“Scrubs” was a comedy sitcom that was created in the early 2000’s by showrunner Bill Lawrence. Lawrence is best known for creating “Cougar Town,” “Spin City,” “Ground Floor,” and “Ted Lasso.” Young actors Zach Braff and Donald Faison were cast as the best friend leads in the series. “Scrubs” was set in a hospital, following the lives of medical residents and their journeys of becoming a doctor. The show was an instant success and was renewed for eight more seasons.

In 2020, a decade after the show had stopped airing, the real-life best friends Braff and Faison decided to create a “Scrubs” rewatch podcast called “Fake Doctors, Real Friends.” They decided the pandemic was the perfect time to ignite this project because of the show’s relations to the front lines and the medical community.

“These medical professionals and everyone who is working in the industry, whether you’re a doctor or a nurse, a janitor, a medic, everyone who’s in this environment — everyone is finally seeing how heroic these people are,” Braff said during episode [103: My Best Friend’s Mistake w/ Bill Lawrence]. “I always felt that when we were making the show, Bill was really shining a light on how dedicated these folks were and how they had to deal with life and death every single day.” 

In each episode of the podcast, the duo first covers the episode of “Scrubs” and then the behind-the-scenes stories that they had while filming that episode. They share numerous experiences and lessons they have learned both while filming the show, and in their current lives. 

Although this podcast is known for being comedic and uplifting, as hosts, Braff and Faison make sure to weave in important information that can be helpful to their viewers. In“My Best Friend’s Baby’s Baby and My Baby’s Baby,” the second episode of season six, Braff got emotional will discussing that weeks prior to the recording, Braff lost his manager to suicide.

“I lost someone very special to me. He is someone that from the outside you would think had it all…I knew he was suffering from depression. I had no idea it reached to the suicide level and he was hiding that from me,” Braff said. “You just never know what people around you are suffering,” said Braff.

Braff shared his deeply emotional story and encouraged his viewers to use a suicide hotline if there were any suicidal thoughts on their minds. The podcast was made for comedic purposes, but also for impact. One of the biggest reasons why “Scrubs” did so well was because of the lessons that the viewer learned by the end of each episode. Like the TV show, Faison and Braff’s goals are to teach their viewers a lesson so they feel the same amount of impact that a “Scrubs” viewer would feel. 

Braff and Faison also explore the main point in “My Best Friend’s Baby’s Baby and My Baby’s Baby,” which is abortion. Since this episode aired in 2007, abortion has become a more prominent and sensitive discussion topic.

“Bill was trying to push the envelope of what you could do and what you could say on network TV, and of course even discussing abortion is such a hot button issue…I think he was trying to be brave and discuss real topics that come up in people’s lives on the show,” said Braff.

Although it may be triggering, it is very inspiring to see these topics being discussed. It is a well formulated podcast that is both comedic and informative.

The main focus of this episode was to teach the listeners about the morals of the discussion topics. Another big event that surfaced in this episode also involved pregnancy. Braff’s character was going through a rough spot in his personal life outside of the hospital. He had unintentionally gotten his girlfriend pregnant and the episode follows his thoughts on whether they should have the baby or not. It was really special to see Faison’s character play a special part in this process, by being there for his best friend.

It was enjoyable to hear about Braff and Faison’s personal experiences when it came to filming the show. Braff and Faison’s best friend dynamic clicked since the moment they met, and they never have too much to say when it comes to their friendship. In every episode, they make sure to weave in their friendship and how it made their job so simple and enjoyable.

The way Braff and Faison approach their episode discussions shows the integrity of the podcast and what their intentions are, even with topics such as abortion and suicide. “Scrubs” is a fictional television show that does not exist, but these guys weave it into the real world when the people need it most.