October 1, 2013 Tuesday 13: Guest Stars on Scrubs
Scrubs had a great core cast, but they also used guest stars in some pretty fantastic ways. This list got ordered the way it did as a mixture of how much I liked the actor, the character, and the storyline in which they were involved. It was tougher to do than I expected!
13. Stephanie D’Abruzzo – “Patti Miller” -She makes the list because she’s the reason for the musical episode, which was wonderful.
12. Scott Foley – “Sean Kelly” – Elliot’s best love interest (outside of J.D., and, yes, I’m glad J.D. and Elliot end up together. Nertz to you!) The scene where he and the sea lion look at each other a couple of times cracks me up.
11. Dave Foley – “Dr. Hendrick” – It’s always nice to see any of the Kids in the Hall get more work, but I really liked his character here, a grumpy/matter-of-fact grief counselor.
10. Tom Cavanagh – “Dan Dorian” – Perfect casting for J.D.’s big brother, who really had his own character arc over the course of his few appearances. I never saw his TV show “Ed,” but if he played anything like this character, I probably would have liked it.
9. Matthew Perry – “Murray Marks” – He makes the list because of Chandler, the same reason he’ll make most of my lists he’s on, and I don’t care if that doesn’t make any sense. His grumpy “I’ll give a kidney to my father for $10,000” guy is good times.
8. Nicole Sullivan – “Jill Tracy” – Another guest actor with an arc over several appearances. Wikipedia tells me she appeared in six episodes over five seasons, and I remember them all being good appearances, a lot of fun and sadness mixed together.
7. Elizabeth Banks – “Dr. Kim Briggs” – Elizabeth Banks should guest star on most sitcoms. She was one of J.D.’s best non-Elliot romances her on Scrubs, and she was awesome as Jack’s wife on 30 Rock, which gives her a bump here, even though that makes no sense, either, I know.
6. Michael Learned – “Mrs. Wilk” – Her character and the effect she had on the main characters were one of my favorite storylines in the whole show. She taught Turk how to pop and lock, for crying out loud!
5. Kathryn Joosten – “Mrs. Tanner” – You’ll remember her as the “ready to die” patient. For me, her character in the fourth episode of season one told me Scrubs was going to be something different and special.
4. Heather Graham – “Dr. Molly Clock” – I loved how much she loved her job and I loved how Elliot finally had a friend similar to her. To this day I still do her “heavy metal rock on” hand thing and say “Awesome!” when something cool happens.
3. John Ritter – “Sam Dorian” – J.D.’s dad, and another bit of perfect casting. And the episode where they talk about his death? Don’t even get me started. This list is rough enough in the remembering feels.
2. Michael J. Fox – “Dr. Kevin Casey” – A big part of his placement is because it’s Michael J. Fox, come on. But his OCD-but-inspiring character was a great one, even if I would never in a grillion years use a roof toilet.
1. Brendan Fraser – “Ben Sullivan” – This is so much not a surprise that I didn’t even care that the image accompanying this post was a spoiler. If “My Screw Up” isn’t on your list of “Best Scrubs episodes” and maybe “Best sitcom episodes,” then I don’t even know what to say to you. His two appearances before that episode set it up beautifully, and it’s a fantastic arc.
Written by: Mark
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- Posted under TV
Permalink # Derek said
I think my favorite, even though he had a tiny part, was Colin Hay singing Overkill near the beginning of season 2. It’s just so Scrubs-esque. Plus it introduced me to him as a solo artist and I now listen to his stuff all the time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtAma-2uK_Y
This song (Waiting for My Real Life to Begin) from Scrubs is also one of his. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSMITAolIGc
Permalink # Mark said
Honestly, I thought a while about mentioning that “Waiting…” scene, as it’s my favorite song in all of Scrubs. I have it on my Zune, even.
And I, too, bought a Colin Hay album because of Scrubs!