Back in 2001, NBC premiered the sitcom “Scrubs.” After nine seasons (eight if you’re a purist), the show ended, but continued to air in reruns and help elevate the careers of Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, and John C. McGinley as tv staples. The continued friendship of Braff and Faison in particular has led to a podcast, commercials, and a consistent “Scrubs” presence of sorts to this day. Rumors have been swirling that series creator Bill Lawrence was keen on doing a reboot, which apparently is true!
Lawrence has had a large and successful tenure in Hollywood, dating back to his first created program “Spin City.” He would create the aforementioned “Scrubs,” “Clone High,” and “Cougar Town.” More recently, he’s found tremendous success with his exclusive production deal with Apple TV+. Lawrence has been behind “Ted Lasso,” “Shrinking,” and “Bad Monkey” for the streaming platform. It’s because of that exclusivity that the upcoming “Scrubs” revival was in flux. ABC didn’t want to push forward without him, so they had to negotiate with Apple to get Lawrence onboard.
Due to his commitments with Apple, Lawrence won’t be serving as the showrunner, but will be developing the revival. They hope to include most of the original cast, as well. Reports indicate Braff, Faison, Chalke, and McGinley are already on board. No word yet on Judy Reyes as Carla, Neil Flynn as the Janitor, and Ken Jenkins as Dr. Kelso. But Lawrence seems keen on brining back the original cast to see where they are in the current lives of their characters, while also introducing a new group of medical interns.
“Scrubs” fans would note however that this approach was tried previously for the show’s ninth season. It didn’t quite work. Reyes and Flynn didn’t participate in the final season, and the storylines of the new interns didn’t help the ratings. Then again, the series had wrapped on an absolutely stellar finale, so maybe it was too soon to see the continuing adventures of JD and the staff of Sacred Heart. About 15 years later, maybe the time is right to come back around for some more adventures.
“Big chunks of the creative team behind the camera, and most of it from in front of the camera, are all super invested and excited,” Lawrence said before the series was officially greenlit. He tends to reuse a lot of his crew and actors, with many members of the “Spin City” cast guest appearing in “Scrubs” and the same happening with “Cougar Town.” If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
“Scrubs” is currently available to stream on Peacock, Disney+ (with Hulu), and Hulu.
We’ll let you know what else we hear about this and other news.
