‘Scrubs’ creator Bill Lawrence reveals the episodes he thinks are “stinkers”

Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence has spoken about the episodes of the show he thinks are “stinkers”.

The medical sitcom ran for eight seasons from 2001 to 2010.

Lawrence, who is the man behind the Apple+ series Shrinking, said his experience on Scrubs helped him to get the right balance of comedy and drama in his latest show.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: “Way back in the days of Scrubs, we did so many episodes, there’s some stinkers in there, and the stinkers were always ones that we didn’t calibrate it enough, and it was too broad and silly, and then we try to make people care two seconds later about someone living or dying. Or it was way too heavy and dramatic, and then we tried to do some goofy fantasy or whatever.”

Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke and Donald Faison in ‘Scrubs’ CREDIT: Getty Images

As a result, he said “we really police” material on Shrinking, which this week returned for its second season.

He added: “I think that’s partially making sure that it feels authentic when we’re being emotional and that we don’t try to cram too much heaviness into a funnier, light scene. It’s dumb, but we obsess about this stuff. I know we screw up sometimes, but we try not to.”

Lawrence recently said Scrubs could come back in “six months to a year” because the cast feel they have “stories to tell”.

He highlighted in a recent interview that the COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the importance of people in the medical profession, meaning the hospital sitcom could have a fresh new relevance in the 2020s.

“We’ve been talking about it,” he told The Independent. “We all spend time with each other in real life, but everybody is so talented from that show that they’re all working.

“We’ve really started to entertain the idea about getting the band back together because we all feel like we do have some stories to tell. People in the medical community are heroes right now. They certainly aren’t doing it for the money! It’s been a crazy rough time, so I would not be surprised if we figure something out in the next six months to a year.”