Scrubs Finds a Friend, A Brit Invades Top Chef

Scrubs, now in its 8th(!) season, came back Tuesday night with two episodes on a brand new network (ABC) and with plenty of new faces. This year's intern class got an unusual amount of attention (setting up a spin-off?), with three in particular standing out: Ed (Aziz Ansari), who lives to text message and thinks a Matrix trilogy marathon is a good idea; Denise aka Jo (Eliza Coupe), who thinks connecting with a patient means telling him about her unfortunate one-night stand; and Katie aka Mini-Elliot (Betsy Buetler), who is, well, just like season 1 Elliot.

But the main new character of note is Dr. Maddox (Courtney Cox), Dr. Kelso's replacement as Chief of Medicine. There must be something about Friends that's similar to Scrubs, because just like Matthew Perry before her, Courtney Cox fits right in. Whether forcing Dr. Cox to smile or smothering a patient with a pillow, Cox's Maddox brings the right kind of energy to reinvigorate an aging show. But firing the Janitor? Not cool.

The second episode was more serious and smaller-scale. Cox, Kelso, Elliot, Carla, and the Janitor all basically had the week off. That left the JD and Turk bromance front and center as they canceled their steak night to help a man prepare for death. Scrubs' willingness to tackle death has always given the show a needed touch of reality to balance out all the fantasy. And with a hot dog pen and a steak night dance, there was no danger the seriousness would take over. These episodes can't compare with the first five seasons, but I'm no longer just watching out of habit either.

Top Chef had a fresh face of a different variety, in new judge Toby Young (author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People). I would say I liked him, except Bravo and the Top Chef producers so wanted me to. Promos of his "weapons of mass destruction" comment have been airing on Bravo non-stop for nearly a month now. All episode long the confessionals consisted of "OMG! New judge Toby Young! He's gonna be so harsh!" He might as well have been wearing a shirt saying, "I will be the next Simon Cowell."

For all of that that, I do enjoy a good critical thrashing from time to time. That's why Anthony Bourdain is my favorite guest judge, cause he likes to hilariously rail on people (plus, he's just awesome, as anyone who's seen No Reservations on Travel Channel knows). So I think Toby Young could make a nice counterpoint to Tom Colicchio's more mellow and forgiving judging style. Some of Young's quips hit their mark, like calling Melissa's dish catfood. But he needs to lay off the movie jokes. I have no idea what that long analogy about British actors meant, and the Tom Cruise thing fell flat. If he can stop trying so hard, maybe I'll forgive him for replacing the lovely Gail Simmons.

As for the rest of the episode: it was fun to have the chefs watch their competitors critique them. Radhika's reaction to the whipping her food took and Stefan's little victory dance were both priceless. I also enjoyed Tom putting people in their place whose critiques may have been more self-serving than honest. But the final judgments offered no surprises. The bottom three really were the bottom three, and it was time for Melissa and Eugene to go home. Jamie finally got her well-deserved first win. And next week we'll see how Toby Young acts as a judge when the rest of the room isn't hanging on his every word.