TCA Wednesday in the afternoon featured panels for "Scrubs," and the reality "Box of Questions" show, "Opportunity Knocks."
Zach Braff - 2008 Film Independent's Spirit Awards Nominations - Sofitel Los Angeles - Beverly Hills, California © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos
A quick rundown of earlier announced ABC tidbits:
"Grey's Anatomy" Shonda Rhimes is in the process of re-focusing the “Grey’s” spin-off to include more dramatic medical stories.
“Life on Mars” suffered a rocky start, after the nixed David Kelley version. The New York based show is now being run by team that did “October Road.”
Jimmy Kimmel is still in the catbird seat at ABC and won't be replaced, quashing rumors.
The cast of Scrubs came to the TCA press tour, and Zach Braff described "a bonus year" for the Sacred Heart team after narrowly escaping cancellation with old network NBC.
ABC is now home, as the studio arm has produced the show from the beginning. Scrubs teaser trailer was hilarious and typically visually rich stuffed with sight gags. Showrunner Bill Lawrence answered questions in rapid-fire fashion.
Regarding Zach's contract? "It is most likely Zach Braff's final year on the show," Lawrence said. But he said he's always thought the show could be like the comedy version of ER, with new actors coming in. We'll see new interns this Fall, including the hilarious (Human Giant) Aziz Ansari."
Braff joked that he "would love to come back and visit, direct some, do craft service if they need some . . . "
Lawrence said the dynamic of the show has switched, as the younger (emphasis on "younger") characters will mix it up. "One of the things that sometimes bums me about television as a TV fan is, we like continuity. We don't want our characters to change," Lawrence said. "Once you reach the seven or eight-year mark, you're like, when the hell are these people going to change?"
More gems thrown out by Lawrence revealed that Ken Jenkins (Dr. Kelso) is still a regular on the show, and we will see him next season.
Lawrence noted that the end of the series would be that JD likely would be leaving the hospital, with a sense that the theme would be about "when you leave, whether you can hold on to your relationships or not."
And the mystery of the Janitor's name? Neil Flynn shared his rendition, "Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate" then revealed Buck Buck was actually a full-grown mountain man that lived under his bed, or so he thought...
Lawrence then lauded Flynn as one of the best improv comics and actors around whose bursts of comedic brilliance skills often tweaked the flow of the written script.
Lawrence also praised guest star Courteney Cox's appearance: "We call her a gamer. She is up for anything. I don't think you get that all the time with high-profile actresses." He said while the main cast assembled to come to the Beverly Hilton that afternoon, Cox was working on set "with her face jammed into some guy's bloody corpse," then was upright and waving them goodbye face full of prosthetic blood n' guts goo as they left for the TCA.
The cast spent a week filming Neil Flynn's Janitor wedding in the Bahamas, which Lawrence called "one of the best experiences I've had." Lawrence plays the minister who marries the Janitor off.
Then, ABC’s "Opportunity Knocks" panel assembled that including host JD Roth and Ashton Kutcher with Jason Goldberg and Karey Burke who spoke about the new reality series.
The flow of the Q&A was terser, stilted and Kutcher seemed increasingly defensive with each question asked.
One intrepid journalist asked if Kutcher regretted the stigma of "Punk'd" which Kutcher answered curtly that he would do it again, "no regrets."
Another TCA press corps member asked if he had thought out his unusual career arc of model, then actor and now producer. Kutcher was silent and asked if he was serious, then noted he didn't sit down as a kid and plot out his life sequentially for this to happen. He noted he made good money modeling, then got a sweet gig acting making more money and producing was naturally born out of his love of the "process" to "make good television."
Host JD Roth (Fun House) took the reins and involved the TCA audience as he demo-ed the premise: “I think the best way to understand the game is to actually play it,” said, saying that they had done research on everyone in the room, and were going to play the game live.
Roth singled out veteran Matt Roush to the stage. Roth said that they had been in his office, and then presto, it was up on the TCA video screens. Roth asked Roush what was written on a cue card on his bookcase, promising ABC swag for a lifetime if he got it right. Roush failed to remember.
Then flame-haired Brill Bundy of Zap2it was summoned with writer Rick Porter and her husband, another TV critic. Roth goofed on Brill's propensity to blog about random food thoughts: Too many gummi bears caused diarrhea, but exactly HOW many was the mystery, mini hot dogs were bad but "mini hamburgers are a good idea," and that a certain red velvet cupcake was worthy of a Thursday mecca to a bakery. Bottom line: Her husband knew less of her tastes than her "office husband" Rick. Bonus: They got to eat some fresh red velvet cupcakes.
So far they have shot just the pilot, with production on the rest of the episodes beginning next week, across the entire country for 12 weeks.
Families are selected, and then copious research is done so the members are then queried on how much minutia they know about their closest loved ones.
Grand prize is $250,000, and assorted prizes galore.
The rolling set is loaded on flatbed trucks with 150 production staffers. Once the family says yes, they roll in, knock on the family’s door in the morning, and shoot the show that evening, after the sun goes down.
Kutcher tried out the premise with his wife Demi Moore, and her kids by asking them questions about one another. It showed him the show had promise, and that his wife would be a champion winner. "Moms do a lot better with the general awareness they have," noted Kutcher.
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