The fifth season of the American comedy television series ''

Scrubs Scrub(s) may refer to: * Scrub, low shrub and grass characteristic of scrubland * Scrubs (clothing), worn by medical staff * ''Scrubs'' (TV series), an American television program * Scrubs (occupation), also called "scrub tech," "scrub nurse," o ...

'' premiered on NBC on January 3, 2006 and concluded on May 16, 2006 and consists of 24 episodes. For the first twelve episodes, two new episodes were broadcast back-to-back every Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. ET. Then NBC returned to broadcasting one new episode every week (at 9:00 p.m. ET), followed by a rerun. For the first three weeks of this, the rerun episode was a cast favorite episode, with available audio commentary tracks on NBC's website to accompany the episodes. Guest stars in the fifth included

Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor, director and producer known for his roles of Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development (TV series), Arrested Development'' and of Mart ...

and Mandy Moore, as well the introduction of new recurring characters played by Elizabeth Banks and Travis Schuldt. This season was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Season 5 begins with J.D. living in a hotel. He has become an attending physician now on the same level as Dr. Cox. In the season premiere, Elliot has taken a new fellowship in another hospital, only to be fired in the next episode. Elliot then returns to Sacred Heart and becomes an attending. Turk and Carla are trying to have a baby, despite Turk still having doubts. Finally, some new interns have arrived to Sacred Heart, chief among them being Keith Dudemeister. Season 5 also focuses on the relationship between J.D. and Dr. Cox, who now find themselves equals.

Cast and characters

Main cast

* Zach Braff as Dr. John "J.D." Dorian * Sarah Chalke as Dr. Elliot Reid * Donald Faison as Dr. Chris Turk * Neil Flynn as

The Janitor The Janitor is a fictional character, played by Neil Flynn in the American comedy-drama ''Scrubs''. Though he is a janitor at Sacred Heart, he is rarely referred to as ''the'' janitor, but rather just called Janitor. Neil Flynn was originally bil ...

* Ken Jenkins as Dr. Bob Kelso *

John C. McGinley John Christopher McGinley (born August 3, 1959) is an American actor. His best known roles include Perry Cox in '' Scrubs'', Bob Slydell in ''Office Space'', Captain Hendrix in '' The Rock'', Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's ''Platoon,'' ...

as Dr. Perry Cox *

Judy Reyes Judy Reyes (born November 5, 1967) is an American actress, model and producer, best known for her roles as Carla Espinosa on the NBC/ABC medical comedy series '' Scrubs'' (2001–2009), and as Zoila Diaz in the Lifetime comedy-drama ''Devious M ...

as Nurse Carla Espinosa

Recurring roles

* Travis Schuldt as Keith Dudemeister * Robert Maschio as Dr. Todd Quinlan * Christa Miller as Jordan Sullivan * Sam Lloyd as Ted Buckland * Aloma Wright as Nurse Laverne Roberts * Johnny Kastl as Dr. Doug Murphy * Michael Learned as Patricia Wilk

Guest stars

* Elizabeth Banks as Dr. Kim Briggs * Jay Kenneth Johnson as Dr. Matthews * Mandy Moore as Julie Quinn * Paul Adelstein as Dr. Stone *

as Mr. Sutton * Tom Cavanagh as Dan Dorian * Alexander Chaplin as Sam Thompson * Dave Foley as Dr. Lester Hedrick * Cheryl Hines as Paige Cox * Josh Randall as Jake * Nicole Sullivan as Jill Tracy * The Blanks as the Worthless Peons

Production

Both Gabrielle Allan and Matt Tarses, two writers since the first season, left at the end of season 4. Eric Weinberg left in the middle of season 5 to work on a pilot. Tim Hobert and Tad Quill were promoted to executive producers in mid season. The staff writer of season 4 did not return for season 5. Kevin Biegel and Aseem Batra were hired as staff writers for this season.

Writing staff

* Bill Lawrence – executive producer/head writer *Tim Hobert – co-executive producer (episodes 1–12) / executive producer/assistant head writer (episodes 13–24) *Tad Quill – co-executive producer (episodes 1–12) / executive producer/assistant head writer (episodes 13–24) * Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan – co-executive producers * Bill Callahan – co-executive producer * Eric Weinberg – co-executive producer (episodes 1–12) * Mike Schwartz – supervising producer *

Debra Fordham Debra Fordham is an American television producer and writer. She is best known for her work on the sitcom ''Scrubs''. Early life Fordham is a graduate of Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, where she studied theatre under the direc ...

– producer *Mark Stegemann – producer * Janae Bakken – producer *

Angela Nissel Angela R. Nissel (born December 5, 1978) is an American author and television writer best known for her first book ''The Broke Diaries: The Completely True and Hilarious Misadventures of a Good Girl Gone Broke''. She was a writer and executive ...

– consulting producer * Kevin Biegel – staff writer *Aseem Batra – staff writer

Production staff

*Bill Lawrence – executive producer/showrunner * Randall Winston – producer *Liz Newman – co-producer (episodes 1–12) / producer (episodes 13–24) *Danny Rose – associate producer (episodes 1–12) / co-producer (episodes 13–24)

Directors

''Includes directors who directed 2 or more episodes, or directors who are part of the cast and crew'' * Bill Lawrence (4 episodes) * Michael Spiller (2 episodes) * Linda Mendoza (2 episodes) *John Inwood (2 episodes) *

Victor Nelli, Jr. Victor Nelli Jr. is an American television director and producer. He began his professional career at Viacom, Inc. working as a cinematographer on the MTV and Comedy Central series ''The Real World'' ''House of Style'', ''Mr. Show with Bob a ...

(2 episodes) * Zach Braff (1 episode) * Randall Winston (producer) (1 episode) *Rick Blue (editor) (1 episode) *John Michel (editor) (1 episode) *Richard Alexander Wells (assistant director) (1 episode)