Scrubs: My Mirror Image (season premiere)

(S06E01) Oh frabjous day! Rather than have fans wait until the beginning of 2007 for new episodes of Scrubs, the 'Powers That Be', a.k.a. NBC executives, decided to give us an early Christmahanukkakwanza gift and begin the sixth season of the comedy a little earlier. Someone over there gets a cookie!

Well, I'm sure a few open spots in the schedule helped programming executives make this decision. Plus, it gave them a good opportunity to restore a two-hour comedy block to Thursday nights, something that they haven't had for a few years now. Also, now that Scrubs is syndicated (with a permanent hour-long spot in the Comedy Central lineup) there's always that chance of picking up new viewers. So, a win-win situation all around.

Before we begin this week's review a brief summary of what happened last season: everyone is pregnant. No, really! Carla and Turk are expecting their first child, Doctor Cox and Jordan are waiting on the birth of their second child, and John 'J.D.' Dorian is going to be a father. Seriously! And, that's where we begin this week.

Overall it was an okay episode. Not the laugh-fest it usually is, but okay. Maybe it was due to the fact it was the first episode of the season and I needed to warm up to it. As the title mentioned this episode was about J.D., Cox and Janitor (will someone give him a name, please!) seeing themselves in their patients. This has been done on other shows in the past, and it was all right here (Zach Braff makes an interesting looking woman), but I don't know if it had the affect it was supposed to, other than seeing these characters in makeup.

I think what was missing this episode was the interaction between all of the characters that made Scrubs the success it has been before. It seemed that they all had their individual stories, and none of them really meshed together. Some of the plot lines were even left hanging, like Elliott's frustration that everyone she knows is having a baby except her. There were some good moments, such as Turk's attempts at bringing back Pop Rocks and N'Sync's Bye Bye Bye (via a ring tone).

Like I said, okay but not up to the Scrubs I remember. I can only hope that things pick up over the next several episodes. Now, before I leave you this week here's the tally:

High-Fives for Todd: 1 (Elliot mentions that it is the only one for the year)

References to N'Sync: 1

Flashbacks: 1

80's References: 2 (Pop Rocks, Ton Loc)

Blue Man Group References: 1

Fantasy Sequences: Surprisingly none.