Category: Scrubs

‘Scrubs’ diagnosis unclear
Nothing has been easy or conventional about the NBC comedy “Scrubs,” which has been bounced around the network’s schedule for most of its seven-year run and was on the verge of cancellation the past two years before landing an 11th hour renewal.
Now, the show’s chance to go out on its own terms is being jeopardized by the WGA strike, which could leave the final six installments of the underrated comedy’s 18-episode last season in indefinite limbo.
“On a personal level, yeah, it would be nice to finish work on ‘Scrubs’ the way I wanted to,” creator-executive producer Bill Lawrence said. “That it looks like it’s not happening is certainly disappointing, I can’t lie. But it’s also not the end of the world. The last thing anybody wants to hear right now is some idiot saying, ‘Hey, I worked really hard on my show, I want to end it the way I want to end it!’ It’s hard to care right now about any legacy.”
Lawrence hasn’t done much in the way of stockpiling “Scrubs” episodes in anticipation of a writers walkout. There are two scripts written and ready to shoot, “and with a single-camera show, once a script is locked, you have no real rewrites,” he said. That will take “Scrubs” up through Episode 12, six episodes short of the ending Lawrence had envisioned for the show.
Still, giving “Scrubs” a proper sendoff is low on Lawrence’s priority list at the moment.
“What I care about more than anything right now is getting this thing settled so it’s either a short strike or no strike,” he said on Friday. “Right now, I fear that a lot of the writers have no real clue just how tough this is going to be. I’d imagine things will get very grim sometime after Christmas.”
Lawrence is quick to point out it’s not himself he worries about but his crew and some of his writers.
“I’ve kind of won the lottery in having a few shows that went to syndication in both ‘Scrubs’ and ‘Spin City,’ so anything I say about my own sacrifice would drip with selfishness. This is such a bigger deal for the guys who work below the line and largely live hand-to-mouth and the younger writers who can’t go without a paycheck for very long. I’m just a lucky SOB, no matter what happens to my show from here.”

‘Scrubs’ tidies up messy plot details in final season
Don’t expect the Ross-and-Rachel routine during the final season of Scrubs.
Creator Bill Lawrence will resolve the will-they-or-won’t-they of docs J.D. (Zach Braff) and Elliot (Sarah Chalke). But that’s only one of many relationships that will get substantial attention in the hospital comedy’s seventh and final season, which premiered on Thursday night.
“We’re going to resolve those things during the year rather than build up to some overwrought, emotional finale. This is a comedy. All people want is a chance to say goodbye and that we tie up loose ends,” Lawrence says, then jokes: “Then we’re going to cut to black really quick and play a Journey song.”
Lawrence says the main goal is to satisfy “the loyal cult audience,” one that has helped the Emmy-nominated series score a long run, despite so-so ratings.
“This fan base has kept the show alive single-handedly by consuming the DVDs and websites and following us from time slot to time slot,” he says. “If you try to satisfy them, they feel very proprietary about the show. If you’re not a big juggernaut hit, it’s the way to stay alive.”
Knowing this is the final season, Lawrence and his writers get to plan the show’s conclusion, a luxury that wasn’t available last season because it wasn’t clear when the show would end. That’s one reason last season ended with cliffhanging stories, such as J.D.’s impending fatherhood and Elliot’s upcoming wedding, both of which will be addressed this season.
Questions surrounding many other relationships will be answered as well, such as: Will physician buddies J.D. and Turk (Donald Faison), who is married to nurse Carla (Judy Reyes), remain as close as they have been in the face of adulthood? Will J.D. finally get validation from the sharp-tongued Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley)?
Braff, whose perpetual man-child character will do some growing up this season, especially enjoys the intimacy of the J.D.-Turk friendship. “It’s funny and original. I think Bill has pushed the envelope in how gay two characters can be without actually being gay,” he says of a duo that sang Guy Love in last season’s musical episode.
In addition, the janitor (Neil Flynn) will finally get a name and a girlfriend, because that’s what Flynn asked for if the show returned for a seventh season. Secondary characters will get attention, including jittery lawyer Ted (Sam Lloyd), self-loving surgeon Todd (Robert Maschio) and Dr. Cox’s wife, Jordan (Christa Miller, who is married to Lawrence).
Some guest stars will return, including Tom Cavanagh and Elizabeth Banks. Lawrence and Braff wish they could bring back others, such as Brendan Fraser, but the writers killed off some characters.
In place of a musical, this season’s extravaganza, directed by Braff, will pay homage to The Princess Bride, centering on a bedtime story Dr. Cox tells his daughter. That means wild costumes for cast members who will play such characters as the village idiot (Braff), a giant (Flynn), a princess (Chalke) and a knight (McGinley).
Such signature fantasy scenes have been part of Scrubs’ odd balancing act, a comedy that can be extremely broad while also touching on serious emotional elements. When the show has gotten too goofy, that connection has broken, Lawrence says.
Braff, who likes the broad comedy, says Scrubs will tone it down this year, reflecting its early days. “I think it’s smart to end where it began, which was a smidgen less broad than at times we have been.”

‘Scrubs’ Actress Back from Dead
Aloma Wright’s character on “Scrubs” died two-thirds of the way through last season. Her job, however, did not.
Wright, who played the sarcastic, God-fearing nurse Laverne Roberts on the NBC comedy, will return to the show for its seventh and final year — playing Laverne’s twin sister. So says Variety, which notes that “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence “didn’t want to take work away from an actor” and thus devised the twin idea.
So why kill Laverne in the first place? Well, Lawrence figured that the 2006-07 season might be it for “Scrubs” and decided that a death among the show’s regulars would be a compelling storyline. Laverne’s death played out over two episodes in March and April.
Lawrence promised Roberts, though, that if the show came back for another year he’d find a way to include her. NBC did pick it up, and so Wright will be playing Laverne’s sister, Shirley (yes, Laverne and Shirley) — who will be the polar opposite of Laverne, a single alcoholic who’s skeptical of religion.
“It’s going to be fun developing another character after doing the same one for six years,” Wright tells Variety. “I’m glad to know [Lawrence] is a man of his word and I’ve still got a job.”
Wright’s other credits include “Deliver Us from Eva” and “Johnson Family Vacation” as well as guest spots on “NCIS,” “Cold Case,” “NYPD Blue” and “Judging Amy.”

NBC sews up ‘Scrubs’ run
For the past two years, “Scrubs” creator/executive producer Bill Lawrence had to face months of uncertainty about the future of his underrated comedy on NBC — and rumors of it moving to ABC — only to land an eleventh-hour renewal at the peacock both times. And he is OK with that.
“In today’s landscape, it is hard to pony up money for show that does 2s in the ratings,” Lawrence said. “It’s testament to NBC that they want quality comedy on the network.”
Word that ABC, where entertainment president Stephen McPherson developed “Scrubs” at ABC Studios, would pick up the show if it was canceled at NBC gave Lawrence and his team security that the show’s current sixth season won’t be its last. But the seventh one will be.
“We’re happy we can end the show on our own terms,” he said. “We’ve been building toward the next season and the show’s last 18 episodes.”
As it did last year, NBC picked up the quirky medical comedy, starring Zach Braff, for fewer than 22 episodes. That helps NBC manage its cost because an older show like “Scrubs” requires the network to cover the entire production budget. “Scrubs’ ” modest ratings also prompted NBC to go for a reduced license fee, which still is expected to keep the series profitable for the studio considering syndication and international sales as well as its reasonable production cost.
With production contained within one location — a Los Angeles-area hospital — the series has managed to stay around $2 million per episode, impressive for a long-running single-camera comedy.
Although he is happy that his show is coming back, Lawrence said he can’t ignore the dire straits of the genre, with the networks picking up only a handful of comedies this year.
“I worry about this becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy with the networks thinking that the only thing to do is to put less and less comedies on the air,” he said. “I hope other comedies get picked up and have a good shot.”

Casting Couch
Keri Russell is ready to slip on a pair of Scrubs. The former Felicity is set to make two guest appearances as the college roommate of Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke) during May sweeps. The hospital comedy airs Thursdays on NBC.

‘Scrubs’ Returns as NBC Remakes Thursdays
LOS ANGELES — Old is the new new at NBC.
Starting Nov. 30, the network will bring back the Thursday comedy block that was an NBC staple for some 20 years before this season. “Scrubs” will come off the bench to start its sixth season that night, and “30 Rock” will move over from Wednesdays to join “My Name Is Earl” and “The Office.”
NBC will also air super-sized episodes of “Earl,” “The Office” and “30 Rock” on Nov. 16 before launching the full new lineup at the end of the month (the Thursday in between is Thanksgiving). The change spells the end for the Thursday edition of “Deal or No Deal,” and “Twenty Good Years,” which had been paired with “30 Rock” on Wednesdays, appears to be done as well.
“We are excited about the prospect of two-hours of top-notch comedy on Thursday nights, which includes the return of ‘Scrubs,'” NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly says. “We will stay on-brand with the best comedy block on television, which will position us for the future on the night.”
The four comedies will try to keep NBC in the game on a night dominated by CBS and the newly potent ABC. “Scrubs” and “30 Rock” will have the most daunting task, airing in the 9 p.m. ET hour opposite the top two shows on TV so far this season, ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and CBS’ “CSI.”
The move of “30 Rock” to Thursday will also force a change to NBC’s Wednesday schedule. The network plans to feature specials in the 8 p.m. hour starting Nov. 22. Neither “30 Rock” (6.9 million viewers) nor “Twenty Good Years” (6.07 million) has fared too well so far, but critics have generally been kinder to the former show, which was created by and stars “Saturday Night Live” alum Tina Fey, and it’s a better fit with the other single-camera comedies in the new block.

“Scrubs” Nurse Needs Doctoring
Unfortunately, Judy Reyes’ latest trip to the ER wasn’t as a guest-star.
Reyes, who plays feisty nurse Carla Espinosa on Scrubs, suffered a fractured pelvis last Wednesday after falling down at her home, NBC spokesman David Gardner confirmed to E! Online.
“She’s going to be fine,” the 37-year-old actress’ rep, Monique Ward, told People magazine. “She had surgery to repair it on Thursday. She didn’t realize it was as bad as it was and still went to work. Once there, she realized she needed medical treatment. She went to a hospital from the set.” Reyes, who’s also known for her work on HBO’s prison drama, Oz, was expected to be released from the hospital Monday.
Scrubs’ filming schedule has been reworked for the time being to accommodate Reyes’ healing process, which is going to include about six weeks of hobbling around on crutches. In the meantime she’ll shoot some of her less strenuous scenes.
Last season on Scrubs, Carla and her husband, Turk ( Donald Faison), learned that they would be having their first child together and embarked on your usual sitcom pregnancy–an announcement that didn’t go according to plan, lots of misunderstandings and insecurities, and many thwarted sexual advances.
Season six will pick up with Carla a very uncomfortable nine and a half-months pregnant (so maybe some sitting-down scenes will do both Reyes and her character a world of good). Zach Braff’s J.D. will be dealing with his own girlfriend’s “I’m pregnant” announcement, while Dr. Cox ( John C. McGinley) and his beloved ex-wife Jordan ( Christa Miller) are expecting baby number two, as well.
Although Scrubs was renewed in May for another full season, the Emmy nominee for Outstanding Comedy won’t show up on NBC’s lineup until 2007, at a date to be announced.

Zach Braff Talks Scrubs and Fletch
Even though this could be the last season of “Scrubs,” Zach Braff and the cast are completely committed to making this the best year of the smash NBC comedy yet.
“We just finished the first episode and there’s lots of prosthetic make-up in the first episode. Last year, we sort of got really silly and random, and we call it the stoner humor. We did a little more of that, and the fans loved it. We had our best ratings ever. The feeling is this will probably be the last year, so we’re all just sort of going for it. The writing is just so surreal and bizarre and wacky, and we’re going to give the fans what they want this year,” Braff said while promoting his new film, The Last Kiss.
In addition to the quirky humor of the show, there will be a musical episode that Braff is really excited about.
“Everyone sings. I think there’s a patient with dementia and anytime that anyone’s in the ICU, we see the ICU through this patient’s eyes, and everyone’s singing as though they’re in a musicalÖ They’re getting guys who write musicals to come in and write the music, and then the writers will write the lyrics. Part of it will be spoofing the musical, in and of itself, so I’m sure there will be a whole lot of down on one knee, out of breath, with your arms in the air.”
As far as guest appearances go, Braff is really hoping to get a former “Arrested Development” character on.
“The one person I want right now is David Cross. I wanted David Cross to come on as Tobias Funke. I’m trying to broker that deal, with Mitch’s (Mitchell Hurwitz) approval. I want David to come on as TobiasÖ I love that character, and the fact that character is over for good, I want him to at least have one more little life.”
Besides working on “Scrubs”, Braff has been rumored to play Fletch in Fletch Won, which predates the first seven books in the series, and follows the early days of the title character’s journalism career as a junior reporter in his 20’s working at the News-Tribune.
“I don’t know. Bill Lawrence is definitely writing and directing ‘Fletch,’ and there’s a good chance I’ll do it. I’ve just got to talk to Uncle HarveyÖI was the one who told Harvey he should hire Bill. Bill’s a huge Fletch fan. The books aren’t as wacky and silly as the Chevy Chase movies were, so there was talk for awhile of going back to the books and not having that level of comedy in them, and Bill and I both disagreed.
“That’s what made the movie so great. It’s one of the most quoted movies ever, especially by guys. Why would you not tap back into what’s funny about that? Definitely go back to the books ’cause the books are brilliant, but we want to still make it a comedy. Bill uses the great analogy of ‘Beverly Hills Cop.’ He’s like, ‘If you look at ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ some people think it’s one of the funniest comedies ever, but it’s an action movie with great adventure and real stakes,’ and he wants to do that with ‘Fletch.’ The books have real stakes and real action in them, but they also have some of the funniest, witty dialogue ever written.”
Right now, Braff isn’t writing any of his own material, but he is thinking about directing again very soon.
“I did an adaptation, that I’m working on, of a movie called ‘Open Hearts,’ that I’m probably going to direct next year. It’s a Danish movie. And, that’s what I’m doing now.”
Paramount will release The Last Kiss on Friday, September 15.

‘Scrubs’ Gets Another Midseason Run
NEW YORK — With the NFL swallowing an entire night of primetime and the network high on several new dramas, a couple of current NBC shows were likely to get lost in the shuffle.
Or, if not lost, at least filed away for a while.
So the good news for fans of “Scrubs” and “Crossing Jordan” is that both shows will be back at some point during the 2006-07 season. The bad news is that NBC hasn’t figured out what point that is yet.
That “Crossing Jordan” was held back isn’t that surprising, given that NBC will be broadcasting prime-time NFL games on Sundays in the fall. However, the network has scheduled a new drama, “Raines,” for the 10 p.m. Sunday timeslot after football season, meaning “Jordan” may likely find a new home somewhere.
The show has survived an extended absence in the past, going 10 months between its second and third seasons when star Jill Hennessy was pregnant.
As for “Scrubs,” which received a full-season order, it’s the second year in a row the Emmy-nominated comedy has been held off the fall schedule. NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly says the decision was driven by the network’s need to “bulk up” its schedule with one-hour shows and the somewhat fragile state of comedy on network TV — NBC has just four on its fall schedule.
“We’re going to revisit comedy,” Reilly says. “Obviously we have some good ones on the bench — NBC has also picked up two comedies, “Andy Barker, PI” and “The Singles Table,” for midseason. We’re going to get out of the gate, hopefully have some real success, and then look. … We’ve got to revisit it and figure out strategically where to get it in.”

NBC Ready for Some Regis
Regis Philbin got another first-string job. Joey got sacked. Crossing Jordan got benched.
Football analogies were in order Monday as NBC announced a fall schedule that will rely on prime-time pigskin and six new series to turn around the fourth-place network.
The ubiquitous Philbin, Matthew Perry and Alec Baldwin will be among the familiar faces in freshman shows. Matt LeBlanc, Benjamin Bratt and the Fear Factor bugs are among the stars losing their network parking spaces.
Overall, NBC announced plans for four new dramas, two new comedies, four midseason replacements and one new Philbin-hosted, Simon Cowell-produced talent show.
Canceled were: Joey, the LeBlanc-led Friends spinoff put out of its misery after two seasons; Fear Factor, the bug-eating reality show exterminated after six seasons; save for My Name Is Earl, every single new NBC show from last fall, including the Bratt-staffed E-Ring and the cult fave Surface; and, except for Deal or No Deal, every single new NBC show from midseason, including Teachers and Conviction.
In addition to the previously announced Sunday Night Football, or as it was known for 35 years on ABC, Monday Night Football, NBC will go long with Friday Night Lights, an hourlong drama inspired by the 2004 football film of the same name (itself based on the 1990 football book of the same name).
Less the network alienate non-football fans, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly noted in a telephone press conference that Friday Night Lights has been described as “The O.C. that’s got authenticity.”
NBC, however, will risk alienating Crossing Jordan fans by renewing the crime drama for a sixth season, but leaving it off the fall schedule.
The show, which had higher ratings than The Office, The Biggest Loser and Las Vegas (three NBC series rewarded with fall slots), got squeezed out of its 10 p.m. Sunday home by Sunday Night Football and a new Jeff Goldblum series. Sunday Night Football will dominate NBC’s Sunday nights through December; Raines, a House-ian police detective drama starring Goldblum, will assume the 10 p.m. slot in the winter.
In lieu of a fall slot, Crossing Jordan, “a great utility player,” per Reilly, will be plugged in somewhere, sometime during the new season.
Scrubs, a bubble show renewed for a sixth season, will be deployed on a similar as-needed basis.
Elsewhere, NBC resolved a few cliffhangers: No, ER won’t be moved off Thursday (although, yes, it will have to learn to share); no, The Apprentice won’t be fired; and, yes, Andy Richter won’t rest until he stars in a hit series of his own.
NBC handled the ER matter–the aging, but still semi-popular series dedicated to the advancement of new regular John Stamos–by announcing that the medical drama would air in its traditional 10 p.m., Thursday slot through December, straight, no repeats, and then step aside for The Black Donnellys, an Irish Mob drama from Crash director Paul Haggis. Once the Haggis show concludes its run, ER will get back its turf. Or, at least that’s the plan for now.
The Apprentice, meanwhile, currently struggling through its least watched season ever, will be allowed to see if a change of scenery (Los Angeles instead of New York) can improve Donald Trump’s TV fortunes. The series will be back for a sixth cycle in January.
As for Richter, the former Conan O’Brien sidekick, late of the short-lived sitcoms Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Quintuplets, will see if the third time is the charm with Andy Barker, P.I., a midseason replacement comedy about an accountant who turns gumshoe.
A brief look at the other new series:
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (fall): The previously announced star of the schedule that isn’t football. In this hourlong drama, Friends alum Perry and West Wing alum Bradley Whitford play producers of Saturday Night Live, sorry, “a popular, late-night comedy show comedy sketch show.”
Heroes (fall): “A high school cheerleader learns that she is totally indestructible.” No one-trick pony, this hourlong drama about ordinary people discovering their inner Superman and Wonder Woman, also promises a stripper (Final Destination’s Ali Larter) who “uncovers that her mirror has a secret.”
Kidnapped (fall): Prison Break meets Dynasty in this hourlong thriller about the abduction of a teenage boy that focuses on his well-to-do Manhattan family, his kidnappers and his would-be saviors in law enforcement. Best-case scenario for NBC: The show’s a hit, and the kid doesn’t go home for a very long time. Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany head the ensemble cast.
20 Good Years (fall): In this “high-energy romp” of a sitcom, John Lithgow, 60, and Jeffrey Tambor, 61, play friends who optimistically estimate they have two solid decades left to change their lives.
30 Rock (fall): SNL head writer Tina Fey plays the head writer of SNL, sorry, “a frenetic television variety show.” Frequent SNL guest host Alec Baldwin costars, as do SNL regulars current, Rachel Dratch, and past, Tracy Morgan. NBC said it was not known yet if Fey and Dratch will continue to work on the show that actually is called SNL.
America’s Got Talent (January): Regis Philbin looks for new talent that presumably producer Simon Cowell isn’t looking for on American Idol.
The Singles Table (midseason): Because no NBC schedule would be complete without at least one attempt to redo Friends, this half-hour comedy sees five “witty and single strangers” bond while consigned to the “singles table” at a wedding. John Cho (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) stars.
And here’s a night-by-night look at NBC’s fall lineup:
SUNDAY: Football Night in America; Sunday Night Football (January 2007 lineup: America’s Got Talent; The Apprentice; Raines)
MONDAY: Deal or No Deal; Heroes; Medium
TUESDAY: Friday Night Lights; Kidnapped; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
WEDNESDAY: The Biggest Loser; 20 Good Years; 30 Rock; Law & Order
THURSDAY: My Name Is Earl; The Office; Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip; ER (fall)/The Black Donnellys (January)
FRIDAY: Deal or No Deal; Las Vegas; Law & Order: Criminal Intent
SATURDAY: Dateline Saturday; reruns