Scrubs (2026)

It's incredible to see these characters return to the small screen, and it feels like an authentic exploration of their individual stories. It's also wonderful to see the world of the stories advance. The Scrubs reboot is an incredible start to an incredible new series.

It’s rare for a TV comedy to return in as strong form as this new “Scrubs.” Fans who loved the show in its early seasons on NBC should happily scrub back in for ABC’s new iteration of the series.

The creative team leans into how much both the characters and the world of medicine have changed. As a result, the new episodes don't have the same whiff of desperation you often get with these things. The four episodes I've seen aren't nearly at the level of peak early Scrubs. But they work much more than they don't, and gave me both pleasure and relief that all involved weren't about to sour my memory of the original run.

This is a revival with real purpose — and, for the most part, the one fans have been hoping for ever since Lazlo Bane's "Superman" last kicked off an episode of "Scrubs." Yes, the original theme song is back. But more importantly, so is the heart.

This new season only proves that the series has a formula that can keep chugging along as long as the network wants. That, for ABC, is about as good as it gets for a revival. For the rest of us, the end result is mercifully enjoyable even if it’s not breaking the mold.

Scrubs knows who its characters are, and it reintroduces them to us as confidently and reassuringly as a doctor kneeling by your bedside to say everything’s going to be okay. Everyone’s wearing their hearts on their scrubs and doing the best they can, and, so far, that’s a promising prognosis.

Somehow these two poles – deliberately silly comedy and volcanic fury – manage to blend into a show that’s just as watchable as Scrubs ever was. May it run and run.

The return of Scrubs works because it acknowledges that its characters have changed with age, and while it struggles to integrate its new generation of characters, there’s still more than enough laughs to satisfy the original’s most ardent fans.

JD and Turk are still hanging out like old times when they can, and it's surprisingly nice for us to be hanging out with them again after so long too.

It is very much the sitcom of old, older. (But everyone still looks good.) There will undoubtedly be some who find nits to pick, but it’s hard to imagine any less-than-obsessed fans unhappy with this lagniappe, apart from its comparative brevity.

The series has its work cut out for it when it comes to establishing the new cast of characters alongside the old. But compared to the misguided mess that was Season 9, the revival is a welcome return to form for a fan-favorite series.

The 2026 version of “Scrubs” is a pretty solid piece of escapism, a return that feels almost like what the show would look like now if it never left the air.

The fantasy sequences, though a defining trait of the original, feel mostly unnecessary, and occasionally cringey. (Though I laughed out loud at one involving Chewbacca.) Still, this “Scrubs” hits the right combination of nostalgia and update, standing among the few reboots that do justice to their originals without marring their legacy.

The second coming of Scrubs is the best such resurrection so far.

The revival does succeed because the ensemble returned together. The familiar rhythm, warmth, and camaraderie between the cast create the foundation that allows new characters to slot in naturally rather than compete for space.

Scrubs is still a mélange of wild line deliveries, acerbic tear-downs, slapstick, and unwieldy flights of fancy. It’s an amiable visit to an old hangout surrounded by folks who’ve aged right along with us.

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

Overall, by the lowered standards of revivals, Scrubs is off to a promising start.

Bottom line: If you liked Scrubs then, you’ll almost certainly like it now. And if you’re new to the party, you’re in for a treat.

So it feels odd, the pleasure of watching the same old Scrubs tempered by the slight feeling that we’re getting reheated leftovers. A lot of the humour is still sharp and it has its old moral compass — there is an affecting storyline involving a man who cannot afford his heart medication. But what, you slightly wonder, is the point?

In 2026, “Scrubs” is still J.D.’s show, for better or worse.

This revival isn’t a Netflix-seasons-of-Arrested-Development-level embarrassment. It’s just a museum piece: still funny in bursts, still boosted by the chemistry of the core cast, but hampered by all the elements that frequently tripped the show up in its closing seasons.

The new “Scrubs” may not be essential TV in the way the original once felt at its cultural peak, but it’s thoughtful, frequently funny and occasionally disarming. Time has changed these characters, and the show is wiser for it.

“Scrubs” feels firmly anchored to its original context. Perhaps that’s why the revival, airing on ABC, feels so off. .... Why watch a season that tries to stick as closely to the original as possible, apart from the inescapable effects of time, when you can just watch the original itself?