• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, October 20, 2006

While NBC continues to relegate comedy "Scrubs" to bench player, at least one metric shows it has some buzz.

Strangely, rankings from lower-tier portal/search engine Lycos show that "Scrubs" generated the most search activity last week of any prime-time show--more than bona-fide hits such as "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives."

There is an explanation. One of the reasons "Scrubs" may have moved to the top is the Oct. 10 release of its fourth-season DVD.

"Scrubs" hasn't aired this season on NBC yet, but the network plans to use it as a mid-season replacement for a struggling show/time period. It does air in syndication, and is available on iTunes. This season would be its sixth on NBC.

The shows that immediately followed it in the Lycos rankings were hits "Dancing with the Stars," "Lost," and "CSI." "Desperate Housewives" came in at number eight.

"Often, the television shows creating the most buzz on the Internet are not necessarily shows that reach the most viewers," a Lycos rep says.

"Scrubs" would fit that bill. So would shows that have a significant following, although not necessarily on broadcast TV, such as "Veronica Mars" (ranked fifth) and "The Office (ranked 10th).

Lycos was the twentieth-most popular Web property last month, according to comScore, with 25.7 million unique users.