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Scrubs' Zach Braff reflects on the "way too un-PC" series

Photo credit: ABC
Photo credit: ABC

From Digital Spy

Scrubs was one of the most beloved and successful sitcoms of the '00s but, like Friends, it hasn't been without its critics.

Zach Braff, who played one of the show's lead characters John Michael 'J.D' Dorian, has admitted that looking back on the comedy occasionally makes him "cringe" because some of its content is "way too un-PC".

Braff and his former co-star Donald Faison, who played J.D.'s best friend Christopher Turk in the show, spoke to the BBC about their new Fake Doctors Real Friends podcast, in which they re-watch the show that made them famous and reminisce about filming it, and admitted that some moments probably wouldn't make it into the show today.

Photo credit: NBC Universal
Photo credit: NBC Universal

Related: Scrubs is about to return as a boxset – here's how to watch all 9 seasons FREE

"Some of it is way too un-PC, I'm sure, for now," Braff said. "We often cringe and go okay, you definitely couldn't do that joke today. Sometimes even at the time things would get censored because the creators were trying to push things as far as they could on network television."

But despite those moments the actors reckon the show, which aired between 2001 and 2010, has aged very well on the whole and that's thanks to its universal themes and its portrayal of the struggles and successes of medical staff.

"We always have to give a shout-out to the man who created it all, Bill Lawrence," Braff said. "The show without commercials is 22 minutes long, and the fact that he can steer it from a moral lesson, to crazy comedy fantasies to multiple love stories is just genius writing.

"I can't stop thinking about that as we watch them 20 years later – there's a lot of morality in it and I'm glad it rubbed off on people."

Photo credit: ABC
Photo credit: ABC

Related: Scrubs star Sarah Chalke reveals how she almost missed out on the role

Faison agreed, adding: "With this whole pandemic going on, right now we should shine a light on all of the people in the medical profession. So I definitely think Scrubs still holds up. For the simple fact that there are still people in the medical profession who're going through the same things."

Another Scrubs star Sarah Chalke, who played Elliot Reid in the sitcom, recently told Digital Spy that she would "absolutely be up" for returning to her famous role.

"It was one of those magical situations where everything kind of came together," she said. "It's so rare where you love the part, and the show, and the people, and we had a blast making it."


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