TVSquad

As I found out when I first spoke to Bill Lawrence last year, it doesn't take much to get the creator of Scrubs going. All it might take is a quick question and he'll go off on a monologue that is not only funny, but has a lot of good information as well.

That's what I got from him when I spoke to him earlier this week. Yes, we went over what happened with NBC after the writers' strike and how his show was able to make the shift to ABC. But, since he already spoke about that at length, we talked more about why NBC treated the show like it did, what creative shifts he's going to make to the show this year (expect to see less baby and relationship stuff this year, and more of the medical drama and comedy that got people hooked on the show). And, of course, he also dropped the mini-bombshell that I posted about earlier in the week, that there might be a ninth, "next generation" season of Scrubs.

I'll warn you right now, this is a long transcript, which is why we're splitting it into three parts. But it's got a lot of good information, and if you're patient, you'll find some interesting spoilers about what's going to happen next year on the show (production on eighth season should be wrapped up by August, according to Lawrence). So, buckle up and enjoy the ride...

(S07E10) So next week, according to NBC, is the "Scrubs finale," which means that only 11 episodes will have aired for what was going to be the show's last season. Epguides.com lists a 12th episode, but I'm guessing it either never got made or it'll be saved for the eighth season on ABC.

Anyway, tonight was definitely an episode full of transitions. Kelso's on the golf course. Cox is the interim chief of medicine ("Chief Dr. Cox," as he orders everyone to call him). Carla wants another baby, especially now that Turk's a Uniball. Ted's got some confidence for once, and is challenging the authority of the Janitor. And J.D. and Elliot are starting to look more and more like a couple, especially when they're cooing over little Sam Dorian.

(S07E09) Last week, one of our commenters, perhaps inspired by Shakespeare, left the following comment on my generally positive review of "My Manhood" (spelling and capitalization have not been touched):

what are you doing reviewing a show you obvioulsy disdain? you suck.

While I generally don't respond to witty comments like these, it gives me a good opportunity to remind folks that, yes, I do like Scrubs. In fact, it's one of my all-time favorite shows; I laugh my butt off at the reruns, even if I've seen them a hundred times. When I don't like an episode, it's usually because I'm disappointed. I know the show can do so much better, and with limited episodes left, it disheartens me when I come across a dud. It disheartens me even more when there's a string of a few duds in a row.

This episode, though, was not a dud. In fact, it was pretty funny, and it felt like one of the show's original writers penned it. I'll talk more about that later, but I first want to ask one important question...

(S07E08) When I was watching the cold open to this episode, one thought came to my mind, "Oy, I don't know how I'm going to put up with another season." Usually on Scrubs, the cold open is a good indication of how the episode is going to go, comedy-wise.This cold open was not only not particularly funny, but it seemed oddly paced, as well. The only funny part about it was the gag about Ted being The Janitorial's investigative reporter because no one ever knows he's there.

But then something happened: the episode got funny. Not peak-level Scrubs funny, not even peak-level season seven funny. But it at least gave me hope that Bill Lawrence and his gang have enough in the tank to give us another twenty or so episodes (between what's left this season and what they'll likely shoot for ABC next year) and not make me want to stick a fork in my eye or, worse yet, turn the show off altogether.

(S07E07) God, what a snoozer this episode was. And you can't really blame it on the writers being rusty after the strike; this is the first of the last five episodes made before the strike, which NBC held until it could pair it with new episodes of the rest of the Thursday lineup. In fact, as we found out, this is the first of the five final NBC episodes, as the show wasn't picked up by the Peacock. We'll likely see an eighth season on ABC, but nothing has been set yet.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the boringness of this episode. There were two decent laughs in this one: "brinner" and... you know what? I can't think of the other. There was some story advancement in this episode, but overall it was so unmemorable that I'm just going to pretend that next week's episode is the first Scrubs since the strike. Yeah, that'll work.

(S06E06) Well, it's finally here! The musical episode of Scrubs, that is, with songs composed by Avenue Q's Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. A brief synopsis of the plot: a patient (Stephanie D'Abruzzo, an original cast member of Avenue Q) is admitted to Sacred Heart after a fainting spell. From that point on everyone around her is singing and dancing. There are also two additional subplots. One deals with Carla's indecision to return to nursing after being home with her baby, and the second deals with Elliot moving into her own house without J.D. as a roommie.

But, the stories don't matter. What matters here is if this musical experiment paid off. It most definitely did! I would certainly put this behind 'Once More, With Feeling' the musical episode of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and far ahead of the one that 7th Heaven aired a season or two ago. Gosh, I'd put the musical episode of The Love Boat ahead of the 7th Heaven episode.

I digress. After the jump I'll give you a recap and a review of the big numbers in this week's show.

All right ladies (and gentlemen as well), get those dialing and keyboard fingers ready to contact American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. According to People magazine, the 29-year-old crooner is tops in their hot bachelor list. It's either the silver hair or his dancing prowess; I just can't make up my mind.

While Taylor is happy about the listing, he tells People that he is more than willing to give up the single life and settle down. In fact, he would like to settle down with a blond-haired beauty he exchanged glances with on a recent airline flight. To help the newest winner of American Idol, the magazine has set up e-mail and snail mail addresses for the woman to contact Hicks.

Joining Taylor on this list are bachelors such as recently divorced Nick Lachey, Scrubs' Donald Faison, Kenny Chesney, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest and Kevin Federline. Oh, wait, Kevin is married to Britney Spears. So, those women in his Las Vegas hotel room must have been members of his church group. Now I understand.

Stop! Don't touch the remote! Keep that finger away from the Power button! In other words, don't turn off your TV during TV Turnoff Week. If you do, you'll be missing one of the funniest comedies on television today.

I am talking about NBC's Scrubs. There hasn't been a comedy since Friends, not even Everyone Everybody Loves Raymond, that makes me laugh out loud like Scrubs does. I mean, how can you not chuckle while Chris Turk (Donald Faison) dances and lip-synchs to Bel Biv Devoe's Poison. Or snicker when Dr. Cox (John McGinley) goes on one of his 30-second rant on, for instance, why the purple Wiggle is always sleeping (for the uninitiated, the purple Wiggle is Jeff Fatt of the very popular children's television show The Wiggles). Or guffaw when J.D. (Zach Braff) has one of his surreal daydreams in the middle of a conversation.

Interesting piece over at The New York Times about how the creators and producers were so exhausted by NBC's handling of the show (various time slots, on the shelf, off the shelf, etc) that this year they just decided to let it all hang out and kick the wackniess into high gear. Creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence:

"This year we decided to stop obsessing about how we can bring new people to the show...we decided that this year, we'd just do what we wanted and hoped we would at least be proud of it, even if it never saw the light of day."

Hello! Your friendly neighborhood Rich Keller here substituting for the wonderful and talented Chris Thilk to review this past Tuesday's episode of one of the best comedy's out there, Scrubs.

Let's face it, the three-camera, studio audience comedy is not doing very well. The wave of the foreseeable future is comedy shows like Scrubs, My Name is Earl, The Office, and Arrested Development. These comedies can do so much without the boundaries of a sound stage that a standard sitcom could not do without injecting canned laughter between the jokes. This is why you, the adoring public, seem to laugh out loud more at Scrubs then you would at, um, Joey.

Not only are the boundaries different, but they also do comedy in a different way. The writers and producers of shows like Scrubs aren't afraid to inject a bit of sweetness, a bit of seriousness into their comedies. True, both Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond were good at injecting those little serious parts in-between the laughs. However, it's hard to do this on a sitcom that is throwing one joke after another like, um, Joey (Gosh, I'm disappointed in that show).

Anyway, let me get off this soapbox and get the review out of the way.