New Scrubs "med student" show

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Dr. Pickle

Dr. Pickle

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This show seems to be written by people who have never met a medical student....I don't know how other schools work; but did any of you guys do rounds in a hospital the 1st day; and were able to answer the question "what is it called when tuberculosis affects the spine?"

[they did get the 1st year med school sex drama right though haha!]
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I watched the first episode and was highly disappointed. Are the the writers so desperate for material that they need to change the premise of the show and introduce a slew of new annoying characters? This whole thing reeks of a show strung along too long - like saved by the bell the college years, or saved by the bell the new class (not comparing the quality of scrubs and saved by the bell though).

I will probably watch a few more episodes though, just to see how cool their med school is compared to mine haha.
 
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Scrubs was originally intended to be the "comedic ER". They wanted characters that'd hang around a few years and then leave and get subbed in. Problem was, the original cast clicked and people didn't want others.

I only saw about 5 minutes of the newest episode and I think ABC is screwing it up. It is filmed in pretty HD and all that but the filming just feels weird. The colors and lighting feel different enough to make me uncomfortable. The set just feels like a set. The characters just don't stand out to me. I have a hard time giving a damn about any of them. It feels similar to a videogame series that changes development studios and while it has similar parts, overall it is just a different game and doesn't come together.
 
I loved how the first year student's (Lucy's) cadaver was a patient she saw earlier on the floor... how screwed up is that?

I know this show isn't supposed to be realistic, and I know it wasn't meant to be a funny point in the show, but I thought that was hilarious.
 
Who cares? Have you actually seen the show? The two new blonde med students are HOT. If our med school was like that I might actually go to class.
 
phoenixxx said:
This show seems to be written by people who have never met a medical student....I don't know how other schools work; but did any of you guys do rounds in a hospital the 1st day; and were able to answer the question "what is it called when tuberculosis affects the spine?"

[they did get the 1st year med school sex drama right though haha!]
Click to expand...

I think you're taking it too literally. I though it was a funny parody of a pimp session (especially the sports trivia lol). No lay person cares how our training actually works and watching actual 1st years would be pretty boring.
 
Suuuucked.

I try not to let falsehoods/unrealism affect my enjoyment of medical shows (I still like House, for instance). However I could not get over this "new" Scrubs.

The original Scrubs, while obviously very "unrealistic" in some senses (JD's fantasies, etc, etc), captured the "spirit" of what it was to be an intern and resident more than any other medical show I've ever seen. There was something very authentic about the emotions/experiences JD and his comerades had that resonated with me (and most other people I know who've watched the show).

This "reboot" has none of that. It is in fact completely un-authentic and captures nothing about the emotions/experiences of early medical school.
 
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GRTCOvmf0g[/YOUTUBE]

It seems more like this than the old Scrubs.
 
i enjoyed it
plus the aussie is hot.

it's nothing like the old scrubs, but scrubs hasn't been scrubs since season 3 anyways.
 
I wish it was true to the sequence of medical school at least. Why couldn't they be third year students? They would have to go to another rotation in 8 weeks though.
 
I wrote these notes down while I was watching the show and they seem to be in the spirit of the thread.

1st Episode:
They accurately portray med students as neurotic
Their hospital seem to have way better patients than ours. Theirs are all supportive and awesome. So far, the clinic patients I see once every other week are more senile and not really aware of what medications they take.
Apparently at this hospital, 1st year med students know what Hodgkin's Lymphoma is on the first day of class, and can correctly diagnose hospital patients. I'm pretty sure on my first day of med school I could have correctly diagnosed chickenpox. Maybe. If the patient told me “I have chickenpox.”
Apparently the cadavers are patients from the hospital. Maybe it's just me, but I like our system of importing them from several states away.

2nd Episode:
They have two students per cadaver. And an anatomy instructor who actually appears to know where the anatomical structures actually are. Lucky med students.
They don't have to attend lectures on medical ethics or career planning. Awesome.
I'd kind of like to know why the 1st year med students seem to be in the hospital all the time. Where are the never-ending lectures on genetics? For that matter, where are the PhD professors who talk forever about their research and then throw you a few crumbs of useful information?
However, the student saying that she can't sleep and hasn't eaten anything except wine for a week sounds like a typical med student.
Why is the 1st year med student trying to check an alcoholic into a rehab center? Shouldn't she be off somewhere studying biochemistry? She's going to fail Step 1.
I don't remember learning this many lessons last year about “how to be a doctor.” Mostly I remember learning all the amino acids and awkwardly fumbling through physical exams.
 
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ChiDO said:
It would be a very boring show if they showed true med students.

Wake up -> sit in class -> eat -> study -> sleep
Click to expand...

All they had to do was make them 3rd years, but no, they had to go and make it completely wrong (and laughable) by making them 1st years.
 
These first few episodes kind of reminded me of the medical school interview scene from Harold and Kumar...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoK7MqQVU14[/YOUTUBE]
 
I would love to see how that writers meeting went.

I would have loved to see the look on their faces when they did their research and saw how dull the life of a first year medical student actually is.

:laugh: at:

the chief of surgery teaching the anatomy course.

rounding at the hospital

being pimped by the chief of medicine on pathology questions

meeting the chief of medicine

having residents be in charge of first year orientation

meeting a resident face to face

guys with prison records gaining admission

girls that hot being in med school without complex daddy issues


Man, I must be going to the wrong med school. I wish my first year was like this.
 
greatnt249 said:
All they had to do was make them 3rd years, but no, they had to go and make it completely wrong (and laughable) by making them 1st years.
Click to expand...

Making them first years gives you room for four seasons minimum before you either move the cast in to an intern/residency situation as Scrubs was or bring through new characters who can hold the med school environment. You also have the problem where third years will have already formed relationships and "gotten comfortable" with med school, limiting character progression.

I don't think it'll make it beyond this season but there's still no reason for the authors to paint themselves in to a corner.
 
NJDIF said:
:laugh: at:

rounding at the hospital

meeting a resident face to face

girls that hot being in med school without complex daddy issues


Man, I must be going to the wrong med school. I wish my first year was like this.
Click to expand...

You must be. These 3 aren't unheard of for M1's at my school.
 
kingofthehill said:
You must be. These 3 aren't unheard of for M1's at my school.
Click to expand...


i see your location is texas. this just isnt fair. by that alone, im not not going to the right med school. i mean theyre just pretty much giving the tuition away over there arent they? and of course, by being in texas, you naturally luck out with that last one :thumbup:
 
I finally watched the full episodes. The chicks are attractive but the show is god awful. Horrible. I didn't even find it funny. I just thought it was trying way too hard. I don't understand why they have to do some weird preclinical/clinical year merging. There is a simple remedy to it. You start them in third year and then have some kind of on going gag about seeing the first and second years and it does a little cut to a bunch of them hunched over a book or some crap.

I really didn't find much of anything redeeming in it. In scrubs there were legit issues being discussed. While they were generic many times, this was wholesale generic. I just don't like the characters. I don't even like the characters from the original anymore.
 
second episode was much better. I think I've started to like the new med students now. The old cast seem to click again, which was the main draw of the original. I think you guys should give it second look.
 
Many of these aren't unusual at my school either...

NJDIF said:
the chief of surgery teaching the anatomy course.
Click to expand...

They don't lecture, but it was very common for surgical attendings, including the chief to come to our anatomy lab and help lead dissection.

rounding at the hospital
Click to expand...

We all have preceptorships from week 2, many of us have our clinic time at the hospital (sometimes including rounds)

being pimped by the chief of medicine on pathology questions
Click to expand...

Our chief of medicine leads small groups for our clinical medicine class...granted, he is just as likely to tell amazing stories as he is to pimp you...

meeting a resident face to face
Click to expand...

We get to spend time with residents fairly often (e.g. weekly bar nights with surgical residents)

girls that hot being in med school without complex daddy issues
Click to expand...

Granted, it's not everyone...but it does happen.

The prison record though...not so much.
 
MossPoh said:
... the show is god awful. Horrible. I didn't even find it funny. ...
Click to expand...

I was never the biggest Scrubs fan, but now the show is totally unwatchable. Jumped the shark, bigtime. If they wanted to bring in med students, fine, but make them third or fourth years, doing rotations at the hospital. That's how ER started (with Carter doing his 4th year ED elective in the initial episodes), and they periodically brought through more med students in later seasons (and periodically killed them off with stabbings, etc). If it were clinical year med students, you could justify the pimping, the interfacing with residents, the occasional resident or attending lecture. Even then, the show would probably be lame -- but at least the premise would make sense.
 
I think the difference is that old scrubs was like a sunnier, PG rated, screen play adaptation of House of God.

This is just schmaltz. I agree with one the posters above that they're really recycling some old jokes that were never that funny in the first place (how many times can JD scream eeeaaagggllleee?).

Anyways, I hear Zach Braff is just sticking around in the beginning to get the old scrub audience to transition to these new characters.
 
NJDIF said:
i see your location is texas. this just isnt fair. by that alone, im not not going to the right med school. i mean theyre just pretty much giving the tuition away over there arent they? and of course, by being in texas, you naturally luck out with that last one :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Yeah, kind of. All the public MD schools (there are currently 7) get lots of state subsidies, which makes it pretty cheap. The total cost of attendance each year for my school is roughly 40K, which is kind of like going to a private undergrad. And yeah, of course, here in TX there are a fair share of hot girls (though I must admit the law school here has more than we do...)

Law2Doc said:
I was never the biggest Scrubs fan, but now the show is totally unwatchable. Jumped the shark, bigtime. If they wanted to bring in med students, fine, but make them third or fourth years, doing rotations at the hospital.
Click to expand...

I agree. I'm not surprised it's on ABC...not much of anything good to watch on that network anyway.
 
I read a transcript of an interview with the show's producer. He basically said they were planning to end they show with season 8 but that shortly after they did he started getting a lot of calls from the crew members aying that no one was hiring and could he recommend somewhere they could work before they all lost their houses. So he scrambled to to sell season 9 to the network.
 
I liked it... Its for entertainment so its extreme on melodrama and stereotypes, but it works because I can think of a person I knew from med school for every stereotypical character. No its not so realistic, but if they made a show about a true med school experience it would be incredibly boring. So if this show allows the public to think that med school is accurately represented by the show, it would probably be a good thing for all of us.
 
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Fiddlergirl said:
I wrote these notes down while I was watching the show and they seem to be in the spirit of the thread.

1st Episode:
They accurately portray med students as neurotic
Their hospital seem to have way better patients than ours. Theirs are all supportive and awesome. So far, the clinic patients I see once every other week are more senile and not really aware of what medications they take.
Apparently at this hospital, 1st year med students know what Hodgkin's Lymphoma is on the first day of class, and can correctly diagnose hospital patients. I'm pretty sure on my first day of med school I could have correctly diagnosed chickenpox. Maybe. If the patient told me “I have chickenpox.”
Apparently the cadavers are patients from the hospital. Maybe it's just me, but I like our system of importing them from several states away.

2nd Episode:
They have two students per cadaver. And an anatomy instructor who actually appears to know where the anatomical structures actually are. Lucky med students.
They don't have to attend lectures on medical ethics or career planning. Awesome.
I'd kind of like to know why the 1st year med students seem to be in the hospital all the time. Where are the never-ending lectures on genetics? For that matter, where are the PhD professors who talk forever about their research and then throw you a few crumbs of useful information?
However, the student saying that she can't sleep and hasn't eaten anything except wine for a week sounds like a typical med student.
Why is the 1st year med student trying to check an alcoholic into a rehab center? Shouldn't she be off somewhere studying biochemistry? She's going to fail Step 1.
I don't remember learning this many lessons last year about “how to be a doctor.” Mostly I remember learning all the amino acids and awkwardly fumbling through physical exams.
Click to expand...


You took notes while watching a TV show, seriously?
 
The only reason I watched both episodes was because of the obvious connection that I am in medical school and wanted to see how they portrayed it. I wasn't surprised that it was one of the worst shows I have ever seen, but I was at least hoping for SOME accuracies with year one, or at least even an EFFORT. I mean, he's grilling her about which artery is over the optic chiasm on the first day? Talk about some serious pre-reading!

And the cadaver thing also got me. I understand "poetic license", but the whole body donor process is something to be respected, and they completely butchered it with this patient she saw a day earlier. What I mean is, they could have made the first year cadaver experience a golden aspect of the show, and they ruined it with this.

Hey, at least she won't have to deal with the smell of the body being soaked in formaldehyde for months!
 
Metfan2987 said:
The only reason I watched both episodes was because of the obvious connection that I am in medical school and wanted to see how they portrayed it. I wasn't surprised that it was one of the worst shows I have ever seen, but I was at least hoping for SOME accuracies with year one, or at least even an EFFORT. I mean, he's grilling her about which artery is over the optic chiasm on the first day? Talk about some serious pre-reading!

And the cadaver thing also got me. I understand "poetic license", but the whole body donor process is something to be respected, and they completely butchered it with this patient she saw a day earlier. What I mean is, they could have made the first year cadaver experience a golden aspect of the show, and they ruined it with this.

Hey, at least she won't have to deal with the smell of the body being soaked in formaldehyde for months!
Click to expand...

Yea, something ala the movie "Gross Anatomy" would have been amazing...

One of the only parts I laughed at (other than the stuff with the old characters, because they always crack me up) was in the classroom.

When JD was coming up with a signal for things they should write down and he would nod his head and everyone would start writing. Real life is so like that, when the teacher says something is going to be on a test there is an eruption of keyboards in our classroom, ha
 
I think the show could've worked if they were M3's but to me, it looks like they're really trying to pull the "new student angle" into the plot (not really knowing anyone, struggling to fit in, etc). The hospital portions would make a lot more sense if they were M3's but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for this and accept this is how it works in the show's universe. :) The show would be incredibly dull if they were really going for capturing an M1's life so I don't really mind this pseudo M1/M3 hybrid student.

The main problem with this season is it just isn't terribly funny (at least not yet). I don't know, I guess the unrealistic aspects of the show don't get to me, I just want some funny jokes (ala old Scrubs).
 
predmed123 said:
... I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for this and accept this is how it works in the show's universe. ...so I don't really mind this pseudo M1/M3 hybrid student.
...I guess the unrealistic aspects of the show don't get to me,
Click to expand...

Part of what made people in the profession like Scrubs was that if you put aside some of the antics and dream sequences and musical numbers, the show tried to realistically capture some of the reality of residency. There was some evidence of use of medical consultants, someone with a first-hand knowledge of hospital administration, etc. I see none of this with respect to the med school aspects, and the show suffers because of it. So IMHO, one of the biggest strengths of the prior version of the show is lacking in this new version. That, along with the horrible, horrible writing and lack of humor make me think this show won't make it through the season. Nor should it. They should have quit on a high note. Their best bet now is to pull a "Dallas" and have JD wake up and have this all have been a dream.
 
While alot of it was unrealistic to first year, i actually thought it was really funny.
 
Tattersall said:
Making them first years gives you room for four seasons minimum before you either move the cast in to an intern/residency situation as Scrubs was or bring through new characters who can hold the med school environment. You also have the problem where third years will have already formed relationships and "gotten comfortable" with med school, limiting character progression.

I don't think it'll make it beyond this season but there's still no reason for the authors to paint themselves in to a corner.
Click to expand...

Agree - this is the obvious reason for starting as 1st years - it guarantees you 4 years. It doesn't particularly matter to the producers what "makes sense" medically - they want to have a potential long-term show.

However, as you said I think this show will tank and not make it past a year so it's all a moot point. Especially since JD will be leaving in a couple of episodes and whatever holdover viewers they have will likely stop watching.
 
It may not be as funny as it used to be, but then again have you seen what else is on TV? We'll all have graduated by the time this show goes off the air.

Personally, I don't mind the inaccuracies. It sets all the right expectations for the general public:

1) when a patient in the hospital, your job is to be supportive and understanding of what med students are going through

2) if you're an alcoholic and let your doctors down, we will kick you out of the hospital hoping that you die quickly

3) not only to we know everything about medicine, we knew it before we went to med school

4) med students have an incredibly satisfying sex life

5) If you die today, we'll be cutting up your dead body tomorrow. So shape up and get better.

What concerns me is how creepy JD is becoming. He needs to tone that character down, it's just too much silliness and it's getting annoying. I can only stand him when he reverts to human mode for those 15 seconds when the music gets sad.
 
Obligatory brag post
My group of MS1s could answer the TB-Pott's disease question from Dr. Cox
It has showed up in two of our blocks as exam questions. :D

Dr. Dude-chick should be the comedic leader for the new series :O
 
WellWornLad said:
It may not be as funny as it used to be, but then again have you seen what else is on TV? ...
Click to expand...

Very few shows survive based on this logic. Either it entices viewers away from the competition or it gets moved to a time-slot the network doesn't care about, the ratings dwindle and it gets cancelled. Currently they've got it up against NCIS, The Biggest Loser, So you Think you Can Dance, and Melrose Place, so I suppose it has a shot at surviving a few weeks, unless one of those shows gets some buzz.
 
WellWornLad said:
It may not be as funny as it used to be, but then again have you seen what else is on TV? We'll all have graduated by the time this show goes off the air.
Click to expand...

Doubt it. The old scrubs flirted with cancellation several times and despite having a steady following was never highly rated. NBC chose not to renew it after season 7 and ABC picked it up (kind of a unique situation as ABC had always owned and produced the show despite it airing on NBC). If the viewership drops much lower it will be one of ABCs worst shows.
 
Law2Doc said:
Their best bet now is to pull a "Dallas" and have JD wake up and have this all have been a dream.
Click to expand...

Where's the spoiler warning? You totally ruined Dallas for me.
 
thanecyan said:
Obligatory brag post
My group of MS1s could answer the TB-Pott's disease question from Dr. Cox
It has showed up in two of our blocks as exam questions. :D

Dr. Dude-chick should be the comedic leader for the new series :O
Click to expand...

haha, i just searched my entire lecture notes, no Pott disease, closest I got was Miliary TB
 
Wats wrong with you people. Have you all become so vain, that you fail to realize television is based on ratings..which in turn attracts advertisers. Hmmm lets sit and think for minute....since we are all "intelligent" med students right. Approximately 1% of the country is enrolled in college...do you have any idea what percentage of the 1% is actually in Med School. If your goal is to get a hard on because a television show is giving credence to your somewhat pathetic lives in med school....GET OVER IT...Because If any producer made a show entirely for med students it would be pure crap. Not to mention half of guys sense of humor lives in a remote dark and distant part of your brain....and the last time you said something funny the only person laughing was the person laughing at you not with you For cyring out loud, are any of you part of any marginally cool social circles or do you plan your days around 9:00pm on tuedays so you can rip into a tv show about hypothetical Med Students.

In conclusion, sit down and enjoy television for whats its worth. Go outside...take a walk....talk the guy/girl in your class you sit next to every day and never say a word...hang out with some underprivelged children....go to a comedy club.....paint...write poetry....make love..smoke....drink...but whatever you do....PLEASE get out of your hedonistic self pleasing corner that you have confined yourself to...I BEG YOU. ONE

P.S. Once a scrubs fan....always a scrub fan...feel me
 
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^^

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

that was awesome.
 
Seyoum80 said:
Wats wrong with you people. Have you all become so vain, that you fail to realize television is based on ratings..which in turn attracts advertisers. Hmmm lets sit and think for minute....since we are all "intelligent" med students right. Approximately 1% of the country is enrolled in college...do you have any idea what percentage of the 1% is actually in Med School. If your goal is to get a hard on because a television show is giving credence to your somewhat pathetic lives in med school....GET OVER IT...Because If any producer made a show entirely for med students it would be pure crap. Not to mention half of guys sense of humor lives in a remote dark and distant part of your brain....and the last time you said something funny the only person laughing was the person laughing at you not with you For cyring out loud, are any of you part of any marginally cool social circles or do you plan your days around 9:00pm on tuedays so you can rip into a tv show about hypothetical Med Students.

In conclusion, sit down and enjoy television for whats its worth. Go outside...take a walk....talk the guy/girl in your class you sit next to every day and never say a word...hang out with some underprivelged children....go to a comedy club.....paint...write poetry....but whatever you do....PLEASE get out of your hedonistic self pleasing corner that you have confined yourself to...I BEG YOU. ONE

P.S. Once a scrubs fan....always a scrub fan...feel me
Click to expand...

Talk about an over-reaction. :D
 
myhandsarecold said:
haha, i just searched my entire lecture notes, no Pott disease, closest I got was Miliary TB
Click to expand...
It was in Gray's Anatomy Review, if your class used that to study for the Anatomy shelf (12 weeks into our first semester:eek:). That's the only reason my class knows it, anyway... I didn't know the basketball player.
 
I am not nor do I want to be a med student, and I still hated it. It just wasn't funny and once JD leaves, it will be even worse.
 
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