[Chefelf]

Scrubs has been one of my favorite show for the past year or so. My girlfriend and I got the DVDs and began watching all of the episodes sometimes watching five or six episodes a night last winter. Seasons two and three appear to have been the strongest. Season four was quite good. Last season began to display some very small chinks in Scrubs's comedy armor (please ignore the fact that this metaphor does not work).

The show was still quite good but there were just some moments that didn't seem to be up to the same high standards that the previous four seasons had had. There wasn't really anything you could easily put your finger on, nothing concrete you could point to, just a sense that a small handful of the episodes were four star episodes instead of the normal five star standard.

This season crossed the line. It didn't start off terribly strong but I was coasting along with the episodes enjoying them until episode 611 "My Night To Remember." This was nothing more than a clip show, and a lousy one at that. This would have been a yawn even as an extra feature when the DVD for season six was released but as an episode it was absolutely inexcusable.

Sure, they tried to play it off in their normal self-referential way by mentioning that it was "like one of those clip shows they throw together when sitcom writers get lazy." It's great that they mentioned that that concept was stupid and boring and a cheap cop out for lazy writers who need to make x number of episodes. However, making reference to this and joking about it does not give them license to go ahead and do it anyway. There's a reason shows don't do this anymore, because viewers would much rather watch a rerun than have to be subjected to a string of scenes from other episodes.

We didn't like it when Skippy and Malory got locked in the basement in the episode of Family Ties and remembered some past episodes while learning that it sucks to be locked in the basement. Nor did we like that episode of Diff'rent Strokes when Arnold and Willis (or someone) got locked in the basement and remembered some past episodes while learning it sucks to be locked in a basement.

And why was Dr. Cox bald in that episode?

C'mon, Scrubs. I think you owe us all an apology.

[Lefty]

Wow, this may be the longest a cheffy thread has gone without being commented on!

So here goes: it's kind of like that episode season series Lost, where everyone remembers incidents from their life while learning that it sucks to be trapped on a metaphysically bizarre & existentially remote island. Of course, since we haven't seen the incidents from their life before, it probably doesn't qualify as a "clip show."

[civilian_number_two]

It's actually not the case that comedy series avoid clip shows. Friends had a few, The Simpsons a couple I can remember. I think Seinfeld avoided doing one until the very end of its run. I'm not likely going to be able to think of more examples, since I don't watch much TV, but clip shows are not really about lazy writers. They're an advertising idea, to try to generate interest for new viewers in watching the old episodes. I think they work on those folks, but not on the regular viewers, so you might want to cut Scrubs the tiniest bit of slack, if doing a clip show is really the worst of their sins. I for one really enjoyed this Friends clip show I saw that summarised the whole Chandler/Monica thing, since I never watched the series and basically this was an episode that was all jokes and a really fast story without the schmaltz. If every episode had moved at that pace, I would have thought that show was awesome (I thought that show sucked).

[J m HofMarN]

I've never been trapped in a basement. Perhaps these clip shows can teach me a valuable lesson.

[Slade]

I was afraid I'd have to lose some respect in you, Civ, when you praised the Friends clip show! But you renewed my faith in you by letting us know that that was the only part of the series you enjoyed. Whew!

[Laura]

Chef, sadly, I have to agree with you. Scrubs is one of my favorite shows in the world, and I still love watching the reruns--I never seem to get sick of seeing the seasons 1-4 episodes over and over. But I just saw the latest few epis last night, and I have to say I don't anticipate rewatching them with enjoyment as I have the others.

The clip show actually wasn't that bad (the clips were short, which is good, and some of the sequences--like when it looked like they were all dancing to the same song--were actually quite well-done, although one or two of the sequences seemed to have no theme at all and you were like, "Why am I watching this again?") But the next episode opens with a Dr. Cox speech about what makes every character funny, and I just found it annoying. Scrubs is often funny when it's self-aware, but for a character in the show to clearly label the gimmicks that each of the characters has fallen into is dumb. It's like they're admitting that they've decided to just go with the one-dimensional "quirks" in lieu of any further character development.

It also seems like, increasingly, they're phoning it in, going with the easy, predictable punchline, when what made Scrubs good is that there was always that little twist, something unexpected. Writers, mentioning Harrison's boyfriend is not a punchline--we all know he's gay (although, aside, I do like the subtle way Dr Kelso seems to have grown closer to him during the run of the show). Mentioning that the Todd is secretly gay is also not a punchline--there was an entire episode about it! It's officially expected! Having JD clearly enunciate a weird line, or Elliot speak in a high voice, or Dr Cox repeat the same syllable over and over, can no longer carry the joke (especially now that you've pointed all that out in the world's worst Dr Cox monologue!). Those bits might have been funny at one time, and I might even enjoy watching them again in the original context, but I don't want to see them poorly rehashed. You've made those jokes. They're done. Find something new.

I only scold because I love. Come back Good Scrubs.

This post has been edited by Laura: 20 March 2007 - 09:53 AM

[Jen]

Amen, sister!