I guess I can just be labeled as a racist then because I sure thought it was him upon my first viewing of the show. I also just noticed that he was shown after the "fantasy" portion ended.

My apologies.

Ouch. I care a lot about this show. It's one of the 5-7 that I Tivo and watch on a regular basis. What an oddly careless way to end the series.

It lacked any sort of plot epiphany. There really wasn't anything to it. It was just one of the bottom 1/4 of the show's quality.

Wow....that was not a way to end the series on the network..

Seeing Kelso and Keith was pretty jarring, otherwise, I think I would of liked the episode.

Still that was no way to end the series on the network. Hopefully ABC does this one right.

I'm going to treat this episode the same way I treat the finale of Enterprise: forget it ever happened.

ditto

That was pretty hard to sit through.

I'm just happy NBC won't be able to fuck around with the show anymore. It'll be nice seeing it on a different network this fall.

I like that idea- in fact, I think I'll adopt it myself.

It's going to be a long wait for another new Scrubs to cleanse the awful feeling that one left behind.

I liked the Musical episode. However, this one I could barely sit through.

I going to treat this episode the same way that I treat the Charlie Brown/Scrubs mash-up: Creative... but fell flat.

But I have to say that I still enjoyed it.

There were enough bad episodes this season that I'm actually considering not buying the DVD when it hits. This "finale" was definitely one of the 2 worst episodes. I'd have to watch it back-to-back with "My Musical" to decide which one is actually the worst.

This episode is getting trashed pretty badly, but I don't think it would have been as poorly-received if it had aired where it was supposed to in the course of the season. I really didn't think it was that bad, but I'm glad it's gone from NBC, as other have said.

Zach Braff sent out a Myspace bulletin:

Many of you have been understandably confused by the Fairy Tale episode of Scrubs serving as the series finale," Braff writes. "It was not. I was not allowed to say it until today, but Scrubs will be moving to ABC for its final season. We are currently filming the 8th and final season. The true finale of the show will air on ABC in the fall. NBC merely promoted the Fairy Tale episode as the finale, as it was the last episode they owned."

He also clears up some questions about last week's episode (don't read below if you still haven't seen it):

"Also, several of you were very confused by the fact that Dr. Kelso and Laverne were still working at the hospital in the Fairy Tale episode. Because of the writer's strike, the last remaining episodes for NBC were aired out of order. This is why Dr. Kelso was still chief of medicine. That was not Laverne however, for those of you who have been following closely; it was a new nurse 'Shirley' who no one thinks looks anything like Laverne except for JD."

Yay.

Well it might have helped if she was introduced and allowed to be in more than three episodes this season! :gah:

Michael Ausiello's interview with Bill Lawrence from May 14th:

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-en...ence/800039701

<div style="width: 400px; margin: 20px; padding: 20px; border: solid black thin; background-color: white; font-size: 11px;">One of the many reasons I love Bill Lawrence is that the dude doesn't mince words. At a time when sound-bites have become as carefully crafted as a Martha Stewart petit four, Bill continues to tell it like it is. And on the heels of the official confirmation that Scrubs is headed to ABC for an 18-episode final season, he has a lot to tell. About the show's network-hop. About the beef he has with the suits at NBC. And about the somewhat radical changes in store for J.D. and Co.

Why'd it take so long to announce this thing?
Bill Lawrence: As I understand it, it was legally very important not to say anything officially until after the show had finished its run on NBC.

What led to the break-up with NBC?
Lawrence: When the strike ended, we told NBC that, even though we had another seven episodes mapped out, we could do it in three, and they just didn't have any interest. Total harsh buzz of not giving a s--t about a show that had been on the network for seven years and made them millions of dollars. And I'd be more bitter, except that it worked out good for us.

They didn't want to do any kind of wrap-up?
Lawrence: Not only did they not want to do any kind of wrap-up, but they took an episode that was supposed to air in the middle of the season — the fairytale episode — and marketed it as a series finale. Which was bulls--t. It was never supposed to be a series finale, much less a season finale, and I think it ended up getting judged kind of harshly because of it. If it was just a regular episode that people had tuned into I think they would've thought it was cool and funny.

I was under the impression NBC was willing to give you one episode to finish things off. No?
Lawrence: Well, here's the thing. When the strike ended, NBC said, "You can shoot an hour-long finale, but we'll only pay for half of it." They wanted [ABC Studios] to suck up all the expenses, and ABC said that was unacceptable. And it felt especially harsh because Scrubs was pulling in better [ratings] than 30 Rock and My Name is Earl — even though I love those two shows — and they were encouraged to do as many f--king episodes as they can after the strike. And after seven years, I ask for three episodes to wrap up the series and they say, "Tough s--t."

How do you go from three episodes on NBC to 18 on ABC?
Lawrence: It was weird, man. I was thinking we'd put these last six episodes on DVD, just so we can wrap the show up and be proud of it, but the head of ABC Studios, Mark Pedowitz, said, "Bill, if you can make the show a little cheaper, I can probably get us a full season on ABC." I didn't answer right away. The first thing I did was call the cast and the writers together and I said, "Look, if we're going to do this, we have to get back to something we creatively can all be excited about." Because, personally, I felt like this past season we were less than inspired comedically. So I said to them, "This means you guys working harder. It means having emotional stakes and losing all the goofy, broad stuff that I think is easy to write… " And everyone said they were on board for one more season.

Will the show still be a comedy?
Lawrence: It's still a comedy, but when we first did the show, it was a drama with elements of comedy and lots of stupid sound effects. But some of the strongest episodes in the second and third year had character comedy. You can still do things like kill Brendan Fraser and have the lady that loved musical theater die and then sing a song at the end. This became a very Simpsons-esque show with incredibly broad, unrealistic moments and fantasies that were both in reality and not in reality. When you've been writing this show for seven years, it's so easy to get into these patterns of writing the same jokes over and over: J.D. loves Turk, J.D. wants Dr. Cox's approval, Elliot's whiny and neurotic. But this year the stuff is really f--king good. I think our old stand-by fans are really going to dig these shows.

Is Ken Jenkins (Kelso) still a series regular?
Lawrence: He's still a series regular. The core of his participation this year is with Dr. Cox, who becomes Chief of Medicine. Now that Dr. Kelso is no longer a hospital bureaucrat, he is actually a decent human being and is Dr. Cox's confidant because Cox can't really talk to anyone else about how much that job sucks.

I heard you were looking to cast a new Chief.
Lawrence: That's just a piece of stunt casting that we're going to do for three episodes.

Talk to me about these budget cuts that ABC requested. Are we going to notice anything missing?
Lawrence: No. We have a smaller writing staff and we're filming the show in four-and-a-half days instead of five. And, you'll never notice it because we have so many actors on the show, but every cast member is taking two episodes off.

Even Zach?
Lawrence: Even Zach. Remember, I've done one or two episodes every year where J.D. isn't in the show except for one line, and some other character has the voiceover. It wasn't all that noticeable. It just looks like a cool creative choice.

OK, Scrubs fans, you buying what Bill L. is selling? Does the prospect of a more grounded, less zany Sacred Heart make you giddy with excitement? Would one episode on NBC have been enough of a send-off, or are you happier with the 18 we're getting on ABC? (I think I know the answer to that one.) Comment away below!</div>

Yes. YES! NBC is run by a bunch of asshats. Thanks ABC! Just add one more show to the list that I'm watching on YOUR network!

I can understand Lawrence's frustration with the Earl/30 Rock thing though. 30 Rock is a Universal production so that makes more sense, but Earl is produced by FOX. So WTF?! -screwy-

i like the sound of this answer. There were a few episodes that were slipping into Family Guy territory with the JD fantasies - cutaways that were just extremely random.

I picked up all six seasons on DVD a month or so ago, and I just finished Season 3 last night (the wedding), and I must say that I am having a blast.

There is a difference between the early seasons and the later ones, and I too am happy with hem getting back to basics.