My Scrubs tour

Friday, October 19, 2007

Well, I just came back from my first tour. I had a tour today because there's no one filming right now, so they thought it would be good to have a tour without all the production of filming. I'll post pictures when I get back home. Saw everyone's dressing rooms, Kelso's office, ICU, the OR, the penthouse, admissions, gift shop, everything! I went into Urgent Care and saw all the swing sets (including a new set which I'm not allowed to talk about!). Took a look around Turk and Carla's apartment. The cafeteria is much, much smaller than it seems on the show! (Actually, most of the places in the hospital are much, much smaller!) Probably has to do with the lighting and such.

I got a glimpse of a couple of shots from an upcoming show (in the editing office). They are shooting 7.09 right now (not sure what it's called). The guy who did my tour is Brian, who is in charge of all the blogs. I asked them to see if they could make the commentaries downloadable! (Sorry if all this information is all jumbled, but I just got back and wanted to get it all down while I was thinking of it! I'll also post a more detailed account when I get back - I'm keeping a bit of a journal of everything.) I'm going back on Monday when they are shooting, and they've convinced me to be an extra.

Oh, I also saw (but not met) Zach, Ken, and Johnny C. Zach was on his phone, Ken was doing some kind of interview type thing, and Johnny C was just coming out of his dressing room (yummy curls are back!). Johnny C is just as I expected him to be. Also saw Richard Wells walk by. I took tons of pictures! (Well, as many as I was allowed - I couldn't take pictures in urgent care.)

It was really cool, and nice to have a tour without so much pressure - there was nothing really happening (except they were having a table-read today at 4, which apparently will be on the season 7 DVD - YAY!), but it was much less stress than showing up on Monday and having a tour with all the filming and stuff going on. Now I know a couple of people on the inside, and hopefully Monday will be more...stress free. No it won't. It will still be stressful, but the good kind of stressful!

(more information from Friday...)

It was very weird walking up to the front of Sacred Heart and through the door all by myself! I had stopped at Security, and after they phoned up, they told me how to get to the production office, where I was supposed to meet up with Hillary (who had been emailing me). I found the elevator and went up to the production office. There I met Jared (the "choking guy" from a couple of episodes), Kyle, Lauren, Lauren, and Brian, who did my tour (and, incidentally, who also provided the words on the screen for Mr. McNair from His Story III, and also shoots the blogs).

I saw a couple of editing rooms and some shots from an upcoming episode. They are currently shooting 7.09 starting on Monday. We went into the blueprint room where they have the prints for different sets. We went into the construction department where I saw a couple of props sitting on the table from an upcoming episode. Saw Turk and Carla's apartment, and also saw where they filmed the ATM scene with Elliot and Carla ("bank farter"). The cafeteria is much, much smaller than it seems on screen. One of the items available on the menu, among others, was "bileberry". The tables weren't arranged as they usually are, but were set up for a table-read, which apparently will be on the season 7 DVD.

Also saw admissions and the gift shop. Brian told me that because they lease the hospital, when they shut down production for the summer, they have to take ALL of their stuff out of there - everythihng! They have to take down all of the signage, and even paint over the "bubble" wall in admissions, just in case someone else needs to use the hospital in the interim. Then, when they come back in the fall, they have to cart everything back in again and repaint the stuff to match what was there before.

I walked past everyone's dressing rooms - Neil's has a picture of him with his picture over Kelso's portrait from My Conventional Wisdom, a picture of him in his baby blue outfit sitting on the bench with the birds, and 5 or 6 of his business cards from My House - podiatrist, gemologist, etc. Zach's dressing room has a picture of him and Donald Faison boxing. I saw ICU, other random patient rooms, Kelso's office, and the penthouse.

I asked Brian, and he said about 130 people are on the crew for the show. The mural outside (with the doctor and the little girl with the balloon) was taken specifically for the show - Brian said if you look carefully in the yellow balloon, you can see him. Also, the doctor on the right was pasted on afterwards, something to do with the episode where Dr. Kelso tries to hide against the picture. I saw the "Not an Exit" sign from the most recent blog. I also saw the CallTurk map where they have push pins in from where people have called from. Edmonton (where I'm from) wasn't even on the map, so Brian took a pin and put it right on the edge of the map where Edmonton would be!

It was kind of nice having the tour with nothing going on - less pressure!! The hospital is very dark and dank and dingey. I also went downstairs and saw the gym and the morgue. The morgue actually looks quite disgusting, and nothing at all like the morgue from the show - I would swear that they actually shoot it in a different room! There's only one drawer in the wall. For some reason, the door didn't have the room number on it. The gym is nice with lots of new equipment, and is mostly used for crew. They have a big crane outside that they use to light the ICU - sometimes when it looks like daytime in the ICU, it's actually nighttime. The Coffee Bucks set actually used to be just 2 regular hallways that met at a corner, but they expertly managed to chop it up into a coffee shop!