Posts with tag donald faison
Posted Jul 16th 2008 10:21PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Scrubs, TCA Press Tour, Reality-Free
By far, the funniest panel of ABC's first day at the press tour -- one that had Jimmy Kimmel question the network president and had Ashton Kutcher and his fellow producers bring up critics to play a miniature version of
Opportunity Knocks -- was the one for
Scrubs, which will air its eighth season on the network.
A panel with Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, and John C. McGinley couldn't
help but be funny, right? But if you've ever read interviews from the show, you'd know that creator Bill Lawrence is usually the one who steals the show. This time around, though, he had an assist from Neil Flynn, who had a few good zingers thrown in for good measure. One of them came when someone asked him if he knows the name of his character, which for seven years has always been known as "The Janitor."
More after the jump, including an episode spoiler...
Continue reading Scrubs panel: funny lines, backhanded remarks, and a "name" for the Janitor - TCA Report
Posted Jul 10th 2008 11:40AM by Kelly Woo
Filed under: Scrubs, Interviews, Ask TV Squad, Reality-Free
As TV fans, we all dream of being able to communicate with our favorite stars (Taylor Kitsch, why aren't you answering my letters?), but now AOL TV is going to make it happen.
In a new video interview series called Outside the Box, stars from the hottest shows will sit down together to answer questions submitted by you, the fans. Will a on-again, off-again couple finally get together? Boxers or briefs? What is the smoke monster? You ask, and they'll answer.
First up in our series will be the stars of
Scrubs, which, in case you haven't heard, is
moving from NBC to ABC. Shows almost never jump networks (
Buffy switching from The WB to UPN is a rare example), so it's great to see a veteran show with a healthy fanbase getting a second chance. And I'm especially happy that
Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence will get the chance to end the series his way -- or even
extend it to a ninth season.
Stars Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke and Donald Faison will be going "Outside the Box," so we need your questions! Submit them by Tuesday, July 15 and be sure to include your first name and your city and state. Now, wanna play Jiggly Ball?
Posted May 22nd 2008 2:19PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, Scrubs, Interviews, Celebrities, Reality-Free
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...
Continue reading Bill Lawrence of Scrubs: The TV Squad Interview
Posted May 8th 2008 11:42PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S07E11) Well, that was a little confusing, wasn't it? Kelso is still in charge of the hospital, Keith is still around, and J.D. and Elliot are talking about their almost-kiss from the 6th season finale, something we thought they had gotten past awhile ago.
It was pretty obvious that, once NBC told Bill Lawrence that he couldn't make any more new episodes after the strike was over, there was a mutual decision to make "My Princess" the season (and, as it turns out, the NBC) finale. Problem was, since it was episode 709 (look it up
at the NBCU Media Village site), some continuity problems would rear their heads.
Oh, well. Continuity was just a small problem with this episode. I will say this: any episode Zach Braff directs is going to be ambitious, and this was about as ambitious as
Scrubs has gotten. But for some reason, I was expecting more from this
Princess Bride homage than I got. It was funny in spots, but it could have been a whole lot funnier.
Continue reading Scrubs: My Princess (season finale)
Posted May 2nd 2008 11:23AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Scrubs, Video, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(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.
Continue reading Scrubs: My Waste of Time - VIDEO
Posted Apr 25th 2008 12:55AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Video, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(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...
Continue reading Scrubs: My Dumb Luck - VIDEO
Posted Apr 18th 2008 1:01AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(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.
Continue reading Scrubs: My Manhood
Posted Apr 11th 2008 12:00AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Video, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(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.
Continue reading Scrubs: My Bad Too - VIDEO
Posted Dec 7th 2007 1:41AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Episode Reviews
(S07E06) I've been getting mixed signals, from commenters as well as fellow critics, about this season of
Scrubs. A lot of TV Squad readers have been finding more fault with the episodes this year than I have, and the
Star-Ledger's Alan Sepinwall called this season "flat and repetitive"
on his blog. But I've been enjoying it so far; I think that the flatness some see is a low-key-ness that we haven't seen since season two or so. And the repetition? Final-season homages to the past. Anyway, I've been liking this season because
anything that even slightly improves on last season's general clunkiness makes me happy.
All that being said, this episode didn't do it for me. It just wasn't funny. Even the most reliably funny characters, ones that save otherwise clumsy episodes, just didn't have it in them this week. And even the touching J.D. - Elliot moment rang a bit hollow.
Continue reading Scrubs: My Number One Doctor
Posted Nov 30th 2007 1:42AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Episode Reviews
(S07E05) I really have to give Bill Lawrence and his staff credit; they're really doing a nice job of making the final season of
Scrubs a strong one. This is yet another example of how the writers have made the show funnier by making things less wacky. In fact, the lack of wackiness parallels how both Turk and J.D. are becoming more like real adults than either of them want to be.
Were there some tired jokes in this episode? Sure. But the laugh quotient was pretty high this week, and that's all anyone can ask, right?
Continue reading Scrubs: My Growing Pains
Posted Nov 16th 2007 1:40AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Episode Reviews
(S07E04) This was kind of a quiet episode, wasn't it? It seemed to go at a relaxed pace that I haven't seen from the show in quite some time. As we've been finding out this season, Bill Lawrence and company have been trying to scale back the zany and make some episodes that were more reminiscent of the show's early years. But this one felt like an
early one, like one of the first few half-dozen where even J.D.'s internal monologue was subdued.
But I liked it. It really got in and explored some of the characters' insecurities while giving us a few of the classic laughs that
Scrubs is known for.
Continue reading Scrubs: My Identity Crisis
Posted Nov 9th 2007 1:31AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Episode Reviews
(S07E03) Based on the first two episodes, I was tentatively hopeful that the final season of
Scrubs was going to be a good one. Now, after this third episode, my confidence in Bill Lawrence and company is almost fully restored after last season's awkwardness and inconsistency.
What worked this week? Well, having Tom Cavanagh come back to play J.D.'s older brother Dan always helps. But, like last week, we had a refreshing lack of insanity, punctuated by some funny situations that came out of the characters' personalities instead of zippy lines.
Continue reading Scrubs: My Inconvenient Truth
Posted Nov 2nd 2007 1:16AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Episode Reviews
(S07E02) Despite what I knew about this episode going in -- that it would be the one where J.D. and Kim finally have their baby -- I didn't expect it to be so warm-hearted and almost gimmick-free.
We've been hearing rumblings from Bill Lawrence, Zach Braff and company that the final season of
Scrubs was going to be more reminiscent of the show's earlier seasons, where there were flights of fancy but J.D. was a more realistic character and the fantasies weren't quite as outlandish. While last week's season premiere didn't quite reach those standards, this episode did. In fact, this felt more like one of those first half-dozen first-season episodes that were slower-paced and relatively restrained, and it was quite refreshing to see.
Continue reading Scrubs: My Hard Labor
Posted Oct 25th 2007 11:04PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Scrubs, Episode Reviews
(S07E01) One thing I can say about the season premiere of
Scrubs' seventh and last season: It wasn't as lurchingly awkward as last year's season premiere. Or most of the first half of last season, for that matter. But that doesn't mean it was good.
There were a few laugh-out-loud moments, but most of the jokes fell pretty flat. And none of the flatness had anything to do with the conclusion of last year's cliffhanger, where J.D. and Elliot, trying to escape some big life changes, lie next to each other, and kinda sorta lean in for a kiss...
Continue reading Scrubs: My Own Worst Enemy (season premiere)
Posted Jun 15th 2007 2:40PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Scrubs, Celebrities
Well, sort of.
Aloma Wright will return to the show this fall, even though her character, Nurse Roberts, was killed off earlier this season. It's part of a deal that she made with Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence: if the show returned for another season, then she could return to the show as Roberts' twin sister Shirley. She'll wear a wig.
Lawrence wasn't sure if there would be another season of the show when he planned her death, but now that they are returning after all he's going to stick to the deal. Which is a good thing. I really liked her character, and if the character can't come back at least the actress can.
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