• Media Life, Thursday, March 30, 2006 10:45 AM

Long-suffering fans of the quirky comedy “Scrubs” are likely to get some good news in the weeks ahead.  According to Media Life, NBC is now likely to renew the show for a sixth season.  This was not a foregone conclusion as recently as a month or two ago. However, with the fecklessness of NBC's prime-time lineup, observers are betting that network's programming executives will go with “Scrubs”--which has always been barely so-so in the ratings--rather than roll the dice on something new and untested.  “Scrubs” has never had a locked-down timeslot during its entire run on NBC, and viewers have had to be both patient and enterprising to find the strange little comedy with sometimes tragic undertones. “It’d be very risky to let ‘Scrubs’ go at this time,” says Tom Weeks, entertainment director at Starcom Entertainment. NBC must fill about 10 hours of programming in the coming season, by Starcom’s estimate, either with new shows or shows that are on the bubble, such as “Scrubs.”  All NBC has in the way of a sure thing is “My Name Is Earl,” which performed well in its first season.  Another NBC stalwart, “Will & Grace,” is coming to the end of its run.  Which leaves “Scrubs” as a scrap that NBC may want to stick with--at least for one more season.

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