Posted in: ABC, NBC, TV | Tagged: ABC, Bill Lawrence, inside of you, michael rosenbaum, nbc, Scrubs, zach braff

Scrubs Star Zach Braff on Cast Feeling "Pretty Fried" By Final Season

Zach Braff (Bad Monkey) reflects on how the original cast of Scrubs felt "exhausted" and "pretty fried" by the final season.

Zach Braff is eternally grateful for everything Scrubs has done for his career on the NBC/ABC medical sitcom, but as some would say, "Never wear out your welcome." Eight seasons was enough for the bulk of the cast in 2009 as Judy Reyes, who left the series, and Neil Flynn, who would star in his own ABC series The Middle, leaving after the Scrubs season nine premiere. Given the uncertainty of the series' future at the time, creator Bill Lawrence was happy to end it after eight seasons with the two-parter "My Finale." As ABC wanted another season, Lawrence developed the ninth and what ended up being the final season as a spinoff called Scrubs: Med School. As part of the dramatic overhaul of the cast, Braff, the original lead, would only appear in less than half the episodes of season nine, while Sarah Chalke and Ken Jenkins would be in far fewer episodes as a younger cast was brought in to lead away leaving Donald Faison and John C. McGinley to be the lone holdovers to appear in every season nine episode. Braff spoke with Michael Rosenbaum for his podcast Inside of You about the series burnout the original cast experienced in the maligned final season.

Scrubs Star Zach Braff on Cast Burnout and Revival Interest

"By the time nine years were over, we were sort of all exhausted by it," the Garden State director and star said. When Rosenbaum asked if it was because no one made him laugh anymore, Braff clarified it was "just the hours of it. I felt like, at the time, we were starting to repeat jokes. Everyone was pretty fried. This was back in the day, and I'm sure you did this on 'Smallville,' we would do insane hours that people don't even do anymore." Rosenbaum played Lex Luthor in The CW Superman prequel series opposite Tom Welling but left after seven seasons, only returning for the season 10 finale.

Season nine of Scrubs starred Kerry Bishé, Eliza Coupe, Dave Franco, and Michael Mosley. Bishé was the new focus with the voiceover in the new season, transitioning from Braff's John "JD" Dorian's narration to hers. Franco (Cole Anderson) and Moseley (Drew Suffin) were also additions for the season. Coupe, who played Dr. Denise Mahoney, was a season eight holdover. Rather than bowing gracefully, the fans didn't take as well to the new cast, and the series was canceled in 2010.

Braff is not bitter about how things turned out as he developed friendships with every cast member, including a rewatch podcast with Faison called Fake Doctors, Real Friends. He's even interested in a limited series revival. "Now, looking back — and there's talk of sort of reboots, that's a conversation — I think, 'Oh my gosh, being able to laugh with these people, belly laugh with these people again, would be a lot of fun,'" the Bad Monkey star said. For more, including Braff talking about his post-Scrubs work, like directing an episode of Lawrence's AppleTV+ series Ted Lasso, you can check out the episode above.

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