In some ways NBC’s “Scrubs” is the new “Arrested Development,” the long-running critic-adored but viewer-ignored show on Fox.
Critics love “Scrubs” yet viewers have never gravitated toward it in huge numbers.
But NBC continues to support the hospital comedy, trying one device or another to boost its ratings, and this season its hoping the sitcom, whose season premiere is tonight at 9:30, will catch some of the momentum from the early success of “The Office,” its lead-in at 9.
This season, “The Office” has averaged a 5.1 rating in adults 18-49 over four hour-long episodes, up 27 percent over last season's 4.0 and putting it at No. 8 in that demo in primetime. Moreover, it's grown against tough competition, CBS’s “CSI” and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Tonight, "The Office” returns to half-hour episodes to make room for "Scrubs" at 9:30. But whether "Scrubs" will gain from "Office's" momentum is questionable.
Last season the show averaged a 3.1 rating among 18-49s last year, ranking No. 67 in the demo for the year, and it was leading out of "The Office" then as well. It lost a quarter of its audience.
The one difference this year: the later hour, 9 and 9:30 versus 8:30 and 9. Perhaps viewers will be less likely to switch channels on the half-hour. Or perhaps not.
On tonight’s premiere, J.D. and Elliot each takes a look at their own relationships, while Turk tries to monitor his sugar intake and Dr. Cox has trouble evaluating the symptoms of a patient.
