My Jerks
Encyclopedia
"My Jerks" is the 151st episode and television season premiere
of the eighth season of the ABC Studios television series Scrubs
. The episode first aired on January 6, 2009 on the American Broadcasting Company
, following the show's departure from NBC
. It was immediately followed by the second episode of the season. The episode was written by Angela Nissel
and directed by Michael Spiller
who also has a small cameo appearance
. This was the first Scrubs episode of the show to show moving footage over the credits, instead of its usual screenshots of scenes throughout the episode.
notices the Janitor
cleaning gum off a wall and comments, "that's new"; the Janitor, assuming J.D. had noticed his new watch, thinks he wants a compliment back and comments on J.D.'s newly grown "pubescent Miami Vice
beard". J.D. then conducts rounds with his new interns and doesn't like any of them. He thinks Katie is a teacher's pet, Denise has a terrible bedside manner, and Ed is lazy. He welcomes the new Chief of Medicine for Sacred Heart, Dr. Taylor Maddox, and is surprised at how attractive and nice she is.
Later, during another session of rounds, J.D. leaves the interns alone in the ward to watch the patients and gives them specific instructions. When he returns, he finds that they allowed a patient to crash. He vows he is done teaching them and hands them over to Josephine. In the cafeteria, Dr. Cox
tells J.D. that he was not too dissimilar from these new interns, and that it is his job to teach. He ends up giving the interns a second chance.
Meanwhile, Dr. Cox is upset that he is once again going to have to be "that guy" who always stands up to the Chief of Medicine. Nevertheless, when he notices that Maddox is keeping a patient in the hospital only because he has incredible insurance, he begins arguing with her.
After Keith calls Katie "Mini Elliot", Elliot
obsesses that she is too self-involved. Carla
tries to gently give her a reality check, but Elliot fails to see the signs that Keith is still hurt over their breakup. Ted
shows her that he is still upset, and she realizes that she has indeed become too self-involved. Privately, she apologizes to Keith for breaking his heart.
After Dr. Maddox sees the Janitor trip up J.D. with his mop, she angrily fires him. When he fails to take her seriously and returns to work the next day, she marches him outside and takes his keys. At the end of the episode a new, friendly janitor introduces himself, to J.D.'s delight.
Dr. Kelso
enjoys a muffin at Coffee Bucks and watches the hospital drama unfold. Ted tries to tell him off, but still does not have enough self-confidence to stand up to his hated ex-boss.
has stated that since switching to ABC
, he and Scrubs have received a better level of promotion. This includes the introduction of webisode
s of Scrubs on ABC.com and commercial promotion. ABC also released the first five minutes of the episode prematurely to promote the show's debut on the network.
.
The Staten Island Advance
deemed "My Jerks" a "hit" which balanced its comedy with more serious scenes well. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
concurred and felt that there "were moments of extreme silliness and moments of great pathos."
Season premiere
In North America, a season premiere is the first episode of a new season of a given television show. It often airs in September or October, after several months of reruns.-Evaluating the changes:...
of the eighth season of the ABC Studios television series Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
. The episode first aired on January 6, 2009 on the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, following the show's departure from NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. It was immediately followed by the second episode of the season. The episode was written by Angela Nissel
Angela Nissel
Angela R. Nissel is an author best known for her first book, The Broke Diaries: The Completely True and Hilarious Misadventures of a Good Girl Gone Broke...
and directed by Michael Spiller
Michael Spiller
Michael Alan Spiller is an American cinematographer and television director.Spiller has directed on numerous series and has also served as a cinematographer prior to directing and worked frequently with Hal Hartley. He was a regular director on the HBO series, Sex and the City where he also served...
who also has a small cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
. This was the first Scrubs episode of the show to show moving footage over the credits, instead of its usual screenshots of scenes throughout the episode.
Plot
J.D.John Dorian
John Michael "J.D." Dorian, M.D. is a fictional character on the American comedy-drama Scrubs, played by Zach Braff. He is the narrator and main character of the series. He provides voice-over to the series which fills the roles of his internal thoughts and an overall narration in the show, often...
notices the Janitor
Janitor (Scrubs)
The Janitor is a fictional character, played by actor Neil Flynn in the American comedy-drama Scrubs.Neil Flynn was originally billed as a recurring guest star throughout Season 1, although he appeared in all 24 episodes of that season. He was promoted to a series regular beginning with Season 2...
cleaning gum off a wall and comments, "that's new"; the Janitor, assuming J.D. had noticed his new watch, thinks he wants a compliment back and comments on J.D.'s newly grown "pubescent Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
beard". J.D. then conducts rounds with his new interns and doesn't like any of them. He thinks Katie is a teacher's pet, Denise has a terrible bedside manner, and Ed is lazy. He welcomes the new Chief of Medicine for Sacred Heart, Dr. Taylor Maddox, and is surprised at how attractive and nice she is.
Later, during another session of rounds, J.D. leaves the interns alone in the ward to watch the patients and gives them specific instructions. When he returns, he finds that they allowed a patient to crash. He vows he is done teaching them and hands them over to Josephine. In the cafeteria, Dr. Cox
Dr. Cox
Percival "Perry" Ulysses Cox, M.D. , is a fictional character played by John C. McGinley on the American television comedy-drama Scrubs....
tells J.D. that he was not too dissimilar from these new interns, and that it is his job to teach. He ends up giving the interns a second chance.
Meanwhile, Dr. Cox is upset that he is once again going to have to be "that guy" who always stands up to the Chief of Medicine. Nevertheless, when he notices that Maddox is keeping a patient in the hospital only because he has incredible insurance, he begins arguing with her.
After Keith calls Katie "Mini Elliot", Elliot
Elliot Reid
Dr. Elliot Reid is a fictional character played by Sarah Chalke in the American comedy-drama Scrubs. She has appeared in every episode during the first eight seasons except two Season 8 episodes, "My Last Words" and "My Lawyer's in Love"....
obsesses that she is too self-involved. Carla
Carla Espinosa
Carla Espinosa, RN is a fictional character in the American comedy-drama Scrubs, portrayed by Judy Reyes.Carla has appeared in every episode during the first eight seasons except three Season 8 episodes, "My Happy Place", "My Cookie Pants" and "My Full Moon"...
tries to gently give her a reality check, but Elliot fails to see the signs that Keith is still hurt over their breakup. Ted
Ted Buckland
Theodore "Ted" Buckland, Esq., most commonly referred to as Ted Buckland , is a fictional character played by Sam Lloyd in Bill Lawrence series Scrubs and Cougar Town, and the only character to appears in both series.Created for Scrubs, Ted is the depressive, suicidal and incompetent lawyer of the...
shows her that he is still upset, and she realizes that she has indeed become too self-involved. Privately, she apologizes to Keith for breaking his heart.
After Dr. Maddox sees the Janitor trip up J.D. with his mop, she angrily fires him. When he fails to take her seriously and returns to work the next day, she marches him outside and takes his keys. At the end of the episode a new, friendly janitor introduces himself, to J.D.'s delight.
Dr. Kelso
Bob Kelso
Robert "Bob" Kelso, M.D. , is a fictional character played by Ken Jenkins in the American comedy-drama Scrubs....
enjoys a muffin at Coffee Bucks and watches the hospital drama unfold. Ted tries to tell him off, but still does not have enough self-confidence to stand up to his hated ex-boss.
Promotion
Bill LawrenceBill Lawrence (producer)
William Van Duzer Lawrence IV is an American screenwriter, producer, and director best known as the creator of Scrubs and co-creator of Cougar Town. Lawrence is married to the actress Christa Miller whom he cast in both television series; they have three children together...
has stated that since switching to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, he and Scrubs have received a better level of promotion. This includes the introduction of webisode
Webisode
A webisode is a short episode which airs initially as Internet television, either download or stream as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. The format can be used as a preview, a promotion, as part of a collection of shorts, or a commercial.A webisode can be an episode...
s of Scrubs on ABC.com and commercial promotion. ABC also released the first five minutes of the episode prematurely to promote the show's debut on the network.
Cultural references
- In the episode's opening scene, J.D. approaches The Janitor and points at his "watch" and says "Huh, that's new." J.D.'s finger is seen pointing directly at the ABC bug, in a reference to Scrubs move from NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
to ABC. - In the sequence that plays during the ending credits, J.D. mentions that Dr. Shalhoub wins everything during medical awards season, which is a jab at the number of awards won by the TV Show MonkMonk (TV series)Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
, in which Tony ShalhoubTony ShalhoubAnthony Marcus "Tony" Shalhoub is an American actor of Lebanese descent. His television work includes the roles of Antonio Scarpacci on Wings and sleuth Adrian Monk on the TV series Monk. He has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for his work in Monk...
stars. Turk's comment that "the Nielsens certainly beg to differ" is a parallel to the show's performance with the Nielsen ratingsNielsen RatingsNielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
. - Courteney CoxCourteney CoxCourteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
becomes the second Friends alumnus to appear on Scrubs, after Matthew PerryMatthew Perry (actor)Matthew Langford Perry is a Canadian-American actor and comedian, best known for his Emmy-nominated role as Chandler Bing on the popular, long-running NBC television sitcom Friends...
's appearance in the Season Four episode "My UnicornMy Unicorn"My Unicorn" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of U.S comedy-drama Scrubs. It guest starred and was directed by Friends star Matthew Perry, and first aired on November 23, 2004 on NBC.-Plot:...
".
Trivia
- In this episode it is revealed that Turk is one-eighth JapaneseJapanese peopleThe are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
. - In this episode it is one of the few times that Dr. Cox refers to J.D. by his real name, when he yells "Where the hell is Dorian?"
- Bill Lawrence directed the parts that Courteney Cox is in; they were shot months later than the other scenes, due to scheduling conflicts.
Songs
The song that is played when Dr. Taylor Maddox enters is "I Wanna Be Your Man" by EndeverafteREndeverafter
Endeverafter is an American heavy metal band from Sacramento, California.-History:Endeverafter was formed in 2004 by lead singer and guitarist Michael Grant. After the rest of the band was assembled, they released their debut EP in 2005 and played regular shows in their hometown, featuring...
.
Reception
Seth Amitin gives a favorable review of the episode, saying "It's...unfair to point to an episode and ask it to represent the season, but..."My Jerks" is allowing us to do that. The episode is funny in ways that the show wasn't funny last year. It also mixes well with the dramatic while introducing a handful of new characters with relative ease. It's metonymical of Scrubs...Maybe Mr. Lawrence set up some lofty goals, but the first episode of the season follows through on [them]."The Staten Island Advance
Staten Island Advance
The Staten Island Advance is a daily newspaper published in the borough of Staten Island in New York City. The only daily newspaper published in the borough, and the only borough to have its own major daily paper, it covers news of local and community interest, including borough politics. As of...
deemed "My Jerks" a "hit" which balanced its comedy with more serious scenes well. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
concurred and felt that there "were moments of extreme silliness and moments of great pathos."