I've been watching <i>Scrubs</i> in syndication lately. The local station airs two episodes back to back, the first from an earlier season, and the second from the later seasons, and my initial impression of the show was pretty much valid. The early to middle seasons were pretty good, but in the later seasons it just loses some of the magic. Perhaps it's that the storylines get a little too serious, or that the characters are too old to project the levity needed to offset the serious undercurrents in the show, or maybe it's just that things get just a little too wacky weird (or maybe wacky weird is a bit too overplayed). It reminds me a lot of my old favorite News Radio, which got progressively better each year (until the death of Phil Hartman). No matter what, I find it endlessly entertaining, and am pretty glad to finally catch a few episodes.

Except that once the credits roll and the laughter ends, I get hopelessly depressed over the whole matter. I was once a pre-med'r too, you see, and it sends me back to those days of my wasted youth. There's just something magically intoxicating to me about the whole hospital enviroment. I don't know if it's tne enviroment, the intersection of human life, the biology, the helping people thing, the social status of being called Dr. Me, or maybe the fact that my mom is an RN, but it's all something I wanted very badly.

Watching that stupid TV show reminds me that I apparently still want it very badly. Only, unlike Dr. Brother, I couldn't cut the mustard. It's a really really hard life, only a select few can really work it, and I'm not one of those people. I just watch a little of it from the outside and wonder what if.