Zach Braff Has The Best Plan For A Scrubs Revival Series
This would be awesome!
If you’re a fan of the TV show Scrubs, you just might see your favorite doctors from Sacred Heart Hospital return one day, and you can thank Zach Braff. The Emmy-nominated actor, who played the lead role of Dr. John “J.D.” Dorian on the long-running comedy, is down for a continuation, and he has the perfect idea for it. It not only would get the old band back together, but it would pay off a long-running joke, in perfect Scrubs fashion.
While on his recent press tour for his new Disney+ movie, the remake of the classic family film Cheaper by the Dozen, Zach Braff discussed his time on Scrubs and laid out his idea for a possible reunion. Considering his best friend is Donald Faison, who played Dr. Chris Turk on the series, his idea could actually happen. Braff outlined in an interview with Looper just how the Scrubs revival would play out. “My dream storyline — I always say this every time a reporter asks me — is … you know how much they wanted to make their independent movie, ‘Dr. Acula’?” Zach Braff asked, referring to a long-running joke from the series. “My dream is that, somehow, they come into some money and they finally get a chance to execute their lifelong dream of being independent filmmakers and making the ‘Dr. Acula’ Dracula movie.”
Not only is the premise clever, it is a perfect way to recapture the goofy, off-kilter humor that fans still love about the show, more than a decade after the final episode aired. Many of those fans didn’t care for the way the series wrapped – the ninth season in 2009-2010 featured Zach Braff and the cast acting as teachers to a new cast of young doctors, in an attempt to spin-off the series. It didn’t work, and the show’s usual slapstick humor wasn’t working the way it once was. A revival, either as a limited series or a movie, would be welcomed by fans.
Unlike some sitcom revivals that we’ve seen lately, fans are actually asking for a Scrubs return. The show has remained popular in reruns – you can actually watch the entire series on streaming services Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. Zach Braff and Donald Faison are currently hosting a podcast, “Fake Doctors, Real Friends,” which is keeping the Scrubs fandom alive. A T-Mobile ad during this year’s Super Bowl even featured Braff and Faison singing about the company’s internet service, and proved they still have the hilarious chemistry to make a reunion work.
Scrubs premiered in the fall of 2001 and became and instant hit on NBC, and later on ABC for the final two seasons. The last episode aired in March of 2010, and Zach Braff and the cast went their separate ways. The final two seasons were filled with behind-the-scenes drama: the show was supposed to end with season seven, and the final two seasons were revamped with new settings and cast members that fans disliked. It makes a revival even more appealing, to give the show the send-off it deserved.
A Scrubs revival is certainly a possibility in today’s reboot-happy entertainment world. The show was produced by ABC/Disney, which would make it a perfect fit for their Hulu streaming service, where the series is currently available. Considering Zach Braff just made a movie for Disney+, it’s obvious the studio is comfortable working with him. A reunion could even go to Disney+ or Netflix, which is clamoring for content with a built-in fanbase.
Zach Braff and the cast have all done pretty well for themselves in the years since Scrubs ended. Braff made the hit dramedy Garden State while doing Scrubs, and continued to work in film and television after the show ended. He played the lead in Disney’s Oz The Great and Powerful in 2013 and most recently in HBO Max’s Moonshot. Donald Faison starred in the underrated sci-fi film Skyline in 2010 and Kick-Ass 2 in 2013, and is an in-demand voice actor. Sarah Chalke recently returned for the Roseanne reboot (and the Connors continuation) and has worked constantly on television.
