Every comedy series needs a memorable intro. Even the hit series Scrubs has one that fits perfectly in the setting of a hospital. Interestingly, the intro had a mistake for 5 years that should have been obvious to any doctor.
What kind of mistake is that? The intro of Scrubs is quite short. The fitting song Superman
by Lazlo Bane plays. You see the various characters running to a hospital bed with a file. The positions of the characters are swapped in seconds, and at the end, J.D. places an X-ray on a lit board that says Scrubs
.
The intro directly shows what it’s about: the everyday life in a hospital. However, if you look closely, you can see that the X-ray is hung upside down. This was intentional, as showed in a gag 5 years later.
You can see a trailer for the first season here:
The mistake was addressed in Season 5
Why could the mistake only have happened intentionally? Scrubs is loosely based on real doctors that the creators met. The names of J.D. and Turk are also based on real doctors. To make the series as accurate as possible, the show’s creators worked with real medical consultants. (via SlashFilm)
And even without these consultants, someone would have noticed that the X-ray of the chest was hung upside down. From 2001 to 2006, the image remained as is until the character Kim, played by Elizabeth Banks, appears in Season 5, Episode 23 in the intro.
You can find a compilation of all intros up to Season 9 here:
The intro runs normally until Kim turns the X-ray around at the end and says: It’s hanging the wrong way, it’s been bothering me for years
. This also symbolizes Kim’s role. She is a supporting character who shakes up J.D.’s life quite a bit and brings about changes that are relevant until the end of the series.
Throughout the series, the intro was slightly altered. Season 2 even had a longer version at the beginning. Occasionally, new characters were added as well. In the last season of Scrubs, the song was even played in a different cover. Many of the characters in Scrubs were also friends in real life. J.D
would also want to work with them again: The actor of the TV series Scrubs explains how he feels about Turk, Elliot, and Dr. Cox today
