TCA: For Scrubs Creator, Disappointment with NBC Lingers
Creator, executive producer Bill Lawrence vents at TCA tour; Zach Braff to leave show after this season.
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/16/2008 3:15:00 PM
Beverly Hills -- Scrubsmay be returning for another season after being rescued by ABC, but its future following that is still unclear.
At a panel at the 2008 Television Critics Association press tour here, it was clear that there is still some lingering disappointment regarding NBC's handling of the show.
"I think there is a trend in television right now where if you are [doing] a show on a network for six or seven years, and you make someone millions and millions of dollars, you should be able to end the show[the way you want to end the show]," creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence said. "And in my desire to end the show in a nice way, I would say, 'I was supposed to do eight episodes, but I can wrap it up in three,' and there wasn't a lot of interest [on NBC’s] part."
NBC promoted the season-seven finale as the series finale. Lawrence said it was never written to serve as such, and he had ideas in mind for an actual finale.
One thing is certain, however: The series will lose arguably its most recognizable character in Zach Braff's John "J.D." Dorian after this season.
"It is most likely Zach Braff's final year on the show," Lawrence said. "We are filming the [season finale] as though it were young Zach Braff's exit and making a big deal about it."
With the imminent departure of Braff, Lawrence said he sought out younger actors, such as Human Giant's Aziz Ansari, to take up residence on the medical comedy. Of course, with Ansari now cast in NBC's Office spinoff, his future on Scrubs is also up in the air.
"It would be a high-class problem for that young man to have," Lawrence said. "Contractually it would be up to NBC and [The Office creator] Greg [Daniels]."
For the latest news and video from the TCA press tour, click here.
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