‘Scrubs’ Cast Was ‘Exhausted’ During Final Season, Says Zach Braff

While “Scrubs” was a massive success in its network run on NBC, series star Zach Braff says the cast was “exhausted” by the final season of production. In an interview for Michael Rosenbaum’s “Inside of You” podcast, the actor recalled how burned-out the cast was during the show’s last run.

“By the time nine years were over, we were sort of all exhausted by it,” Braff said. “I felt like, at the time, we were starting to repeat jokes. Everyone was pretty fried. … We would do insane hours that people don’t even do anymore.”

He also added: “We didn’t really have much of a life outside of it.”

During its run, the medical sitcom garnered a broad and loyal fan base, industry recognition and received 17 Emmy nominations, winning twice.

In an interview with Variety, “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence admitted that he believes there’s some real momentum for a revival. However, there are notable obstacles — like the fact that “Scrubs” is a Disney show and Lawrence has a deal with Warner Bros. TV, plus the series’ cast is pretty busy with many projects.

“It’s fascinating to me that the passion for ‘Scrubs’ has, I’m so grateful, never died,” Lawrence said. “Maybe it’s because Zach and Donald are such friends in real life and doing their podcast and those T-Mobile commercials. None of us really need it, and that’s probably the biggest barrier to entry — everybody’s super successful, so talented and lovely.”

As for Braff, though he was honest about how tiring the show got to be near its end, the actor did credit “Scrubs” with changing his life: “I miss laughing every day. Belly laughing every day was the job.”

He’d also be interested in donning the stethoscope one more time, provided a potential reboot was branded as a limited series: “When we signed up to do our shows, they put you under a pretty insane contract of like seven years and stuff, which I wouldn’t do. But some sort of talk of a limited thing, you’re basically saying, ‘Do you wanna go get the gang back together and fucking laugh your ass off with some of your best friends and be paid well?’”