I think that these episodes felt off because there was no emotional core to them. There was no dramatic story at all.

The best Scrubs episodes are when the characters are having real problems which grounds the goofy stuff. Whether it be conflict between the characters, marital problems or issues with whoever JD is dating, there wasn't very much personal stuff in these episodes. They felt like just a string of gags.

Still, not terrible but I hope they get better as the season progresses.

even better with the correct line. i think it was "do you think i like playing den mother to all 3 of you?"

yeah, something seemed a bit off, but i still loved it. not as much as the scrubs dramedy, but it was a nice touch when jordan thanked dr. cox.

i agree that Elliot's job situation was over MUCH too quickly.

great lines all night, though:

"i had to tell turk something, so you smoke a pipe now."

You know, Sarah Chalke is really hot! Never liked her on Roseanne though, she was awful on that show.

I havent watched the second episode yet but the first one was mediocre.
I love the fantasy sequences as much as the next guy but what was up with JD in a backpack? That seemed lame and unfunny to me.

what was the Crowded House/Neil Finn song at the end of the 1st episode?

Did seem a little off, good but not the show's best. And boy, they abandoned the "Elliot works at another hospital" gag fast, didn't they? That's what comes of airing two episodes in a row, I guess, but I thought they'd ride that a little longer than they did.

The energy seemed to lag in the first episode, and Zach Braff seemed to be playing the character differently, as if he hadn't "worn' the character in a while and the fit was off. The second episode was better, so I hope the show finds it's rhythm again. Was it just me, or is Donald Faison distressingly thin? I think that's the first time I've noticed that in a male actor.

Spoilers for upcoming episodes:

Also waaayy too much bathroom humor. Or should I say TWO much bathroom humor.


...Nope, it's not funny when I do it, either. Enough already!

I liked the secong episode better.

Cox and the man cards and sending his interns to the corner for saying "Let's rock and roll" were pretty funny

Yeah, it was the first episode I'd ever seen, and I could only make it about ten minutes in before quitting. Maybe I need to watch the old ones instead, I don't know. I love no-laugh track shows like Earl, The Office, Arrested Development, etc. But what I saw of this last night made Joey look like a comedy masterpiece.

I'm surprised Elliott needs to look in the classified to find a job; she's a doctor for pete's sake. But i loved the inter-racial siamese twins... lol

I liked treating patients like horses The show will find it's form the cast is to good to have a bad season

I'm not sure that I'd go that far, but the first episode was definitely lacking by Scrubs's standards.

Zach and others have said in interviews that since they didn't even know if the show would be back or not, they got really really crazy with some of their ideas, just for the hell of it.

I like it better when they do stuff like that backpack gag as a quick cutscene (like in Family Guy), instead of an actual part of what is really going on.

"Who am I!?!?"

i think the first episode was better then what people are saying there were alot of laughs in it, Elliot had some fun stuff with the coffee and at the end when she finally goes to eat with her co-workers, flips the counter and breaks the vase.

people always compare this with Arrested Development but the few times i watched it i never laugh, theres some funny bits but maybe cause its the type of show that you need to watch all of them to get the humor, thing is scrubs was always the type of show that i could watch an episode here and there and still find it very funny. now that i bought both seasons of scurbs the show is lot funnier.

I used to watch because of Eliott, but because they had her fart that turned me off and no longer will ever watch agin.

Good to know.

Buybye

The backpack should have been a J.D. fantasy, not something that actually happened.

There are so many things wrong about that comment, but since I don't think you're really that lame, I'm going to assume you were joking.

The Finn Brothers - "Anything Can Happen"

"tell it to the wall, newbie"

Link

Good News, Bad News for 'Scrubs' Return

Wednesday, January 04, 2006
02:19 PM PT

It may be true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Or in the case of "Scrubs," about 850,000 hearts.

After being held off the fall schedule, the NBC comedy began its fifth season Tuesday (Jan. 3) with two episodes that averaged about 7.85 million viewers. That's not bad in the context of the show's recent history, but it's significantly below NBC's average in the 9 p.m. Tuesday hour this season.

For the 2004-05 season, when it aired mostly at 9:30 on Tuesdays, "Scrubs" drew just over 7 million viewers per week, so Tuesday's episodes represent an improvement on that front. The two episodes beat all other entertainment programming in the hour among adults 18-49, NBC's target demographic (ABC's coverage of the Orange Bowl won the hour handily).

Continuing the glass-half-full perspective, NBC further notes that the 9 p.m. episode's 3.8 rating among adults 18-49 was "Scrubs'" best ever in that timeslot, where 20 episodes have aired. The 9:30 episode improved to 4.1 in 18-49, the show's best performance since early last season.

On the not-insignificant downside, "Scrubs" fell well short of what "My Name Is Earl" has delivered so far this season on Tuesdays: better than 12 million viewers and 18-49 ratings that regularly top 5.0 ("Earl" moves to Thursdays beginning this week, along with "The Office").

The 9:30 "Scrubs," which drew a little over 7.9 million viewers, was pretty much on par with "The Office's" season average of 8.1 million.


Chris

First – I don't think that even the most optimistic NBC programmer expected Earl-type numbers from a 4-year old "workhorse" sitcom.

Second – The were up against the Orange Bowl, for Chrissakes!

(I'm actually pretty encouraged about those numbers.)