Scrubs is an American situation comedy that premiered on October 2, 2001 on NBC. It was created by Bill Lawrence, who also co-created Spin City. The show focuses on the professional and personal lives of several characters working at Sacred Heart Hospital, a fictional teaching hospital. It uses first-person narration, verbose characters, segues between subplots, fast pace, and surreal vignettes (presented as the thoughts and reveries of the main characters), counterpointed by poignant scenes where the characters address how doctors deal with real issues relating to the practice of medicine. The combination of these diverse elements distinguishes it from other series. Scrubs has been advertised as "half as long as ER and twice as funny." Unlike many situation comedies, Scrubs uses a single camera setup (as opposed to a multiple-camera setup). The show is structured around multiple storylines thematically linked via voiceovers by protagonist and narrator Dr. John "J.D." Dorian played by Zach Braff. During many of the episodes, J.D. summarizes the story's moral or theme, in a sequence of shots that show how it has affected each of the characters. The series is also notable for numerous guest appearances by major movie actors not generally seen on episodic television.