SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

Brian Williams became the first network anchor to host “Saturday Night Live” and he kicked booty.

During a “SNL” sketch, Brian Williams imagines a new opening for the “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams”

Yes, it would appear Mr. Williams has a second career in his future if he so chooses. And let’s face it, he was probably seen by more viewers last night than he gets in an entire week of anchoring the NBC “Nightly News.”

Williams, a former volunteer fireman, plays Bronx firefighter Paul Dooley, who gives safety tips to “Bronx Beat” hosts Betty Caruso (Amy Poehler) and Jodi Dietz (Maya Rudolph). NBC Photo: Dana Edelson

There were plenty of critics who felt that Williams was risking his gravitas creds by hosting, and more importantly, taking part in sketches. I believe Williams has finished the gig with his gravitas fully intact. Williams is a news man, but he’s a news man who doesn’t take himself too seriously when he’s away from the anchor desk.

Williams took part in six sketches, from playing a laconic Publisher’s Clearing House winner to mocking himself as a network anchor. The latter had him greeting people outside his office, waiting for people to recognize him. When someone thinks he’s Stone Phillips, Williams says, “Close enough.”

From an SNL Digital Short detailing a day in the life of Brian Williams — the NBC anchor practices the ‘ancient art of meditation’ as visions of rock superstar Bono repeat “Looking good Brian… you’re way cooler than me… I’d do anything to be you.” — NBC Photo: Dana Edelson

I like the way he showed himself to be a pretty funny guy away from the anchor desk. How we judge him as an anchor should be from the years he’s been doing a solid job, not the 90-minutes he spent hosting a late-night show.

Also stopping by the show on Saturday was Presidential candidate Barack Obama, who played himself in a sketch set at a Halloween party at his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s house where he arrived in an Obama costume.

(l-r) Darrell Hammond, Amy Poehler, Sen. Barack Obama. Dana Edelson/NBC Photo

In case you missed that sketch, here it is courtesy of YouTube:

Our favorite “Office” blogger Jennie Tan of Palo Alto scored in the first “The Office” convention in Scranton, held Oct. 26 to 28.

The Tanster was as much a celeb as the folks from the series, with a blogger fan giving her a parking sign for Dunder-Mifflin with her name on it. She was featured in a TV news story.

As you know, Jennie and Angela Kinsey of “The Office” did a SueTube talking about the show. Jennie’s an amazing woman who clocks in way too many unpaid hours on her Web site.

To find out everything you ever wanted to know about “The Office,” check out officetally.

Next week on “The Office,” –After Ryan (B.J. Novak) excludes Michael (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell) from a corporate wilderness retreat, Michael heads into the woods for his own survival adventure with nothing but the suit on his back. Back at work, Jim (John Krasinski) tries to revolutionize the office birthday party.

Rainn Wilson (Dwight) and John Krasinski (Jim)

I love horses, so this week’s “Daisies” was a particular treat. Little 4-foot-11 inch Olive, we discover, used to be a jockey. And a jockey who won the Jock Off 2000 (how funny was that??)

KRISTIN CHENOWETH, CHI McBRIDE, BARBARA BARRIE (as Momma Jacobs), ANNA FRIEL

But the winner’s circle came at a steep price. Fellow jock John Joseph Jacobs, who probably should have won, got his girth cut and fell off. As the narrator says, being in front is a good thing unless you fall off because there are so many horses coming up to trample you.

One by one, the four riders who did the major damage, are getting killed by trampling. Will Olive be next? Has JJJ come back from the dead?

As you know by now, the answer was no and no.

But my favorite part was when Ned went to see the aunts after once again feeling abandoned by his dad, who, let’s face it, abandoned him when he was just a kid.

But first, the big sad thing. After Ned’s mom died, he was shipped off to boarding school. But he escaped to go trick-or-treating in his old neighborhood and when he knocked at a door, his father answered.

What was sadder, the fact that little Ned discovered Dad with another family, or the fact that his own father didn’t recognize his son under his ghostie-sheet?

SWOOSIE KURTZ, ELLEN GREENE

When Ned goes to see The Aunts, Lily and Vivian (Swoosie Kurtz, Ellen Greene), Lily says his dad was just an ass. But Vivian walks the despondent Ned to the door and tells him how everyone says Ned turned out to be such a good person and gives him a kiss.

Ahhhh.

Blog reader Kara Severy wrote that she hopes to recreate part of that whimsical world.

“Could you tell me if the house that the Darling Sister’s live in is real or computer generated? And if it is real, where I can see it….especially the iron looking fence and gate? I’m trying to design that fence and really like the gate. Oh, I like the show too but it does have some elements of TOO CUTE that bug me a little.”

Too cute, Kara? We think not. But just to let you know how nice creator/executive producer Bryan Fuller is, we had a little email exchange on Tuesday about the show.

While I didn’t wrangle an offer that would allow you to come on the set to see the house itself, we’re hoping this is the next best thing. When Fuller found out you wanted to know about the house and especially the gates, which are real and not computer generated, he tracked down the information for you.

No pampered Hollywood flower, Fuller actually did his own leg work on this one. Well, maybe he just sent an email, but in my mind he hopped into a flower-trimmed golf cart and hunted down the designer for you.

“I asked our production designer and he said the fence/gate was designed by him (Michael Wylie) and built especially for ‘Daisies,’ “Fuller writes.

For those of you who caught last night’s episode, which Fuller says is one of his favorites, you might have seen a familiar face. Former Concord resident Carlos Alazraqui was a fixture around the Bay Area comedy club circuit in the early 1990s. He’s best known for being the voice of the Taco Bell Chihuahua and his role on “Reno 911.”

Alazraqui popped up last night on “Pushing Daisies,” where he played the drunk jockey in the Halloween-themed episode.

“We LOVED Carlos,” Fuller writes. “He was so great in the episode. We have to get him back on the show. He doesn’t die _ twice _ so we can absolutely have him back on the show.”

We’ll have to wait two weeks for another “Pushing Daisies” because of the CMA Awards next Wednesday, but here’s a peek:

LYDIA LOOK, CHRISTINE ADAMS, BUBBLEGUM THE DOG, JENNY WADE (ABC/RICHARD CARTWRIGHT)
When a dog breeder who may have bred the world’s most perfect pooch is found dead, Ned and company try to figure out who exactly did the deed, especially after they learn the deceased was a polygamist who left four grieving widows, on Nov. 14.

Good news or bad?

I’m a person who would rather go to a Giants or A’s game than to watch it on television, so this only means that my regular TV watching won’t be disrupted as often. But what do you think of the announcement today that KTVU-Channel 2 has ended their baseball deal with the Giants?

On the plus side, the Fox affiliate will be able to broadcast its national and local programming more consistently.

“The business realities have dramatically changed and we were very thoughtful and creative in our efforts to continue as the local TV rights holder,” said Tim McVay, Vice President and General Manager of KTVU-Channel 2 in a statement sent out today. “Any time there is a change that has so much positive history, it is unsettling. We have a tremendous amount of respect and appreciation for the Giants. The Giants organization is first-class from top to bottom and we look forward to carrying the Giants games on Saturday and into the Playoffs and World Series.”

Livermore voters already know who’s going to win the Mayor’s race. With only one horse going into the gate, incumbant Marshall Kamena, it’s a no-brainer.

But residents can cast their votes for the city council seats. Helping you with that decision is TV30, the Tri-Valley’s community television station.

The station will air a special Livermore City Council Election Forum starting today and running through Tuesday, November 6.

Hosted by TV30’s veteran political reporter, Carolyn Siegfried, the program will air weekdays at 11:00 a.m., weekends at 3:00 p.m. and Friday through Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on TV30. The election special will also air on Channel 29 every day at 7:00 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 4:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Each Livermore City Council candidate will have the opportunity to make opening and closing statements as well as answer questions about issues relating to Livermore’s present and future.

The candidates scheduled to appear are Jeff Williams, Marjorie Leider, and Lorraine Dietrich.

Like most people tonight, I was huddled in my most comfy chair watching the tube when the earthquake hit.

It was just a swell coming up through the chair, shimmying the house and getting the dining room light fixture swinging. My husband and I, both California natives, looked at each other without even a flinch.

“Earthquake,” he says.

Maybe I should check the news.

All but KRON-Channel 4 made do with a quick on-air recognition that, indeed, an earthquake had just happened. KRON stayed on the air, although you might wonder why when all the station did was repeat the information we had already: 5.6, centered in Alum Rock.

Seriously, how many people do you want to hear telling about how they were sitting there and then…well, you read the top of this so you know what everyone said.

If you popped over to the Web sites, you got more information. Well, not from KRON-Channel 4, but I’ve got to applaud both KPIX-Channel 5 and KGO-Channel 7 for their preparedness. They had maps, reports, guides to weathering an earthquake and then they even had a video you could watch of the station breaking the story on air.

Sure, Ken Bastida thought Tony Russomano was Len Ramirez at first, but it was a minor bobble. And I could never get the live Web cam to work. But I scored this Web site as the easiest to use.

Over at KGO, we clicked on Dan Ashley breaking the news. While Ken stayed on for almost eight minutes, Dan made do with about 2.35.

KTVU-Channel 2, which has a really cluttered Web page that isn’t easily navigated under the best of circumstances, had an AP story but no video posted at first. Later, there was a video with Julie Haener. But you had to sit through a stupid car commerical with some guy getting a tattoo removed before you could watch it.

San Jose-based KNTV-Channel 11, where the quake was centered, lacked the breaking news video on the page. Even worse, they had a video from an earlier quake that confused me until I realized they were talking about ANOTHER earthquake.

Sure, this was just a moderate earthquake, but in the case of a real earthquake, we’d like to know the best place to go on the Web for info.

Check out my video interview with Jerry Seinfeld on SueTube.

And if that’s not enough for you, here’s ANOTHER Jerry interview:

Jerry Seinfeld says he’s happy I have a digital recorder.

“I just had a lovely chat with (another reporter) and she kept her head down the whole time writing,” Jerry says right after I walk into the interview room at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. “I told her, while you were writing we could have been chatting. Instead, I’m trying to talk to the top of your head.”

My interview comes after Jerry has dropped into San Francisco by way of a trolley car festooned with fake bees. He walked down the yellow carpet, chatting it up with radio and TV news folks before going into a screening at the Metreon for a few lucky people _ journalists mostly.

Here’s Jerry and the trolley and, of course, the yellow carpet:

Here’s Seinfeld taking a few questions from the audience:

You can go here to check out the trailers and other cool stuff about “Bee Movie.”

Anyway, then Seinfeld headed a few blocks uptown to the Ritz, were he spent hours doing rounds of interviews, both for print and TV and Web casts. We’d already had our video interview, which you can see on SueTube. Then it was time for round two for the print stories.

Me: So, how is it going so far?

Jerry: After a while, my head starts to swell. It’s like going to an amusement park with too much noise and too many people and you start to feel a little dull. If one more guy asks me `How did you come up with the idea for the Bee Movie. Did you make it for your kids?’ I’m going to just lose it and say, You’re a journalist. A 10-year-old could could come up with a better question.

Me: Wow. That just took care of my first two questions.

Jerry, looking a little sheepish: Oh. Really?

Me: No. I was yanking your chain. I wouldn’t ask those questions. I’d rather ask what YOU would ask if you were a journalist interviewing Jerry Seinfeld about “Bee Movie.”

Jerry. Oh, you’re good. OK, I would ask what got you really frustrated making this? Animation is a very technical, very sophisticated, very detailed puppet show. Now I don’t get to work the puppet, I get to talk to the puppeteer, so my ability to communicate to the puppeteer what I wanted the puppet to do determined what that puppet did.

Instead of being funny, which is what my whole career has been, I’m now describing funny to, in most cases, a not funny person. It’s like describing a bris. I’m comfortable with challenges of vocabulary, but even for me it got hard. It’s that telephone game; I’m going to tell you to tell him. There’s too many steps. With a live actor, you tell him to do that thing where you whip your head around and we’re done. One step. He says, yeah, I know that thing.

Now I’m working with 60 different animators, with video conference not even in same state. For four years I’m doing this. Frustrating.

“>
Barry Benson

Me: But you love perfecting your comedy routines and on “Seinfeld” you were known to spend a lot of time polishing your comedy to perfection.

Jerry: The was the good thing about spending four years on ‘Bee Movie.’ I got to really work it over and over, which I love to do. I’m a good noodler. I’d be a good whittler or model maker, sitting in a woodshop all day. Like that.

Me: So you’re a whittler of comedy?

Jerry: Let’s say sculptor. It sounds a little more artistic.

Me: So, did you say you got your start in comedy in San Francisco?

Jerry: I didn’t start here, but it was one of the first places I got work. Oh baby, it was romantic, new things in comedy were happenign all the time. It was the mid-’70s and we were going to clubs and young people were getting on stage, and doing acts we hadn’t seen before. Not hacky joke-jokes. It was a sexy thing.

Me: What was the sexiest thing about it?

Jerry: I went from being just a guy to a GUY. Actually, I didn’t get lucky in San Francisco, but it didn’t matter. Suddenly girls were interested in me. I found out after I was in (comedy) that it would help you (get lucky).

Barry tries to get lucky too.

Me: What comedian knocks your socks off?

Jerry: Bill Cosby and still does. Impresses me more now, and I can’t say that about any other comedian I’ve seen. He has gotten better and better and better. Chris Rock and I went a couple of years ago to the Apollo in Harlem. You never saw two such sad faces, so depressed. Guys like Chris and I, everybody we see, we say we could do that..and think we could do better. Not him. It takes observational humor and no one makes it more funny.

Me: Some people might say the same about you. Are you working on any new stand-up material?

Jerry: I have a new routine about the OnStar system. They have those commercials where they play the tape of person calling in for help. Saddest development in human culture. The key goes with you when you leave the car, people. Then, they not only do something that stupid, but then they let themselves be used in a commercial. Not sure I have my dog and kids…oops, maybe I should have checked inside the car before I locked the door.

Me: Did doing those ‘Bee Movie’ ads on NBC make you nostalgic for your old stomping grounds?

Jerry: They are, what?, in fourth place now. And I still love them. There was time when they had David Letterman and Johnny Carson and they were just the coolest network ever. I think some of it is systemic and cultural. Look at how media is expanding laterally and at lightening speed. It’s hard for a network to survive as a central place. We’re not going back to Life magazine where everyone read it every week. And people aren’t going to just watch one network.

Me: What do you think of TV shows like “Heroes” or “Lost” who have all these components like online, comic books, and all that. Could you have done that on “Seinfeld’?

Jerry: No, I couldn’t do all those platforms. People are sometimes little overconfident in what it takes to make a good show. I remember when Larry and I were doing the show, we’d hear about these successful producers who grabbed these deals to put two more on the air. We’d scratch our heads. Two? It’s impossible to do one right. People don’t quite take it seriously. When I am working on anything in comedy, it’s serious. And it’s all I do.
The standup is like taking your dreams and turning it into funny stories.
Doing a movie is a tightly structured, arcs of movement, extremely discipline, like a TV show. You have to do comedy but with storytelling. Trying to wed these two crafts is like animal husbandry and sometimes they want to do it and sometimes they don’t.

Me: You took the movie to test audiences to see what they thought of the rough cut of “Bee Movie.” How hard on your ego was it to hear them hand out negative comments?

Jerry: Oh, honey. This is not new to me. Listening to negative feedback is hard. I know the poison of success and that’s one of them. People who don’t want to know nobody liked it. Well, that’s not the business. Some times when it was hard, when I thought I really had it and audiences didn’t respond well. I have such respect for people who make movies now. I will never trash a movie, because now I have respect for what you are tackling. It’s like doing the pilot episode and the series finale all in one shot and tell a great story in between.

We made changes based on what the test audiences said. They filled out cards and we tried to establish general trends. If tell a joke in front of 50 people, 10 laugh that’s good. Two laugh, probably not.

Me: So what did the audiences tell you?

Jerry: We don’t want this guy to be too arrogant, which I have been in the TV series, playing myself. I would say things that were mean sometimes, but it was fun. But this character, it goes back to animation and creating just the right physical movements. We couldn’t get what we wanted from the animated characters, because you can’t get to the live action, nuanced subtle performance. You can’t get the audience to see the twinkle in the eye. Take the medicine, that’s what I learned.

Seinfeld also knows how to get some buzz, like dressing up like a bee and scooting down a high wire at the Cannes Film Festival

Me: What do you like to do when you travel to new cities?

Seinfeld: I like to see where I would live, where intellectual, not-so-good-looking people live. That’s where I would feel comfortable.

Me: So in real life, are you more like “Seinfeld” or more like your “Bee Movie” character Barry Benson?

Seinfeld: I’m more like Seinfeld, more like mean person.

I saw no evidence of that.

“Aliens in America” may be one of the funniest shows on television right now, except precious few people are tuning in.

But if you’re one of the proud and the few, you can get some one-on-one time with the stars during this weekend’s San Jose soccer tournament.

Adhir Kalyan “Raja” and Dan Byrd “Justin” will be signing autographs from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 at the CW Cup Soccer Tournament at the Morgan Hill Soccer Complex. Take the Dunne Avenue exit of 101 South of San Jose to get there.

Adhir Kalyan as Raja and Dan Byrd as Justin in ALIENS IN AMERICA on The CW. Photo: Sergei Bachlakov

In addition to soccer, the general public is invited to enjoy the “Kick It! Zone” just outside the soccer complex. This festival area will feature inflatable games, prizes, information and product samples from a variety of sponsors.

My pal, and fashion guru, Dino-Ray Ramos really got behind Ebony and thought she had a shot at winning it all.

Instead, she stood before Tyra and the world (well, anyone who was watching this week) and quit “America’s Next Top Model” after it was revealed that she made the final cut.

Ebony had better things to do than model. She totally check out on this week’s photo shoot. Photo: Freddie Reshew

Ebony, a nursing student from Chicago, blew off moving forward during the ninth cycle of “America’s Next Top Model.” And Miss Tyra couldn’t conceal the disgust she felt when looking at the petulant model coulda-been.

This entire season, Ebony has shown nothing but nasty attitude. She snarls whenever someone gives her constructive criticism and just can’t help but been that person you’d like to avoid in any social situation. Dinner party? Please put her at the OTHER end of the table.

Yet her audition tape showed a bubbly, lively person who looked like she could go the distance. Oh, well. Looks can be deceiving.

The one I’m getting interested in is Asperger girl. Asperger’s disorder is a mild form of autism. At first, it looked like stunt casting and Heather was only there to provide a little dramatic tension. But Heather’s proven to be one of the most interesting girls in the competition.

Heather in her “green” photo shoot representing recyclable materials. Photo: Freddie Reshew

And while Ebony’s departure allowed Ambreal to stay another week. Ambreal may be a nicer person, but she’s not model material. So next week Ambreal seems like a slam-dunk to go home.

Ambreal, nice girl. No model. Photo: Freddie Reshew

Eight girls remain.

In addition to a $100,000 contract with cosmetics giant CoverGirl, this year’s prize package for the winner of The CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” will include a contract with Elite Model Management and a cover and six-page fashion spread in Seventeen magazine.

“Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence admits he might go through some online withdrawals after his series ends this season.

“I think that I have the potential to be one of those desperate people that was involved in a TV show once that still trying to get people to talk about it years after it’s over,” Bill says during a conference call last week. “Yeah, hey, did you guys remember that episode of Scrubs when…. No. You know what? I’m desperately hoping that I, you know, get to do something again that people are hopefully interest in. “

Bill says he’s had a constant phobia about doing more TV because he’s gotten so lucky twice, once with “Spin City” with Michael J. Fox and then again with “Scrubs.”

“Having such a positive experience again are so slim because there’s so many intangible things that are out of your control,” Bill says. “I’ll probably just continue to be, you know, some desperate guy that surfs the internet under a fake name to see if anybody is talking about stuff that he used to be involved in. And then, you know – I’ll be the guy that types, that Bill Lawrence was a really funny writer. And when someone says, who are you, I’ll immediately exit the internet.”

Zach Braff as J.D. and Donald Faison as Turk

But for right now, Bill’s just concerned about getting on with the final season of “Scrubs,” which returns at 9:30 p.m. Thursday on NBC.

Bill says he always promised Neil Flynn, who plays The Janitor, that by the end of the show he’d have a name and a girlfriend. On Thursday’s episode, we get a peek at the girlfriend.

“He’s the one character that hasn’t ever had a romantic interest,” Bill says.

J.D. and The Janitor

In fact, The Janitor began as a figment of J.D.’s imagination.

“I always thought this show was going to last for one season, so `Fight Club’ just happened,” Bill explains. “Then the second year, Neil Flynn’s like, ‘I’d like to talk to some of the other actors.’ All right, whatever.”

Bill says he made a slight miscalculation when he killed off popular character Laverne, the opinionated Christian nurse last season.

Aloma Wright as Nurse Laverne

“I would never take work away from an actress that we consider part of the family. We thought last year would be the last season. So when I killed Laverne, it was because we basically said ‘hey, what’s a good, dramatic arc for the end of the year since we’re kind’ve ending up the show,’ ” Bill says.

But then he discovered the studios were giving him one more season.

“So I promised her that she would come back. I don’t want people to get mad at me,” Bill says. “She returns as a nurse name Shirley. She looks slightly different but she still looks like the same actress. But the only thing we’re doing is that only Zach’s character thinks the two of them look alike.”

Zach Braff and Tom Cavanagh

Also coming back to the show this season areTom Cavanagh, Elizabeth Banks and Scott Foley.

“People that our nerdy fans will care about, you know, are little kind of secondary characters named like Hooch and Dr. Zeltzer. And, you know, all these people that we think have made kind of an imprint on people in the past,” Bill says. “We’re trying to get everybody their last hurrah.”

Zach Braff says he has campaigned every season to have David Cross come on as his “Arrested Development” character Tobias Funke.

Which isn’t going to happen.

This season will, however, have a big musical episode, a fairytale based on “The Princess Bride” and directed by Zach.

“You know, every year we choose one episode to spend a whole lot of money on and try to be our showcase thing,” Bill says. “Zach’s the village idiot and Sarah’s the princess. And, you know, the Janitor is a giant. And Todd is the Fairy Todd Something. So, you know, I think that he will be continue to be ambisexual and never really sure what he is, you know. But will (The Todd) ever find love? I think in Todd’s head he’s very happy – that he has found it.”

What about J.D. and Elliot? Will they end up together?

“If you go on to our fan sites there’s a lot of people that want them together and then there’s a lot of people that say that’s not what this show is about. And so they don’t want them together,” Bill says. “And what I think – I think the answer is right in the middle, which is we pride ourselves – this show was never a will they or won’t they show, you know? It was not Ross and Rachel or, you know, Moonlighting – you know, are these characters ever going to end up?
And I think that if we were to end this series on, you know, Zach going to the airport to keep Rachel – or to keep Elliot, you know, from flying away… everybody would feel cheated, you know, because that’s not, you know, what this show has been about. It’s been about all the relationships. That being said, you know, Zach and Sarah as actor and actress, have made people invested in this.
So I am going to resolve it, but I’m not going to make that the end of the series. I think that it’ll happen before people expect it to happen. I think I put a lot of clues what I’m going to do along the way.”

Dancing around the issue is Sarah Chalke and Zach Braff as Elliot and J.D.

Zach says if he had to pick acting or directing, he’d pick directing.

“I enjoy acting a lot and I love – there’s nothing that makes me happier in life than making people laugh. But I really like the – I find that directing asks so much more of me because you get to – you have to be a little bit of a writer, a little bit of a photographer, a little bit of a, you know, a set designer,” Zach says. “And I just love working with lots of creative people. So when you direct something, you hire all these really creative people and artists, and actors. And then you’re sort of the conductor to that orchestra. And I really, really love doing that more than anything.

Zach says after he came back from selling his independent film “Garden State” at Sundance, Bill made sure he wasn’t taking himself too seriously.

“(It was) the highlight of my life and Bill wanted to make sure that I hadn’t gotten too cocky. So the first scene back was me in full clown make-up getting sprayed with seltzer bottles by the Janitor,” Zach says. “That’s when I knew I was a success.”

So it’s about time in the conference call when The Question comes up.

What’s on your iPod now, Zach?

“Well I’m obsessed with a guy named William Fitzsimmons, who is kind of breaking out. A woman named Ingrid Michaelson, who is kind of breaking out because she has a song on an Old Navy commercial, but she’s a friend of mine and she’s really great,” Zach says. “And another guy I’m listening to is a guy named Jay Clifford who used to be the lead singer of the band called Jump Little Children and now he has his own solo album. ”

Back to the real questions, like Bill paying back the fans. Like putting out the number for Turk’s phone, which they still answer occasionally.

“There’s a weird thing going on right now in which the show has become very big overseas and, you know, one time a group of Europeans came here and they were taking pictures of the set. And I let them on the set, you know, just to wander around and see the actors,” Bill says. “And somehow online they got it around that hey, if you’re visiting America from a foreign country, the Scrubs set will take you around and let you meet all the famous people.
So there’s odd packs of Europeans asking me weird questions about the show here on a daily basis.”

Bill loves it when someone asks questions like, when did Ted lose his hair?
(He started losing it in eighth grade.)

But as much as he loves everything to do with “Scrubs,” don’t expect a reunion show down the road.

“We’ll do a reunions in real life, you know, because we actually enjoy each other’s time and seeing each other and hanging around,” Bill says. “But I don’t have the need to get everybody back on television again.”

Zach says this series has changed his life.

“It’s like winning the lottery in more ways obviously financially, but I mean – what I mean is like getting to be on a television show for seven years where you really respect what you’re doing and you respect who work with and you’re laughing a lot,” Zach says. “I’m going to dinner on Friday night with Donald and Sarah. I mean we all hang out. We’re all really close. I think that when it’s over, it’s really going to hit us hard.”

So, I’ve got to ask since both his mom and brother live in the SF Bay area if he’ll be coming up here soon for any special projects.

Zach: “If you invite me for dinner, I’ll be there.”

Me: “Really?”

Zach: “I am not averse to accepting a free meal from a stranger.”

You’re on, Zach.