After Scrubs moved from NBC to ABC this season, a lot of fans assumed that this would be the one last gasp for the show. And those fans were right.

Show creator Bill Lawrence spoke at William & Mary last night and told the crowd that the show was indeed ending at the end of this season. It has nothing to do with the network switch, it's actually because Zach Braff decided to leave. J.D. is the pivotal character in the show so the show can't really continue without him (though I'm sure a lot of fans will say that it could).

This isn't shocking news, and the way things went (the switch of networks, Braff hinting he might want to leave, the show being in its 8th season) probably means they had time to film a real finale to the show. And we'll learn the janitor's name! I had no idea that the janitor only spoke to J.D. the first season because he was originally supposed to be someone only J.D. could see. I'll have to go back and look at those episodes again. It might make the first season seem more like The Sixth Sense for fans.

[via AOL Television]

(S21E01) "Sorta." - Ryan, after his girlfriend asks him if the eight people in the house are four guys and four girls

It goes without saying that I am way, way beyond the demographic for The Real World. I kept thinking while watching this 21st season (yes, 21 seasons - 17 years) opener, "wow, I'm glad I'm not 23 anymore and worried about stupid stuff."

This season is the usual mix that the show always seems to put together, and here are the notes that I made while watching the show.

Off-Broadway theater's accidental punchline The Blue Man Group will be making an appearance on this season's premiere of Scrubs. The blue-skinned, percussion-inclined trio will be joined on stage by Zach Braff's character J.D. at The Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino.

This is, of course, not the Blue Man's first television appearance. In addition to numerous ads and talk show appearances, the group was part of an on-going Arrested Development gag, which involved David Cross' Tobias as the group's perpetual understudy. I've got my fingers-crossed for an Arrested Development-Scrubs crossover episode. Zach Braff appeared on the beloved, canceled Fox sitcom and hinted in interviews of Tobias, a licensed therapist, making a possible stop at Sacred Heart Hospital. It's probably just wishful thinking, but a comedy fan can dream.

The Scrubs season premiere is set for Thursday, November 30th at 9PM.

Look, I'm not a doctor; I don't even play one on TV. However, after watching Tuesday night's episode of Scrubs and reading brother Joel's review I got to thinking (which is always a bad idea): was the diagnosis wrong?

Well, no. To recap, in Tuesday's episode three patients at Sacred Heart died after rabies infected organs (liver, heart valve, kidney) were transplanted into their bodies. The organs came from a patient (Jill Tracy, played by Nicole Sullivan) who J.D. (Zach Braff) though passed away from an overdose.

In actuality it seems that the case of rabies-infected organs was 'ripped from the headlines' from an event that occurred in 2004. According to the CNN article,  three recipient patients at three different hospitals in the United States died after the infected organs (one liver and two kidneys) were transplanted. It also turns out that the organ donor also died of rabies, which infects the central nervous system and can cause symptoms such as hypersalivation (foaming at the mouth), insomnia and anxiety.

Rabies is normally not tested for during transplant procedures. More common infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B and C and syphilis are more commonly tested.

And you thought you couldn't learn anything from TV.

 

Stop! Don't touch the remote! Keep that finger away from the Power button! In other words, don't turn off your TV during TV Turnoff Week. If you do, you'll be missing one of the funniest comedies on television today.

I am talking about NBC's Scrubs. There hasn't been a comedy since Friends, not even Everyone Everybody Loves Raymond, that makes me laugh out loud like Scrubs does. I mean, how can you not chuckle while Chris Turk (Donald Faison) dances and lip-synchs to Bel Biv Devoe's Poison. Or snicker when Dr. Cox (John McGinley) goes on one of his 30-second rant on, for instance, why the purple Wiggle is always sleeping (for the uninitiated, the purple Wiggle is Jeff Fatt of the very popular children's television show The Wiggles). Or guffaw when J.D. (Zach Braff) has one of his surreal daydreams in the middle of a conversation.

Interesting piece over at The New York Times about how the creators and producers were so exhausted by NBC's handling of the show (various time slots, on the shelf, off the shelf, etc) that this year they just decided to let it all hang out and kick the wackniess into high gear. Creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence:

"This year we decided to stop obsessing about how we can bring new people to the show...we decided that this year, we'd just do what we wanted and hoped we would at least be proud of it, even if it never saw the light of day."