Scrubs is an American
comedy-drama created in 2001 by
Bill Lawrence and produced currently by
ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of
Sacred Heart, a
teaching hospital. It features
fast-paced dialogue,
slapstick, and surreal
vignettes presented mostly as the
daydreams of the central character,
Dr. John "J.D." Dorian, played by
Zach Braff.
Alongside Braff, the first eight seasons of the show starred
Sarah Chalke,
Donald Faison,
John C McGinley,
Judy Reyes,
Ken Jenkins and
Neil Flynn. In the ninth season, only Faison and McGinley will appear as regular cast members, while the rest, with the exception of Reyes, will make guest appearances. A complete script is written for each episode of
Scrubs; however, actors are given opportunities to improvise their lines during the shooting process. The series has repeatedly featured guest appearances by film actors not generally seen on episodic television, such as
Colin Farrell,
Heather Graham, and
Brendan Fraser.
Scrubs premiered on October 2, 2001 on
NBC. During the
seventh season, NBC announced that it would not renew the show. Shortly after the seventh season finale,
ABC announced that it had bought the rights to the show and on January 6, 2009, the
eighth season of
Scrubs premiered on ABC. The eighth season finale aired on May 6, 2009. Scrubs has been renewed for a ninth season of 13 episodes, for which
Zach Braff and
Sarah Chalke have signed on for six. The ninth season, which will premiere December 1, 2009 on ABC, will feature several new cast members.
The show's title is a play on
surgical scrubs and a term for a low-ranking or insignificant person (at the beginning of the show, most of the main characters were
medical interns, one of the lowest ranks in the medical hierarchy).
Narration
Scrubs focuses on the unique
point of view of its main character and narrator, Dr. John Michael "J.D." Dorian (
Zach Braff). Most episodes feature multiple story lines thematically linked via
voice-overs done by Braff. According to Lawrence, "What we decided was, rather than have it be a monotone narration, if it's going to be Zach's voice, we're going to do everything through J.D.'s eyes. It opened up a visual medium that those of us as comedy writers were not used to."
In every episode J.D. has many comical
daydreams as well as many "situation comedy" style lines, which are often a result of
improvisation. At the end of most episodes, J.D. summarizes the story's theme in a sequence of shots that show how it has affected each of the characters.
Almost every episode title begins with the first person singular possessive determiner, i.e. "My...".
Bill Lawrence says this is because each episode is Dr. John Dorian writing in his diary (said on the commentary on the first season episode "
My Hero"). There are notable exceptions in the episodes entitled "
His Story", "
His Story II", "
Her Story", "
Her Story II", "
His Story III", "
His Story IV", "
Their Story" and "
Their Story II". Apart from a brief period of narration from J.D. at the beginning and end, these episodes primarily contain internal narration from another character besides J.D. The transfer of the narration duties usually occurs at a moment of physical contact between two characters.
Cast and characters
[],
Neil Flynn,
Sarah Chalke,
Zach Braff,
Donald Faison,
Ken Jenkins and
Judy Reyes]].
The series features seven main cast members, with numerous characters recurring throughout the series.
- Zach Braff portrays John Michael "J.D." Dorian, the show's protagonist and narrator. J.D. is a young attending physician, who begins the series as a staff intern. His voice-over to the series comes from his internal thoughts and often features surreal fantasies.
- Sarah Chalke portrays Elliot Reid, another intern and later private practice physician. Her relationship with J.D. becomes romantic on several occasions throughout the series. Elliot is driven by a neurotic desire to prove her abilities to her family (in which all of the males are doctors), her peers, and herself.
- Donald Faison portrays Christopher Turk, J.D.'s best friend and a surgical attending physician. Turk and J.D. were roommates when they attended the College of William and Mary as well as in medical school, and the two have an extremely close relationship, which is best described in season 6 as "Guy Love".
- Neil Flynn portrays the hospital's custodian, known only as "Janitor". An incident in the pilot episode establishes an adversarial relationship between him and J.D., which persists throughout the series. This tends to take the form of the Janitor pulling mean-spirited pranks on J.D., although he has shown, several times through out the series, that he has a good side. In the season eight finale, "'the Janitor"' admits his name to J.D. as "Glenn Matthews".
- Ken Jenkins portrays Bob Kelso, Sacred Heart's Chief of Medicine. Kelso is cold, heartless and cruel, driven primarily by the hospital's bottom line rather than the well-being of patients. However, it is occasionally suggested that he has a softer side, and that his cruelty is a means of coping with the years of hard decisions. He has been forced to make hard decisions from the beginning, stating that when he became Chief of Medicine, he thought he'd be "the man". Instead he very quickly realized that the harsh decisions made him unpopular, but he had to continue his "evil" facade to keep the hospital running smoothly. He retired in Season 7, after which his relationship with staff at the hospital improves. Occasionally talks about his disdain for his homosexual son.
- John C. McGinley portrays Perry Cox, a senior attending physician at Sacred Heart and the hospital's Residency Director before becoming the new Chief of Medicine in season eight. J.D. considers Cox his mentor despite the fact that Cox routinely criticizes and belittles him. Cox frequently suggests that this harsh treatment is intended as conditioning for the rigors of hospital life.
- Judy Reyes portrays Carla Espinosa, the hospital's head nurse, who acts like a mother figure to interns, often hiding their mistakes from their attending doctor.
Season synopses
The
first season introduces J.D. and his best friend Turk in their first year out of medical school as interns at Sacred Heart Hospital. J.D. quickly meets: his reluctant mentor, Dr. Perry Cox; an attractive young woman (and fellow intern) named Elliot, on whom J.D. has a crush; the hospital's janitor, who goes out of his way to make J.D.'s life miserable; the Chief of Medicine, Dr. Bob Kelso, who appears to be more concerned about the budget than the patients; and Carla Espinosa, the head nurse and Turk's new girlfriend, who puts Turk through the trials and tribulations of being in a serious relationship. The characters face romances and relationship issues, family obligations, overwhelming paperwork, and a tremendous number of patients.
The
second season focuses on J.D.'s second year practicing medicine at Sacred Heart, where he is now a resident. As the season develops, J.D.'s older brother Dan (
Tom Cavanagh) comes to visit, money issues affect J.D., Elliot, and Turk, Turk proposes to Carla, and Elliot finds a new boyfriend, a nurse named Paul Flowers. (
Rick Schroder) Dr. Cox resumes a sexual relationship with his ex-wife Jordan, with quite unexpected results.
In the
third season it's the third year for J.D., Elliot, and Turk at Sacred Heart and their second year as residents. As the season opens, Elliot decides to change her image, with some help from the Janitor. J.D.'s undeniable crush on Elliot emerges again, but J.D. instead begins a relationship with Jordan's sister Danni (
Tara Reid), who is also dealing with feelings for her ex. Turk and Carla are engaged and planning their wedding. Turk, along with the Todd and the other surgical residents, deal with the new attending surgeon, Dr. Grace Miller (
Bellamy Young), who dislikes Turk and considers him sexist. Dr. Cox and Jordan are doing well with their relationship and their son Jack, although Dr. Cox develops a schoolboy crush on Dr. Miller. He also struggles with the death of his best friend. Elliot gets into a serious relationship with Sean Kelly (
Scott Foley) and tries to work out their long distance relationship while he's in New Zealand for 6 months. J.D. eventually convinces Elliot to break up with Sean to date him, only to realize that he doesn't actually love her. Their relationship lasts three days. The season ends with Turk and Carla's wedding, which Turk misses due to surgery and a church mix-up.
In
season four, J.D. finishes his residency and becomes a full-blown colleague of Dr. Cox, although their dynamic does not change much. As the season opens, Turk arrives from his honeymoon with Carla but they soon have issues when Carla tries to change many things about her new husband. Their marriage and Turk's friendship with J.D. are also endangered when J.D. and Carla share a drunken kiss. Dr. Cox and Jordan learn that their divorce was not final, but this seemingly good news causes friction. Elliot is still angry with J.D. for breaking her heart, and the situation becomes more uncomfortable still when she dates J.D.'s brother. J.D. has a new love interest of his own when a new and very attractive psychiatrist, Dr. Molly Clock (
Heather Graham), arrives at Sacred Heart. Molly also serves as Elliot's mentor during her time at the hospital.
Season five begins with J.D. living in a hotel . He has become an attending physician now on the same level as Dr. Cox. Elliot has taken a new fellowship in another hospital. Turk and Carla are trying to have a baby, despite Turk still having doubts. Finally, some new interns have arrived to Sacred Heart, chief among them being Keith Dudemeister (
Travis Schuldt) who Elliot soon makes her new boyfriend, much to J.D.'s dissatisfaction.
The
sixth season sees J.D. and the other characters mature to fill the different roles required of them. J.D. is cast in the role of expecting father since his girlfriend, Dr. Kim Briggs (
Elizabeth Banks), is pregnant with his child. Turk and Carla become parents when Carla gives birth to their daughter, Isabella Turk. Elliot plans her wedding to Keith, although she and J.D. still harbor feelings for each other. Dr. Cox, as father of two children with Jordan, struggles to prevent his foul disposition from affecting his parenting.
In
season seven, J.D. and Elliot struggle once again to deny their feelings for each other, despite Elliot soon to be marrying Keith and J.D. to have his first son with Kim, whilst the Janitor may have a new girlfriend, Bob Kelso's job is also put on the line as he approaches the age of 65, J.D.'s brother Dan also returns to town.
The
eighth season sees Dr. Kelso's replacement, Dr. Taylor Maddox (
Courteney Cox-Arquette), arrive; she quickly makes a lot of changes, affecting the way doctors treat patients. Elliot and J.D. finally discuss their true feelings for each other, and Janitor and Lady (
Kit Pongetti) marry, while Dr. Cox is promoted to chief of medicine. J.D. prepares to leave Sacred Heart to move closer to his son, along with Elliot. Turk is also promoted to chief of surgery at Sacred Heart.
Coinciding with season eight,
Scrubs: Interns was also launched, focusing around the eighth season's medical interns, Sunny Day (
Sonal Shah), Denise (
Eliza Coupe), Katie (Betsy Beutler), and Howie (
Todd Bosley). The interns learn from various characters of the show about life in the hospital.
The
ninth season will take place over a year after season eight's finale and will see Dr. Cox and Dr. Turk becoming medical school professors whose students occasionally rotate through Sacred Heart.
Also, Elliot will end up being married to J.D. and will be pregnant during this season
It is also known that
Ted Buckland will leave the show during the season as actor
Sam Lloyd has decided to move on.
The ninth Season will start airing on December 1, 2009.
Production
The origin for the show is loosely based on Dr.
Jonathan Doris' experiences as a
resident in
internal medicine at
Brown Medical School, which served as inspiration for college friend and show creator
Bill Lawrence.
is produced by
ABC, through
its production division, even though it was aired by rival broadcaster
NBC.
According to
show runner Lawrence, the arrangement is unusual, at least for 2007: "The show is a dinosaur, on one network and completely owned by another" and, since it is now in
syndication, making a "ton of money for Touchstone."
Both he and Braff confirmed ABC would have broadcast the seventh season had NBC refused to do so.
Since
Scrubs is aired around the world in many different languages, instances of foreign languages on the show have to be changed for the international versions. Carla's Spanish is changed to Italian in the Spanish language version of the show, and Elliot's German is changed to Danish (or, in at least
one fourth-season episode German with a Swiss accent) in the German version of the show.
Title sequence
The chest
X-ray featured at the end of the
title sequence was hung backwards for most of the first five seasons.
Bill Lawrence has stated that having the X-ray backwards was intentional as it signified that the new
interns were inexperienced.
[ Bill Lawrence in the audio commentary for My First Day] However during Zach Braff's audio commentary on "
My Last Chance", he states that the error was actually unintentional. The error became somewhat infamous and was even parodied in "
My Cabbage".
An attempt was made to fix the error in the extended title sequence that was used at the beginning of season 2, but the extended sequence (including corrected X-ray) were soon scrapped at fan and network request. Finally, in "
My Urologist", Dr. Kim Briggs steps into the credits and switches the X-ray around, saying, "That's backwards; it's been bugging me for years". At the beginning of season 8, when the series switched to ABC, the chest x-ray was once again backwards.
Main crew
The show's creator,
executive producer, and
head writer is
Bill Lawrence. He has written many episodes and has directed 17. He is also the
show runner and does many uncredited re-writes for episodes.
Neil Goldman and
Garrett Donovan have produced and written a number of episodes together, starting as writers and co-producers on the show and working their way up to executive producers; they left the show after the eighth season.
is an executive producer and writer who started on the show in season 4 as co-executive producer and has since written 8 episodes.
Angela Nissel joined the crew in season 2 as a staff writer, and became supervising producer in 2007, she has written 10 episodes. In her second book, Bill Lawrence is quoted on the back cover and references to Scrubs are present throughout the final chapter.
Mike Schwartz is co-executive producer, he started out as a story editor in 2006. He has written 13 episodes and also has a recurring role in the show as
Lloyd the Delivery Guy.
Michael Spiller has directed 17 episodes from 2002-09. The pilot episode of the show, "
My First Day" was directed by
Adam Bernstein, who has since directed 11 other episodes. Star of the show
Zach Braff has directed 7 episodes of the show, including the landmark 100th episode "
My Way Home", which won a
George Foster Peabody Award in April 2007. In 2009
Josh Bycel, a writer and supervising producer for the cartoon
American Dad!, joined the crew as a new executive producer for the 9th season.
Medical advisors
Scrubs writers work with several medical advisors, including doctors Jonathan Doris, Jon Turk, and Dolly Klock. Their names serve as the basis for the names of characters John Dorian, Chris Turk and Molly Clock (played by
Braff,
Faison, and
Heather Graham, respectively).
In the season eight finale "
My Finale", the "real JD" Jonathan Doris made a
cameo appearance as the doctor who said "adios" to JD.
Filming location
Scrubs is filmed on location at the
North Hollywood Medical Center, a real decommissioned hospital located at 12629 Riverside Drive in the
North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, however, the location of
Sacred Heart Hospital within the fictional world of
Scrubs is left ambiguous. Cast and crew on the show refer to the location as "San DiFrangeles"—a
portmanteau of
San Diego,
San Francisco, and
Los Angeles that is meant to encompass a large part of California.
[Show creator Bill Lawrence during audio commentary on Disk Three of "The Complete Second Season [1] Scrubs" DVD set.]
For the ninth season of Scrubs, the show will be filmed at
Culver Studios.
Writers strike and network change
On November 5, 2007, the
Writers Guild of America went on strike, which put the production of the show's seventh season on hold. When the strike started, only eleven of
Scrubs' eighteen planned seventh season episodes had been completely written.
Lawrence refused to cross any WGA picket lines to serve any of his duties for the show, so
ABC Studios had non-WGA members finish episode twelve, which the studio had unsuccessfully pressured Lawrence to rewrite as a series finale prior to the strike.
During the strike, NBC announced that
The Office and
Scrubs would be replaced by
Celebrity Apprentice. NBC later announced that they would leave
Scrubs on hiatus for the time being and fill the 8-9 PM timeslot with various specials and repeats.
Episode 11, "
My Princess", was eventually filmed,
although Lawrence was absent. Filming of episode 11 was disrupted by picketers. It was believed that Lawrence had tipped the picketers off about the filming schedule, although these beliefs turned out to be false as Lawrence quickly drove to the set to "keep the peace."
After the strike ended, Lawrence announced that the final episodes of
Scrubs would be produced although, at the time, he was unsure where or how they would be distributed.
Season eight on ABC
Amid strike-induced doubt involving the final episodes of
Scrubs, on February 28, 2008,
The Hollywood Reporter reported that
ABC was in talks with corporate sibling
ABC Studios with the aim of bringing
Scrubs to ABC for an eighth season of 18 episodes,
despite both Lawrence's and Braff's protests that the seventh season would definitely be the last.
Just hours later
Variety reported that NBC was lashing out and threatening legal action against ABC Studios.
However, McGinley confirmed that he had been told to report back to work on March 24, 2008 to begin production for another season.
On March 12, 2008, McGinley was also quoted as saying that the show's long-rumored move from NBC to ABC was a done deal,
and that
Scrubs would air on ABC during the 2008-09 TV season as a midseason replacement.
On March 19, 2008,
Michael Ausiello of
TV Guide reported that although nothing was "official", the
Scrubs cast was to report back to work the following Wednesday for work on a season "unofficial" as yet.
Zach Braff posted in his blog on
MySpace, on April 28, 2008, that an eighth season consisting of 18 episodes was under production but that he could not say where it will be aired.
He then stated, on May 7, 2008, that the May 8 episode would be the final NBC-aired episode of Scrubs,
which was followed by a bulletin on his MySpace, on May 12, confirming that
Scrubs' eighth season will be moving to ABC.
On May 13, ABC announced that
Scrubs would be a
midseason replacement, airing Tuesday nights at 9PM EST.
Steve McPherson, ABC's President of Entertainment, also stated that additional seasons of
Scrubs beyond the eighth could be produced if it performs well.
In late November, ABC announced
Scrubs would resume with back-to-back episodes on January 6, 2009 at 9PM EST.
Creator
Bill Lawrence stated in a video interview that season 8 will be more like the first few seasons in tone, with more of a focus on more realistic and dramatic storylines and the introduction of new characters.
joined the cast as the new Chief of Medicine, Dr. Maddox, for a three-episode arc.
The eighth season includes
webisodes and is the first
Scrubs season broadcast in
high definition.
was hoping that J.D. and Elliot would end up back together, comparing them to
Friends characters
Ross and
Rachel, which has been addressed a few times on the show. In the early episodes of the season they did rekindle their relationship, and have continued dating through the end of the season. Several actors who guest starred as patients at Sacred Heart during the course of
Scrubs returned for the finale.
Cinematography
The show is shot with a
single-camera setup instead of a
multiple-camera setup more typical for
situation comedies.
Episode 4.17 "
My Life in Four Cameras", has a brief multi-camera style, since it includes J.D.'s fantasies of life being more like a traditional sitcom.
John Inwood, the cinematographer of the series, shoots with his own
Aaton XTR prod
Super16 film camera. Except for the finale of season 5, "
My Transition", which was broadcast in high definition,
the first seven seasons of the show have been broadcast in
standard definition with 4:3 frame aspect ratio.
After the show was moved from NBC to ABC, the broadcast format for new episodes changed to
high definition. John Inwood believes that older episodes will be re-released in HD as well. He protected for 16:9 aspect ratio from the very beginning so episodes could be aired in HD format when the market evolved. In his opinion, footage from the Super16 camera was not only sufficient to air in HD format, it looked terrific.
Music
Music plays a large role in
Scrubs. A wide variety of
rock,
pop, and
indie artists are featured, and almost every episode ends with a musical montage summing up the themes and plot lines of the episode, and the music for these montages is often picked even before the episodes are completely written.
Members of the cast and crew are encouraged to contribute song suggestions, with many ideas coming from series creator Bill Lawrence, writer
Neil Goldman, and actors Zach Braff (whose college friends
Cary Brothers and
Joshua Radin appear on the
Scrubs soundtrack) and
Christa Miller Lawrence (who selected
Colin Hay and
Tammany Hall NYC). According to
Bill Lawrence, "Christa picks so much of the music for the show that a lot of the writers and actors don't even go to me anymore when they have a song. They hand it to her."
In addition to music being featured as a soundtrack to the show, the cast themselves also sing on a frequent basis, such as in the episode "
My Best Friend's Mistake" when the entire cast had the
Erasure song "
A Little Respect" stuck in their heads and would sing it repeatedly. Producers expanded
Scrubs musical emphasis with a musical episode early in the sixth season, called "My Musical". This episode aired on January 18, 2007.Theme song
The
theme song of the series, performed by
Lazlo Bane, is titled "
Superman", and can be found on the album
All the Time in the World, as well as on the first
Scrubs soundtrack. Lawrence credits Braff for finding and suggesting "Superman" as the theme song.
The lyrics "I'm no Superman" relate to the show's theme of its characters'
fallibility.
The
Scrubs main title is performed at a faster tempo than the original recording of the song. The original, slower recording was used briefly at the beginning of season 2, played during an extended version of the title sequence (that included Flynn and full cast credits), as well as the opening for "
My Urologist", and a special edit of the title sequence for resulting in roughly 1–2 seconds of music, followed by the line "I'm no Superman", accompanied by a quick flash of credits. The original intro from season 1 was used through most of season 3 (except the few episodes with the very short intro) and then used for seasons four through eight.
Soundtracks
Three official soundtracks have been released. The first was released on CD on September 24, 2002, and a second an
iTunes exclusive was released in mid-2006. An
iMix on iTunes of the music used through the first five seasons has also been released.
Featured musical contributors
Colin Hay, the former frontman of
Men at Work, has had music featured in at least seven episodes, and has appeared in the episode "
My Overkill", performing the song "
Overkill" as a street musician, and in the episode "
My Hard Labor" performing "
Down Under". Hay also sings "
Where Everybody Knows Your Name", the theme from
Cheers, in the episode "
My Life in Four Cameras" and the episode "
My Philosophy" features Hay's song "
Waiting For My Real Life To Begin", sung by several members of the cast.
The music of
Joshua Radin, who is a friend of
Scrubs star Zach Braff,
has appeared in at least six episodes to date.
Music by
Keren DeBerg has featured in 15 episodes, and she appeared in "
My Musical" as an extra in the song "All Right".
The "Worthless Peons"
The Worthless Peons (also known as Ted's Band, The Blanks, or in the non-
canon "
My Way Home" Director's Cut as "
Foghat") are an
a cappella group made up of hospital employees from different departments. They are a cover band, and often sing songs from a specific genre (for example, cartoon theme songs or commercial jingles). They have appeared in several episodes.
The Worthless Peons are played by
The Blanks, who are a real-life
a cappella band made up of
Sam Lloyd (who plays Ted), George Miserlis, Paul F. Perry, and Philip McNiven. The Blanks' album,
Riding the Wave, features guest appearances from
Lawrence and members of the
Scrubs cast.
This band was put on the show when Sam Lloyd brought his friends/capella band to a rehearsal. Lloyd told Lawrence about his band, and Lawrence got the idea of putting them in the show.
The Worthless Peons also sing the theme song to the web series
Scrubs: Interns, which features the new interns from season eight learning about the hospital in the same way that J.D. did in season one.
Interns is aired on the ABC website.
Impact
Awards
In its first three seasons,
Scrubs received
Emmy nominations for
casting,
editing, and
writing of a comedy. Following Season 4, the show received additional nominations for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Braff), Best Editing for a Multi-camera series (although the series is predominantly shot single-camera, Episode 4.17 "
My Life in Four Cameras", has a brief multi-camera style), and casting. The show also won the 2002 and the 2008
Humanitas Prize in the 30-minute category.
Braff was nominated for the
Golden Globe award for
Best Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical in 2005, 2006 and 2007, but lost to
Jason Bateman for
Arrested Development in 2005, to
Steve Carell of
The Office in 2006, and to
Alec Baldwin of
30 Rock in 2007.
won a
George Foster Peabody Award for its 2006 season, specifically citing the
Wizard of Oz homage in "
My Way Home".
At the
59th Primetime Emmy Awards, which aired in September 2007, the episode "
My Musical" was nominated for five awards in four categories: Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series (Will Mackenzie), Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics ("Everything Comes Down to Poo" and "Guy Love"), Outstanding Music Direction (Jan Stevens), and Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (half-hour) And Animation (Joe Foglia, Peter J. Nusbaum, and John W. Cook II).
It went on to a joint win along with the
Entourage episode "
One Day in the Valley" in the latter of these categories.
Ratings
The table below indicates the ratings of
Scrubs in the US. "Rank" refers to how well
Scrubs rated compared to other television series which aired during primetime hours of the corresponding
television season. The television season tends to begin in September, and ends during the May of the following year, which coincides with the completion of
May sweeps. "Viewers" refers to the average number of viewers for all original episodes, broadcast during the television season in the series' regular timeslot. "Rank" is shown in relation to the total number of series airing on the then-six major English-language networks in a given season. The "season premiere" is the date that the first episode of the season aired, and the "season finale" is the date that the final episode of the season aired.
| Network
| Season
| Episodes
| Timeslot (EST)
| Original Airing
| Rank
| Viewers
(in millions)
|
| Season Premiere
| Season Finale
| TV Season
|
| NBC
| 1
| 24
| Tuesday 9:30 PM
| October 2, 2001
| May 21, 2002
| 2001–02
| #38
| 11.20 |
| 2
| 22
| Thursday 8:30 PM
| September 26, 2002
| April 17, 2003
| 2002–03
| #14
| 15.94 |
| 3
| 22
| Thursday 8:30 PM
Tuesday 9:30 PM
| October 2, 2003
| May 4, 2004
| 2003–04
| #43
| 10.41 |
| 4
| 25
| Tuesday 9:30 PM
Tuesday 9:00 PM
| August 31, 2004
| May 10, 2005
| 2004–05
| #88
| 6.90 |
| 5
| 24
| Tuesday 9:00 PM
Tuesday 9:30 PM
| January 3, 2006
| May 16, 2006
| 2005-06
| #98
| 6.40 |
| 6
| 22
| Thursday 9:30 PM
| November 30, 2006
| May 17, 2007
| 2006–07
| #87
| 6.41 |
| 7
| 11
| Thursday 9:30 PM
Thursday 8:30 PM
| October 25, 2007
| May 8, 2008
| 2007–08
| #115
| 6.38 |
| ABC
| 8
| 18
| Tuesday 9:00 PM
Tuesday 9:30 PM
Wednesday 8:00 PM
| January 6, 2009
| May 6, 2009
| 2008-09
| #123
| 5.61 |
| 9
| 13 | Tuesday 9:00 PM
| December 1, 2009
| TBA
| 2009–10
|
|
|
Future
On January 29, 2009, Lawrence told a crowd at his alma mater, the
College of William and Mary, that the eighth season of
Scrubs would be the last,
but he has since clarified that his actual meaning was that if it continues after Braff leaves, "it would have to be a different show (maybe even different title)".
On April 16, 2009, Bill Lawrence wrote on the abc.com message boards that a season 9 of
Scrubs was still "50/50."
On April 28, 2009, it was announced that ABC was in talks to renew
Scrubs for another year,
however, if this were to happen, some of the cast may or may not be back
to other commitments, or only back part time.
Bill Lawrence also stated that
Scrubs as we know it is over, although there are possibilities for the show to move forward with a new cast in an
ER type role on ABC, or take a new title completely. To any who disagreed with it, saying it would tarnish
Scrubs' legacy, Lawrence was quoted saying "'Legacy shmegacy.' I'm really proud of the show, I'll continue to be proud of the show, but I love all of those people..."
On May 14, 2009, it was announced that Zach Braff has signed to be on
Scrubs for six episodes to transition the show to its new format. Sarah Chalke confirmed her involvement in season 9 on June 8, 2009 on
Fox News Channel's
Fox & Friends talk show.
On May 23, 2009,
Zach Braff confirmed to
Scrubs fans on
MySpace his involvement with season 9, but stated that he knew very little about the shape the show will take.
Also, Donald Faison, John C. McGinley and Neil Flynn are signed to be regulars for the next season, in second position to other projects.
Judy Reyes, according to reports, has not yet been officially approached; however, it is expected that, if she were to reprise her role, it would be merely as a guest star.
On June 19, 2009, it was announced that the reformatted ninth season of
Scrubs would "shift from the hospital to the classroom and make med-school professors of John C. McGinley's Dr. Cox and Donald Faison's Turk." According to Lawrence, the ninth season will "be a lot like
Paper Chase as a comedy", with Cox's and Turk's students occasionally rotating through the halls of Sacred Heart and encountering former series regulars. McGinley and Faison will be joined by "a quartet of newbies (most of them playing students)" as full-time regulars, while one of the freshmen "will be fairly famous".
The biggest change to the show on the upcoming season is a major cast revamp. Of the seven actors who have appeared in the show since the pilot, only
Donald Faison and
John C. McGinley are returning in regular roles.
Zach Braff and
Sarah Chalke are set to reprise their roles as J.D. and Elliot respectively for the first six episodes of the season
Neil Flynn will return for the first episode.
and
Ken Jenkins will also return at some point during the season.
The new main cast as it stands so far includes
Eliza Coupe returning to the recurring role of Denise "Jo" Mahoney from season eight,
Dave Franco as Cole, a charming, conservative, confidently stupid and incredibly entitled medical student whose family donated a wing to the school,
will play Lucy, the new narrator for the show,
and
Michael Mosley has been announced as playing Drew, a 30-year old med student on his last attempt at school.
Former
Gilmore Girls star
Lauren Graham was rumored to be "at the top of
[2] wish-list" of potential big-name actors.
Another major change will be the setting of the show and where it is filmed. For the first eight seasons, the show was filmed at the
North Hollywood Medical Center but production for this season will take place at Culver Studios. As a result, in the show, the existing Sacred Heart hospital will be mentioned to have been torn down and has been partially re-built on campus - due to the economy they ran out of money while building the hospital and construction ended. There will be "doors that go to nowhere and half-finished operating rooms".
On October 28, 2009, it was announced that season nine will premiere on December 1, 2009 with back-to-back episodes.
References
External links
Scrubs
DEFAULTSORT:Scrubs
