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Bill Lawrence Soothes My Fears About Cougar Town

BuzzSugar — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:30:21 -0700

When I first checked out Cougar Town, the new ABC comedy from Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence and starring Courteney Cox, I was a little concerned. The show was racier than I was expecting, and something in the tone seemed a little off. Apparently, I wasn't alone in that opinion - and apparently, Lawrence is listening. When he took the stage at TCA over the weekend, one of his main messages seemed to be that he knows he has some work to do.

"It's the first time I've ever written a show that I feel like I need outside input [to get right]," Lawrence told me after his session, adding that his staff now has more female writers than male writers. Though his wife (Christa Miller, who also stars in the show) and their friends provide him with a lot of material, he said he still has a tendency to see things from a guy's perspective - like a waxing scene he recently wrote that he said might have gone down the 40-Year-Old Virgin route if he hadn't been careful.

A number of the things that bugged me in the pilot have been reshot: He said the opening scene (which used to feature Cox and Busy Philipps's characters ogling guys at a high school football game) felt "like a cartoon" and has been changed, and he's toned down lines that make it seem like Cox's character couldn't get a date despite looking like, y'know, Courteney Cox. (Now it's more that - as a friend told him - "every single guy at our age is either gay, broken, or dating younger girls.")

To hear what Lawrence thinks of the term "cougar" and why he used it for the title, read more.

Lawrence said he's honestly not sure if the term "cougar" should be considered a positive or negative word - "I’ve heard both sides of it, being a misogynistic word and a word of empowerment. I think it’s just a word." - and noted that Cox's character could, indeed, actually date men her own age. Also, women in the show are never called cougars, except for the "unbelievably big cheat" that cougars are the high school mascot.

About that title: "What we were hoping to do titling the show Cougar Town was set the bar so low that . . . occasionally, people would watch it and go, 'Wow, this is not as horrible as I thought it would be,'" Lawrence cracked on the panel. But, more seriously, he said that part of the game of TV these says is to come up with a "noisy" title that will make people take notice. He continued:

If this show were to be every week about what young man is Courteney going to sleep with, that’s the Samantha from Sex and the City show, and I don’t think people would respond to it, and I wouldn’t respond to it. And, in fact, it’s not the show.

I feel better about the show after hearing what Lawrence had to say - but what about you? Does the title bug you? Or do you think it's brilliant?

Scrubs Could Return For a Ninth Season

BuzzSugar — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:15:54 -0700

I was so excited when ABC picked up Scrubs from NBC last year, because I thought that would give the show an opportunity to go out with the kind of finale it deserved. Well, that finale is just a week away now - and there's word that it might not be the end of the show after all.

This isn't the first time we've heard Scrubs renewal buzz, but it's starting to seem more serious, considering that ABC and Executive Producer Bill Lawrence are reportedly talking about budget and which cast members could return for a possible ninth season. Zach Braff has said this season would be his last, and several of the others (Donald Faison, John C. McGinley, and Neil Flynn among them) have been cast in pilots that are currently under consideration. But that wouldn't necessarily keep some or all of them from returning part-time, and the show does have a new crop of interns who could keep things going.

Scrubs hasn't exactly been going crazy in the ratings, but apparently it's been consistent enough that ABC might want to keep it around. And the Hollywood Reporter suggests that its renewal could mean good things for Better Off Ted, too, as there's talk of "possibly extending the pairing into next season." But would people keep watching Scrubs for another year - especially if the original cast members were only around occasionally? Has the show already told its best stories, or is there life in it yet?

Scrubs Returns With Courteney Cox

BuzzSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:30:33 -0800

If you're a Scrubs fan, there's one important thing to remember about tonight's premiere: The show makes its debut on ABC, not NBC, its previous longtime home. So tell your friends and check your DVR: The Sacred Heart doctors have, as the ads have been saying, found "a better place to operate."

The general consensus seems to be that in its new (and likely final) season, Scrubs is better than it's been in years. And that's good news, because if the show is really wrapping up this year, I'd love to see it happen on a high note. The first couple of episodes are going to be a little less silly, because, as Bill Lawrence said, "the show has to be borderline real for people to give a sh*t." (Fair enough.) But that doesn't mean it's not still clever and funny.

It also has Courteney Cox on board for a few weeks, starting with tonight's two new episodes at 9 and 9:30 p.m. The guest-starring gig led to her taking the lead in a new series from the Scrubs creator, and I'm excited to see her doing comedy again. Her character, the new chief of medicine, is described as a mix of "super-friendly and soulless," and that's clear just from a couple of clips. To check them out, read more.

Courteney Cox Heads to Cougar Town

BuzzSugar — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:32:15 -0700

Courteney Cox's guest appearance on Scrubs won't be the end of the partnership between her and that show's creator, Bill Lawrence. The two are teaming up for a new comedy called Cougar Town, which will star Cox as a newly single 40-year-old with a 17-year-old son.

"Forty-year-old women on TV are so beautiful and perfect and wrinkle-free," Lawrence told The Hollywood Reporter. "People don't do the reality of it, and there is a real comedy area about a woman who is talking about Botox, about having sex with the lights on and how her body is changing." He said he based parts of the role on his wife, Christa Miller, who plays Jordan on Scrubs.

Lawrence first worked with Cox on Friends and described her as "comedically fearless," which makes sense: Back at TCA, he talked how she was "up for anything" and he'd had to leave her back at the set during the Scrubs panel because she was filming a gory-sounding fantasy sequence. For her part, Cox said she's "a huge fan of Bill Lawrence and his comedic sensibilities."

After the darkness of Dirt, it should be fun to see Cox back to doing comedy. Just one thing, though: The name Cougar Town makes me cringe a little. I guess I'm just not ready to "reclaim" the word cougar yet. Can you work on that, Bill?

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Scrubs Sparks a Laugh Riot at TCA

BuzzSugar — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:37:12 -0700

The cast of Scrubs just got offstage a few minutes ago at the TCA press tour, and my stomach still hurts from laughing. The Sacred Heart crew seems so grateful to have what Zach Braff called "a bonus year" to work together after narrowly escaping cancellation (well, several times) at the hands of NBC. Now on ABC, whose studio arm has produced the show since the start, Scrubs seems creatively refreshed - I'll say that I personally laughed harder at the brief trailer for the new season than I have at any episode in years. There was enough material in their 45-minute session to fuel several posts (and probably a stand-up special for executive producer Bill Lawrence), but I'll just share a few of the best tidbits now:

The million-dollar question: Is this the last year of Scrubs? "It is most likely Zach Braff's final year on the show," Lawrence said. But he said he's always thought the show could be like the comedy version of ER, with new actors coming in. We'll see new interns this Fall, including the hilarious Aziz Ansari. Regardless of whether ABC decides to bring the show back for another year, "We're certainly going to film the last one like it's young Zach Braff's exit and make a big deal out of it," Lawrence said.
For Braff's part, he said he does have the sense that it's his last year - but he "would love to come back and visit, direct some, do craft service if they need some . . . "
Lawrence said the characters will change a little bit this year (partially because now they'll be the bosses of a whole new group of young doctors). "One of the things that sometimes bums me about television as a TV fan is, we like continuity. We don't want our characters to change," Lawrence said. "At the same time, once you reach the seven- or eight-year mark, you're like, when the hell are these people going to change?"

To hear a little bit about some of the new episodes - which Lawrence said are "as good as anything we've done" - and see what's taking the cast to the Bahamas, just read more.

Ken Jenkins (Dr. Kelso) is still a regular on the show, so we'll definitely see him next year.
Lawrence said that because of the uncertain status of Scrubs for the past several seasons, the finale has been written for "about four and a half years - we just have to change some pop culture references." Lawrence would only offer that the end would be JD leaving the hospital, with a sense that the theme would be about "when you leave, whether you can hold on to your relationships or not."
He also said that the show will be over when we learn the Janitor's name - but Neil Flynn offered up his own suggestion in the session: "Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFake" (or possibly McFate; it was hard to tell).
Lawrence on Courteney Cox's appearance: "She is what we call a gamer. She is up for anything. I don't think you get that all the time with high-profile actresses." He said while the main cast was at the TCA panel, Cox was back on set "with her face jammed into some guy's bloody corpse," filming a fantasy sequence.
The cast spent a week filming in the Bahamas, which Lawrence called "one of the best experiences I've had." The plot: The Janitor is getting married, and he invites 700 people to the Bahamas on short notice to get the gifts. JD tries to convince people to show up and ruin his wedding.
Fun fact: Lawrence himself will play the minister who marries the Janitor and his wife-to-be.

Do You Want Scrubs to Continue On For Another Season?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:30:26 -0800

Late on Thursday, the Hollywood Reporter broke news that ABC is in negotiations to pick up 18 episodes of Scrubs for 2008-09. NBC is reportedly not thrilled - while ABC actually owns the show, NBC says it still has the right to negotiate for its future - but if this news pans out, it means the remaining five episodes set to air this Spring would not be the end of the road for the series. In fact, this could potentially keep Scrubs on the air for a while, if Zach Braff and the gang are up for it.

This news is at once exciting and worrisome to me. At the very least, this might secure the show the proper series finale that it and its fans deserve and that creator Bill Lawrence wants to make. On the other hand, if the show outstays its welcome on the airwaves, no one may end up caring about its finale anyway. How do you feel? Do you want more seasons of Scrubs?

Photo courtesy of NBC

Stuff I Learned From Zach Braff and Bill Lawrence

BuzzSugar — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:30:00 -0700

Tonight on NBC it's the beginning of the end for the Scrubs gang. Sigh. I recently got to chat on the phone with creator/producer Bill Lawrence as well as Dr. John Dorian himself, Zach Braff. From the sound of it, these guys are facing their seventh and final season on TV with a Scrubs-appropriate mixture of mirth and sadness.

I'm going to miss the Sacred Heart crew, though at pretty much any time of evening we can catch reruns of Scrubs on a few different channels, so at least they won't be too far away.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here - the seventh season hasn't even started yet! Check out tonight's episode, "My Own Worst Enemy," and if you have more questions for Lawrence you can always submit them to him yourself online.

Chatting with Braff and Lawrence, I learned the following stuff:

At the end of the series, J.D. will have grown up... at least somewhat.
Lawrence stated that he thinks the ending of the show will be unsatisfying for people if J.D. hasn't matured. Zach, however, says he looks at the show as a kind of comic strip, "The audience really want to sort of check in with their favorite characters and see what they’re going to do this week. They don’t really want them to evolve too much... They want to come home and check in with the people that make them laugh. They want to see the Janitor be the Janitor and Todd be bisexually weird. They want to see J.D. be a goofball and Dr. Cox yell at him. So I think that we’ve done a good job of evolving them slightly, but also giving the fans what they want, which is to see the characters be themselves."

For more of the Q&A, read more

The J.D. and Elliot thing will be resolved, one way or another.
Lawrence has this to say on the topic of whether J.D. and Elliot will end up together: "You know, Zach always says there’s no way you can satisfy everybody. If you go on to our fan sites there’s a lot of people that want them together and then there’s a lot of people that say that’s not what this show is about. I think the answer is right in the middle. This show was never a 'will they or won’t they' show, you know? It was not Ross and Rachel... That’s not what this show has been about. It’s been about all the relationships. That being said, Zach and Sarah as actor and actress, have made people invested in this. So I am going to resolve it, but I’m not going to make that the end of the series. I think that it’ll happen before people expect it to happen. I think I put a lot of clues what I’m going to do along the way."

At the end of the series, Janitor's real name will definitely be revealed.
Apparently, Lawrence has always promised actor Neil Flynn that Janitor will eventually get to have a name and a girlfriend, and he says he had to make good on both of those this year. Lawrence said, "When you hear him addressed by a real name, that means the show is over."

This season's "big" episode will be a fairytale-style episode, based on The Princess Bride.
According to Lawrence, "Every year we choose one episode to spend a whole lot of money on and try to be our showcase thing. And this one’s an homage to The Princess Bride. And, you know, Zach’s the village idiot, Sarah’s the princess and the Janitor is a giant. And Todd is the Fairy Todd Something."

Ideal guest stars? David Cross as Tobias Fünke and John Cusack
Apparently, Zach has been campaigning to bring Tobias Fünke onto Scrubs as either a doctor or a patient, but hasn't been successful. As for Lawrence, it's been killing him that John Cusack hasn't been on the show. "That’s the only new guest star I would [care] about just because he was such a seminal figure comedically for me, as just that everyman that you could identify with."

The character of Dr. Cox is based on Bill Lawrence's father-in-law.
Lawrence's wife is Christa Miller who plays Dr. Cox's catty wife on Scrubs and her father was this scary, intimidating doctor on whom Lawrence based the character of Dr. Cox.

Lawrence has ideas for the final episode - but wants to hear fan input anyway.
Hence the online message board that Lawrence apparently does read very carefully. He said, "The truth is I’ve known how I was going to end this show for a long time because I thought it was going to end the last year and the year before at one point or another... As far as the finale ideas, I know what I want to do. I just wanted people - and I’ve been reading it - to weigh in on things that they do and don’t want to happen because it helps me get a gauge for what people are expecting and what people don’t want to see. And, you know, I’m still going to make up my own decisions. But it’s been really kind of informative. I think it’s really just about hopefully rewarding the people that stuck with it so long that they have a good feeling when the TV goes off."

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Ask Scrubs Creator Bill Lawrence Anything - Seriously!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 06:30:00 -0700

The season premiere of Scrubs may still be over a week away, but creator Bill Lawrence wants you to start thinking about the show right now. According to a video he uploaded onto YouTube, Lawrence wants Scrubs fans to submit their questions to the show's message boards and he promises to answer each and every one of them. From "trivia questions" to inquiries about how they came up with the characters, Lawrence wants to hear it all.

Apparently Lawrence is even looking for suggestions on how to end the series. So get thinking!

To check out Lawrence's fumbling and funny video message (in which he makes it clear that he, um, doesn't actually know which night Scrubs airs), read more

Photos courtesy of NBC

"Scrubs" Fans: Laverne Will Return... Kinda

BuzzSugar — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:03:40 -0700

I'm not above admitting I shed a few tears when sassy, cranky Laverne passed away on "Scrubs" last season, especially when it came to Carla struggling with her grief. My assumption at the time was that the actress who played Laverne, Aloma Wright, had been offered some other gig, and that's why she was leaving the show.

Not so! Apparently, creator Bill Lawrence had assumed the 2006-2007 season would be the final one for "Scrubs," so he wrote a death into the storyline to shake things up a bit. But even back when Lawrence was killing off Aloma's character, he promised Aloma he'd bring her back if the show were renewed. Now that the show is alive (har har) for one more season, Lawrence is keeping his word and bringing Aloma Wright back on board - as Laverne's twin sister, Shirley (yup, the sisters names are Laverne and Shirley).

Shirley's character is vastly different from Laverne's: She's an unmarried alcoholic who's not a religious believer like her late Bible-toting twin sister was. I can't wait to see Laverne again! Even if it's not really Laverne.

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Meet Scrubs's New Docs on the Block

BuzzSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:30:04 -0800

Now that Scrubs has an official premiere date (just a few weeks away!), it's time to check out the fresh meat we can expect for season 9. We already know that Bill Lawrence is taking the show in a new direction, this time focusing on the med students as Dr. Cox, Turk, and J.D. take their positions as mentors. We can expect to see those three in December, along with Eliza Coupe as Denise.

And now, on to the newbies. First there's Lucy (Kerry Bishe), who's been described as a go-getter and the first in her blue-collar family to attend med school. Then there's Cole (Dave Franco - yes, James's bro) who's supposedly overconfident and a little spoiled, which probably means it won't take long for Dr. Cox to knock him down a peg or two. Rounding out the trio is Drew (Michael Mosely) who's a bit older than the other two, and is returning to med school after dropping out years ago.

Though I thought Scrubs had a very poetic and fitting finale last season, I'm hopeful about breathing new life into the show. What about you - are you excited to see the new faces?

For more photos of the doctors old and new, just read more.

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