'Scrubs' star Sarah Chalke has landed a guest spot on the CBS pilot 'Team Spitz.' She'll play a guidance counselor in the high school comedy, which also co-stars 'The Daily Show's' Rob Riggle. Meanwhile, Chalke will also star in the ABC comedy 'Freshman,' about three politicians living together in D.C. [Ausiello Files]

More casting news after the jump.

Sarah Chalke is going to Washington.

The former 'Scrubs' star has been tapped to star in ABC's 'Freshmen,' the highly-anticipated comedy pilot from Greg Malins and, of all people, blogger Arianna Huffington.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Chalke will play Jane, a "beautiful," "smart" and extremely successful woman who is great at politics but terrible with men. Jane lives with two male roommates in D.C., each of whom are freshman members of Congress. Said roles have yet to be cast.

(S09E09) While the illustrious boss-man -- AKA Joel Keller -- is off at the TCA Tour stalking creator Bill Lawrence, I have the honor of stepping in and looking at the latest episode of Scrubs. J.D. returned this week, and the opening sequence slipped back to having him hang the final x-ray, rather than Lucy, who took over the last couple of episodes.

With J.D. back, the silliness between him and Turk returned as well, but it didn't dominate the episode as it so often has in the past. It was also nice to see the old Elliot in full neurotic meltdown mode. Plus, the scene at home where she was scarfing down her meat salad instead of making sweet love to J.D. was almost too authentic to real life with a pregnant woman. It was nice to see J.D. being supportive, if frustrated. And at least Cox is there to support his neediness.

(S09E07 / S09E08) I don't usually do a joint review when two episodes of a show air in the same night, but both these episodes were so interestingly similar in tone, that I felt it was better to discuss them together than separately. Also, I've got a case of the winter lazies.

But back to that first point: Many of you couldn't understand why I hated the episode on New Year's Day so much; many of you felt that it did a nice job of showcasing the med students as well as a maturing Turk and Elliot. But there was something so off about how those characters were written last week that it didn't sit well with me. This week's episodes showed me why. They also gave me a good indication of the pace and tone that Med School should settle into. Just hope it's not too late.

(S09E06) Wow. Just wow.

I knew the first Zach Braff-free episode of this new version of Scrubs was going to be a bit of a bumpy ride, but I didn't think things would be this bad.

It's not just that the episode was lacking in funny. The established characters were mostly written wrong, exhibiting characteristics we've never really seen before. And the med students -- except for Drew -- were so broadly written that they could have been played by anybody.

No wonder why this episode was buried on New Year's Day.

(S09E01) As much as I want to treat Scrubs: Med School as a new series, let's face it: The show is listed everywhere as being Scrubs' ninth season. So that's the way I'm going to treat it until told otherwise. Sound good to you folks?

Anyway, my preview of this new iteration of Scrubs pretty much gave the entire setup, so we can mercifully skip past that and just talk about what was funny, and what wasn't.

Oh, and for those of you who are still hanging on to the story thread that is the Elliot / J.D. relationship, you'll be happy to know that everything's fine there. More after the jump.

If you're a regular reader of TV Squad, you probably already know what's going on with the unexpected ninth season of Scrubs. From Bill Lawrence's statement that the eighth season might not be the final one to his detailed descriptions of how the show was going to transition to its new med school setting, you've been given a good idea of how this shift was going to happen.

But one thing we didn't know was the biggest question of all: is it going to be funny?

The answer? A qualified yes. The two episodes ABC sent for review, which air back-to-back tomorrow at 9 PM ET, were definitely funny. But most of the humor came not from the new med students we're supposed to get to know, but from the characters we've known and laughed with for eight years. And for this ninth season to succeed, that ratio will have to even out, and quickly.

Here's the full transcript of the interview I did with Bill Lawrence on the last day of the TCAs. It's goes into some of the financial nitty-gritty of the Scrubs deal and drops a few other details. I also asked him to repeat what was going to go on in the new Scrubs a few times, just so I could understand completely what was going on. Enjoy! The main post, where you can leave your comments, is here.

Well let's start with the obvious. You've been thinking about doing another season of Scrubs for like a year now.
(laughing)

Because you told me...when'd you talk to me about that? About a year ago?
We're the only people who shot the shit about it. I thought there was a chance it would happene. I just saw the landscape, you know.

On the last day of the TCA press tour, as the stars of ABC were yukking it up at a crowded party at the Langham Huntington in Pasadena, Bill Lawrence and I were out in the courtyard talking about what the new season of Scrubs -- or as I'm calling it, Scrubs 2.0 -- is going to look like.

Essentially, it's going to be like a medical version of The Paper Chase, with Turk and Cox being the professors. We'll be following the lives of young medical students who will shuttle back and forth between classes and their rotations at the "new" Sacred Heart, which is being rebuilt on the med school's campus. While in the hospital, they'll run into a lot of the characters from Scrubs 1.0, including J.D., as Zach Braff is scheduled to be in the first six episodes.

It all sounds a bit confusing, so I'll let Bill lay it out for you folks. An edited transcript is after the jump. The full transcript can be found here. And I'll be getting on the phone with Bill to talk Cougar Town sometime next week, so stay tuned. Oh, and at the end of the interview, we talk about the role Bill's wife, Christa Miller, had on Scrubs that didn't involve any acting.

As it's been speculated in the last months, Scrubs will not be the same when entering its ninth season. We know that Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke have both inked deals to appear in only six episodes and that, since Donald Faison's pilot wasn't picked up, rumors were going around that Scrubs 2.0 could revolve around Turk and medical school.

Confirmation has finally arrived and the show will indeed go through an extreme makeover that will take the action from the hospital to medical school.

Slight spoilers coming up!

This is Spoilers Anonymous, a weekly column here at TV Squad where we supply you with the dirt on some of the more popular shows on the air. We'll never put spoilers up here on the main page in order to help the reformed stay unspoiled. If you have anything to add to the group, feel free to step up and let yourself be heard, either with our tips form or by emailing us at tvsquad at gmail dot com, or call and leave a message at (775) 640-8479. Your anonymity is guaranteed, if you wish to remain as such.

This week we have: Glee, 24, Melrose Place, Grey's Anatomy, Chuck, Scrubs and Fringe (SPOILERS FOLLOW!)

What will the upcoming ninth season of Scrubs look like? Only ABC and show creator Bill Lawrence know the answer to that question.

During the network's recent upfront presentation, ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson said Lawrence was playing with two possible scenarios for the show, one of which is "a complete rethinking" and the other a simple continuation of the format with a new cast.

Either way, things will be different. And with star Zach Braff signed on for only six episodes next season and Sarah Chalke not looking to return full-time, it seems like this might be Donald Faison's time to shine. Or bomb terribly. It could go either way, really.

It looks like we're creeping closer and closer to ABC bringing Scrubs back for a ninth season. Now comes word that Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke have both inked deals to appear in six episodes, most likely at the beginning of the season to help set up the new J.D.-less Sacred Heart. Creator Bill Lawrence said that he responded well to Eliza Coupe's crotchety Denise (the intern with no bedside manner). He didn't seem to say much about the rest of the cast, but I think this could work.

Imagine transitioning Scrubs fully into a teaching hospital show. Instead of following one batch of interns, you can bring in a new batch every year or so. We can keep some of the good ones from prior classes, like Denise, but other than that it's new interns and we focus on the "teaching" staff, which would now include Turk. Donald Faison, Neil Flynn and John C. McGinley are on board for a full season, so that direction could definitely work. It would be a different kind of show, but if Lawrence stays involved it can still be a very funny show.