Zach Braff on Keeping the ‘Scrubs’ Revival Grounded and Appealing to Its Passionate Fan Base: ‘There Was a Lot of Pressure’

May 22, 2026 3:00pm PT Zach Braff on Keeping the ‘Scrubs’ Revival Grounded and Appealing to Its Passionate Fan Base: ‘There Was a Lot of Pressure’

Awards Circuit Podcast: Also on this episode, recounting the 'Survivor' 50 finale and saying farewell to 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.'

By Michael Schneider

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Michael Schneider

Variety Editor at Large

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Zach Braff remembers the moment that the original run of “Scrubs” might have veered too far in its flights of fancy. “There’s an episode where JD and Turk are pushed into a tree by ostriches who are guarding Jason Bateman’s house,” Braff recalls. “He has an ostrich farm and he makes belts out of their necks. One of the ostriches steals Turk’s Kangol hat and puts it on. It all sounds funny — if it were a fantasy. But it was in the reality of the show!”

To be fair, back in the day the “Scrubs” writers had 22 episodes to fill each season, and toward the end of the series’ 2001-2010 run, things got a little nutty. So when the time finally came to revive “Scrubs,” Braff and everyone involved agreed to bring the show back to a bit more grounding.

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