'Scrubs' stays an inventive operation

January 03, 2006|Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff

Among the countless perversities and mysteries of TV, the slighting of ''Scrubs" has been notable. Why hasn't this sly sitcom been an Emmy magnet during its four seasons? How come viewers haven't made it a Nielsen hit, or at least a cult sensation that gets fetish pieces in Entertainment Weekly? Why does NBC shuffle it around the schedule every year like a dung-puck, withholding season five until a gap happened to open up in the Tuesday lineup?

Yes, this is another tribute to the underappreciated hospital sitcom, which returns tonight with two episodes at 9 on Channel 7. ''Scrubs" deserves it. There is something giddily inventive about producer Bill Lawrence's laugh-track-free show, which crams its weekly 22 minutes with visual, verbal, and aural comedy, not to mention a bit of drama. With its density of material, it doesn't waste a second of time upon the electronic stage. ''Scrubs" operates like a tight, ''Simpsons"-esque animated series, and ''Arrested Development" probably wouldn't be so rich and hyperactive if ''Scrubs" hadn't paved the way. At a time when too many TV writers cruise on automatic pilot, there is nothing lazy or clone-like about ''Scrubs."

Surrealism is the show's most obvious distinction. ''Scrubs" is a hard-core TV product, in that so much of it is manufactured in post-production, unlike the more theatrical live-audience format of, say, ''Will & Grace." ''Scrubs" takes the fantasy sequences that David E. Kelley pioneered on ''Ally McBeal" and runs with them, constantly popping curious images into the action. It's as if the ego and the id of lead character J.D. Dorian (Zach Braff) were loosed upon us, as his every weird thought becomes literal and materializes onscreen. When inappropriate things pop into our brains, we edit them out. But ''Scrubs" edits those same things in, creating a fantasia of desires and fears and, J.D. being J.D., delusions of grandeur.

The production tricks do dazzle, but they aren't there to cover up a dearth of character. ''Scrubs" is built on one of TV's tightest ensembles, as the actors bounce off one another with the comfort and expertise of the casts of ''Friends" and ''Seinfeld." Their characters exploit each others' weaknesses, but affectionately, at times so affectionately it's downright moving. You believe these guys have been cooped up together for years within the same white hospital halls.