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I didn’t realize how much I missed the TV show Scrubs until they dropped new episodes this year. The first iteration of Scrubs aired from 2001 to 2009 and told the story of J.D. (Zach Braff), a young doctor just out of medical school as he learns how to be a doctor and adult, and included a fun cast of fellow doctors who were friends, enemies, lovers, and mentors. What I loved about the show is that it was hilarious, with the scenes often switching to J.D.’s weird fantastical day dreams, and had a lot of heart, with the J.D.’s voiceovers delivering observations and life lessons learned at the end. The show also had a great cast, with Sarah Chalke (who was then known for her role on Roseanne), Donald Faison (then known for Clueless) and Judy Reyes (who was mostly a newcomer at the time, but is more recently amazing in High Potential). Also, it had a great soundtrack of early 2000s indie music. In piecemeal, the show was definitely cheesy, but when everything came together, it was really an awesome show that could make you laugh and cry and fall in love with the characters. Sadly, after most of the main cast moved on, the show just couldn’t survive into the 2010s.

When I saw that there were new episodes of the show now, in twenty-freaking-twenty-six — with the original cast, no less — I was suspicious: Could it possibly be good? Thankfully, I gave it a chance and would like to say that YES, you must watch this show. It does such a great job at just picking up where it left off, but 20ish years later, with the characters more mature, more jaded, more experienced, more self-assured — and yet still struggling in familiar ways. It still has all the amazing chemistry, the funny day dreams, the silly voiceovers, and a ton of heart. I freaking love this show, and you should watch it, too. In fact, please, please watch it so they keep making more seasons.

New episodes of Scrubs drop every Tuesday (on Hulu or Amazon Prime), but I’ve been watching them every Thursday night after I watch The Pitt (on HBO Max or Amazon Prime). Scrubs‘ sweet and silly hospital setting is the perfect chaser to The Pitt‘s gritty, ultra-realistic emergency room.

Honestly, it’s like these shows were made to go together. The Pitt is even a rehash of another show that didn’t make it to 2010. While not strictly a reboot of ER, the hugely successful medical drama that aired from 1994 to 2009, The Pitt is widely considered to be in the same vein (sorrynotsorry for the medical pun). The show stars Noah Wyle, who starred in ER, and is also set in the grim day-to-day of the emergency department. Where ER was known for realistically depicting medical situations, The Pitt digs deeper, almost going out of its way to show the most grisly of injuries and medical procedures. I really love The Pitt — its characters are so relatable, its situations are so compelling, and the hour-to-hour rundown of life in the emergency room is thrilling. That said, this show is lowkey body horror. One moment, you’re laughing along with the characters’ witty banter, the next you’re watching a scalpel cut millimeter’s from someone’s artery. It’s so jarring, I can’t even have a snack during this show for fear of never being able to look at popcorn the same way.

So, after white-knuckling each gruesome episode of The Pitt, I switch over to the happy land of fun doctor hijinks and happy endings on Scrubs. After medical-grade everclear, you gotta have an appletini.