Scrubs: Zach May Come Back & An Arrested Development Guest?

It appears that Zach Braff’s recent statement about this possibly being either the last season of Scrubs or possibly just his last season on the sitcom has stirred up a lot of discussion. No sooner had it hit the Internet then some clarifying (backpeddling?) began.

Creator Bill Lawrence was quoted as saying that, if series star Zach Braff chose not to sign on for a seventh season of the medical sitcom, it may not necessarily spell the end of the show. If the ratings numbers and network interest are there, a newly cast actor could take over the lead “narrator” role for the series or an existing actor’s role could be expanded — possibly Donald Faison (better known as Dr. Chris Turk). The latter is an interesting idea that many fans might like.

Soonafter, Zach Braff said that his statement about leaving Scrubs after the sixth season was taken a bit out of context. Zach says that he just meant that this is the first year (because of his contract) that he would have the choice as to whether he would return for another season. He contends that it’s all up in the air right now and nothing’s been decided as yet.

What is for sure is Zach’s desire to work with actor David Cross. David is best known to television audiences for his role as Tobias Bluth from the recently departed (and highly acclaimed) Fox sitcom Arrested Development.

Zach and Bill both love Cross’ character from Development and prompted Zach to say “I want David Cross to come on as Tobias. I’m trying to broker that deal. I think that it would be so funny because I love [that character]. I want him to have at least one more life.” Braff concedes that it may be a difficult juggling act for this to happen, considering the fact that Arrested Development was produced by competing studio FOX. “There are a lot of people that have to sign off to have him to do it in character.” The word is that David Cross would also like to do it so we’ll see. It’s worth mentioning that Zach Braff did a guest stint in two episodes of Arrested Development as Phillip Litt.

We’ll keep you posted on any additional news regarding the Scrubs / Arrested Development crossover and the future of Scrubs, one of struggling NBC’s best-loved shows.

For now, Scrubs fans have plenty to look forward to. The sixth season will reportedly begin in either late fall or early 2007 (probably depending on how NBC’s new shows perform). The sixth episode will be a musical episode. Sound far-fetched? Well. Bill Lawrence said the episode is working off reports of a real case where a woman had an aneurysm and started seeing/hearing everything as a musical. Most of the cast members will sing (though reportedly Sarah Chalke’s voice will have “limited airtime”) and the music has reportedly been written by creators of the acclaimed Avenue Q musical. Interestingly enough, the Joss Whedon-written musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was also the sixth episode of that show’s sixth season.