Scrubs talks crap about NBC now that it's at ABC

Scrubs has jumped NBC's ship and moved to ABC for its eighth season, which ABC finally announced at their annual fall season upfronts this week - "finally" because the move was perhaps the world's worst-kept secret for the past three months.

Now that they're in the clear, creator Bill Lawrence is having no trouble talking crap about his old employer to TV Guide:

What led to the break-up with NBC? Lawrence: 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. And I’d be more bitter, except that it worked out good for us.

They didn’t want to do any kind of wrap-up?
Lawrence: 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.

I was under the impression NBC was willing to give you one episode to finish things off. No?
Lawrence: Well, here’s the thing. When the strike ended, NBC said, “You can shoot an hour-long finale, but we’ll only pay for half of it.” They wanted [ABC Studios] to suck up all the expenses, and ABC said that was unacceptable. And it felt especially harsh because Scrubs was pulling in better [ratings] than 30 Rock and My Name is Earl — even though I love those two shows — and they were encouraged to do as many f–king episodes as they can after the strike. And after seven years, I ask for three episodes to wrap up the series and they say, “Tough s–t.”

Well then. Lawrence also mentions that the show will move away from the broad, goofy comedy of the past few seasons and get back to more dramatic episodes. That might sound absurd, but I find it pretty smart: for proof, I'd like to direct you to the show's first two seasons, when J.D. and company were all scared newbies, the stories weren't afraid to be depressing, and the show was actually, you know, good. If it means we get to avoid another musical episode, I'll start watching it again.

What I find most interesting, though, is that amidst the news of the network jump, no one's talking about Zach Braff staying on the show. This past year was supposed to be his last season - but I guess after The Last Kiss and The Ex flopped, Braff decided a day job wasn't a bad thing to hang on to.

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