If you're a fan of 'Scrubs' and were holding out hope that the show was going to return... well, you weren't paying attention to the signs. ABC burned off the final two episodes unannounced this month; the season finale aired before a night of Wednesday comedy reruns. Then a number of show writers and producers took to their Twitter and Facebook feeds to mention that last week's episode was the "series finale" and not the season finale.

But if you need to find an "official" word that the show is done, you pretty much can't get any more official than Zach Braff himself. He told his Facebook fans that "it appears that "New Scrubs", "Scrubs 2.0", "Scrubs with new kids", "Scrubbier", "Scrubs without JD" is no more. It was worth a try, but alas... it didn't work."

After nine seasons on the air, is 'Scrubs' checking out of Sacred Heart? According to Zach Braff's Facebook page, yes.

"Many of you have asked, so here it is: it appears that "New Scrubs", "Scrubs 2.0", "Scrubs with new kids", "Scrubbier", "Scrubs without JD" is no more. It was worth a try, but alas... it didn't work. zb," he posted today.

(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.

(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.

(S09E05) Sorry this one is late, folks. Sometimes life intervenes before you get to see your favorite shows...

Can you blame me? Given the low ratings and the fact that ABC has decided to blow out all 13 episodes by the end of January, it seems like this is the last we're going to see of the Scrubs: Med School gang, unless the show gets yet another last-minute reprieve. So it's tough for me to get too attached to this new set of characters.

But that may be a good thing. If what we saw last night was any indication of how things are going to be once the med students are carrying the show, it's in trouble.

He may not have recently exchanged an "I do" like his older brother Kevin, but Nick Jonas has a new relationship of his own to crow about, and he'll do it as guest host of 'Live with Regis and Kelly' come January.

According to Just Jared, Jonas will be subbed in for Regis Philbin on Fri., Jan. 8 -- six days after an opening tour begins for Nick Jonas and the Administration, the 17-year-old musician's new band. On Jan. 2, the band will play in Dallas; their first CD, titled 'Who I Am,' is set to be released on Tue., Feb. 2.

(S09E04) It was good to see an episode that had a bit more of a balance between the old and the new. Yes, we concentrated a lot on the J.D./Turk "Bro-a-Palooza" and Ted's departure from Sacred Heart. But we also got a fair amount of the students working together.

Do Lucy and Cole still need a little bit more of a personality infusion? Sure. But it's hard to keep up comedically with characters who have been developed over the last eight years. This episode gives me hope that eventually they're going to be able to stand on their own.

(S09E03) Since I saw the first two episodes via screener, this is the first time I got to see the "[Med School]" subtitle in the opening credits. Wow, talk about barely there... if you blinked, you missed it. I guess it's better than not having it there at all, but wow; it's as if ABC is really trying hard to tie this show to the original Scrubs.

I felt a little odd watching this episode. By all objective measures, it was a good episode; funny, good story, lots of glimpses into the characters' personalities. But, as in the first two episodes, most of the good stuff involved the old cast, mainly Zach Braff. And, since this is supposed to work more as a transition to a new show than more of the old show, this trend is getting me worried.

Despite a series finale last season with an episode fittingly entitled 'My Finale,' the majority of the 'Scrubs' cast, along with several new faces, is back for a ninth season.

In this incarnation of the comedy-drama, J.D. and Turk have moved onto bigger and better things and are now instructors at Winston University, which has been built over the rubble of Sacred Heart Hospital. And, we're happy to report, their bromance remains undiminished. What tipped us off? Their love song duet and slow-mo embrace.

Watch the video after the jump.

(S09E02) Here is where we see glimpses of what Scrubs: Med School could be. Lucy gets too involved with a case. Denise opens up -- well, at least as much as she can open up -- to Drew. Cole being Cole. Cox overseeing everything with his lit-on-fire rantings.

But they're just glimpses. As in the premiere, the more memorable stuff was from the old crew and how they interacted with each other. The most troubling part of that was J.D., or, more accurately, the Two J.D.s.

(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 from the phone interview I did with Bill Lawrence a couple of weeks ago... minus the part where we talked about Scrubs. That's an interesting bit in and of itself, and I'll publish that in full sometime during the early part of October.

This goes on for about 5700 words, but if you hang in there, you'll find a lot of good conversation about Cougar Town, the state of the sitcom, why Bill thinks NBC is shortsighted in its dependence on Jay Leno, and why Courteney Cox let him talk our ears off at the Cougar Town TCA session.

You can either leave comments here or at the bottom of the edited version.

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.