I've Been Rewatching Scrubs, And Spotted This Wild Coincidence With Shrinking

Zach Braff in Season 1 of Scrubs and Jason Segal in Shrinking
(Image credit: NBC/Apple)

I know I'm late to the party, but I recently binged all three seasons of Shrinking and ended up finding myself caught up just as the Season 3 finale premiered on the 2026 TV schedule. After Shrinking became a constant dose of joy on my TV screen for the few weeks it took me to get through the show, I needed another fun-loving series (by the same creator of Shrinking), and I decided on rewatching Scrubs from the beginning.

The wave of surprise and happiness I felt when one episode literally had a Shrinking coincidence in it? I have to share this.

Christa Miller's first appearance in Scrubs

(Image credit: NBC)

First, Christa Miller's Grand Entrance To Scrubs Happens

Throughout my watch of Shrinking, I've grown very attached to every character. While I was trying to shed my emotions over the Apple TV+ show for another comedy, I was over the moon when two Shrinking-related things happened within minutes of watching one of the early episodes in the series. In Season 1, Episode 6, the series introduces someone new, a spitfire character named Jordan Sullivan, who, as J.D. learns later on, is the ex-wife of his mentor, Dr. Cox... after he sleeps with her. Oops.

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I used to watch Scrubs a long time ago, but didn't connect the dots that Christa Miller (Liz in Shrinking) was on the show! She's apparently the wife of creator Bill Lawrence and the music supervisor of both shows. It's been so fun to see Christa Miller play a completely different character than Liz after falling in love with her on Shrinking, but I'm still shocked about what happens in the episode just a few minutes after Miller's debut.

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Sarah Chalke looking at hand making "shrinking" gesture in Scrubs

(Image credit: NBC)

Then, A Fun Coincidence Comes Next

In the same episode, just minutes after Miller turns up, Elliot is treating a patient who is so injured that he cannot talk for the time being. When Elliot asks him what he does for work, they basically play charades. The way she figures out he's a therapist is when he uses his fingers to make her literally say "shrinking" before realizing what he's trying to communicate to her.

How funny is that? I wonder if Bill Lawrence or Christa Miller has noticed this, because now it feels like a cute little reference to their future collaboration together on the Apple TV series. Anyways, I'm really loving going back to Scrubs all these years later – also since the Scrubs revival has been airing on ABC lately, and I've been really enjoying that, too.

Long live feel-good TV! Once I'm done with Scrubs, hopefully, it will be time for the return of Ted Lasso (also from Lawrence), and I'll never be without comfort characters close to my side.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.

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