'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
THEY'RE ALL COMING BACK
Scrubs creator has harsh words for NBC
by Erin Martell, posted May 15th 2008 11:03AM
Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence recently did an interview with TV Guide's Michael Ausiello and took NBC to task for its shoddy treatment of the show. The network cut the comedy's final season short, but the show is getting a second chance on ABC. Lawrence slammed his former network bosses for denying him the opportunity to conclude the show properly, and discussed Scrubs' future on ABC. Here's a brief recap of the interview:- Once the strike was over, Lawrence told NBC that he could finish up the season in three episodes instead of the planned seven. NBC had no interest in wrapping up the season in a way that would satisfy fans.
- He was unhappy with NBC's choice to air "My Princess" as the series finale. The episode was meant to air mid-season, and Lawrence never wanted it to be the season or series finale.
- NBC gave Lawrence the chance to film a one-hour finale, but only offered to pay for half of it. The network initially wanted ABC to incur all of the episode's expenses, but ABC rejected that idea.
- The ABC version of Scrubs will still be a comedy, but Lawrence wants to move away from the "incredibly broad, unrealistic moments and fantasies that were both in reality and not in reality." He's hoping to use more of the character-based comedy from the show's second and third seasons.
- ABC's budget cuts will have a few implications, but Lawrence doesn't expect fans to notice anything. The writing staff is smaller, the episodes are going to be filmed in four-and-a-half days instead of five, and every cast member will take two episodes off.
- Ken Jenkins, who plays Dr. Kelso, is still a series regular. He'll interact mainly with Dr. Cox, the new Chief of Medicine.
Are you looking forward to the new and improved Scrubs?
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