Bill Lawrence, creator of Scrubs, Cougar Town and the recent hit Shrinking, as well as the mega-hit Ted Lasso, has been busy with his new Apple TV+ series, Bad Monkey, starring Vince Vaughn. The series focuses on Vaughn, a former Miami cop turned health inspector in the Florida Keys who is trying to get back on the force.
Even when promoting Bad Monkey, the conversation returns to Scrubs, the second series he co-created and one of the biggest hits of the 2000s. Scrubs ran for nine seasons in total, seven with NBC and two with ABC, and is the subject of constant conversation about a reunion, perhaps a revival like Frasier and Will & Grace.
In an interview with Variety, Lawrence believes that there is “real momentum” for such a project to come to fruition, but it's all just a business hurdle. For example, Scrubs is a Disney series, and Lawrence currently has a deal with Warner Bros. Television. Other than that, the original cast is busy with regular projects.
“It’s fascinating to me that the passion for Scrubs has never died, and I’m so grateful for that,” Lawrence said. “Maybe it’s because Zach and Donald are real friends in real life and they do their podcast and these T-Mobile commercials. None of us really need that, and that’s probably the biggest barrier to entry into this world: Everyone is so successful and talented and adorable.”
Lawrence has maintained working relationships with some of his stars, including Zach Braff, who was nominated for an Emmy for directing an episode of Ted Lasso. Braff even has a guest role on Bad Monkey.
Despite this, the writer hopes that something can happen in the future, but he understands that it is not a priority and that he has to put many things in place.
“The business side can always be messed up. But I’m very hopeful,” he said. “It would be fun to do, not only because we want an excuse to hang out, but because it would be fun to do it creatively. You don’t want to just mail everything out. But it would be interesting to see these older characters and see what the new young people in medicine are like right now, because it’s a heroic profession, and nobody’s in it to get rich.”