job has taken its toll present. “So, you see how much Cox and Carla have changed and have been affected in the world of these Bambis, who are just excited for life and the opportunity to do what we’ve been doing for years,” Reyes mentioned, utilizing her character’s early nickname for then-intern J.D.
The mixing of previous and new storylines and views serves as a pure entry level for potential new viewers.
“If you knew about Turk, J.D. and Elliot from before or if you didn’t, this is a story that everyone can relate to,” Faison mentioned.
That applies to totally different generations, too.
Braff mentioned followers anticipating the revival have written to him by way of Instagram concerning the present’s connection to their very own properties and lives — individuals who watched it with their mother and father and now have youngsters of their very own.
“I think there’s a lot of people that grew up with the show, and it meant a lot to them,” he mentioned. “I think that if we do it right, they’ll be happy to watch it again and also share it with their kids.”
Season 1 of the “Scrubs” revival airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Episodes stream on Hulu the following day.