History Characters / ScrubsMainCharacters

!!John Michael "J.D." Dorian (Creator/ZachBraff)

->''"I don't think people are meant to be by themselves. That's why if you actually find someone you care about, it's important to let go of the little things, even if you can't let go all the way. Because nothing sucks more than feeling all alone, no matter how many people are around."''

!!Elliot Reid (Creator/SarahChalke)

->'''Elliot''': My therapist thinks my trouble in bed stems from a basic fear of intimacy. But I just think it's just because any type of repetitive motion makes me nauseous. Oh, and since I was a little kid, I've always had nightmares about being crushed. \\
'''Carla:''' That poor shrink.

!!Christopher Duncan Turk (Creator/DonaldFaison)

->''"You know, I love how kids of divorce really have the market cornered on family dysfunction. But let me share with you a typical Thanksgiving at the Turk household: It starts with my mother yelling at my sister for yelling at my grandmother who's yelling at the television screen, which happens to be the microwave. And then my militant brother Jabari - formerly Bob - gives my father attitude for using the word black, even though he's referring to the turkey. Which, by the way, only got burnt because instead of turning the oven off, my bi-polar aunt Leslie tried to shove her head in it. But you know what we do? We kiss... and we hug... and we apologize for all the things we said... 'Cause a month later, we gonna get together and do it again at Christmas!"''

!!Percival "Perry" Ulysses Cox (Creator/JohnCMcGinley)

->''"Newbie, the only way you could be less productive right now is if you were, in fact, the wall you're leaning against. Of course, THEN you'd be providing some jackass with a wall in which to lean against to reflect on what a jackass he truly is. I know, hear it's a conundrum, but don't you worry about it. I'll work on that upstairs. In the meantime, you could at least pretend to be doing some work, and right about now, even though you don't have your basket, oh, it's just a terrific time for you to skip away, Shirley."''

!!Carla Espinosa (Creator/JudyReyes)

->''"Well, you're a surgeon. So, you've got the god-complex, the cockiness, the whole "married to the job" thing. You're cute, but you're very, very aware of it. You have no idea what I'm like, so all of your feelings for me are coming from down there [points at his crotch]. But most of all, I'm looking for the real thing; and you're nothing but a little boy who's not used to being told "no." So there's a bunch of reasons. Pick your favorite."''

!!Robert "Bob" Kelso (Creator/KenJenkins)

->''"Dr. Dorian, do you not realize, that you're nothing more than a large pair of [[TitleDrop scrubs]] to me? For God's sake, the only reason I carry this chart around is so I can pretend to remember your damn name!"''

!!"The Janitor" (Creator/NeilFlynn)

->''"You seem unhappy. I like that."''

** In ''My Inconvenient Truth'', his brother Dan shows up, having turned his life around since the last time he appeared thanks to some harsh truths from J.D. As a gift to say thanks, he gives J.D. a car - J.D's reply is to smash the windshield in and tell Dan that he's supposed to be the loser in the family.

* ManChild: Definitely becomes this after his {{flanderization}}. He slowly grows out of it after a talk with Turk after his son is born.

** In "My Conventional Wisdom", when pressed about why he refuses to accept an invite to Elliot and Keith's wedding. he bluntly asks Elliot if she really wants to marry Keith or if she just wants to be married, even pointing out that she might only be with Keith because he's the only one vaguely her type at the hospital. While he relents, it's only because Jordan forced him to. While everyone for the last three episodes of the season try to assure her that she is only having doubts due to pre-wedding jitters, after an almost kiss with J.D., Elliot realizes that Cox was right and she's not in love with Keith after all, leading to her ending things with him.

** "My Jiggly Ball" has a rather tragic example. Just after Dr. Cox and J.D. get Mr. Morrison into a drug trial that can save his life, Kelso boots him out of in favor of a rich man with the same illness. When Cox confronts him however, Kelso reveals that, rather than take the rich man's money for any selfish reason, he is using the money to reopen the prenatal unit (which he announced had to be closed at the start of the episode) [[TheNeedsOfTheMany While he doesn't let the others see it, he was devastated that he had to let Mr. Morrison die, but did so for all the underprivileged pregnant women that could be helped because of it]].

** In "My Dumb Luck" when Kelso quits his job, he makes sure to stop and sincerely tell Ted "Thanks for everything". Ted is audibly touched despite having celebrated Kelso leaving earlier in the episode.

--> '''Cox:''' (exasperated) "Let’s break down the kid’s support system, shall we? He’s got me, an emotionally-crippled narcissist, and he’s got YOU (J.D.'s brother Dan), an emotionally-crippled narcissist who’s soaking in a tub of what by now has to be mostly your own urine! ''[…]'' And I have got to believe that the two of us together, TOGETHER Dan, we can make it at least halfway to one legitimate adult!"

* CharacterDevelopment: While his core character traits end up flanderized as time goes on, he does mature as a person during Season 7 and stops grabbing the JerkassBall as often as time goes on. He also becomes a better doctor and mentor as time goes on.

* MoralityPet: His son Harrison is seems to be the only person in the world Kelso truly loves. While earlier seasons first implied that he was disappointed in Harrison for being gay and didn't care much for him, Kelso is actually only disappointed in Harrison's taste in men and in fact Harrison is what brings out Kelso's softer side (like in "My New Suit" when he tortured Cox for making a joke at Harrison's expense, or in "My Hard Labor" when he comforted Harrison when his boyfriend stole his car from him, or in "My Chief Concern" when he admitted that he thinks about moving up Seattle to be closer to Harrison all the time).

** In "My Screw Up", he spends much of the episode loudly declaiming that he doesn't care about anyone else's problems, but at the end of the episode, he shares a personal anecdote and wisdom with Carla, who was struggling about whether or not to force Turk to remove his mole.

** When he retires Kelso tells Ted "Thanks for everything" and when he eventually leaves the hospital makes sure to give Ted a fond farewell.

* {{Hypocrite}}: She gets mad at Turk when she finds out he kept Dr Cox's crush on her a secret because seemed to take Cox seriously as a threat, meaning he doesn't feel secure in their relationship. However, only three episodes later she gets into a bad mood during her shift because she (obviously wrongly) believes Turk is cheating on her with Bonnie. In fact, unlike Carla and Cox who genuinely friends, Turk and Bonnie honestly couldn't hate each other more.

** "My Jiggly Ball" has a rather tragic example. Just after Dr. Cox and J.D. get Mr. Morrison into a drug trial that can save his life, Kelso boots him out of in favor of a rich man with the same illness. When Cox confronts however, Kelso reveals that, rather than take the rich man's money for any selfish reason, he is using the money to reopen the prenatal unit (which he announced had to be closed at the start of the episode) [[TheNeedsOfTheMany While he doesn't let the others see it, he was devastated that he had to let Mr. Morrison, but did so for all the underprivileged pregnant women that could be helped because of it]].

* MoralityPet: His son Harrison is seems to be the only person in the world Kelso truly loves. While earlier seasons first implied that he was disappointed in Harrison for being gay and didn't care much for him, Kelso is actually only disappointed in Harrison's taste in men and in fact Harrison is what brings out Kelso's softer side (like when he tortured Cox for making a joke at Harrison's expense, or when he comforted Harrison when his boyfriend stole from him, or when he admitted he thinks about moving up to be closer to Harrison all the time).

* {{Jerkass}}: He cheats on his wife and keeps her doped up on anti-depressants, openly dislikes his gay son (mainly for his horrible taste in men and terrible life choices, rather than him being gay), and treats his staff like crap.

* InnocentBigot: Whenever J.D. attempts to be PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy, or does a black guy impression, it inadvertently, and often, just comes off as really racist.

* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: J.D.'s first onscreen discussion with Turk was about rap music and whether he can say the N word if he's singing along to a song and the word is in the song. He's not allowed to. On several occasions, he's tried to act black and it doesn't work well.

* BlackAndNerdy: He is both a black nerd (Or "blerd", as he calls it) and one of the show's cooler characters. He actually referred to his cousin as one. One episode had him as a temporary medical resident after breaking his arm and he wore NerdGlasses to appear nerdier.

* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: [[GenerationXerox His father]] left the family when he was a child and stole his bike to do it, leaving him with a phobia of bikes in the present.

* {{Jerkass}}: He cheats on his wife and keeps her doped up on anti-depressants, openly dislikes his gay son (mainly for his taste in men), and treats his staff like crap.

* TheCutie: JD's childlike innocence and sensitivity is part of his eccentricity.

** His desire for Dr Cox's approval. In the early seasons, JD wanted his respect and for Cox to act as his mentor but was also aware that Cox was a seriously damaged man and while a very skilled doctor, not someone for JD to emulate and he was even willing to call Cox out when he went too far. From about season 5/6, JD is completely obsessed with earning Cox's approval and being seen not just as an apprentice but a surrogate son, even as Cox treats him like shit on a regular basis.

** In ''My Ocardial Infarction'', he gets angry at Elliot just because she's better at train-wreck codes than him and tried to teach him how to deal with them. When Elliot reminds him that, for the past three years, JD has always been the golden boy while Elliot was the screw-up and now she's finally doing something well, JD outright tells her that "You're the one that's supposed to struggle -- not me."
** Towards the end of season 3, he admits his feelings to Elliot, causing her to break up with her current boyfriend Sean in order to come back to JD...who dumps her after just ''one'' episode, because he doesn't actually love her.

** In season 5 he's a jerk to Keith for no apparent reason. He was probably jealous of him for being a good-looking/competent doctor and because he was dating Elliot, even if JD had no apparent feelings for her at the moment.

* SitcomArchNemesis: The Janitor for the entire series (one-sided on the Janitor's part), and briefly Keith in season 5 (one-sided on JD's part).

* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: Because of her privileged upbringing, she's more on the girly side (just look at her room), is occasionally spoiled, obsessed with her wedding since when she was a child, she likes ponies, and in early seasons she was also shy and sensitive. It helps that in season 3 she starts wearing HotterAndSexier clothes. She is also a surprisingly strong fighter, is proud of her TomboyishName, and has no problem being OneOfTheBoys with JD and Turk.
* HappilyMarried: To JD by the time of Season 9, with the two of them expecting their first child.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Masculine Girl to JD's Feminine Boy. Also to her ExtremeDoormat boyfriend Keith in season 5 and 6, which is lampshaded by Kelso.

JD's best friend, who JD has known since they were roommates in college, and Carla's husband. He's a very skilled surgeon but his arrogance sometimes exceeds his talent. His attitude does come across as a typical jock, but he takes his work seriously and is atypical as a surgeon in that he strives to get to know his patients. He loves basketball, video games, using slang, and making sweet love with his wife.

* RealMenWearPink: Turk used to take ballet; the other surgeons were a bit surprised at first then give him a pass when he waves this off as agility training for sports but give him crap about it when JD says that he not only enjoyed it but also loved wearing the tights.

%%* TheWatson: Sometimes, to JD.

JD's mentor (much to his chagrin) and resident doctor of Sacred Heart. He comes across as a typical DrJerk with a [[SmallNameBigEgo huge ego to match]]. However, he believes his hard teachings mold interns to competent doctors and he cares more about treating patients that deserve help rather than the budget of the hospital. He has a tendency to rant on about anything that ticks him off even slightly.

* AesopAmnesia: You'd think he'd learn to respect Turk's skills after he performed pre-natal surgery on Cox's daughter, but Turk still has to earn his respect multiple times. Same with JD who Cox has had to be reminded numerous times is a genuinely skilled doctor who can work without Cox breathing down his neck.

** He sometimes shows this towards JD, kinda. Especially the final episode, in which Cox defends JD from (set-up) false bad claims shows this.

* ByronicHero: He's a brilliant doctor and an excellent mentor to JD, but he's very anti-social, prefers to be miserable, and grew up with an abusive father with a drinking problem he inherited.
* CharacterDevelopment: He becomes more willing to play by the rules as time goes on, he also stops self-sabotaging himself both personally & professionally for the sake of being seen as a rebel, and he becomes far more patient and less acerbic to those around him, eventually taking his role as a teacher to younger doctors seriously after seeing how it helped JD improve. He actually suffers the least amount of {{Flanderization}} in the series and manages to grow as a character while keeping his original nature. Reconciling with Jordan and raising Jack mellows him as a parent.

** In "My Drama Queen," he reprimands JD for thinking that one of his quips had homophobic undertones.

* FatalFlaw: His abrasive personality. It's been established numerous times that it's stopped him from ascending to a role that would allow him to help make the changes he believes are so desperately needed and it also means that while many respect his skills as a physician, they have very little patience for him on a personal level with even JD and Carla losing patience with him on occasion.

** With the Janitor thanks to their mutual dislike of JD and Kelso as well as their snarky personalities. However, the Janitor still has a vendetta against doctors and Cox is included.

** JD = Newbie, every girl name in existence (Except for the names of female characters in the show.) He makes an effort to never use a name twice, leading him to be stumped a few times while trying to think up a new one. On at least one occasion he literally called JD "Girl's Name". And on one occasion he calls JD by the names of famous dogs after some [[ItMakesSenseInContext rumors of bestiality]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite his attitude and speaking to everyone--coworker and patient alike--with disrespect, Dr. Cox genuinely wants to help people and when he's incapable of doing so it affects him strongly. [[spoiler: Also, the finale of season 8 revealed he truly did like JD after all, though he admits it when he thinks JD isn't around.]]

* MeaningfulName: He's named after [[Myth/ArthurianLegend a knight of the Round Table]] and [[Literature/TheOdyssey a famous Greek hero]], which is fitting, given JD's idolization of him. "Percival" is particularly meaningful, given his KnightInSourArmor tendencies, and his commitment to helping patients at any cost.

* ParentalSubstitute: To JD. Supposedly, he hates it. Although from [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation a certain point of view]] one wonders if he knows he's not the best role model for JD and is encouraging him to not see him as one. However, Dan (JD's older brother) confronts Dr. Cox at the end of the episode and pretty much says that despite the tough-guy act, Dr. Cox genuinely enjoys being looked up to by the newbies and being their idol, while also telling him to take that responsibility seriously. Jordan also tells Elliot in the fourth season that it really bothers him that she no longer goes running to him for help as much as she used to. Arguably, he really does enjoy getting to steer people on the right path.
--> '''Cox:''' (exasperated) "Let’s break down the kid’s support system, shall we? He’s got me, an emotionally-crippled narcissist, and he’s got YOU (JD's brother Dan), an emotionally-crippled narcissist who’s soaking in a tub of what by now has to be mostly your own urine! ''[…]'' And I have got to believe that the two of us together, TOGETHER Dan, we can make it at least halfway to one legitimate adult!"

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Manly Man to JD's Sensitive Guy.

* TookALevelInKindness: He'll never admit it but his time with JD does make him a better man, more open to accepting help and better at expressing his emotions in a healthy way, exercising patience and forming bonds with people, allowing him to become a better father to Jack and later his daughter. He even takes his role as a mentor more seriously, becomes a better leader to the hospital and his students after seeing how a willingness to step back and see if his methods are working with JD improved things and develops greater patience, even showing Ed immense tolerance and giving him a legitimate chance to show his commitment to being a doctor. It admittedly doesn't work but that was only due to Ed's staggering laziness and immaturity, not Dr Cox's behavior.

* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: He has only ever called JD by his name ("Johnny" or "JD", though he never actually calls him "John Dorian") a handful of times in very personal moments.

She's the SpicyLatina who's the resident nurse of Sacred Heart and wife of Turk. Carla molded JD and Elliot over the years with her tendency to [[TeamMom be there for them]], which has resulted in their friendship. She can be rather hotheaded to people and feel like her friends are overwhelming her with her quirks, but she cares about them and it shows.

** While supportive and mothering to the new interns, Carla admits she can go overboard, particularly when she senses that they're outgrowing her. Her slowness in recognizing JD's need to stand on his own two feet causes one of their few major spats.

* TheNicknamer: Calls JD "Bambi" sometimes, mostly in early seasons.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: In-universe. For a nurse Carla has a lot of power in the hospital, and this was BEFORE she was head nurse. Lampshaded by JD's monologue after one episode where the only doctors present were himself, Elliot and Turk.
--> '''JD:''' (InnerMonologue while he, Elliot and Turk walk out the hospital) ''"Tonight we practically ran the hospital. But tomorrow, we'll go back to being the most under-appreciated people here."''

* LonelyAtTheTop: Heavily implied to be the case for him. Everyone in the hospital fears and/or hates him because he's rude, callous, and constantly makes unpopular decisions that hurt or discomfort hospital staff and patients alike. But as he often reiterates, the hospital is underfunded, and if he ran things the way [[NiceGuy JD]] would, people would walk all over him and they'd shut down in an hour. A massive organization with countless moving parts like a hospital will also inevitably create friction amongst different staff and departments, slowing down productivity, so he puts on that mean bastard facade to get everyone united in their hatred against him. Because of this, he has no real friends, and the people he's closest to are the people who hate him the most, [[NervousWreck Ted]] and [[CommanderContrarian Dr Cox]].

The AlmightyJanitor who has a dislike of doctors, especially JD. When he's not tormenting JD at every chance he gets, he tells zany stories (which are mostly lies) to the staff and helps out Elliot when he can. He's also insane.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: In-universe example. In the Season 9 premiere, Turk states that the Janitor didn't know JD was leaving the hospital for good. Upon being informed of this, the Janitor just disappeared and no one knows where he went. Doubles as a CallBack to the show's first season, where he was originally supposed to be a figment of JD's imagination.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Is The Janitor extremely dedicated and proud of how clean he keeps the hospital, or is he a lazy psychopath who pulls pranks on the staff all day, drinks on the clock, and never cleans as "a lesson"? For that matter, does he really hate JD and single him out, or is he a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who just enjoys messing with everybody for fun's sake?
* DisproportionateRetribution: A big fan of this. Especially to JD.
--> '''JD:''' "Oh, it looks like I did something wrong. I guess this means you'll decapitate me for it, right?"

* EnemyMine: He and JD worked together to help Ted get a girl though this alliance ended when Ted got the girl.

** Even The Janitor has enough of a heart not to hassle JD after his dad died.

* EvilIsPetty: While more of a {{Jerkass}} than actually evil, the Janitor went out of his way to screw with JD and make his life miserable for ''eight years'' simply because JD accidentally lodged a penny in the door.

** His early pranks on J.D. were mostly harmless. In later seasons many of his pranks are physically dangerous or even potentially fatal. This reflects on how he was originally supposed to be a figment of JD's imagination, so he couldn't do much more than tease, before more opportunities to torture JD opened up after becoming a more physical presence.

* HairTriggerTemper: ''Everything'' JD says to him is taken in the most insulting way possible.

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Type B... more or less. He told Elliot that she was the only person on the hospital staff that treated him as a person. Neil Flynn also theorized that the Janitor's pranks were a very odd way of showing overtures of friendship to JD.

* LackOfEmpathy: Again, towards JD. He IS capable of empathy- in one episode, he spends it talking with a bedridden person who requires a computer to speak to keep him company. He often sticks up for Elliot or "Blonde Doctor."

* NoNameGiven: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and obviously played for laughs. In the season 8 finale, the Janitor apparently reveals his name to JD, but as soon as JD leaves, someone else walks by and calls the Janitor by a different name. The writers say the name given to JD, [[spoiler:Glen Matthews]], is his actual name. Also at [[spoiler:Turk and Carla's wedding]] it appears he actually did give his name to Danni, who says [[spoiler:Hey Glenn]] while Ted and Doug fight about which of them she is referring to, having both made out with her recently and competing over who she is giving more attention to. Then again, the show's creators have occasionally said (''probably'' joking) that they don't know any more about The Janitor than the viewers do, that he just showed up on the set one day and everyone was too afraid of him to tell him to leave.

* SatelliteCharacter: In the first season he only exists to be J.D.'s tormentor and never really interacts with anyone else. This changes starting in season 2, when he becomes a main character and has regular interactions with the rest of the cast, although he still torments JD at every chance he gets.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Informs JD in the finale that the reason for all his pranks are because JD failed one in the Pilot. Turns out the penny in the door fell out of JD's pocket accidentally and the Janitor saw it happen, but punished JD because ''[[DisproportionateRetribution he kept lying about it.]]''

* UltimateJobSecurity: He never does his work, and is constantly pulling pranks or messing with people in other ways, to the extent that he trapped JD in a water tower for an entire day and got off totally scot-free. Of course, it turns out that the main reason for his security is because Dr. Kelso openly doesn't care what the hospital employees did as long as the money rolled in and he got to enjoy the perks of his job. Upon Kelso's retirement, he's replaced by Dr. Maddox, who actually acts like an administrator, having the Janitor fired on the spot when she sees him trip JD in the hallway.
* TheUnfettered: He'll do just about ''anything'' to make JD's life difficult. Case in point: in the season 4 finale, he goes so far as to take a bite out of his own [[LaxativePrank laxative-filled pie]] in order to trick JD into thinking it's safe, ending with the two sitting side-by-side in the crapper:

* BadBoss: He treats Ted as his punching bag, he treats the Interns like shit and he's just an all around asshole to everyone.

* MeanBoss: He's a full blown {{jerkass}} who abuses Ted, constantly harassed and belittled Elliot in the earlier seasons and has no respect for anyone who works for him.

* NiceGuy: Flaws aside, he's genuinely caring, compassionate and sweet-natured person so being a doctor is a natural career for him.
-->'''Dan:''' Smart kid. Sweet kid. We could all tell he was going someplace.

* {{Nepotism}}: PlayedWith. He does ask Jordan for help to get his promotion, but it's generally agreed that he does have the competence for the higher jobs, including Kelso himself.