TV - Scrubs Finale

Scrubs is a funny show, and I'm not just talking about the quirky script.  I'm talking about it's bizarre history on television.  Although beloved by critics, network executives never gave the show much respect.  In their floundering attempts to create a quality weekly schedule, NBC moved Scrubs into a new time-slot and day almost every week.  Devoted fans had to search their TV Guides for this adorable hospital comedy every night to avoid missing an episode.  

Then NBC gave up any flickering devotion to Scrubs all together and announced it was dumping the show after its seventh season in 2008.    They ended the show with a lack-luster fantasy finale having each of the characters don the role of a fairy tale creature, and providing no real closure for the will-they-won't-they J.D. / Elliot romance or the trajectory of their careers.  

But low and behold ABC decided to play knight-in-shining-armor and picked the show up to bring to their network for season eight!  So the finale wasn't a finale and we had another 18 episodes of Scrubsy goodness.   Much like NBC, however, ABC was a bit erratic in how they aired the program.  Sometimes it was on Tuesdays, sometimes on Wednesdays, sometimes doing double-header new episodes, often re-airing these episodes randomly throughout the week.

Season eight wrapped up Wednesday night (5/6) with an hour long finale.  Before going into any sort of review for this episode, let's address another quirk right away: this may not have been the end... again!  Although it's almost certain Zach Braff won't be returning to Sacred Heart (or the 37 minute away hospital to which his character transferred), there are rumors that other favorite characters may stick with the show and produce another season with ABC.  Having introduced a new batch of interns this year, there may be a type of "Scrubs: The New Class" sitcom to look forward to (?) in 2010.  

Anyway, I liked the finale just fine.  There was silliness, but there were also those super schmaltzy moments that are an inherent part of Scrubs.  But best of all they did my favorite type of finale... flash-forwards*!!  Even though J.D. admitted those heart-warming scenes of the future may never actually happen, the audience was encouraged to dare-to-dream that J.D. and Elliot will get married, the gang will all stay-in-touch, they will all have healthy, adorable babies, and BEST OF ALL, Turk and J.D's babies will one day fall in love and get engaged. Terrific!  

So what do you think?  Would you watch a Season 9, even without the original Sacred Heart staff? Do you like a flash-forward finale or do you prefer to draw your own conclusions? Let us know!

*"Six-Feet-Under" being the best example of the flash-forward finale, and the best finale of all time.