General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Scrubs: Interns

Scrubs: Interns is a webisode series produced by ABC as a companion to the eighth season of the medical comedy Scrubs. Ten short episodes premiered on ABC.com between January 2009 and April 2009, and two additional webisodes were released on the Season Eight DVD and Blu-ray disc.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Webisode series on ABC.com, tied to Scrubs Season Eight (2009)¹
Episode count	12 webisodes; the first ten ran online, the last two appeared on the Season Eight DVD and Blu-ray²
Premise	A video diary kept by intern Sonja "Sunny" Dey, a double major in Pre-Med and Film, covering her first year at Sacred Heart Hospital¹
Intern class	Sunny, Howie Gelder, Katie Collins, Ed Dhandapani, and Denise Mahoney³
Director	Eren Celeboglu directed the series; the first webisode was written by Devin Mahoney³
Home video	The complete series of webisodes runs 41:56 as a Season Eight DVD bonus feature⁴

Spoilers

Premise and format

The webisodes follow the 2008-2009 intern class at Sacred Heart Hospital through the video diary of Sonja "Sunny" Dey, played by Sonal Shah. Sunny, a whiz in both Pre-Med and Film, records her first year at the hospital for her mother, following herself, Howie, Katie, Ed, and Denise as they learn the ropes.¹ Some events correspond with occurrences in Season Eight, and many stories deliberately reflect experiences the main characters of Scrubs underwent in Season One, so the webisodes function both as a side story and as an introduction to the new characters.¹^•⁵

The diary conceit shapes the visual style. Director Eren Celeboglu said he told creator Bill Lawrence he did not want to shoot talking heads, so Sunny references multiple camera angles she sets up herself, and those angles are woven into the jokes.⁶

Episodes

The twelve webisodes, with their original online release dates, were:⁸

"Our Intern Class" (January 1, 2009): Sunny introduces herself, Katie, Denise, Ed, and Howie in her video diary, and the interns sit through an orientation led by Ted and interrupted by Dr. Cox, who confiscates Sunny's camera.³
"Our Meeting with J.D." (January 7, 2009): J.D. attempts to inspire his new interns during a lecture on hospital vernacular and slang.¹
"Our Meeting in the Broom Closet" (January 13, 2009): The Janitor summons the four newbies to his private room and sets out the rules they must agree to, including not projecting any questions.⁵
"Screw You with Ted and the Gooch" (January 27, 2009): On a day off, Sunny captures Ted and his new lover singing to each other.¹
"The Late Night with Jimmy Show" (February 3, 2009): Jimmy borrows Sunny's video camera to film a fake talk show.¹
"Our Meeting with the Brain Trust" (February 10, 2009): Sunny films the pilot episode of Legal Custodians, the sitcom pitched by the Janitor and Ted.¹
"Legal Custodian Outtakes" (March 18, 2009): Sunny shares outtakes from the making of the sitcom.¹
"Our Bedside Manner" (March 25, 2009)⁸
"Our Meeting with Turk and the Todd" (April 1, 2009): Turk and The Todd tell the interns how to tell the differences between surgeons and medical doctors.¹
"Our Final Advice" (April 8, 2009)⁸
"Our Meeting with Carla" (DVD and Blu-ray release): Carla gives the interns a lesson in showing respect for the nurses.²^•⁷
"Legal Custodians Episode" (DVD and Blu-ray release): A short episode of the Janitor and Ted's sitcom Legal Custodians, with The Todd and a pillow playing their adopted kid.⁴

Production

ABC asked the Scrubs crew to produce webisodes to accompany Season Eight before it launched on the network.² According to writer-director Eren Celeboglu, creator Bill Lawrence and his producing partner Randall Winston knew they wanted to make them in-house, treating web TV as a new reality for the industry. They met with Kevin Plunkett of ABC.com, and Lawrence pitched the overarching idea that Shah's intern character, a double major in film and medicine, would keep a video diary.⁶

The webisodes aired on ABC.com on the same days that new Scrubs episodes aired.⁷

Cast

The webisodes star the Season Eight intern class: Sonal Shah as Sonja "Sunny" Dey, Eliza Coupe as Denise Mahoney, Betsy Beutler as Katie Collins, Todd Bosley as Howie Gelder, and Aziz Ansari as Ed Dhandapani.³^•⁹ Regulars from the parent series appear in supporting roles, including Sarah Chalke as Dr. Elliot Reid, Donald Faison as Dr. Christopher Turk, Ken Jenkins as Dr. Robert Kelso, and Judy Reyes as Nurse Carla Espinosa.¹ Taran Killam appears as Jimmy, the Overly Touchy Orderly.¹

According to the Scrubs Wiki, Judy Reyes is the only regular Scrubs cast member who does not appear in an episode of the first ten webisodes; her Carla webisode was among the two DVD exclusives.¹^•²

Reception and afterlife

The webisodes were produced to promote the show and introduce the new intern characters on ABC's website, and all twelve appear on Scrubs: The Complete Eighth Season DVD and Blu-ray as bonus features.¹⁰^•¹ DVD reviewers singled the feature out; one called the intern webisodes the best part of the disc's extras, while another found them in-character but "a bit long and boring after awhile."¹¹^•¹²

The intern class itself drew a mixed response when Season Eight aired. A DVD Talk review judged the new characters thin and one-note, noting that comic Aziz Ansari, the one who made an impression, left the show partway through the season.¹⁰ Denise Mahoney, played by Eliza Coupe, was the character who carried forward, becoming a series regular in Season Nine.¹³

The title has since been reused informally in connection with the Scrubs revival that premiered on ABC in February 2026, in which the original interns, J.D., Turk, and Elliot, return as the teachers of a new class of rookie doctors at Sacred Heart.¹⁴ That revival is a separate production and does not continue the 2009 webisode series.

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Early English-language web series (1997–mid 2010s)

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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