The Hottest 10 Ten Doctors of "Scrubs"

Spoiler alert: the guy's last name is actually Braff, not Branff, but when you conduct research, either will work.

I can't tell you how much I dislike Scrubs (2001-2010), the "comedy" about obnoxious doctors acting like jerks.  In last night's episode, they were all in a tizzy because Elliot (a female doctor) was dating a male nurse.  A male nurse!   They have never heard of such a thing!  He must be "the girl" in the relationship, and Elliot must be the "boy"

It wasn't just one character.  They all ridiculed the guy who degraded himself so much that he did a woman's job!

But at least there's substantial beefcake.  Not only patients.  The doctors take their shirts off every second.

 1. Zach Branff as J.D., the obnoxious narrating character: "Today I learned that relationships are hard."






2. Donald Faison as his bff Turk, who acts like a five-year old and is obsessed with the ladies.  He's the one who decided that going to the gym makes you a pathetic loser.  I can tell.  He's been in better shape.

3. Johnny Kastl as Doug, a skittish doctor who's terrified of his supervisor, and often runs away n a panic.














4. Dave Franco as Cole Aaronson, a spoiled fratboy doctor.

5. Travis Schuldt as Keith "The Dude" Dudemeister (I'm not making this up.)

More after the break.

Eight is Enough to fill our lives with schmaltz. But at least Grant Goodeve took his shirt off

Oh we spend our days like bright and shiny new dimes,
If we're ever puzzled by the changing times.
There's a plate of homemade wishes on the kitchen window sill,
And eight is enought to fill our lives with love.

If that's the sort of thing that appeals to you, you probably got all warm and gushy on Wednesday nights during the late 1970s watching Eight is Enough (1977-81).  If you wondered just how much of a day a dime could buy, or your gag reflex set in at the very thought of plates of homemade wishes on the window sill, you turned the channel to  Good Times, Busting Loose, The Jeffersons, or Real People.  

In case you never managed to sit through an episode, you should know that Tom Bradford (Dick Van Patten) was a conservative newspaper columnist who liked to give anti-abortion speeches to captive audiences in elevators.  His tv wife died tragically during the first season, so he courted and married Abby (Betty Buckley). There were no gay characters -- though butch daughter Mary (Lani O'Grady) was certainly gay-coded, and some gay kids might have been interested in the three boys in his Walton-sized brood:

David (Grant Goodeve), a young adult employed in construction.  He achieved some teen idol fame, cutting a few records and enjoying guest shots on Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Northern Exposure.  He also played Steve Carrington's lover on Dynasty.  Today he is involved mostly in live theater.

Sorry for the bad reproduction, but this was the only swimsuit picture I could find.  Looks like the head is pasted on, but I think he's just being sullen.

Tommy (Willie Aames), a brooding, sullen bodybuilder-musician. He went on to fame in Paradise and Charles in Charge (with Scott Baio) before being beset-upon by financial and career problems.

Nicholas (Adam Rich), a smart-alecky preteen.  After Eight is Enough he had difficulties adjusting to the world outside show biz.  He has had arrests for drug possession, shoplifting, and breaking and entering.

By the way, Dick Van Patten belongs to a show biz dynasty, including siblings Joan and Tim, and children Vince, Jimmy, and Nels.

Mystery Island: A muscular Stephen Parr and the Robot from "Lost in Space"

During the fall of 1977, Saturday morning tv featured several live-action programs, including Skatebirds, an anthology series that ripped off The Banana Splits from a decade before.  It didn't last long, but one of its live-action segments, Mystery Island (note: not Mysterious Island) was noteworthy for two reasons.

1. It recycled the famous Lost in Space robot.

2. The mega-muscular Stephen Parr spent most episodes with his shirt off.


There's not much else to find out about Stephen Parr. He worked as a model (naturally). Beginning in 1975, he had guest shots on lots of tv series, from Barnaby Jones to Cheers, and had a brief starring role on All My Children.  According to the Internet Movie Database, he last worked in television in 1993. I don't know what he's doing now. But he certainly brightened a lot of Saturday mornings in 1977.

"The Last Bus": British Teens Bedeviled by Glowing Soccer Balls

 

The Last Bus, on Netflix, a British post-Apocalyptic horror series starring teenagers.  I wonder if they can't stop the bus, or they'll succumb to the zombie virus.  

Be careful: The Last Bus is also a movie about a man riding a bus because he has a dead wife, a movie about a bus trip that leads to disaster

Prologue: People in Hazmat suits carrying boxes labeled Monkhouse Dynamics.  They contain soccer ball-sized devices.  Whoops, one falls to the floor, pulsates, and flies away.  It doesn't end with a bang or a whimper, but with a soccer ball.

Scene 1:  The Braelawn Academy.  Nerd Nas, whose gender is indeterminate but is played by the male-presenting Moosa Mostafa, and their Dad are waiting for a bus which will take them on a field trip to the Monkhouse Facility.  

Meanwhile, two girls taking a driving class swerve to avoid a hedgehog.  They wonder what it is doing out during the day: something must be wrong.  The bus leaves in 8 minutes; they zoom to get there in time.

And Depressed Tom (Daniel Frogson, top photo) is being driven by his glittery, gossipy Mom to the Academy.  When they arrive, she flirts with his friends Daniel (black) and Skely (young).  They discuss how hot she is, which makes Tom angry.  

Plus: flamboyant drama club kid Joshua (Nathanael Saleh), his bff, and a Genius Girl who interrogates Nerd Nas's Dad about his financial situation.  

Scene 2: The smoking, doddering bus arrives.  Everyone looks disappointed, but they get on anyway.  The guy I thought was Nas's Dad is actually Mr. Short (Tom Basden), the chaperone.  

They drive along the rocky coast, the kids frolicking, Genius Girl disapproving.  A boy gets car sick.  A boy and a girl smooch.  

Nerd Nas gives us a plot dump: As you know, we are on our way to see billionaire scientist Dalton Monkhouse, who has invented the next generation of robots.  Depressed Tom's friend Daniel ridicules then, whereupon Car Girl ridicules his ability to get a girlfriend.  Hegemonic masculinity, good choice. And why isn't the adult intervening?  

Scene 3:  They get off the bus and switch to golf carts.  Hey, I thought they were going to be on that bus through the Apocalypse.  Some more traveling, and they arrive at a futuristic facility composed mostly of geodesic domes.  The slimy, sinister Dalton Monkhouse greets them via hologram.  

Daniel the Bully forces Depressed Tom to attack Nas.  Their sister advises that they "tone it down a bit."  Nas is called both "he" and "she" by various kids, so I'm guessing that they are transgender.

Scene 4:  While the others enter the facility, Nerd Naz sneaks into an "employees only" entrance.  Sister follows, and gets lost in a dark labyrinth.  She overhears the Hazmat suits discussing how one of their glowing soccer balls got away.  

Meanwhile, everyone is in a giant dining room, sipping on drinks and listening to Monkhouse the Messiah: "The world can be a dark place, but one man can bring the Light."  Through his patented hologram technology, he has achieved omnipresence: he's talking to everyone in the world at the same time!  

Monkhouse points out that all of the world's problems -- deforestation, extinct species, pollution, global warming -- are caused by people. 

I thought that the glowing soccer balls were designed to kill all of humanity, but instead they seem to be brainwashing devices: "Just look into the light."  

In the cave, Nas is being brainwashed by one, until Sister yells and scares it away.

"Believe me when I say," Monkhouse continues, "That I am sending you to a better place."

Suddenly the glowing soccer balls start evaporating people.  I guess they were killing machines after all.  Everyone panicks and runs and hides.  The end.

Beefcake: None.

Gay Characters:  The drama club kid, probably.  I can't tell if Nas is supposed to be transgender or not.

Heterosexism:  A little.

Will I Keep Watching:  I'm interested in how they will survive the glowing orbs from inside the belly of the beast.

Update:  I have watched every episode of The Last Bus.  Spoiler alert:

1. The people haven't been killed: they've been put in stasis until Earth's carbon dioxide levels recede.  It would have been nice to tell everyone that in the first place, instead of just zapping them.

2. Flamboyantly feminine Josh gets a girlfriend.  

3. No other romantic relationships appear.

4. And no gay subtexts.