The Space Between

How many people can you name that persist tirelessly on something for six years despite extreme discouragement? Not many, correct? There is a collective body though that has done this and is finally getting its good karma after relative anonymity on the tv circuit. This is the cast of Scrubs.
Lately there has been an influx of episodes that any channel surfer could notice. Usually this brings a mixed response from tv watchers. Some move all other obligations so every episode can be screened, others roll their eyes and -dare I say it?- do something other than watch tv (see reading, exercise, socializing -basically living). Mostly, everyone should follow the latter route, but this time is different. Scrubs is finally getting the recognition it deserves, and the quality of entertainment television has risen.
In a time of "whitty" (corny), "addictive" (mind-rotting), "doctor dramas" (crap), such as Grey's Anatomy or the equally subpar Laguna Beach or The OC, it's good to know that some primetime writers are more than entertainment whores willing to degrade the screen with any impossible situation to gain viewers. No, the writers for Scrubs have stuck to their guns. For the past few years they've melded slapstick comedy with sarcastic humor and albeit fictitious but insightful situations and for much of those years the show was relatively anonymous. Scrubs recognizes the doubt a doctor feels when treating a patient or the profound blame they also do when one dies under that doctor's scrutiny. This doesn't mean there is a ten or fifteen minute ending when one ridiculously beautiful/handsome doctor sulks next to the corpse, on Scrubs an episode has concluded with each doctor being followed around by the ghost of a patient they've lost, meant to symbolize that they carry the patient's death with them always. Relationships, romantic or platonic, are also approached and not from a "will they get together, no they won't, then they finally do" perspective. Scrubs confronts the loneliness, insecurity, and heartbreak that most romantic participants feel, sometimes with a humorous tone sometimes with a serious one or the mean-spirited comments overheard when nobody is supposed to be listening.
And it's funny! Slapstick and sarcasm come together in a truly wonderful union. Some of the best comedic moments hail from Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley), a ranting "tough-guy" senior attending physician at Sacred Heart Hospital (the show's setting). Here is one such glorious spew:

"Fine, I'll go ahead and tell you how it ends. Dr. Phil Says: "And, how...is that working out...for you?" And the big FAT lady cries "Wah." ALRIGHT, I'm sure you're wondering why I accepted the position of residency director considering my disdain for, well, all of you. Is it the extra four dollars a week in my paycheck or is it the fact that I finally have a chance to make a difference in this godforsaken hellhole. It's all about the four dollars, trust me. And seeing as my money is contingent on you lemmings actually doing your jobs, I would say that now is a pretty good time for you to scurry on back to work so that I can continue to afford the anti-depressants that keep me so damn jolly. Ahahahaha. GO!!"

or a personal favorite:

"...And bam! The shine's off the apple. And that's when you find out that that pretty little girl you married isn't a pretty little girl at all. No, she's a man-eater. And I'm not talking about the "whoa-whoa, here she comes" kind of man-eater. I'm talking about the kind that uses your dignity as a dishtowel to wipe up any shreds of manhood that might be stuck inside the sink. Of course, I may have tormented her from time to time; but, honest to God, that's what I thought marriage was all about. So much so that, by the end of that relationship, I honestly don't know who I hated more - her or me? I used to sit around and wonder... why our friends weren't trying to destroy each other, like we were. And here, it turns out, the answer's pretty simple: They weren't unhappy. We were."

All the characters are three-dimensional, they have feasible personalities and interact with each other in unique ways. A regular subscriber to the show described it as "a tongue and cheek comedy that combines every day situations with the extreme environment of interns and residents, finishing up with what I would actually call pretty profound introspection and reflection."
Something about 20 minutes of humor makes the other 10 minutes of drama (and commercials) go down the old mental throat ever so smoothly. After all, it's the "the space between the tears we cry" which "is the laughter keeps us coming back for more." In describing the show, those Dave Matthews Band lyrics are as impeccable as the successful blend of satire and depth that Scrubs perfectly achieves.