Doctor's order hit for star

For a while, it seemed Sarah Chalke would always be thought of as "the second Becky." Chalke was only 16 when she replaced Lecy Goranson in 1993 as Roseanne's eldest daughter on ABC's hit comedy.

But now Chalke has people calling her "that doctor girl." She plays the high-strung, overachieving Elliot Reid on "Scrubs," one of the few success stories of this TV season.

The NBC comedy, which airs its season finale Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. on WHDH (Ch. 7) and has been renewed for next season, follows the lives of three young doctors. Praised for its offbeat humor and distinctive blend of comedy and drama, "Scrubs" adheres to a single-camera, no audience, no laugh-track formula.

"It's so different than doing four-camera sitcom," Chalke said. "When I joined ‘Roseanne' in season six, everybody had their stuff down. I'd come in and work for a couple hours. We'd work two weeks and have a week off. It was this ridiculously relaxed schedule."

There's nothing laid-back about her schedule now. She's at the abandoned hospital where the show is filmed 14 hours a day. "In terms of life in L.A., it's been ‘Scrubs' and nothing but," Chalke said.

After finishing "Roseanne" in 1997, Chalke returned to her native Vancouver and starred for two seasons in the Canadian series "Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy." Because Vancouver is a hotbed for made-for-TV movies, she continued to act while in college. When she was a "few credits short of a degree," Chalke decided to commit to acting full time. "I felt completely stretched between work and school. I'd be on the set faxing papers to my friends to turn in for me. I love acting, and it was really important to me to give it a real shot," she said.

So she moved to Los Angeles in September 2000, landed "Scrubs" in December and was filming the pilot in March 2001. "I loved the pilot so much. I laughed out loud from cover to cover. It was fast-paced, smart and took risks."

What she really appreciates is having the opportunity to develop a strong female character. "Walking into a show when I was 16, at that time when it was the No. 1 hit show, and replacing a character comes with so many expectations. I felt a lot of pressure with that. But to be part of helping create a character and be a part of something from the beginning - the excitement of it - it doesn't get any better.

"I'm working with people I love hanging out with," Chalke said as she rattled off the cast's wonderful qualities.

All this love and happiness might seem like typical Hollywood spin if Chalke didn't come across as incredibly genuine. "It's the best working environment I've ever worked in. You hear so many horror stories from people who work on a series for years and hate each other. We just got lucky."

In addition to having two medical advisers on the set, the cast of "Scrubs" has met several times with its real-life counterparts and even followed them around for a shift at a hospital. "They are on call for 36 hours. The sheer number of cases they would deal with, the level of responsibility blows your mind. It was amazing," she said.

Almost as amazing as starring in two successful television sitcoms.