When I first found out that Scrubs was coming to the 2026 TV schedule after more than a decade off the air, I was excited to see how the revival would stack up against those all-timer episodes. While the show is checking off all the boxes that made the original series one of the best sitcoms of all time, there’s one thing that’s really been bothering me in the first few episodes.
No, it’s not the whole J.D. and Elliot getting divorced business or Dr. Cox retiring (those two examples perfectly sum up what I love most about Scrubs). Instead, it has to do with the show’s constant reminder that times have changed since Zach Braff’s newly minted Chief of Medicine left Sacred Heart Hospital all those years ago. Let me explain…
There Are Constant Reminders That Times Have Changed, Like We Don’t Know Already
In the first few episodes of the new Scrubs, there are so many reminders that times have changed. I’m not talking about time passing and former Sacred Heart fixtures no longer being there, but instead more about how society has changed in the 16 years since the show last aired. I get it, there have been seismic shifts over the years, but I don’t need a constant reminder of how much we’ve improved when it comes to sensitivity training like I’m being hit over the head with a hammer. It’s not subtle, and it’s quite tiresome.
Don’t get me wrong, one or two jokes involving Vanessa Bayer’s Sibby Wilson would be fine and dandy, but having the new Head of Human Resources (I’m honestly surprised they’re still calling it that) having nothing to do but constantly remind people they can’t say certain things is a bit too much.
We get it, we’re living in 2026 and not 2006. But do we have to keep reminding the characters and viewers of this every few minutes? It’s like all those shows that came out during COVID that kept reminding us we were living in a pandemic. I didn’t need that then and I don’t really need this now.
It’s Not Enough To Ruin The Revival (Not Yet), But I Can’t Stop Rolling My Eyes
We’re only a few episodes into the Scrubs revival, so I’m not going to let this recurring issue ruin the experience for me as a whole. I mean, there’s enough that I like about the show – J.D.’s interactions with the interns, those daydream sequences, and the show’s signature blend of humor and heart – that I’ll keep watching as new episodes drop each week. However, if this becomes a feature and not a bug, I could end up singing a different tune before we get to the end of the nine-episode run.
That said, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes whenever a joke was made about current sensitivities in these first few episodes. The same goes for Ava Bunn’s character, Sam Tosh, being the butt of jokes about the “TikTok Generation.” Those jokes weren’t funny a few years ago, and they’re definitely not funny now.
I’ll keep watching as new episodes of Scrubs drop on ABC each Wednesday (or at least the next day with a Hulu subscription), but I hope this is something that stops sooner rather than later.
