Scrubs' Forgotten Series Made An Old JD Problem From The Original Show Even Weirder
Scrubs' short-lived 2009 web series, Scrubs: Interns, fleshed out the sitcom's world in some really interesting ways, but it also made one of the show's most confusing JD gags even more unclear. The 12-episode spinoff ran alongside Scrubs season 8 and was originally only available on the ABC website. Then, it was released on the Scrubs season 8 DVD sex, but it's also available on producer Jesse Schiller's Vimeo channel. Zach Braff briefly reprises his role as JD in Interns, but it's actually Neil Flynn's Janitor who makes matters confusing.
Although the web series is very rarely discussed, it's quite obviously set in the same canon as all nine seasons of Scrubs. So, although the Scrubs revival has no real obligation to acknowledge Scrubs: Interns, it's still a nice addition to the larger world in which the sitcom is set. With Braff presumably set to return as JD when Scrubs season 10 enters production, there's an old trope the character will almost definitely bring back, but the original run (and Interns) would often also make this running gag difficult to track.
Legal Custodians' Opening Sequence In Scrubs: Interns Is The Same As The One From JD's Scrubs Fantasy
The web series weirdly replicated JD's imagination
Scrubs: Interns brilliantly pays off a joke from Scrubs season 7, episode 10, "My Waste of Time." After watching the Janitor and Ted (Sam Lloyd), JD muses to his son that the pair "should have their own sitcom." Then, Braff's character conjures up what the show in question would look like in his head, complete with a theme song. JD mentions the cleverly named Legal Custodians just once more in the episode, but Interns really doubles down on the joke by the Janitor and Ted trying to shoot a TV pilot under the same name.
TED: I'm a lawyer.
JANITOR: I'm a janitor.
BOTH: Together, we adopted a cute little kid. We're Legal Custodians. Get it?
- The lyrics to the Legal Custodians theme song.
Although it's a great piece of fan service, it opens up an incredibly meta plot hole. Firstly, JD is never shown explaining the premise of the show to anyone else in any real detail. Secondly, Legal Custodians' opening sequence that's shot in Scrubs: Interns is exactly the same as the version that JD sees in his fantasy in "My Waste of Time." So, it's very unclear how the Janitor and Ted seemingly dragged the images from JD's mind and into their Legal Custodians pilot.
Scrubs Often Blurred The Line Between Real Events & JD's Fantasies
Showrunner Bill Lawrence didn't always track what could actually happen in the show's real world
JD's bizarre (and increasingly detailed) fantasies were Scrubs' primary method of injecting a healthy dose of fantastical chaos into the show. Generally, the events in JD's head would often be so removed from reality that it would make the hospital's real-world antics seem positively grounded by comparison. However, Scrubs gradually started to lose track of what should happen in fantasy sequences and which events should take place in the sitcom's physical setting.
There are a few instances where a scene comes across very much like it's going to flash out from a fantasy into a "real" moment, but the show never actually presents the scene that way. For example, JD somehow sneaks into the movie theater by cramming himself into Turk's backpack in Scrubs season 5, episode 1, "My Intern's Eyes." While very funny, this would have been far more at home in a fantasy, which was where Scrubs would usually shine in its irreverent comedy.
Source: Vimeo
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