"My ABC's" is the fifth episode of Scrubs' eighth season. J.D. fantasizes about Sesame Street all day while he works with Denise on her bedside manner. Dr. Cox investigates his hatred of Ed. Elliot gets Katie a position on Turk's academic team.
Synopsis[]
J.D. with new intern Denise
Dr. Cox & Ed[]
Dr. Kelso arrives at Sacred Heart, fully comfortable as his role as the "regular guy". Shortly after, Dr. Cox conducts rounds with the new interns. He lashes out at Katie, even though she got an answer correct, but can't come up with anything to insult Ed. After rounds, he, J.D., and Elliot pick which interns they want to take under their wing for the next year. Dr. Cox picks Ed. At coffee bucks, Dr. Cox can't figure out why he hates Ed, despite the fact that Ed is a pretty good intern. Carla doesn't care that he hates him, and Dr. Kelso isn't any help either. Dr. Cox later asks Janitor for help, but to no avail. When Ed turns down Turk's offer to help with his research, Cox realizes he hates Ed because he is lazy.
Elliot asks Turk to help Katie.
J.D. & Denise[]
J.D. picks Denise to be his lackey. They help treat a patient, Jack Fremont, who has lung cancer. J.D. tries to teach Denise bedside manners, but she still comes off as very rude to Mrs. Fremont. After learning their patient is going to die, Denise shows no emotions, but J.D. can't hide his and his eyes water in the hallway.
Elliot & Katie[]
Elliot picks Katie because she believes Katie is no longer a suck up (and they have the same hair). Katie whines about her fear of not getting picked for Turk's research paper. Elliot asks Turk to consider her, but he ultimately chooses Ed. Elliot confronts Turk, and asks Carla to withhold sex from him. Later, Elliot finds out that Katie scammed her, using her to make Turk give her the research position.
The interns at rounds.
Recurring Themes[]
More: Fantasies • Flashbacks • J.D.'s girl names • Janitor's pranks and lies
J.D. fantasizes about Muppets all day
Fantasies[]
- Oscar the Grouch lives in the trash can on the Janitor's cleaning cart, and has become the new Chief of Medicine.
- Grover is a doctor who loves high-4's.
- Ex Ray is diagnosed as having a hand in his head.
- Elmo role plays with J.D. and flirts with Denise.
Janitor story[]
Janitor and Dr. Cox talk about why they hate everybody. Janitor claims he only hates people who wrong him, such as robbing him, breaking doors with pennies, or looking at him wrong. He then stalks a doctor who looked at him "funny".
Guest Stars[]
- Betsy Beutler as Katie Collins
- Eliza Coupe as Denise Mahoney
- Aziz Ansari as Ed Dhandapani
- Kevin Clash as Elmo
- Eric Jacobson as Grover
- Caroll Spinney as Oscar the Grouch
- Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Ex Ray
- Julia Campbell as Mrs. Fremont
- David Goryl as Jack Fremont
- Lak Rana as Another Intern
Music[]
Joshua Radin - Sunny Days (Sesame Street Theme Song)
"Sunny Days"
♫ List of music featured in Scrubs
- "Can You Tell Me How To Get To Sesame Street"- Sesame Street Theme by Joshua Radin
Quotes[]
Janitor pushes his cart
Janitor and Cox talk
Denise learns from Elmo
- “Seriously, I am so happy to be done with all that, I could drop a deuce right here.”— Denise Mahoney
- “Dude, have you been having fantasies about Muppets all day?”— J.D.
- “No, I'm straight.”— Turk
- “No, I'm straight.”— Turk
- “Seems like it could be a host to a variety of infectious bacteria or even fungus.”— Elliot
- “Plus it's hard to look at. I recommend it's removed immediately”— Turk
- “Plus it's hard to look at. I recommend it's removed immediately”— Turk
- [The next shot is of J.D., showing that they are talking about his new beard.]
- “Forget it you guys. I'm keeping the beard. Chicks dig the extra fuzz!”— J.D.
- “Forget it you guys. I'm keeping the beard. Chicks dig the extra fuzz!”— J.D.
Trivia[]
- The title of the episode was a reference to not only the new home of the show ABC, but what Sesame Street often teaches: the alphabet.
- There are four notable Scrubs overlaps with The Muppets
- In 2002 most of the main Scrubs cast appear as their Scrubs characters in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.
- Stephanie D'Abruzzo, a regular puppeteer on Sesame Street since the 1990s, portrays Patti Miller in the Scrubs episode "My Musical" as the woman with a condition where she only hears singing. D'Abruzzo's other claim to fame is starring in the Broadway musical Avenue Q, the composers of which (Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx) contributed music to "My Musical."
- Scrubs characters mention Muppets in several episodes:
- In the Season One episode "My Super Ego" Dr. Cox refers to Nick Murdoch as Muppet character "Guy Smiley".
- In the Season Two episode "My Sex Buddy" Elliot, in the middle of watching Sesame Street, reveals that "I had my first sex dream about Mr. Hooper. At least, I think it was a sex dream. He was trying to choke me." In the same episode, Dr. Cox says to Elliot, "It's not like I've always been the centered, well-adjusted Guy Smiley you see walking up and down the halls of this dump ..."
- In the Season Seven episode "My Bad Too" Nurse Carla and Dr. Turk discuss the fact that they each have a present for the other person to celebrate the sixth anniversary of their first date. As Carla gets up and walks away, Dr. Cox takes her seat and says to Turk, "So, what's the big gift there, Gordon?" Turk gives him a quizzical look, and Dr. Cox replies, "Black guy from Sesame Street?"
- Zach Braff and Donald Faison appear in episodes of Sesame Street. Faison held a recurring role in the early '90s and Braff appeared in a 2015 episode explaining the word "anxiety".
- The assumed homosexual interns named Neil and Garrett are a reference to the writing duo Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan.
- Elliot tells Katie that she told J.D. the wrong answer in rounds in her first week, which happened in "My First Day".
- This episode was originally planned to be the first episode of Season Eight, however during production executives at ABC decided to make Courteney Cox's three-episode arc as Taylor Maddox the first episodes. Besides the title referring to the network change, there are other signs left in the episode of its original status as the season premiere:
- J.D. is surprised at Denise's abrupt bedside manner despite it already having been highlighted, and she is surprised at being called Jo despite that nickname already having been used.
- Everyone in the hospital comments on J.D.'s new beard. A comment by J.D. about "Chicks digging" the beard partially makes sense if taken as a comment on Elliot dating him again, despite Elliot herself being the one to tell him she does not like the beard.
- There are references to a search for a new chief of medicine. In its original context, this would have foreshadowed Taylor Maddox's first appearance, but now it refers to her recent firing.
- Katie's storyline partially makes more sense if this were her first appearance, thus leading to the character development of Carla calling her out in "My Saving Grace," and her mellowing out in the episodes that follow this one.
- Dr. Cox, J.D., and Elliot's general annoyance with their respective interns in "My Jerks" makes more sense if this episode is to be taken to take place before that episode.
- Despite the aforementioned inconsistencies, two lines were added in post-production in an attempt to establish the episode as taking place after "My Happy Place": Elliot refers to Katie as "no longer being a suck-up" and makes a quick reference that she and J.D. are dating again. On second viewing, both lines are clearly ADR (additional dialogue recording) due to Sarah Chalke's mouth being offscreen.
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