What's everyone's favourite medical comedy-drama? Green Wing? Okay, but what about your favourite American medical comedy-drama? House? Boy, have you been on the pipe again?
Did some fuck-knuckle just say M.A.S.H!?
Who the hell was that? Grandad? Right, no more answers, and no more question marks
The correct answer, of course, is Scrubs.
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The US hit show ran for nine seasons (with some unsuccessful attempts to continue thereafter) and launched the careers of actors like Zach Braff, who played the role of the utterly unlovable but inexplicably well-loved J.D., as well as the guy who played Turk, though we're not sure what he's up to now.*
However, in 2003, the doctors/actors of Sacred Heart were visited by a then unknown Ryan Reynolds. Back then, Reynolds was but a handsome, chiselled-yet-struggling actor and not the handsome, chiselled, successful actor we know and adore today...
Credit: NBC/Scrubs
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His credits to date included appearances in The X-Files and a long running stint in the not-great-but-kind-of-hard-not-to-like Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, later changed to Two Guys and a Girl when the pizza place was shut down for racism.**
Pitching up at the unusually clean hospital, Reynolds (a.k.a. Spence) made a visit to former uni mates J.D. and Turk, leading to all sorts of terrible shenanigans, namely taking them out on the piss the night before they had a shift. While in Britain that's called Thursday night (sometimes Wednesday), in America it's generally frowned upon.
Credit: PA
Reynolds' performance in the episodes was a sort of parable; his roguish uni buddy willing his earnest medical student friends to sack off their medical studies, only for them to do a bit of thinking (or soul-searching, if you will) and decide they'd like to stop people from dying after all, or at least qualify so they can afford a BMW, a golf club membership and a Denny's Gold Card in later life.
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Check out this star turn from the future Hollywood heartthrob as he encourages his medicinal buddies to go out on the tear.
Reynolds is basically rehashing his role as Berg from Two Guys and a Girl where he played a handsome yet immature doctor.
The show also relaunched the career of John C McGinley, known for his earlier role as Sergeant O'Neill in Platoon, but is perhaps most memorable for the various stars who made cameos, such as Colin Firth as a sexy Irish doctor, Michael J. Fox as a doctor with OCD and Brendan Fraser, not as a doctor but as Dr Cox's brother-in-law, culminating in this, one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in TV shows and films ever featuring Brendan Fraser...
We definitely didn't spend most of our teenage years watching middle-of-the-road US comedies about lascivious doctors instead of going outside and trying to kiss girls ourselves. Definitely.
*turns out his name is Donald Faison and he's been doing a fair bit of acting.
** we may have made this bit up or forgotten what actually happened to the pizza place .
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Words: Ronan O'Shea
Featured Image Credit: NBC/ScrubsTopics: Ryan Reynolds