AUSIELLO: The first two episodes were a lot more serious than what weve come to expect fromScrubs.

It felt more in line with earlier seasons.

Why the tonal shift?BILL LAWRENCE:I thought we got a little silly.

Will all of the characters get their own little send-off?Without

a doubt.

Hes such a good actor, so I gave him a

girlfriend and a life this year.

My plan has always been to give every

character resolve, and not make it too treacly.

I think everyone will

be happy.

We just finished cutting the finale and we showed it over at

ABC and they all dug it.

Its a

little bittersweet, but I dont think it will bum anybody out.

Where did you land on the whole J.D./Elliot thing?

Youve also said wed learn the Janitorsrealname.

Neil Flynn and

I are happy about it.

So we

decided, to hell with it, and we didnt come up with anything big.

finally asks him [in the finale] and the Janitor just says it; theres

no big hoopla.

Its the first time Ive seen commercials for the show in seven

years.

Theres a billboard near Warner Bros. thats the size of my

house.

The reality is,Scrubsis incredibly reasonably priced.

And without Zachs salary and my salary, its probably cheaper to make then somenew

shows.

I dont think

itll be a creative decision.

And if its not, it wont.

And if its in the middle somewhere,

they will wait and decide along with all their new pilots.

Its really

out of my hands because its a financial and business decision and not

a creative one.

There are 122 people who work here and there are essentially

only six live-action comedies on TV.

If we can keep this show going another year then all those

people get to have jobs.

Its a bleak time.

I would say,

Dont fing do that man; its bad.

This is the first time in five

years that [bad] ratings will really bum me out.

One of the problems with connection TV is that they dont

reward loyalty.

If its not a

gangbuster hit, Im very careful about getting invested.

I think Damien Lewis is an interesting actor.

And its so

dumb.

They create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

They didnt endLas Vegaseither.Just end the show.

Lay people think television is dying, and its not.Networktelevision is dying.

More people are watching TV than ever, theres just good st on other outlets and those guysrewardtheir viewers.

Television isnt dead,sytelevision is dead.