10 TV Sitcom Characters With Shockingly Dark Backstories

5. Dr Cox - Scrubs

Scrubs Doctor Cox
NBC

If you want to talk about characters who stole their shows, then you can't miss the incredible Dr Perry Cox. This character came along and made Scrubs his own, with his abrasive personality, creative insults, high intellect and lack of sentiment turning him into an antisocial champion. Still, it was obvious that his overt bravado was hiding something.

While Dr Cox would want everyone to believe that he's some kind of mentally impenetrable medical genius, he was a person who had a boatload of trauma thanks to his horrifying upbringing. Perry and his sister were raised by a cruel, raging alcoholic of a dad, who would assault and attack them constantly. His mother turned a blind eye to all this, leading Perry to develop a severe issue with forming attachments to people.

In typical Perry Cox fashion, he would joke and quip about his horrifying upbringing all the time, but even within those gags was a noticeable trauma he couldn't escape. This really came to a head in the episode "My New God" when Perry told his sister that he didn't like seeing her because it brought back all the horrid memories.

Dr Cox is a nihilistic and dark character for sure, but even so, this is one hell of a horrifying backstory.

Contributor

Michael is my name, overanalysing comedy is my game! Anime, wrestling, TV, movies and video games all live in my head rent free!