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Bill Lawrence, the creator of Scrubs, Cougar Town, and recent hit Shrinking, as well as megahit Ted Lasso, has been busy with his new show for Apple TV+, Bad Monkey, starring Vince Vaughn. The show focuses on Vaughn as a former Miami cop who’s now a Florida Keys health inspector but trying to get back on the force.
Even when promoting Bad Monkey the conversation goes back to Scrubs, the second show he co-created and one of the biggest hits of the early aughts. Scrubs ran for nine seasons total, seven with NBC and two with ABC, and is the subject of a constant conversation of a reunion, possibly a revival like Frasier and Will & Grace.
Talking to Variety, Lawrence believes there’s some “real momentum” to make something like that happen, but it boils down to simple business standing in the way. For example, Scrubs is a Disney show, and Lawrence currently has a deal with Warner Bros. television. Even aside from that the original cast is busy with steady 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.”
Lawrence retains a working relationship with some of his stars, especially Zach Braff, who was Emmy-nominated for directing an episode of Ted Lasso. Braff even has a guest role in Bad Monkey.
Despite that, the writer is hopeful something can manifest down the road, but understands it’s not a priority and has to get a lot of things lined up.
“The business part of it can always get mucked up. But I’m super hopeful,” he said. “It would be fun to do not just because we want an excuse to hang out with each other, but because it’d be fun to do creatively. You don’t want to just mail it in. But it would be interesting to see those characters older and see what new young kids look like in medicine right now, because it is a heroic profession, and no one’s doing it to get rich.”
