“It’ll be a lot like Paper Chase as a comedy,” Lawrence tells me. “It’s going to be a different show. It’ll still be life-and-death stakes, but if the show is just Scrubs again in the hospital with a different person’s voiceover, it would be a disaster and people would be mad.”
Of course, Sacred Heart won’t go away altogether. Although J.D.’s old stomping ground no longer will serve as the show’s base of operations, the students will occasionally rotate through its halls — and bump into many of its familiar faces. In addition to McGinley and Faison, both of whom are expected to be full-time regulars alongside a quartet of newbies (most of them playing students), Scrubs vets Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes and Ken Jenkins have agreed to make guest appearances. (Neil Flynn has a costarring role as Patricia Heaton’s husband in the new ABC sitcom The Middle, so his name-challenged Janitor will be MIA.)
“Med students in their first three years have to spend anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of their time at a hospital,” Lawrence explains. “And that’s when you’ll see some of the [original cast members]. Continuity-wise, Sacred Heart will still exist with those people still working there.”
But Lawrence insists “half the cast, if not 60 percent of it,” will be comprised of freshmen, one of which will be more recognizable than the rest. “[ABC] is really after us to hire a big name,” he reveals. “So one of them will be fairly famous.”
Thoughts on Scrubs 2.0? Share ‘em below!
More TV Scoop:
T.R. Knight on Grey’s exit: It was not an easy decision
Grey’s: Callie’s girlfriend gets a promotion
House boss apologizes to fans
Oscar winner joins NCIS
Comments (1-30) of 269 Add your comment
it sounds good!! here’s hoping it works to bring new life despite other cast departures
If they can do it “right” .. this could add a few more seasons to the show
i dunno….i think that the last episode they had wouldve been a perfect end to the series altogether. this new Scrubs better not be crap
shark jumper!!!
Stumping ground?
Summer Glau!!!
Summer Glau!!!
Summer Glau!!!
Will any of the interns still be around? Like ‘Jo,’ perhaps?
I really wish network tv execs knew how to let shows die with dignity…
Hope it fares better than “After MASH” did. I LOVE this show – the ending was the best. This new direction should be pretty good. I’ve got faith in Lawrence.
I love the sound of this! Can’t wait to watch!
to be honest it will be better than I have thought!
i’m a med student and it will be interesting to watch a show about med school from a different perspective…
though it should not be named Scrubs. I think Scrubs ended in the last episode of season 8
This show has been on 8 seasons too long.
Then what was the point of Turk trying to become the Chief of Surgery and putting Cox as Chief of Medicine??? Did they forget those storylines? What about the interaction of Turk and his wife Carla at work? Will she suddenly also be teaching? So far, I vote: blach.
wats wrong at least scrubs still exsist its the best show be optimistic i will miss the relationship between jd and elliot
i wana be an actor so if bill lawrence sees this write back pleeeeese and im a boy
ispoke to donald faison from my aunt rita hazan
This sounds like the best course of action so that it is essentially a spinoff of the old show, albeit still under the old title. That works. I’ll watch.
Agree with below, don’t call it “Scrubs” anymore, change the name. Hell, there’s a possible title in this story – “Meds”. Get on it, ABC!
I ***LOVE*** Scrubs, so I’m glad this will have some of the same elements, with big changes. I’ll give it a chance, but I can’t do this all on my own, I’m no Superman…
Sounds better, i hope they actually do a time-jump and set it a couple of years after season 8 for transistional purposes
Nathan Fillion as the freshman student!!!
nathan fillion as the freshman student!!!!!
nathan fillion as the freshman student!!!!!
The janitor isn’t name challenged. He told JD his name in the last episode. JD said “Why didn’t you tell me before, instead of letting me call you the ‘janitor’ for all these years?” And the janitor replied “Because you never asked.”
I’m betting that the big name will be Dominic Monaghan, and that all the talk about him joining an hour long show has just been a smoke screen.
I don’t know about this idea. I’m just praying it doesn’t suck, but I’m not too optimistic.
Mark, since you seem to remember the episode, you must also remember that as soon as he told JD what his name was, he turned around and responded to a different name when someone said hello to him.
Maybe they can name the show “Jumping the Shark”.
They should call it “After Scrubs”. This has disaster written all over it.
I love Scrubs with my whole heart, but the eighth season was SO far below the standard that the first seven set. They should have let it go out on the somewhat good send off that they gave it. I’ll be watching, but without the primary cast in place, it won’t feel the same. Especially if they bring in a “name”. That just smells desperate.
This will not go well. Please go ahead and end the show.
I might watch the first episode. I don’t expect to enjoy this season at all.
In an interview, Bill Lawrence confirmed that the name the Janitor gave JD is in fact his “real” name.
At least he said that it is the same name as the janitor in some cartoon thingy of which Neil Flynn played his voice. It IS Glenn Matthews, and I think it is set up so that the viewers would contemplate on wether he would aknowledge a tiny bit of respect for JD or not. And hey, he did.
I’m just upset that Janitor’s going to be missing… But I guess without his interaction with JD the character would be lacking a little. I hope Ted is in it a lot