'Scrubs' boss hits out at NBC

NBC refused to pay for a proper finale to Scrubs, according to creator Bill Lawrence.

The comedy was dropped by NBC after airing for seven seasons. When its final run was cut short by the writers' strike, Lawrence asked if NBC would air three more episodes for him to wind it up.

"They just didn't have any interest," he said. "[It was a] 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."

Lawrence claimed NBC offered to air a one-hour final show, but only pay for half of it - expecting producer ABC Studios to fund the rest. This did not happen and a regular episode, meant to air in the middle of the season, was presented as a finale.

A new 18-episode season of the show has since been picked up for rival network ABC.

Lawrence said he had rallied cast and writers for the challenge because "personally, I felt like this past season we were less than inspired comedically".

"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.'"

There would be a return to the style of early Scrubs seasons, Lawrence said. "Some of the strongest episodes in the second and third year had character comedy.

"This became a very Simpsons-esque show with incredibly broad, unrealistic moments and fantasies that were both in reality and not in reality."