![[Scrubs] News](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_61M7X8_eEMw/SA_7rVvi0pI/AAAAAAAAAH8/Q7UELvHkWqo/S1600-R/grrove.png)
I finally got a chance to speak with Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence yesterday, and, as you'd expect, he had plenty to say about departing NBC. In addition to the circumstances behind the show's move from NBC to ABC, Lawrence also talked about NBC's treatment of the show and why he thinks it stuck around for so long, despite that treatment.But he also dropped a bit of a bomb: next season may not be the show's final season. And if there is ninth season of Scrubs, it likely will continue without him or Zach Braff on board.More after the jump.
Bill told me that he met with ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson, who initially championed the show when he worked for the network's production arm (ABC Studios produces Scrubs), before the network finalized the pickup. McPherson told him that not only did he want the show to get back to what it did best in its earliest seasons, which mixed comedy and drama, but that he didn't necessarily pick up the show for just the one season:"He said to me, 'If I go forward with this, you have to know that if the show does well and I'm enjoying it, no matter what you want, I have the right to move on with the show past this year,'" Lawrence recalls. "I tell you that, even if it were to happen, it would be in a different incarnation than what it is now. One of the things that's appealing to Steve is that when he first pitched it with me to all these other networks, he pitched it as 'ER as a comedy.' It'd be very easy to rotate faces in and out and have new dynamics and new worlds under the same umbrella. It's a working hospital. It's not like Grey's Anatomy where we're tracking the relationships that much."As far as how the show would look in a ninth season, Lawrence said that "barring some weird miracle," Zach Braff is done with the show after season eight, since his contract runs out at the end of it. But he can't see himself returning for a ninth year, either. "I would imagine it's my last year of the show. And so I'm going to write it as such (like it's the last season) and he's going to act it as such."So those new actors, including Human Giant's Aziz Ansari, that were brought on as new interns? They'll be the basis of any new seasons after the eighth, setting up a Scrubs: The Next Generation of sorts. "They have to go through the same type of shit that these people went through long ago. It'll be interesting to tell the same stories with our older characters on the other side of them now." Some faces from the original cast may return, but not all will.Interesting. This could work, or it could limp along like ER has since Clooney, Edwards, and Margulies left. Or it could be AfterMASH-style disaster. We just don't know.What do you think of a possible "next generation" season of Scrubs? Let me know in the comments.Oh, and the rest of the interview will be posted either tomorrow or Thursday.
Bill told me that he met with ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson, who initially championed the show when he worked for the network's production arm (ABC Studios produces Scrubs), before the network finalized the pickup. McPherson told him that not only did he want the show to get back to what it did best in its earliest seasons, which mixed comedy and drama, but that he didn't necessarily pick up the show for just the one season:"He said to me, 'If I go forward with this, you have to know that if the show does well and I'm enjoying it, no matter what you want, I have the right to move on with the show past this year,'" Lawrence recalls. "I tell you that, even if it were to happen, it would be in a different incarnation than what it is now. One of the things that's appealing to Steve is that when he first pitched it with me to all these other networks, he pitched it as 'ER as a comedy.' It'd be very easy to rotate faces in and out and have new dynamics and new worlds under the same umbrella. It's a working hospital. It's not like Grey's Anatomy where we're tracking the relationships that much."As far as how the show would look in a ninth season, Lawrence said that "barring some weird miracle," Zach Braff is done with the show after season eight, since his contract runs out at the end of it. But he can't see himself returning for a ninth year, either. "I would imagine it's my last year of the show. And so I'm going to write it as such (like it's the last season) and he's going to act it as such."So those new actors, including Human Giant's Aziz Ansari, that were brought on as new interns? They'll be the basis of any new seasons after the eighth, setting up a Scrubs: The Next Generation of sorts. "They have to go through the same type of shit that these people went through long ago. It'll be interesting to tell the same stories with our older characters on the other side of them now." Some faces from the original cast may return, but not all will.Interesting. This could work, or it could limp along like ER has since Clooney, Edwards, and Margulies left. Or it could be AfterMASH-style disaster. We just don't know.What do you think of a possible "next generation" season of Scrubs? Let me know in the comments.Oh, and the rest of the interview will be posted either tomorrow or Thursday.
9 comments:
If it's as good as the earlier seasons, great. If it's as bad as the last two, I really want to see it put out of it's misery. It hurts me to see my beloved Scrubs suffer like this.
wow more scrubs is good...but i don't think it should go more than 8 have to wait and see
I concur with brad. I love Scrubs, but I do think that it should end after the 8th season. I have a hard time seeing the show carry on without Braff, Chalke, Faison, and the rest.
i agree it would suck without Braff, faison and chalke and with Bill Lawrence gone i would say Christa miller would be gone to...i think janitor and dr cox should stay that would be interesting and Dr cox is cheif now so he's kinds got to stay if they continue
Dr. Cox is only a temporary chief of medicine.
Dr. Kelso is no longer a hospital bureaucrat, he is actually a decent human being and is Dr. Cox's confidant because Cox can't really talk to anyone else about how much that job sucks.I heard you were looking to cast a new Chief. Lawrence: That's just a piece of stunt casting that we're going to do for three episodes. from tv guide
i read that? who knows but
Good riddance to NBC, the stupid wankers.
Anxious to read part two of this. I think if Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff leave, the show should end or at least only continue as a spin-off with a new title.
Legal Custodian, anyone?
Scrubbed?
i so agree LA ....have to wait and see what season 8's like
Personally, i think Scrubs has been one of the best shows on television for the majority of its reign.
Without the current cast and writers, it may be good for a little while while the ideas are fresh, but it will inevitably start to follow the same path of the original scrubs - two best friends, a hot girl, a b*stard chief of medicine, a rude and sarcastic boss, and some other supporting characters that will eventually take the shape of what 'the todd', ted and jordan have..
Scrubs will never be the same again. Zach Braff and Donald Faison have a relationship in scrubs that is unrivaled, and that simply can't be replaced. It's unfortunate, and i hate to admit it, but scrubs is dead.
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