SARAH CHALKE No Scrubs

Getting your big break by replacing a central character on one of the biggest television shows of all time is tough. But Sarah Chalke, currently starring in NBC’s smash hit Scrubs, did just that. Taking over the role of Becky Conner on Roseanne in 1993, she was able to maintain the character’s unique personality while simultaneously making the role her own. Now she can be seen every Thursday night as Elliot Reid, an ambitious medical intern trying to maintain her sanity in a hospital with staffers as crazy as their patients. A&F’s Patrick Carone makes a prognosis.

It must have been difficult for you to step into the role of Becky on Roseanne. Do you feel a sense of affinity with other actors who replace an already existing character... like Darrin on Bewitched? They made reference to that in the credit tags that wrapped up the episode where I replaced Lacy Goranson. We were all sitting there watching Bewitched and Roseanne says, "I can’t believe they replaced that Darrin." And Laurie Metcalf says, "It was a hit show. They can get away with almost anything." And I say, "I like the second Darrin much better."

What other shows did that? Didn’t they replace the blonde girl on The Munsters? I don’t know.

What about the mom on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? I don’t know. I’m not an expert. I guess I should have called them and gotten their war stories for replacing characters.

How was working on Roseanne? It was unbelievable. It was really nerve-racking, because I was replacing a character, and that comes along with its own set of expectations—plus I had never been to L.A. before, let alone moving here and dealing with all that, as well as coming into an already established cast. But I learned so much working on that show.

They were welcoming? They were very welcoming, but more than that, it was just an incredible learning experience working with some of the top people on television at the time. And watching what the actors would do with the script from Monday till Thursday tape night was unbelievable. We could read through Monday morning, and it would go through changes in the next four days. Watching the actors try different things and how it would change and evolve over the four days was amazing.

Now you’re on Scrubs. It’s a great show, and it looks like you guys have lots of fun. It really is fun. It’s an incredible group of people to work with, the environment is so creative and collaborative, and the writing is fantastic. Bill Lawrence, who created the show, always says, "Let’s get one as it is on the page, and if something else ends up happening, or we think of a better idea, let’s grab on to that."

The cast is hilarious. We have such a good time working together. It makes such a difference going to work every day for 14 hours and being able to hang out and have a good time.

And it definitely works well for the show. Yeah, and you really feel comfortable with each other. We’re not so self-conscious, and we will just try things. And you know, if something doesn’t work or you fall flat on your face, it doesn’t matter, nobody cares. We all just laugh, and then we’ll get up again to try something else.

Do you guys play volleyball against the cast of ER? (laughs) No, but we started this thing at work called the Scrubs Factor. It’s our own little Fear Factor. Last week the challenge was eating pickled pigs’ hooves.

Delicious. Did you end up eating any? No. I was a vegetarian for years and I just came back to meat, so eating pickled pigs’ hooves would not have been good.

Did you follow real residents around to prepare for Scrubs? Yeah. We all had to go on rounds with real doctors and residents. It’s unbelievable, these young doctors who are on 35-hour shifts. We would be waking up at 6am to go meet them.

I have a few friends who are in residency programs, so I asked them for medical questions to test your knowledge. I’m okay with the medical jargon. We’ll be reading the lines, and in brackets it’ll say "insert difficult chunk of medical jargon." It’ll be like "superior metatarsal deficiency"—you’ll get it in your head and then it’s gone.

Here are a couple of medical terms for more common aliments. Alopecia. Alopecia? Oh, one of us has had to say that.

It happens to guys when they start getting older. Balding?

Exactly, balding. What’s rhinoplasty? A nose job.

That’s good. This is a more general question. One of my friends said that while doing her residency, you see bodily fluids all over the place. Now, I know Scrubs doesn’t go into the projectile-vomiting, multiple-gunshot-wound territory of, like, ER, but in terms of your squeamishness in real life, do you find blood and guts gross? Yes. My little sister had an operation, and I was driving with her to go get it checked out. They had to remove the bandage, and I was holding her hand and saying, "You’re going to be fine, sweetie. Don’t worry about it. I’m right here with you, and if you need to hold my hand you can grab it." The bandage comes off and she’s looking at it all interested. And I just took one look at it and passed out on the floor.

Sarah Chalke photographed by David Needleman.