Bill Lawrence can breathe a sigh of relief — likely helped by nostalgia and curiosity, the Scrubs reboot launched to impressive ratings last week, amassing 11.36M total cross-platform viewers on ABC, Hulu, Disney+ and digital platforms in its first five days, per Disney.
“I’m so happy and grateful that anybody still cares about that show,” Lawrence said about the revival’s performance during an interview about his latest series, Rooster for HBO, which stars Steve Carell, Charly Clive, Phil Dunster, Danielle Deadwyler and Scrubs alum John C. McKinley.
In its return after 17 years, Scrubs, headlined by original stars Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke, delivered the highest-rated comedy episode on ABC and top ABC series debut on streaming in over a year, since the premiere of Shifting Gears.
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“I love the people that are in it so much, not only the old ones because I’ve talked way too much about Zach,” Lawrence said, referencing the fact that Braff has been working on all of his shows, including directing an episode of Rooster. “And Donald and Sarah, I’ve been working with them a long time.”
He also mentioned Scrubs OGs McKinley, Judy Reyes who are recurring on the revival, with Christa Miller set to return for a guest turn at the end of the season, and Neil Flynn coming back too.
“All the new kids are great as well,” Lawrence added. “It’s been really cool, metaphorically, to watch not only the actors, Donald, Zach and Sarah, who were the kids, be the older people, both professionally and in real life, to a new group of young actors and actresses, but even behind the scenes.”
Lawrence noted that the revival’s showrunner, Aseem Batra, got her first job ever as a writer on the original Scrubs.
“She grew up and stayed on the show; she and I really connected there, so I like both those stories,” Lawrence said about the revival’s multi-generational dynamic on- and off-screen. “I think the goal of that show was to not be a reboot but a revival and to keep it going with the next wave of characters.”
Three episodes in, the Scrubs revival ranks as ABC’s No.1 series in linear adults 18-49 ratings. Coupled with the potent streaming numbers, the medical comedy has made a strong case for a Season 2 renewal.
“We’re all crossing our fingers that they let us do a whole bunch more, but we’re really hopeful,” Lawrence said.
That would be great news for fans of the original and, in particular, one of its stars that is not in the revival’s nine Season 1 episodes.
As Lawrence told Deadline ahead of the revival’s debut, “Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins) will be back next year. It just didn’t work out this year but it will next year.”
Dessi Gomez contributed to this report.