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~~triptych~~ · (This post was last modified: 09-14-2008, 07:11 PM by triptych.)

new title

Geo the Fox · 09-12-2008, 07:15 PM

Okay. Later.

Gtfo.

Sol · 09-12-2008, 07:30 PM

See you at PT, then.

LeleleleMAXIMUM · 09-13-2008, 02:21 AM

Scrubs is not so funny now. I've watched the whole seventh season, and it ended pretty stupidly. I undertsand that the last episode was not supposed to air as the season finale, but then why choose that episode? It was confusing in a way that they had Dr Kelso as chief of medicine. If I didnt know it was shown out of production order I would have really wondered what the hell was going on. The whole movie reference and having an entire episode devoted to that movie was very "scrubbish" but not as a season finale. The episode was just an indication of a crappy sub-par season which I do blame on the writers strike and uncertainty of their future. It was unfunny, uninspiring, and just plain awful.

It's difficult to describe why I don't find a particular show funny. Humor is such a polarizing concept – usually you either think something's funny or you don't, and it's hard to vocalize what makes it this way. Simply put, this show seldom makes me laugh. It definitely has a lot to do with the way the jokes sound pre-planned. Any time there's dialogue, every character on this show seems to have a prepared list of witty things to say in response to each other. I'm not asking for boring "real-life" dialogue. All I'm saying is that the writers make no effort to hide the fact that the dialogue is being written by a team of people whose full-time job it is to write said dialogue. And the strange thing is, given all that effort, it's not even funny dialogue. It's clearly attempting to be funny, but listening to this show for any period of time ends up being like talking to a friend who isn't even remotely funny but thinks he's a cut-up.

On a similar vein, the acting is mostly pretty lackluster. (The one exception that comes to mind is the talented character actor John C. McGinley.) It's often been said by many legendary comedy actors that comedic characters shouldn't know that they're in a comedy. I feel like almost every actor on this show breaks that rule. Most of the actors (especially Zach Braff and that talentless guy who plays the bald bureaucrat) deliver their lines with such forced and over-the-top goofiness that it makes Cosmo Kramer look subtle. It smacks of amateurism to see these actors basically not taking their roles seriously enough. I know this sounds like a dumb thing to say about a comedy, but look at "The Office" as an example. This vastly superior show is filled with characters that are consistently funny because they don't realize that they're characters in a sitcom. This is because the actors are talented enough to play them as though they're regular white collar drones dealing with the foibles of everyday office life and not like ridiculous, over-the-top clowns who need to beat the comedy into the viewers' skulls.

This aside, too much of the humor revolves around wacky sight-gags that seem to suggest the show is set in an alternate universe. For instance, an off-hand comment about how only gay guys and women like dancing will result in a gay guy roller-skating by while dancing. To me, this just seems juvenile and it indicates how scatter-brained the writers must be if they decided that this would make a funny moment of an episode.

Also, I know that the show is supposed to be a comedy, but I can never lose the feeling that the characters behave so little like real doctors they may as well be playing sculptors or data entry clerks for all the difference it makes. For instance, the dumb blond girl is about the last person I would cast as a physician. I wouldn't trust her to hold the door open for me, much less diagnose me and treat my illness. She seems like a former high school cheerleader who never quite left that stage of her life mentally. On the show, her ditziness and stupidity is played off as humorous, but to me it's just idiotic. It's lazy because an easy solution to a sitcom writer's problems is to create a stupefyingly moronic character to bounce jokes off of, and it's irritating because the person behaves so little like a real doctor that it's like the show is deliberately trying to ruin the illusion for you.

And finally, Zach Braff. He, more than any other aspect of the show, is the reason why I find it so unbearable and annoying. I'm not sure how the show could become this popular with a lead actor like him, but it has. I think most fans see him as a charming, likable everyman character, but I think that's just because he's really ugly, wimpy, and therefore non-threatening to both men and women. He's also portrayed as an underdog, which appeals to people; however, he's not the kind of underdog that inspires you to root for him, but rather the perpetual loser who (deservedly) cannot catch a break. I could maybe understand his appeal if he were funny and not irritating, but that's not the case. Every line this guy utters seems like it was meant to be amusing, but just falls flat instead. Whether it has more to do with the bad writing or Braff's awful delivery is a puzzle I cannot solve. Just watching him for ten seconds on this show makes me want to climb into the TV and wring his scrawny neck. Magnifying the annoyance is the fact that he is being hailed by many as the "voice of our generation." I don't think so. At least, I didn't approve that. If this guy is the voice of my generation, then I'd like to fill out some kind of form to have myself legally removed from this generation.

I know that the show's countless fans will hound on me for this, but I don't care. It's not for them. This is for other people like me who can't fathom this show's popularity and need confirmation that they are not alone. When a lousy show is this popular, it often feels like you're the only sane person on earth. You are not alone.

Zee · 09-13-2008, 11:38 AM

Well.... That was just...
I want to call that copy-pasta because I can't believe somebody would waste their time like that.

But anyhow, adios 1up.

LeleleleMAXIMUM · 09-13-2008, 11:44 AM

It's half-half.

I just went and found a review which more or less had my sentiments.
But you agree it does get the point across?

Zee · 09-13-2008, 11:45 AM

I'm just gonna ask you to not do it again, if you mind. It's very close to spam, seeing as it has NOTHING to do with the topic itself.

But, you've been a good member to this point, so I'm not going to warn you. Just keep it in mind that we don't approve of spamming here.