Bill Lawrence can breathe a sigh of aid — doubtless helped by nostalgia and curiosity, the Scrubs reboot launched to impressive ratings last week, amassing 11.36M complete cross-platform viewers on ABC, Hulu, Disney+ and digital platforms in its first 5 days, per Disney.
“I’m so happy and grateful that anybody still cares about that show,” Lawrence stated concerning the revival’s efficiency throughout an interview about his latest series, Rooster for HBO, which stars Steve Carell, Charly Clive, Phil Dunster, Danielle Deadwyler and Scrubs alum John C. McGinley.
In its return after 17 years, Scrubs, headlined by unique stars Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke, delivered the highest-rated comedy episode on ABC and prime ABC sequence debut on streaming in over a yr, for the reason that premiere of Shifting Gears.
“I love the people that are in it so much, not only the old ones because I’ve talked way too much about Zach,” Lawrence stated, referencing the truth that Braff has been engaged on all of his exhibits, together with directing an episode of Rooster. “And Donald and Sarah, I’ve been working with them a long time.”
He additionally talked about Scrubs OGs McGinley and Judy Reyes, who are recurring on the revival, with Christa Miller set to return for a visitor flip on the finish of the season, and Neil Flynn coming again too.
“All the new kids are great as well,” Lawrence added concerning the new forged who play medical interns below the tutelage of J.D. (Braff), Turk (Faison) and Elliot (Chalke). “It’s been really cool, metaphorically, to watch not only the actors, Donald, Zach and Sarah, who were the kids, be the older people, both professionally and in real life, to a new group of young actors and actresses, but even behind the scenes.”
Lawrence is referring to the revival’s showrunner, Aseem Batra, who bought her first job as a author on the unique Scrubs.
“She grew up and stayed on the show; she and I really connected there, so I like both those stories,” Lawrence stated concerning the revival’s multi-generational dynamic on- and off-screen. “I think the goal of that show was to not be a reboot but a revival and to keep it going with the next wave of characters.”
Three episodes in, the Scrubs revival ranks as ABC’s No.1 sequence in linear adults 18-49 rankings. Coupled with its potent streaming numbers, the medical comedy has made a robust case for a Season 2 renewal. (Scrubs additionally has excessive scores on Rotten Tomatoes, 90% from critics and 95% from viewers.)
“We’re all crossing our fingers that they let us do a whole bunch more, but we’re really hopeful,” Lawrence stated.
That can be nice information for followers of the unique and, specifically, one among its stars who isn’t within the revival’s 9 Season 1 episodes.
As Lawrence told Deadline ahead of the revival’s debut, “Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins) will be back next year. It just didn’t work out this year but it will next year.”
Dessi Gomez contributed to this report.
