Maybe I have a thing for lady doctors. After all, I thought Sherry Stringfield's Dr. Lewis on ER was pretty hot stuff back in the day. And yeah, I married one. So maybe that's why I liked Sarah Chalke's Elliot Reid so much. Or maybe it's because she was part of a talented ensemble cast on one of television's most consistently smart, funny, and underrated comedies.
Scrubs was always a little different, a little twisted, able to shift from infantile humor to incisive social commentary to subtle heartbreak. All with a killer soundtrack and fun guest stars.
The bromance of JD and Turk was the center of the show, of course, and like everyone else, I enjoyed the rants of Dr. Cox, the sociopathic antics of the janitor, and the indifferent tyranny of Dr. Kelso. But for me, Elliot is the heart. She holds her own in a male-dominated environment by alternatively disparaging the frat-boy silliness and engaging in it with abandon. She can take a joke, even when it targets her near-crippling lack of confidence, and keep coming back. She's bright, resilient, and...and...there was something else. Frick!