SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

How much fun was that “Scrubs” musical?

The best since “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” and probably a little more accessible to the “Scrubs” fans.

“The musical is all original music. It’s written — a lot of the songs are written by the gentleman that wrote in “Avenue Q,” big Broadway musical,” says Bill Lawrence, creator of “Scrubs,” when he talked to critics the day before the show aired last week. “The
writing staff, Debra Fordham, who wrote the show, and the writing staff wrote the lyrics.”

While Bill praises the singing talents of most of the actors, he took a little jab at Sarah Chalke’s pipes.

“You may ask Zach to sing today because he’s got a
good voice,” Bill says. “You may not ask Sarah to sing because I’m
very close to her.”

Sarah says her first indication that perhaps her love of music was greater than her talents was when she was 10 and singing Christmas Carols with her school choir at the mall.

“The teacher said, `Chalke girl, if you could just
mouth the words for this performance, that would be
great,’ ” Sarah says. “So I actually did mouth the words. I’m like (mouthing) `Here comes Santa Claus’ for an hour. It was so sad.”

Parts of the episode started popping up on the Internet well before the show aired last Thursday, which brought about a strange encounter for Zach Braff.

“You know you’ve made it when Perez Hilton almost talks to you,” Zach says. “His quote apparently — I didn’t read it. I just heard it. His quote was `This is so gay I love it.’ ”

Th episode took a week of rehearsal, six or seven days of shooting, and a full 50-piece orchestra recorded at Capitol Records. All of the actors had voice lessons and were in the studio with a guy who
spends most of his time teaching Broadway people how to
sing.

Zach says that he actually went to theater camp at Stagedoor Manor in Loch Sheldrake, New York.

“If you’re a kid and you couldn’t care less about Little League and you want to sing and dance, I highly recommend it,” Zach says. “As my father used to say slightly disappointed, I don’t
think you need to bring a mitt.”

Bill says the “Scrubs” writing staff is mostly kind of frat-boyish
former “jock-y” guys.

“One of the reasons that you feel safe in a comedy room is when the door closes, we could all admit the fact that we love musical theater,” Bill says. “Even though I spent most of my time in high school, you know, and someone would be like, “Did you see that
musical ‘Annie’?” And you would be like, “Lame.” And
then you would walk away, (Bill singing) “It’s a hard knock life.’ ”

Zach say that when he first met Bill, he was “pretty “jock-y” and “alpha-male-y” and the two bonded over Bill knowing the lyrics to “Les Miserables” in French.

Each one of the songs was an homage to a specific song to a specific musical that one of the writers loved, including of course the big Act I closer from “Les Miserables.”

“That sort of roughly happens in Act I of our show that everyone
has their own melody,” Zach says. “And at the end, they all sort of come together.”

Bill admits it’s still uncomfortable for him to talk about loving musicals.

“You’re out. You’re out of the musical closet,” Zach says.

Bill says the reason why they finally did the musical episode this season was because he was convinced this would be the last season of “Scrubs.”

“The neat thing is, yes, we did it because going in, I said this might be the last year. That will be our special one this year, but now, very oddly, you know, “Scrubs” is actually doing better
than it’s done in recent years,” Bill says of the sixth season surge. “And the decision seems to have kind of come back into our lap as to whether or not we are going to go forward. I think we’ll probably
do another big special one next year, and I would imagine
that next year will be the last year of the show.”

“Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence jokes that it slightly bothers him that when he met Zach Braff, he was just a waiter.

“Now, if I meet any attractive woman under the age of 40, she’s like, “Oh, my gosh. What’s Zach Braff like?” Slightly wealthier than
the waiter I met seven years ago. That’s what he’s like,” Bill says. “The nicest thing about Zach is I’ve actually had some
empathy for the actors and actresses that go through the
star-making system, and Zach has managed to not be a diva
and not be a guy that’s any different than the humble
dude that I met when I first cast him.”

To illustrate his point, Bill decided to tell a personal story about a trip to Las Vegas. Seems Zach was with this girl…

“Which story are you going to tell?” Zach asks nervously.

Sort of a personal story. We’re in Vegas, right?

“The point being, if you heard that story from someone else, it might be that they went with their cast members to Las Vegas and were doing everything that young, rich, talented actors do,” Bill says.

Not so with Zach.

“Zach had taken the head of our props department for his birthday, so it was head of our props and a couple grips and a second cameraman,” Bill says. “And that’s just not the behavior you usually see of somebody that’s getting to write and direct movies and is the star of a TV show.”

Prior to hitting it big with “Scrubs,” actress Sarah Chalke’s claim to fame was being the second actress to play daughter Becky on “Roseanne.”

“Second Becky has one perk, and and she’s going to blush when I say this,” “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence says. “But we were at the Golden Globes the other night, and we walked by George Clooney, who then went — because he was on “Roseanne” — “‘Roseanne’s second Becky!” and gave her a huge hug, and I am almost positive she has not showered since then.”

“I don’t plan to,” Sarah says.

“Being second Becky got you a George Clooney hug,” co-star Zach Braff says.

“It’s worth all of those four years,” Sarah shoots back, referring to the hellish set that she endured.

San Francisco native Liev Schreiber has a solid stage rep, with the New York Times calling him the foremost Shakespearean actor of his generation.

The Yale School of Drama graduate won a Tony Award in 2005 for the revival of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross.” No acting snob, he’s also mixed in a stint as Cotton Weary in the “Scream” trilogy.

But fans of “CSI” are up in arms about this man intruding on their show and perhaps taking the place of their beloved William Petersen.

(Like many “CSI” fans, Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) and the CSI’s find it challenging to get a good read on their interim member Michael Keppler (Liev Schreiber, standing), a seasoned CSI assigned to their team while Grissom is away on a teaching sabbatical.)

Enjoy Liev while you can folks. He started his four-story arc last week and will be featured on “CSI” at 8 Thursday on CBS-Channel 5.

But soon he’ll move on to other projects including a New York revival of Eric Bogosian’s “Talk Radio.”

The good news for Schreiber fans is that he hasn’t yet ruled out another imited run on “CSI.”

Meanwhile, Petersen _ who has made no secret of the fact that he might be getting tired of his “CSI” gig as Grissom _ took the break to do a play in Providence. He’ll be back.

So just sit back and give Liev a chance.

David Boreanaz and his co-star Emily Deschanel have been working hard on their relationship.

The two star as FBI Agent Booth (David) and the emotionally distant forensic scientist Brennan (Emily) in Fox’s “Bones,” a series they are both passionate about.

“We meet on Saturdays to work things about about our characters, who we are and how we related to each other,” Emily says. “I think it’s really changed the show. We’ve brought in more humor.”

And the former “Angel” star kept using a very non-FCC friendly word when talking about the Mulder/Scully angle of the show and that is was “not a (insert word) procedural show.”

“I don’t give a (insert word) about who got murdered or who was murdered,” the smiling and very animated David says. “Because this is a (insert word) relationship show between Booth and Brennan. It’s about your (insert word) friends, people you work with. That’s what interests me and that’s where this (insert word) series is going.”

It’s one of my favorite show, and David’s right: It’s a (insert word) good series.

Even though the once white-hot series “The O.C.” is taking it’s final bow soon, creator Josh Schwartz still showed up at the Fox party for critics on Saturday.

And he wants everyone in the Bay Area to know he’s still grateful for all the fans, especially those at U.C. Berkeley.

“I’m not forgetting the support we got, and continue to get, from The O.C. at Boalt fans,” says Josh, referring to UC Berkeley’s law students who even started a scholarship in the name of the series’ attorney dad Sandy Cohen. “I’m going to do a very special homage to them in the final episode.”

And that’s a classy way to do it, even if you aren’t living in “The O.C.”

By the way, Josh will be on the CW next fall with the new series, “Gossip Girls” based on the best-selling novels.

The creator of Rob Corddry’s comedy series “The Winner” has decided to use his growing clout to right a long-standing wrong.

(Photo above: L-R: Executive Producer Seth MacFarlane, Executive Producer Ricky Blitt and Rob Corddry)

It’s no secret in Hollywood that Dunaway has one of the worst reputations in town for being nasty human being and, let’s just say it, a blight on mankind.

According to a critic friend of mine, she once shut down production on a miniseries because an extra looked at her in a way Dunaway felt was offensive.

So now we have Ricky Blitt, a Woody Allen type character who says he’s not going to let her get away with it any more.

“I’ve never learned how to drive a car, so I use a driver to drive me
around, and every driver that I’ve used, I say who is the worst person you’ve ever met, and it’s always Faye Dunaway,” Blitt told not just me, but an entire room filled with TV critics gathered in Pasadena for the winter press tour. “And, also, by the way, not a good lay.”

Again, Blitt has never met Dunaway, but for those of us who have had the dubious pleasure, it’s a good bet that he could probably win a court case if Dunaway ever decided to sue him for slander.

“No. I’ve never met Faye Dunaway, but everybody that I’ve ever met, any driver that I’ve had, I said, “What’s your worst celebrity story?” They always
say, “Faye Dunaway. She is just a monster,’ ” Blitt says in the most deadly of deadpan voices. “If I can do one thing as a writer and a creator it’s bring down that old bitch.”

After nearly an hour of waiting for the fab three to arrive on stage, critics gathered in Pasadena for the winter press tour finally got a chance to grill Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson about all their recent sins.

First up was Paula, who has been accused of acting like she was under the influence of more than just the sponsor’s Coca-Colas. And on a satellite interview with the Seattle and Oakland’s KTVU-Channel, she looked as if she’d just ingested more drugs than the Grateful Dead during the entire ’60s.

“I had two different cities in my ear,” Paula says, talking about the way the interviews are done. “I was answering questions to one and didn’t know the other one was on as well. ”

Then Simon took the big step, and told everyone it was his fault that Paula started babbling about moths and melons last year.

“The truth behind that was on the show, Paula said to me, `I genuinely don’t know what I should say.’ So I said – I did make it up – Use the Chinese proverb I use: The moth who finds the melon will eat the cornflake,” Simon says rather unconvincingly.

Even Randy chimed in to say, “He said that to both of us.”

And Ryan Seacrest added, “And I was kind of playing along.”

“I publicly apologize,” Simon says.

And that, my friends, is what people will do to protect a TV show that keeps breaking records.

And about the cola served on stage, Randy wants you all to know it’s just Diet Coke.

Meanwhile, the judges, especially Simon, has been accused of being mean to auditioners who may be mentally challenged.

“I take your point, which is it’s a singing competition and why should I call someone a bush baby,” Simon says. “Truthfully, on auditions or anything you do like this, bad things do happen, and I think that’s why the audience trusts us, that we will show the good things as well as the bad things.”

Actually, most people watch those ghastly audition shows because it makes them feel oh-so-much-better about themselves knowing there’s someone on a lower social and intellectual rung.

After the session, Simon told critics he did reget saying hurtful things, but that people show up for the competition knowing this is all part of it.

As for Jennifer Hudson, the former contestant that Simon helped push out the door, he says he’d love for her to come on the show this season.

“Look, she’s an Oscar contender now. She should come back and gloat,” Simon says.

So, how would Mr. Toxic like to be remembered on his tombstone.

“I think it will say, `Thank God he’s gone,’ ” Simon quips.

Just what in the world does it take to get people to tune into the CW’s hilarious, family-friendly comedy show “Everybody Hates Chris”

During a session during the winter press tour in Pasadena, creator Chris Rock offered up a typical Rock response to that question posed by TV critics.

“Well,” Rock says, “in about a week, I’m going to have Terry run through a club screaming “(the n-word). Gonna generate some buzz.”

Even a Web site like this can print some of the funnier responses Rock had to his questions, including one refering to offering a job to Michael Richards, the actor who hit the headlines for his on stage rant about black in response to hecklers.

“Would I offer a job to Michael Richards? Wow, I don’t know. Probably. I don’t know. I mean, I’d have to make sure all the other non-(n-word)-screaming people didn’t need jobs first. Once they were all working I guess I would have to give him a job.”

Nothing quite prepares you for the fabulousness of the divine Miss J Alexander who looked like he just stepped off the pages of Men’s Vogue than Glamour.

The elegant J Alexander wore a very traditional tailored black suit with a pink sweater vest and tie when he came out in support of “America’s Next Top Model” Friday at the CW party.

The former model, who towered over the crowd, now teaches models how to walk gracefully in Paris, where he resides when he’s not on “ANTM.”

The Queen of the Catwalk says he understands why viewers didn’t think last cycle’s twin teens Amanda and Michelle should have gotten as far as they did.

“People here want their models beautiful, and they weren’t beautiful, they were interesting, which is more in the European style,” Miss J explains. “Here, people are used to beautiful models like Rebecca Romijn.”

Miss J says she often sees Romijn and her financee Jerry O’Connell and the first time he met the Berkeley native he was shocked to hear her speak Dutch.

“My parents are Dutch, so I speak the language, but I was surprised to find out that she also speaks fluently because she was taught by her father,” Miss J says. “She’s one of the people who are beautiful on the outside and the inside.”

Miss J stuck around the party for quite a while before finally departing a little before 11. He was on his way to see “Dreamgirls.”

“Can you believe it? I haven’t seen it yet,” Miss J says. “And here I was on the runway talking to (the cast) and I felt so bad that I hadn’t seen it yet.”