Zach Braff Says the “Scrubs” Cast Was 'Exhausted' and 'Starting to Repeat Jokes' by the Final Season: 'Just Kind of Fried'
Braff starred as Dr. John Michael "J.D." Dorian on the medical sitcom, which aired from 2001 to 2010
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Zach Braff as Dr. John 'J.D.' Dorian, Donald Faison as Dr. Christopher Turk in season 1 of 'Scrubs'Scrubs put Zach Braff on the map, but by the time it was wrapping up, he and the rest of the cast were ready to say goodbye.
Braff, who played J.D. on the medical sitcom that aired from 2001 to 2010, admitted that he and his costars – Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes and Christa Miller – were "kind of fried" by season 9.
"I miss laughing every day. Belly laughing every day was – that was the job. And when that goes away, by the time nine years were over, we were sort of all exhausted by it," Braff, 49, said on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast on August 13.
Related: Scrubs Cast Has a Mini Reunion: 'Getting the Band Back Together!'
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udy Reyes as Nurse Carla Espinosa, Zach Braff as Dr. John 'J.D.' Dorian, Sarah Chalke as Dr. Elliot Reid (back, l-r) John C. McGinley as Dr. Perry Cox, Donald Faison as Dr. Christopher Turk, Ken Jenkins as Dr. Bob Kelso on season 1 of 'Scrubs'"We were starting to repeat jokes. Everyone's pretty fried," he recalled of the role, which earned him three Golden Globe nominations and an Emmy nod. "We would do insane hours that people don't even do anymore. We didn't really have much of a life outside of it. So we were just kind of fried."
While the sitcom's conclusion in 2010 definitely felt like the right thing, Braff said that he's definitely open to revisiting Sacred Heart Hospital in the future.
"But now looking back, and there's talk of reboots, and that's a conversation, I think, 'Oh my gosh. Being able to laugh – belly laugh – with these people again, would be a lot of fun,'" he told Rosenbaum.
As he admitted the show "changed my whole life," Braff shared the parameters he has around a potential reboot of Scrubs.
"When we signed up to do our show, they can put you under a pretty insane contract of, like, seven years and stuff, which was... which I wouldn't do [again]," he said. "But some sort of a limited thing? You're basically saying, 'Do you wanna go get the gang back together and f---ing laugh your ass off with some of your best friends and be paid well?' Yeah, that sounds amazing."
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Zach Braff as J.D. in 'Scrubs'The prospect of a reboot has come up before. During a cast panel at the ATX TV Festival in 2022, creator Bill Lawrence said he was "going to do it," when asked about returning to the medical sitcom.
"We are going to do it — because we are lucky enough that people care," he said. "If you ever have an excuse to work with people that you would want to spend time with anyways — run to it. It's the greatest thing about this gift."
Related: Zach Braff and Donald Faison Are Rewatching 'Scrubs' for a New Podcast
Faison, 50, who played Dr. Chris Turk, said that they "all would love to work together again," but, like Braff, noted that there are some parameters around it.
"It's just that — it can't be a full season of a show," he said during the panel. "It would have to be a movie or something where you could only get a couple of months to it — because everyone else is doing something. [Lawrence] is never going to be free again."
Braff added of Lawrence at the panel, "We can't possibly do anything else without the Wonder Kid here. And he is a little bit busy [with Ted Lasso]. If he finds time, I would definitely be down to do it."
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Scrubs can be streamed in full on Hulu.
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