'Scrubs' review: Reboot still has much of the original's heart

WHAT IT'S ABOUT In the years after leaving Sacred Heart Hospital, John "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff) became a concierge doc but a patient has drawn him back to where he spent his formative years as a "scrub," or intern. His BFF, Christopher Turk (Donald Faison), is still a top surgeon there, and Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke) is in private practice, but works out of the hospital (She and J.D. eventually married.) All three quickly run into each other in this reboot of the beloved comedy (2001-08, NBC; 2009-'10, ABC).

Much has changed at the new Sacred Heart, while some stuff never changes — head nurse Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes) is still the putative boss, while chief of medicine, Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley) remains master of the razor sharp put-down. But a whole new cast of fresh-faced scrubs has joined the teaching hospital — Tosh (Ava Bunn), Dashana (Amanda Morrow), Asher (Jacob Dudman), Blake (David Gridley) and Amara (Layla Mohammadi) — and J.D. sees in them a little of who he used to be.

Meanwhile, a note about the cast of this reboot: McGinley, so critical to the original, is pretty much gone after the first episode, while Reyes is listed as "recurring." Two other important cast members from the original are not here at all: Neil Flynn (the "Janitor") and Ken Jenkins (Dr. Bob Kelso).

MY SAY One way to think about the return of "Scrubs" is to think about the return of "Friends." To wit, what if someone were to tell you that "Friends" was coming back, but with just three of the original cast members? Would your reaction be: a.) Unbridled joy! b.) Utter bewilderment. Or c.) genuine sadness, leavened by a sense of time's remorseless passage, while simultaneously recognizing TV's mad scramble to revive cherished IP much as Dr. Frankenstein was driven to revive his namesake monster because all anybody wants to watch these days are Frankenstein reboots?

The last choice sounds a little melodramatic, so let's all go with a combination of a and b. In fact, this show has been revived once before --- the 9th season, which didn't have all the original cast either (Braff was "recurring" too.)

 After the 9th was axed, it fell to Braff to announce "that 'New Scrubs', 'Scrubs 2.0', 'Scrubs with New Kids', 'Scrubbier,' 'Scrubs without J.D.' is no more. It was worth a try ..."

This all-new season is worth a try too. "Scrubs 3.0," or "Scrubs with Newer Kids" is good enough, and if we're being honest here, having the entire original cast back would be weird anyway. Take this reboot for what it is — oblivious to the passage of time, content to dust off the original dynamic, and eager to establish a whole new cast full of fresh faces.

Nonetheless, 16 years is a lot of years, and things have changed, as they must. Turk is burned out, while J.D. and Elliot had their own personal trials. Cox is ready to move on, and does — unwilling, or incapable, of adjusting to Sacred Heart's new wellness mandate, and its ever-vigilant wellness chief, Sibby Wilson (Vanessa Bayer). And while J.D. doesn't know it yet, he really wants to revive that sense of joy and optimism that got him into medicine in the first place.

That's some of the spirit of "Scrubs 3.0" too. "Scrubs" at its best always put heart before humor, and won a pair of Humanitas prizes for the effort. (The Humanitas — a prestigious award given to shows that explore the human condition.) None of the first four episodes offered for review end on a punchline, but instead, on a reflection about life, death or human connection.

For this sad, happy, boisterous, eager-to-please patchwork quilt Frankencom from long ago, that's a hopeful sign indeed.

BOTTOM LINE With some of the zip of the original, and some of the heart too.