Scrubs was one of the many shows whose fate was twisted in last years writer’s strike. The final season of Scrubs on NBC was supposed to be the finale of the series. But   between the strike and NBC’s own meddling, the show ended in a strange anti-finale which left the future of the series in doubt. Something interesting happened after that though. Scrubs exploded in syndication. It is now available on WGN, Pax, Comedy Central and about a million other station in the nether regions of your cable guide. For new fans of the show charmed by the infinite syndicated Scrubs have gained a hero in ABC. The original home 8 seasons ago, ABC stepped in, cut a check and brought Scrubs out of the morgue and back into the ER.

For the two-episode season premiere, former Friends star Courtney Cox joins the cast as Dr. Taylor Maddox. As the replacement for the universally despised but lovable Dr. Bob Celso, Courtney Cox plays the authoritarian new hospital head to the hilt and made me wistful for Celso and his Asian massage parlor antics.

In keeping with tradition, Dr. Cox strips away Dr. Maddox’s intial phony friendliness to reveal a management style that’s a cross between Gordon Gekko and Rachel Ray. It won’t be long before Celso’s back and Maddox is dumped off. Courtney Cox has only signed on for a limited episode run.

As for the return of the regulars, not much is changing except for Zach Braff’s ridiculous new beard. JD is saddled with a group of interns that seem unmanageable, Elliot is forced to deal with her shallow, jerky behavior and Turk and JD keep an elderly man company as he dies peacefully.

In the end, it really is the same old show containing both slapstick and sentimentality. JD fantasizes, Cox rolls his eyes and Carla deals out folksy wisdom. For me, its both good and bad. Always nice to see a show take risks, but given the disjointed nature of Scrubs’ jettisoned final NBC season it was good to see Scrubs pretty much intact. the eighth season looks to be one that seeks to be quintessential rather than revolutionary. There’s definitely some comfort in that, like an old pair of shoes.

“Scrubs” is on its way back to the air in January, but the cast and crew of the show have already filmed the finale. So for series creator Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff, the show is over, but there still may be life in the series after they leave.

ABC is keen to continue the series if ratings hold up this year, and a new batch of interns will be appearing on the show and in webisodes during the season. If they are a hit with viewers expect an all-new Scrubs in the fall of 2009.

Tom Cavanagh is heading back to “Scrubs” during the show’s eighth season. The actor has appeared more than once as Zach Braff’s brother on the series, and confirmed his return to TV Guide recently stating “The chances are 100%”.

Scrubs is a show that I often forget is still on – but once it starts back up, it’s always a great experience watching the show. Scrubs returns to the air on ABC in 2009.

Courtney Cox is returning to sitcoms for the first time since “Friends” ended its historic run. Cox has been recently seen on FX on the series “Dirt”. She will guest star on 3 episodes of “Scrubs” this season where she will play the Chief of Medicine, a position left empty after Dr. Kelso retired last season.

Its safe to say that since she’s only signed for a 3 episode run that her stint as Chief will be brief, but “Scrubs” could use a bit of stunt casting for their move to ABC, and hopefully this will be a good move for them.

At this time it is not known when during the season she will appear.

TV Squad recently sat down an interviewed Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, and he revealed a rather large bombshell about the upcoming 8th season on ABC. It may not be the series’ last.

ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson has been a fan of the show for a very long time, and told Bill from the very start of discussions about moving the show to ABC that ‘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,’.

Bill goes on to say that if that does happen, it would be in a different capacity than the show currently stands. Much like ER, which has continued through multiple casts for many years, Scrubs could continue on with the new Interns being introduced in Season 8 becoming the main focus of the series in Season 9, with some, but not all of the Scrubs regulars staying with the show.

Zach Braff and Bill Lawrence, however, are almost assuredly gone after this year. Neither is interested in continuing for another season, and everyone involved is treating the show like its the last season, regardless of what ABC wants.

If the show does continue, however, it will be interesting to see where it goes. NBC has always treated this show like crap – so much so, that I didn’t even discover it on NBC. I found in it syndication. I think a lot of others have too, and it might be that this series is just getting warmed up.

Who knows? If they do go with a “next gen” concept for Season 9…I’ll give it a shot at least.

Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence sat down with TVGuide’s Michael Ausiello for a chat about the move over to ABC. He had some harsh words, to say the least, about the show’s former home network of NBC. Here are a few highlights:

When the strike ended, we told NBC that, even though we had another seven episodes mapped out, we could do it in three, and they just didn’t have any interest. Total harsh buzz of not giving a s–t about a show that had been on the network for seven years and made them millions of dollars.
…
Not only did they not want to do any kind of wrap-up, but they took an episode that was supposed to air in the middle of the season — the fairytale episode — and marketed it as a series finale. Which was bulls–t. It was never supposed to be a series finale, much less a season finale, and I think it ended up getting judged kind of harshly because of it. If it was just a regular episode that people had tuned into I think they would’ve thought it was cool and funny.

To be fair, Bill, even if that episode had aired in the middle of the pack like it was supposed to, it still would have sucked eggs.

Check out the whole excellent interview here.

Season 7, Episode 11 – My Princess

100 Word Review: This review doesn’t need 100 words…just three letters: W.T.F.

Not only was this episode the worst in the history of Scrubs (it takes that prize easily), this could be the worst 30 minutes of television I’ve ever experienced.

There was not one single amusing moment during the entire show. I’m aware that it was decided that this episode would be the finale after it was already in the can, but that doesn’t change the fact that this episode was unbelievably terrible.

It’s a tired cliche, but I have genuinely never wanted 30 minutes of my life back more than after watching this episode.

Grade: D-

NBC is making a shift to its Thursday night line-up this week, moving “30 Rock” to the post-Office 9:30 (EST) time slot. The slot is considered an upgrade for the show, since it should benefit from the large audience attracted to the goings-on of Dunder Mifflin – Scranton, each and every week.

“30 Rock” is already renewed for next season, while “Scrubs” will soon be moving to ABC, and will air its last NBC broadcast episode in a few weeks – so it only makes sense that the network would want to put “30 Rock” back in the 9:30 slot.

There have been several rumors and rumblings over the past few weeks/months that Scrubs will be making the move from NBC to ABC for its eighth and final (for real this time) season. ABC has been in negotiations with ABC Studios, who owns Scrubs (reminds me of that commercial with the Coke guys wanting to sue Coke) to bring it over to the Alphabet network, since NBC seems to have a decided lack of faith in the show.

Last night on TV Guide, Michael Ausiello confirmed…

Question: What’s the latest on Scrubs moving to ABC? — Gina
Ausiello: Cast and crew are due back on the set the week of March 24 to begin production on an 18-episode final season to air on ABC. Thanks, writers strike!

This is the closest to official word that we have on the move. Hopefully by the end of the week we’ll have an official statement.

TVsquad reports that Scrubs may be making a move to ABC for its final season. NBC has been reluctant to renew the show for the fall so that its last season can be finished, and ABC studios has finally had enough of the show’s constant mistreatment by the network. So, now, the two networks are in negotiations to see who will end up with Scrubs.

I love Scrubs. Some people complain about the J.D./Elliot storyline, and the “unevenness” of the show – but I find it consistently funny, and I’d like to see it go on for another 5 years. While I doubt that will happen, you never know.

If Scrubs does make the move to ABC it won’t be the first time that a show has jumped networks towards the end of its run. Family Matters, Different Strokes, and Buffy (to name a few) all made network switches towards the end of their runs…and none of them saw ratings boots for it…so I doubt Scrubs will suddenly score through the roof, but I do hope the show gets a decent end.