Zach Braff, who made his generation’s version of The Graduate (read: an okay movie that will become beloved because of the people who love it), has re-upped his contract to star as Dr. John “J.D.” Dorian on the NBC comedy Scrubs, reports CNN.com. Braff will earn about $350,000 dollars an episode for the 2007-2008 season of Scrubs, making him one of the highest paid male actors on television (his colleagues include Christopher Meloni of Law & Order: SVU and Charlie Sheen of Two and a Half Men).
Braff’s continued involvement with Scrubs does not guarantee the quirky yet touching, hilarious yet dramatic medical show a seventh season. NBC has not, as of this writing, picked up the show, which has had 6.9 million viewers-to-date this season. This is typical behavior for the network, which has only – after six years and much critical acclaim – begun to support Scrubs by making it part of its “Comedy Night Done Right.” However, this new marketing campaign seems to be paying off for NBC, and a seventh season of Scrubs is all-but-expected.
It’s a shame that it took Braff until now to re-up his deal – the actor pretty much came out and said that the sixth season of the show was his last, and as a result, this year’s been very uneven for the show. The early episodes of the season got bogged down in a ridiculous and kind-of-uncompelling pregnancy storyline (I still say Kim should have had an abortion) that seemed to be giving Braff an out if he chose not to return, and the season has suffered. I also was having problems with the way J.D. continues to act like a man-child who refuses to grow up, despite the fact he’s in his thirties and his friends are all moving into the next stage of their lives, and how this element to his character was played for comedy that just came off as whiny and sort of pathetic – but I’m told that this issue’s been addressed in the more recent episodes, which I’ve missed.
Still, Donald Faison, Ken Jenkins, Judy Reyes, Christa Lawrence, Neil Flynn and the (Dr. Cox voice) dear-god-in- heaven-Judith-why-on-the-face- of-the-planet-has-he-not-won-an-Emmy -for-his-work- yet John C. McGinley have continued to knock it out of the park each week, and spending more time with these characters is a good enough reason for me to hope that NBC picks up Scrubs for a seventh and what-looks-to-be final season. (Braff’s extended contract is only for another year.)
Scrubs airs in the timeslot of death, Thursdays at 9 on NBC.