Scrubs - The Complete First Season (DVD)

Just a few weeks after reviewing the second season of "That '70s Show" I have a chance to review the only other live-action sitcom that seems to be worth watching, "Scrubs".

As NBC's "Must See TV" has pretty much come to an end with the departure of "Seinfeld," "Friends" and "Frasier" and the declining humor found in "Will & Grace," "Scrubs" is pretty much the only show NBC has left to combat the rising competition that CBS, ABC and now FOX is pouring out, luckily enough it passes the test.

Ever since my first viewing of "Scrubs" I have always laughed my ass off and on top of that it has spawned one of the greatest young filmmakers in quite some time as Zach Braff proved he has more than just sitcom acting chops with last year's amazing dramedy Garden State.

"Scrubs" tells the story of a young group of residents as they set out on their way to becoming bonafide doctors but they must first get through the trials and tribulations ahead of them at Sacred Heart Hospital.

The story primarily centers around the character of J.D. played by Braff as he interacts with his co-workers and of course his mentor, Dr. Cox, played by John C. McGinley.

Of all the television sitcoms to come about "Scrubs" is another one of those shows that is perfectly cast from top to bottom as each actor brings that little something to their character to make them unique in such a way that their eccentricities are either loved, hated or downright hilarious.

As for this DVD set of the first season there are some ups and downs, but considering the show is fantastic any complaint here isn't any reason not to buy the set.

First off this set comes with three discs, 8 episodes per disc, none of which are offered in Dolby 5.1, which is a bit of a let-down. On top of that none of the episodes can be quickly scanned using the track-forward method, instead you must fast-forward if you are looking for a specific spot as each show is a track in and of itself, a little frustrating, but can be overlooked.

The special features included are however fairly good, including the audio commentaries, which is a bit unusual for me to say when talking about a TV series. For some reason several TV DVD sets take their commentaries and turn them over to the producers, who are not who I want to hear from, instead "Scrubs" offers commentary from show creator Bill Lawrence and a variety of guests including Braff, McGinley and Neil Flynn who plays the fiesty janitor.

Along with the commentaries there are a ton of features including a "Newbies" feature, which is a look back at the creation of the show as well as mini featurettes on all the cast members, a "Favorite Moments" feature where the cast reminises on their favorite scenes and moments from the first season, a medical featurette going into how realistic the show is medically and where they just throw realism to the wind, deleted scenes and outtakes, which are actually quite good and this time I can say that I actually preferred the deleted scenes over the outtakes as I thought they were much funnier.

Probably my favorite thing about the whole set is the fact that Zach Braff is involved more than I expected. Braff's star in Hollywood is shining brighter than ever after the success of Garden State and you may have thought his ego might get the best of him causing him to abandon what helped get him to where he is today but instead he contributes on two commentaries and even has a "Superman" Music Video Interview spot.

Overall this is a great set and well worth the purchase as "Scrubs" may just very well be the final funny show in NBC's "Must See TV" lineup.