Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence rips NBC
The Ausiello Scoop interviewed Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence last week and got the full details about the break-up with NBC and what is to come on ABC.
Ausiello says he likes Lawrence because he doesn’t mince words. I’d have to agree, based on his harsh trashing of NBC he did during the discussion.
Here are some of the highlights of the talk they had:
What led to the break-up with NBC?
Lawrence: When the strike ended, we told NBC that, even though we had another seven episodes mapped out, we could do it in three, and they just didn’t have any interest. Total harsh buzz of not giving a s–t about a show that had been on the network for seven years and made them millions of dollars. And I’d be more bitter, except that it worked out good for us.
We finally know why the heck that Princess Bride episode aired out of order. Not by their choosing:
They didn’t want to do any kind of wrap-up?
Lawrence: Not only did they not want to do any kind of wrap-up, but they took an episode that was supposed to air in the middle of the season — the fairytale episode — and marketed it as a series finale. Which was bulls–t. It was never supposed to be a series finale, much less a season finale, and I think it ended up getting judged kind of harshly because of it. If it was just a regular episode that people had tuned into I think they would’ve thought it was cool and funny.
I was under the impression NBC was willing to give you one episode to finish things off. No?
Lawrence: Well, here’s the thing. When the strike ended, NBC said, “You can shoot an hour-long finale, but we’ll only pay for half of it.” They wanted [ABC Studios] to suck up all the expenses, and ABC said that was unacceptable. And it felt especially harsh because Scrubs was pulling in better [ratings] than 30 Rock and My Name is Earl — even though I love those two shows — and they were encouraged to do as many f–king episodes as they can after the strike. And after seven years, I ask for three episodes to wrap up the series and they say, “Tough s–t.”
Here is how it ended up on ABC:
How do you go from three episodes on NBC to 18 on ABC?
Lawrence: It was weird, man. I was thinking we’d put these last six episodes on DVD, just so we can wrap the show up and be proud of it, but the head of ABC Studios, Mark Pedowitz, said, “Bill, if you can make the show a little cheaper, I can probably get us a full season on ABC.” I didn’t answer right away. The first thing I did was call the cast and the writers together and I said, “Look, if we’re going to do this, we have to get back to something we creatively can all be excited about.” Because, personally, I felt like this past season we were less than inspired comedically. So I said to them, “This means you guys working harder. It means having emotional stakes and losing all the goofy, broad stuff that I think is easy to write… ” And everyone said they were on board for one more season.
Read the entire article over on TV Guide, as it has a bit more about the way the show was sort of flat this year and how they’ll be saving money by having each actor take TWO episodes off next season.
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