'Scrubs': More medical mania

The doctors will sing again.

Another musical episode is planned for the second season of "Scrubs," the comedy that's a realistic twist on hospitals. And the a cappella group of lawyers singing in the elevator will be back too.

"We'll have a big Broadway musical for one of the sweeps periods," said executive producer and creator Bill Lawrence. Judy Reyes, who plays nurse Carla Espinosa, is looking forward to the next musical story. "I love the singing!" But it isn't all melody and harmony at Sacred Heart Hospital. John "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff), the lead character, might have to deal more with The Janitor (Neil Flynn). The recurring hospital custodian, who either hates J.D. or has a very strange way of showing his love, is now one of the main characters. He still doesn't have a name, but he goes by his nonstop scowl at J.D.

Yikes! There's all that, and J.D. and his young colleagues will have to continue to deal with Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley), the not-so-nice mentor who's determined to teach the young doctors in spite of themselves, and Dr. Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins), the pleasant (to a point) chief of medicine, who remains concerned about the hospital budget.

During a press conference earlier this summer, Lawrence talked about what is and isn't changing as "Scrubs" slides into the 8:30 p.m. Thursday time slot, following "Friends," the highest-rated show on TV. The new season of "Scrubs" begins in September.

"We're going to put on the same exact show," Lawrence said.

The doctors are still learning as they go from being interns to first-year residents, Lawrence said. "Before, (J.D.) panicked and was nervous when he was in the right. Now he's more confident."

But here's the second-season twist: As the doctors become confident that they know what they're doing, they will make mistakes, Lawrence said.

In planning "Scrubs" and its stories, Lawrence has talked with many doctors.

He said his findings include the fact that doctors generally don't become rich, because of the costs of paying off their student loans.

"The best thing that happened to our show is we were embraced by the medical community, so much so that the American Medical Association asked us to come and do a panel, which was odd," Lawrence said. "We went out there, and it was a bunch of seminars on HMOs and new cardiac procedures and then the cast and crew of 'Scrubs.' "

"Scrubs" continues to be filmed as a single-camera comedy, meaning there's no studio audience or laugh track, and the scenes are all at a real, closed hospital in North Hollywood. The actors' dressing rooms are in what used to be patients' rooms upstairs, and rooms once used for real examinations and operations are now used for fictional scenes.

The hospital is a fairly old building with a not-too-efficient elevator, but the producers, writers and actors like working there.

"It has that really authentic feeling," said Sarah Chalke, the "Roseanne" star who plays Dr. Elliott Reid.

Chalke said "Scrubs" hasn't filmed in the hospital's morgue, at least not yet. "We have a bet. If someone gets into a morgue (drawer), they'll get $1,000 if they stay there for an hour,."

No one in the cast or crew has done so yet, but it sounds like a good scene for J.D., whose anxiety and dreams continue to be shown in clever fantasy sequences. A scene in the morgue could work for, say, Halloween.

Maybe that could be part of the musical episode, complete with dancing zombies. ...

When you're in an all-too-quiet morgue, you might as well sing. Plus, it might be a good place for that lawyers' vocal group.