Category: Scrubs

‘Scrubs’ Creator Diagnoses State of TV Comedy
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) It was the last day of filming on “Scrubs” for the season, and creator Bill Lawrence and star Zach Braff were feeling a little punchy.
Asked what he got for his 30th birthday (which was April 6), Braff replies: “The gift of love. I got the gift of love — and a full-size poster of Bill Lawrence that I put above my bed.”
Before anyone on the April conference call even posed a question, Lawrence set the tone. “[We’re going to] be loose cannons and say things that can get us in trouble, because no one can call us Monday,” he says. “We won’t be here. …
“So anyone can feel free to ask anything, even if not it’s not about ‘Scrubs’ and you just want me to dis my bosses and get in trouble.”
That sort of invitation is hard to pass up, and Lawrence got the now-familiar is-the-sitcom-dead question. His short answer: “I find that to be absolute bulls***.
“I think there’s an issue going on that the networks put on crappy multi-camera material, and obviously it’s not embraced. think the truth comes down to quality,” he elaborates. “Whether it’s a throwback multi-camera comedy like ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ or a single-camera show like ‘Scrubs,’ shows that survive the test of time are going to have to be well-made, well-acted and ultimately have something the audience to hook into that’s accessible.
“I challenge people a lot. When someone tells me sitcoms are dead, I defy anyone to tell me the last well-made, well-written, well-acted multi-camera sitcom that failed. And no one can come up with one, because they don’t.”
We also asked why he thinks NBC tends not to promote “Scrubs” very heavily, even to the point that it no longer gets the scenes-from-next-week treatment at the close of an episode. Rather than a rant, though, the question produces a thoughtful answer from Lawrence, a sitcom veteran (“Friends, “Spin City”), about the nature of the TV business.
“The bad part about the way TV works is, our show is on NBC, but it’s 100 percent owned by Disney [‘Scrubs’ is produced by Disney’s Touchstone TV],” he says. “I don’t blame the network executives, but it’s a sh***y situation. Our show did just — it wasn’t a giant hit out of the gate, but it did just well enough that it’s going to stay on forever. But since they [NBC] don’t stand to make any money on it in the end, they use it as a Band-aid. They move it from timeslot to timeslot … always knowing that the core audience will follow along.
“If the question comes down to, Are we gonna promote ‘Scrubs’ or, in success, a show we stand to make millions of dollars on?, the answer’s always gonna be, regardless of quality, the show you stand to make money on.”
That fact, however, also spurred Lawrence and Braff to involve themselves heavily in the DVD release of “Scrubs'” first season; it’s scheduled to hit stores May 17, a week after the show’s season finale on Tuesday (May 10). In addition to commentaries from the Lawrence and the entire cast, the three-disc set includes features on cast members before they joined the show, the production process on the show’s abandoned-hospital set and the cast discussing their favorite episodes.
“We really took the time to, hopefully, talk about stuff that people really into the show will care about,” Lawrence says.
Adds Braff: “It’s such a long time coming because we really put a lot into the first season. Everyone’s been so patient — whenever we do a Q-and-A anywhere, the first question is ‘When is the DVD coming out?’ The fans have been so patient, so we really put a lot into the first one.”
“Scrubs” will end its fourth season — and start its fifth in the fall — with the interns making some big changes. J.D. (Braff) finally moves out of the apartment he shares with Turk (Donald Faison) and Carla (Judy Reyes), and one of them is faced with the prospect of taking a job at another hospital.
“The general thrust of next year will be a year that feels like the characters aren’t kids learning things anymore,” Lawrence says. “Because you can only do the J.D.’s scared about some kind of medical thing and then gets a big lesson from Dr. Cox [plotline] so much. … Next year will be at least the start of the dynamic shifting, and the people that used to be our students are going to start to become teachers a little bit.”
That also means the potential to introduce new characters, which can help keep a show fresh — and also provides Lawrence a hammer to wield over his old hands, he jokes.
“It’s a great thing,” he says. “Any cast member gives me that fifth-year lip, they just walk out the door and a new one walks in.”

‘Scrubs,’ Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) It’s 6 p.m. on a Friday in January. On a smallish, stuffy soundstage in suburban L.A., the cast and crew of “Scrubs” film part of Tuesday’s (Feb. 15) episode.
The show’s creator, Bill Lawrence, is making jokes about how he’s jealous of star Zach Braff’s talent and hopes he “does horrible” during the evening’s shoot. Somewhere backstage, guest star Clay Aiken is being made to look like a sad-sack hospital employee.
None of this would be all that out of the ordinary for the show, were it not for the 300 or so people sitting to one side of the stage, taking it all in. “Scrubs,” which in every one of its previous 84 episodes has strived to look and feel nothing like a traditional sitcom, will this night become the sitcommiest sitcom around.
“All the patients in the beds will be models and very handsome, very attractive,” Lawrence says a few days prior to the shoot, which harkens back to his time working on shows like “Spin City” and “Friends.” “All the female doctors will, for some reason, be wearing low-cut scrubs. Everything that a sitcom might do.”
The sitcom premise is an extended fantasy sequence by J.D. (Braff), who’s treating a man who once wrote for “Cheers” (Ken Lerner, himself a sitcom vet). Lawrence also wants the episode to be a thank-you to the show’s audience by inviting some of them to watch the show being made — something that doesn’t happen during a normal week, when “Scrubs” is shooting at an abandoned hospital in North Hollywood.
“What we’re trying to do in the middle of it, even though we’re doing sitcommy stories and sitcommy things, is ultimately have a great experience for the fans,” he says. “Which means we’re still writing funny jokes. So I hope people will like it on two levels — hopefully they’ll watch it and laugh because we took time to write really funny stuff, and on some level be enjoying the fact that we’re tweaking the format a little bit.”
Lawrence will enlist those of us in the studio audience in that format-tweaking. He asks us for raucous applause when Aiken first appears, and for Kramer-like huzzahs when the Janitor (Neil Flynn) makes his entrance.
“We’re doing all the sitcom conventions,” he says. “One of the stories is they have to raise some money, so of course there’s a hospital talent show with a big cash prize. If people pay attention early on, they’ll realize one of the cafeteria workers is Clay Aiken, which is such a sitcom moment.
“You can already put it together.”
Lawrence has a practical reason for doing the episode as well. He’s executive producing several multi-camera comedy pilots this development season, and he wants to use the “Scrubs” crew for those shows as well. “Part of this is sitcom practice for the crew, so they’re ready to do those pilots and shows with me,” he says.
That doesn’t really matter during the shoot, though, as Ted the hospital lawyer (Sam Lloyd) and his a cappella group, the Worthless Peons, entertains the crowd with renditions of TV theme songs during one break, and former Men at Work frontman Colin Hay, who’s appeared on the show in the past, sings during another.
Lawrence admitted to being a little worried about how the experiment would come off, but following the taping, tie loosened and shirt untucked, he looks pleased with the outcome. He’s autographs a couple dozen scripts for audience members, thanking each one for supporting the show. “Sitcom practice” has gone off without a hitch.
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The multi-camera episode of “Scrubs” airs at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday on NBC.

GOOD NEWS FOR ALL YOU NEWBIESÖ AND THE REST OF US, TOO
BURBANK – Relive the entire first season of SCRUBS, the groundbreaking, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated television show starring Zach Braff (ìGarden Stateî), in a spectacular DVD box set available on May 17.
Capturing every episode of the showís highly acclaimed first season, the DVD set boasts a host of hilarious bonus features, including never-before-seen dream sequences, audio commentaries and a gag reel of flubs and bloopers.
Plus, each SCRUBS DVD package includes a collectible, SCRUBS-themed x-ray. SCRUBS is a top comedy hit, and this great DVD box set captures every irreverent and outrageous moment from the first season in the collection you will want to watch over and over.
Zach Braff stars as J.D., a medical resident at Sacred Heart Hospital. Joining the rumpled J.D. are fellow residents Turk (Donald Faison, ìCluelessî) as J.D.ís college buddy who is part of the more elite surgical group, and the beautiful but socially awkward Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke, ìRoseanneî).
SCRUBSí talented cast also includes the sure-of-himself Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley, ìOffice Spaceî), the terrorizing janitor (Neil Flynn, ìMean Girlsî), the fatherly Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins, ìThe Sum of All Fearsî) and the feisty Nurse Carla (Judy Reyes, ìOzî).
SCRUBS is created by Bill Lawrence (ìSpin City,î ìFriends,î ìThe Nanny,î ìWill & Graceî) and produced by Touchstone Television.
The 3-disc DVD set is available for $49.99 (S.R.P.) from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
SCRUBS BONUS FEATURES
NEWBIES
A retrospective documentary examining the actors before they were cast
PRACTICE, PRACTICE AND MALPRACTICE
Gag reel of flubs and bloopers
THE B TEAM
Featuring the Janitor and Lawyer
FAVORITE MOMENTS WITH CAST
AUDIO COMMENTARY
On six episodes

Sxrubs On DVD!!
Buena Vista has officially announced that Scrubs: The Complete First Season due on May 17th.
Look for the set to include 24 episodes, never-before-seen “dream sequences,” a retrospective documentary and more on 4 discs.

Scrubs News!
There’s big news on Tuesday night on Scrubs (9 ET/PT), where Colin Farrell makes his U.S. series debut.
He plays a life-loving Irishman injured in a bar fight who teaches Turk and J.D. how to live, live, live ó or some similar Auntie Mame-type lesson.
If he can teach a few more viewers how to find Scrubs on their dial, it will be a visit well spent.

For One Week Only, It’s ‘Scrubs,’ the Sitcom
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) NBC’s “Scrubs” has never been accused of being a conventional sitcom, nor has it tried to be.
Not until this week, anyway.
On Friday (Jan. 21), “Scrubs” will film in front of an audience, using multiple cameras, for the first time. Fans of the show needn’t worry: It’s not a radical overhaul dictated by NBC to improve ratings.
Instead, an extended fantasy by J.D. (Zach Braff), who’s treating a patient who’s a TV writer, will play out on the show as a traditional sitcom, complete with a live audience and laugh track.
“Basically, it’s tweaking sitcoms and an homage at the same time,” says “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence, who’s previously worked on traditional sitcoms like “Spin City” (which he co-created) and “Friends.” “Zach and and Donald [Faison], on the show, love sitcoms; they’re always goofing on ‘Sanford and Son’ or ‘Friends’ and all the shows they watch.”
The idea came to the show’s writers because over the four years of the series, they’ve come across a number of interesting stories, some based on fact, that for whatever reason “have no second act,” Lawrence says. “There’s nothing to do.”
As a way around that, this episode, written by Deb Fordham, will introduce those stories in the first act — which will look like any other episode of “Scrubs” — then be resolved, in neat sitcom fashion, in J.D.’s fantasy.
Lawrence is looking forward to the experiment, but he says, not entirely jokingly, that “there’s a high recipe for disaster,” stemming mostly from the fact that aside from Faison (“Clueless”) and Sarah Chalke (“Roseanne”), the other cast members have only limited experience acting on traditional sitcoms — or none, in Braff’s case.
“When we first cast this, I told everyone that it was a show built on pace,” Lawrence says. “So even if you have a joke in the middle of a speech, John McGinley, I want you to — people are gonna process that joke, but I want you to get through that speech the way people talk, and haul ass.
“And now John has a monologue in the sitcom with like four laughs in it, and he’s going to have to, overnight, learn the skill of getting a laugh, holding, then continuing on with the speech as if that’s the way somebody talks.”
The audience for the show will be made up of “Scrubs” fans who bid on tickets (proceeds will go to tsunami relief efforts), so Lawrence isn’t worried about people being unreceptive to jokes. He does, however, plan to ask the audience for a little something extra in a couple of archetypal sitcom scenes, including a “Whoooo!” when Turk (Faison) and Carla (Judy Reyes) kiss.
“On ‘Spin City’ when I was there, we didn’t really tweak the laughs,” he says. “What we’re gonna do here is if somebody does something and doesn’t get a laugh, I wouldn’t be surprised if I asked the actors to … break the fourth wall and go, ‘Well, that didn’t work.'”
The sitcom episode of “Scrubs” is scheduled to air during February sweeps.

Matthew Perry to Guest Star on ‘Scrubs’
NEW YORK – Matthew Perry is sweeping back to NBC, but he won’t be visiting his friend “Joey.” Instead, Perry will be sitting in the director’s chair and standing in front of the lens as a guest star for the Nov. 23 episode of “Scrubs,” NBC has announced.
In the Perry-directed episode, the former “Friends” star will play a man willing to donate one of his kidneys to his sick father ó played by Perry’s real-life dad John Bennett Perry ó until complications arise.
The appearance will mark the first time ó other than Matt LeBlanc on his spinoff, “Joey” ó that a “Friends” principal has returned to the peacock network. For 10 seasons, Perry played sarcastic “Friend” Chandler Bing.
Perry’s not the only former NBC star suiting up for “Scrubs.” Julianna Margulies, who was featured on “ER” for six seasons, will guest star in two sweeps episodes on Nov. 9 and Nov. 16. This time Margulies’ NBC performance will be scrub-free. She’ll portray a malpractice lawyer.
Former “Ed” star Tom Cavanagh reprised his guest role from last season during the October 12 episode.
“Scrubs” stars Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, Ken Jenkins, Judy Reyes, and John C. McGinley as the wacky resident staff of Sacred Heart Hospital.

Ed Stevens Returns to SCRUBS
Current CIBC pitchman – and former ED star – Tom Cavanaugh has signed on to reprise his role of J.D.’s older brother on SCRUBS this season, while Julia Margulies (ER) has signed on for a two-episode guest appearance.
Cavanaugh will appear in two October episodes where J.D.’s older brother visits him when their father unexpectedly passes away.
Series creator Bill Lawrence said, “Tom and Zach have this amazing rapport with each other and that adds a certain realness to the show. I was thrilled that he agreed to return to this role.”
Margulies will guest-star in two November sweeps episodes as a “sultry malpractice attorney” and potential love interest for J.D.
“When I heard that Julianna was a fan of SCRUBS, I jumped at the chance to get her on-board for a couple of episodes,” said Lawrence added. “Her character is going to be a giant thorn in everyone’s side and will really shake things up with a malpractice suit at the hospital.”

Scrub In For Season Four
The new season of SCRUBS premieres tonight (Tuesday, August 31) at 9:25 PM ET and will be re-broadcast on September 4 at 8:30 PM ET.
The premiere episode is described as follows:
“My Old Friend’s New Friend”
Elliot feels left out of the group after her break-up with J.D. It’s J.D.’s (Zach Braff) last week as a resident as he tries to smooth over his relationship with Elliot (Sarah Chalke) after their break-up. The former couple squabble over having to share time with newlyweds Turk (Donald Faison) and Carla (Judy Reyes), who have their own issues when Carla starts to change everything about her new hubby.
Professional yet quirky new psychiatrist Dr. Molly Clock (guest star Heather Graham) starts her first day at Sacred Heart turning heads and forging new relationships with the staff. She befriends a lonely Elliot and tries her best to help J.D. and Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) with a patient offering profound and helpful insight.
Meanwhile, when Turk’s car blows up, Carla lets him pick out the new ride only to find that instead of a car, he buys a Vespa scooter further proving Carla’s point that she needs to always be in control.
NBC has also released details about the second episode of the season, which is set to air September 7.
“My Office”
J.D. and Elliot compete for the chief resident position which lends to more tension in their relationship.
Just when J.D. (Zach Braff) thinks he’s landed the chief resident position, Dr. Molly Clock (guest star Heather Graham) convinces Elliot (Sarah Chalke) that she should apply as well. Carla (Judy Reeves) becomes green with envy as everyone starts listening to Dr. Clock’s advice, leaving Carla feeling like she’s losing control. Meanwhile, Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) and Turk (Donald Faison), find great difficulty in the removal of a light bulb from a patient’s posterior.