Before Bill Lawrence announced this would be the last season of Scrubs, rumors were rampant that the show, if its ratings held up, was going to remain on the ABC schedule. With or without creator Lawrence and star Zach Braff. Heck, even Bill himself said something to that effect when the show premiered in January!
Sure, Zach was the center of the show for its years on NBC, but there are now enough established characters to keep the show going without Braff in the middle of it all. In addition, Lawrence and his crew introduced a whole new set of interns this year. With enough time and pruning, these folks could have carried on the traditions that the show has carefully honed over the years.
The perfect example of this “what could have been” scenario? The current slate of Scrubs:Interns webisodes.
Overseen by Lawrence, Interns focuses on a quartet of fresh-faced interns starting their careers at Sacred Heart. At the heart of the group is Sonja “Sunny” Day, who is recording all of the daily happenings for her video blog. Joining her on the journey are straight-talking Denise, chipper Kate, and sad-sack Howie.
There are definite comparisons to current cast members and the new interns. Sonja, the positive force of the group and its unelected leader, is very similar in attitude to J.D.; however, I’m sure her positively bright attitude would even sicken him a little. Katie is definitely a smaller version of Elliot: peppy and happy on the outside, but really thinking some dark thoughts on the inside. Denise (or, as J.D. likes to call her, Jo) is quite similar to Dr. Cox in her no-nonsense treatment of the patients (and not her attraction to fat guys).
Howie is Ted. Poor Howie.
These webisodes paint a nice “What if…” picture for Scrubs because, other than one appearance, the rest of the episodes are J.D. free. This has given cast members like Ted, Janitor, and The Todd some additional screen time with the interns. The results of these pairings have been positive, with Interns retaining much of the spirit of the over-the-air program.
Which begs the question: Why couldn’t Scrubs continue minus J.D.? Long-running shows like Cheers, ER and Law & Order have had so many cast changes it’s been hard to keep track of them. And while these shows may had some bumps along the way, they were or have been solid ratings grabbers, no matter what cast was involved. Placing the interns as the focal point for a new season of Scrubs would have given the show a fresh perspective that could have helped the show last on ABC longer than just one season.
You can decide this yourself by viewing the following video. This is the sixth in the series and features Sunny as a replacement for Doug in the Brain Trust. If you are interested in viewing the first five episodes you can find them at the show’s website.
Clacked by Richard Keller 
on Mar 12, 2009 @ 17:00 EST5EDT
