After 25 years together, Turk and Carla are about to discover that keeping the spark alive sometimes requires a little extra effort.
“We get comfortable in our marriages,” Faison tells TVLine. “And sometimes we forget to do the things that made our spouses want to marry us. I feel like this is pulled right from our real life.”
Quite literally, as it turns out. The idea for one particular Turk-and-Carla storyline originated with an episode of Braff and Faison’s “Fake Doctors, Real Friends.”
“We had a sex therapist on the podcast, and it was hilarious and actually really informative because Donald and [his wife] CaCee came on and they were really candid and had a very fascinating chat about issues in their marriage,” Braff recalls. “And the sex therapist said, ‘Have you tried chore play?'”
“It’s chores instead of foreplay,” Faison explains.
“Some wives, in her example, feel like the husband isn’t doing enough,” Braff continues. “And if he did enough, maybe she’d be more turned on… so she recommended it.” And that suggestion ultimately made its way from the podcast into the show.
“Donald didn’t try for two seconds, but on ‘Scrubs,’ he told the writers the story and the writers thought it was hilarious,” Braff says. “So we put it right into ‘Scrubs,’ and Turk makes his attempt at chore play.”
While we can’t reveal how Carla takes to Turk’s attempt at chore play, Reyes has some thoughts of her own.
“I think she’s a little bit too soft on him sometimes, and I think he’s so immature,” she tells TVLine. “He should just f**king pick up the clothes…. He wants sex. ‘If you want sex, clean!'”
Batra says that beneath the comedy, Faison’s real-life devotion to his spouse made the story particularly well suited for this rock-solid, onscreen couple.
“The way he talks about his wife, it’s exactly what you want for Turk and Carla,” she says. “At the end of the day, he just adores her and wants to show up.”