Good News: The first episode of Mindy Kaling’s (THE OFFICE) new web series HOUSE POOR is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Bad News: There’s something terribly wrong with Network TV when Kaling’s three minute and eleven second video illicits more laughs than almost every comedy currently on TV. [See Video Above]

Good News: Wednesday’s episode of PUSHING DAISIES saw its ratings climb 16 percent to 6.6 million viewers. Bad News: Yet still managed to finish fourth in its timeslot up against Obama, Obama and yes, you guessed it, more Obama. [Source]

Good Great News: SCRUBS creator Bill Lawrence is teaming up with ex-FRIEND Courteney Cox for COUGAR TOWN. A new comedy set to air on ABC revolving around an attractive and newly single 40-year-old mother and her teenage son. Bad News: Ummm… Bill Lawrence and Courteney Cox teaming up for an ABC Comedy… the only bad news there is that it most likely won’t hit the airwaves until Spring 2009! [Source]

Apparently delivering stellar comedy for six seasons wasn’t enough of a challenge for SCRUBS creator Bill Lawrence — he just had to take on Broadway. In its sixth [and possibly final season] Bill Lawrence, with the help of the brilliant creators of Broadway’s AVENUE Q present SCRUBS: THE MUSICAL!. The episode, airing in five weeks, revolves around an actual medical case of a woman who had an aneurism that resulted in her seeing everything as a musical. While there is no doubt that the episode will be a hit, this TV Addict thinks the bigger question is how long until some enterprising producer decides to stage an actual version of SCRUBS: THE MUSICAL? After-all, in a recent interview with theTVaddict.com, Zach Braff [a self-proclaimed theatre nerd himself] said, “At some point in my career I’d like to sing ‘Corner of the Sky’ on Broadway.”

Bill Lawrence: First and foremost on that list is that network executives have no clue as to what they’re doing when it comes to comedy. When we started doing promos for SCRUBS, the network insisted that we add a studio audience laugh track. Back then, the belief was that classic studio sitcoms were the way to go.

Now the very same executives are more then happy to say that nobody likes multi-camera sitcoms — it’s a dead medium. Of course the reality is that it’s not that multi-camera sitcoms don’t work, it’s that people don’t like crap. There are so many options out there with TiVo and 150 channels. My goal is to just not make crap.

You would think that when you go pitch a show as a comedy writer, a network executive would say, we obviously have no idea how it works, we should do what you want. Yet for some reason what ends up on the air is yet another comedy with a fat husband and a thin hot wife.

Hollywood loves to panick and make grand statements. One thing I always look at is that more people then ever are watching TV. Less people are watching network TV, so network TV has to evolve. We have to adapt and make television shows more fiscally responsible.

There are two ways to survive now. You can be the one in a trillion show that grabs the public as a whole, an across the board hit like AMERICAN IDOL or GREY’S ANATOMY. But that’s like catching lightening in a bottle, and good luck staying at the top, because it becomes a battle.

Or your other way of surviving is to become a cult show. BUFFY was one of the first. Your fan base is so loyal that you might have to go that extra mile, do something online, interact with them, provide them with extra material. But if you can keep that loyal group hooked, surviving time-slot change after time-slot change, you can survive in perpetuity. SCRUBS is not a giant hit, but we’re in for six years. The decision to survive for a 7th year is kind of in our own lap.

Click here for yesterday’s feature on SCRUBS featuring star Zach Braff and Bill Lawrence

Check back tomorrow as Zach and Bill talk about how important music is on SCRUBS

The Laughs Are Back as MUST SEE TV returns

There was a time when Thursday night TV meant only one thing: NBC’s Must-See line-up, which featured such powerhouse hits as SEINFELD and THE COSBY SHOW. But somewhere along the line, things took a very unfunny turn as the classic sitcoms faded away and were replaced by dreck such as VERONICA’S CLOSET and THE SINGLE GUY. This Thursday, however, the network does its darndest to reclaim the night from such stiff competition as GREY’S ANATOMY and UGLY BETTY by presenting a two-hour comedy block filled with shows that are actually funny.

That’s right, for the first time in many years, NBC may once again claim (and truthfully, this time) that its Thursday night lineup — MY NAME IS EARL, THE OFFICE, SCRUBS and 30 ROCK — is Must-See TV.

And the only person happier about that than we are is SCRUB’s creator Bill Lawrence. “I love that we’re on Thursdays on NBC in the midst of the entire industry crapping on comedy,” he says. “We’re part of a night of four great comedies, and I think it’s cool to be there. Sure it’s our 150th time slot, but I’m psyched about it”.

While the show’s latest time slot puts the comedic docs up against the bed-hopping surgeons of GREY’S ANATOMY and CSI’s morgue squad, Lawrence isn’t complaining. “We used to wake up and look at the ratings for the first three years. But after six years in this creepy deserted hospital, the networks are down to ten live-action comedies. Frankly, I’m surprised and happy that we still have jobs.”

Star Zach Braff is more than ready to see his alter ego take on McDreamy and company. “No matter where they move us — Saturday before cartoons or Sunday after the preacher — we’re always going to have the same loyal core audience,” he says.

Those fans needn’t worry that the recent baby-to-be boom which found three (count ‘em… three!) characters pregnant at the same time will result in the show morphing into a hospital-bound version of FULL HOUSE. “In the beginning,” explains Lawrence, “we really were going to have two characters be pregnant. But then my wife [Crista Miller, who plays Jordan] got pregnant, so we said ‘Screw it, we’ll have three babies.’” But don’t expect the show to suddenly focus on the hospital’s maternity. “People say kids always change a show, but on EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, I think I saw those kids eight times in seven years.”

Instead, expect to see more of the same… including the return of such popular past guest stars as Tom Cavanaugh, Freddie Rodriguez, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Weston and Cheryl Hines. Lawrence would also love to see Scott Foley return to throw a monkey wrench into the love life of Sarah Chalke’s Dr. Reid. And don’t be surprised if Masi Oka — better known as the aptly named time-travelling Hiro on a little show you may have heard of called HEROES — slips back into the lab coat he wore as SCRUBS’ lab tech, Franklyn.

One thing Lawrence says fans shouldn’t look for is a revolving door of big-name stars. “Stunt casting is a sham,” he declares, citing one of his own network’s past hits as an example. “This week on WILL & GRACE: Osama Bin Laden! The [networks] feel that when they have a ‘name’ they have to promote it with a thousand commercials,” he explains. “I think the reality is that people would watch the show if they just ran the thousand commercials without touting Special Guest Star Carrot Top.”

In the end, neither Lawrence nor Braff have any delusions about taking down the competition, insisting that attracting a new audience isn’t their number-one priority. “We pretty much make the show for ourselves and for our fans,” Braff concludes. “Bill could very easily write more sex or love triangles, and the ratings might go up. But it’s really about staying true to the vision, not catering to what everybody wants.” But should the network suddenly apply pressure to make the show a bit more like its rival, the actor has a very ANATOMY-like triangle in mind. “J.D., the lawyer and the janitor,” he says with a smile. “Stay tuned!”

Be sure to check back all this week as theTVaddict.com celebrates the return of TV’s best comedy. Tuesday — Thursday will feature more questions and answers with creator Bill Lawrence and star Zach Braff.