SCRUBS: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON - DVD review

The world is too sensitive. A day after Barack Obama won the adjective "President-elect," he was called out for jokingly referring to Nancy Reagan's propensity for inviting spiritualists to the White House. Because the media made a big deal out of it, he had to apologize to the former First Lady. Ironically, that same day, Italy's prime minister joked that Obama was "evenly tanned" and was also forced to apologize. It's tough to say what you're thinking these days, even in jest. So it's no wonder that a TV show like "Scrubs" is so popular (and funny), because almost everybody speaks their mind. Sure, a lot of viewers may have wished to have become doctors instead of working stiffs, but a good many more just want the freedom we used to have to tell the truth and joke about things the way these characters do. That's partly what makes this show so riotous. Everybody says what they're thinking, and in addition, they also confirm what a lot of us suspect about our "suspect" health care system.

It's hard to believe this medical comedy/drama (mostly comedy, this season) is in its seventh year already. Nothing seems sacred at Sacred Heart Hospital, where Dr. John "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff) has Ally McBeal-style interior monologues that are often externalized, as this doc and his surgical aide and former college chum Dr. Chris Turk (Donald Faison) cut it up in the hospital and at home. The other central character is Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke), whom Zach has always liked and secretly applauds when this season she decides that she and Keith (Travis Schuldt) aren't right for each other.

But this season is all about babies. J.D. is living with Kim Briggs, a specialist who ended up getting pregnant by him, though their relationship was so casual that he's not really in love with her now. He's just doing the right thing, which, of course, is duplicitous. Then there's Chris, who's married to head nurse Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes). They've already got a new baby. And Perry Cox (John C. McGinley), the doctor you love to hate, has a wife and a new baby as well. Other characters include former Chief of Medicine Dr. Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins), hospital attorney Ted Buckland (Sam Lloyd), and an unnamed Janitor (Neil Flynn), who wages his own subtle class war against the doctors. He's fed up with doctors thinking they're better than him, and puts J.D. in his place when he brings flowers to a lady in the corridor that J.D. doubts he even knows. "Hey Lady," the Janitor yells, and it turns out to be her name.

There's plenty of irreverence here, and an offbeat sense of humor at work that's just plain fun (and liberating) to watch. Here's a rundown on the 11 episodes, which are contained on two single-sided discs:

1) "My Own Worst Enemy." The whole hospital watches from afar as Elliot dumps Keith and J.D. tries to stick it out with Jill. And a male patient has all the doctors mesmerized with his smile.

2) "My Hard Labor." Turk and Carla feud over video games, while J.D. and Kim fight over her labor, and Dr. Cox wanders aimlessly in search of someone who'll give his baby girl a shot.

3) "My Inconvenient Truth." When J.D.'s brother, Dan, pays a visit and reminds him of a few painful truths, Sacred Heart winces at the Janitor's behavior once he's watched the Al Gore film.

4) "My Identity Crisis." The Janitor bets J.D. he can't name everyone's names, with a mop-slop hall wipedown riding on the outcome. Meanwhile, Dr. Cox feels loneliness pangs and Turk and Carla argue over their daughter's upbringing.

5) "My Growing Pains." Dr. Cox has a 10-year-old leukemia patient, but everything else is fun and games as Dr. Kelso has a birthday celebration and J.D. and Turk reminisce about their first practical joke.

6) "My #1 Doctor." J.D. is ranked tops among doctors, and while he tries to downplay his reaction, you know he's pleased. Meanwhile, the doctors compete to improve their own rankings.

7) "My Bad Too." J.D. treats a burn patient, Dr. Cox tries to help Dr. Kelso lose weight, and Turk secretly learns Spanish.

8) "My Manhood." The Janitor gets more airtime in this episode that has him starting a newspaper to share his opinions. Call it a primitive blog.

9) "My Dumb Luck." Dr. Kelso goes before a retirement board to confront his true age. Meanwhile, Elliot and Carla try to start a populist movement to retain the doctor as Chief of Medicine, and Dr. Cox struggles with a diagnosis . . . again.

10) "My Waste of Time." It's the Janitor again, this time trying to claim Dr. Kelso's old office. Meanwhile, Elliot and J.D. sense that their relationship is shifting, and Turk and Carla talk about a second child.

11) "My Princess." Dr. Cox tells a bedtime story, Sacred Heart style, which is amusing to see how the characters are thought of: giants, witches, princesses, village idiots, hunchbacks, and, oh yeah, a brave knight who just happens to be telling the story. Even if you don't like these sort of fantasy things, this one is better than most.

Video:
Curiously, though most of the ABC series are in widescreen, this one is presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio. There's a slight graininess throughout, though the colors are pleasingly saturated and the edges aren't all that fuzzy for a standard-def picture. Not bad, in other words, but nothing too spectacular.

Audio:
The audio is a Dolby Digital 5.1 that's mostly restricted to the center and front main speakers. This is mostly dialogue, and I can't even remember when I heard those rear speaker kick in. The plus is that the audio is free of distortion.

Extras:
People who like this show can watch everything twice, once for the fun of it and again for the commentary. Writers Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, and Aseem Batra handle the chores for episode one, while their colleague Bill Callahan and producer Randall Winston offer the commentary for episode two. Then the actors get into the act, with Neil Flynn and Sam Lloyd teaming up with production coordinator Hillary Hirsch on the episode three track, Aloma Wright and writer Dave Tennant handling the fourth episode walk-through, and Braff himself flying solo for the fifth. Production people handle the sixth and seventh episodes, with writer Angela Nissel and director Michael McDonald doing the eighth commentary and director Rick Blue and writer Batra handling the ninth. Rounding out the commentaries are Andy Schwartz and Devin Mahoney on the tenth episode and writer Mark Stegemann and costume designer Carey Bennett on the eleventh. The only problem is, this is the Internet Age, and these commentaries first appeared on the NBC website, so they're not on the same level as some of the best commentary tracks that were recorded especially for DVDs or Blu-rays.

I personally thought that "My Making of II: My Princess" was considerably better than all the commentaries put-together. This under 20-minute feature is a full walk-through on how the episode came into being, and there's so much information and insight here that would-be actors and would-be writers and directors will want to replay this.

After that, though, there's a drop-off. An interview with Ken Jenkins that's under 10 minutes doesn't cover as much ground as you'd hope, and 14 minutes of deleted scenes don't include enough funny moments to make the time worthwhile. Same with a 15-minute collection of alternate lines, only a few of which are funny. I found myself thinking, why not just put the funny ones on the reel? Speaking of which, the blooper reel was one of the shortest I've seen and just not that funny.

Bottom Line:
I had only seen a few episodes of this show several years ago, but what impressed me was the stand-alone quality of Season 7. Though there was obviously a continuation of storylines from Season 6, I never felt lost, and "Scrubs" Season 7 plays well whether you have other seasons or not. It's a funny show, plain and simple. And the fact that's irreverent and speaks its mind makes it even funnier.