All TV: 'Scrubs' semi-swan song, great '30 Rock' finale

Today's column reiterates some of my concerns about "Scrubs" continuing on ABC next year, plus previews tonight's brilliant "30 Rock" season finale:

So the ads for tonight's episode of "Scrubs" (8:30 p.m., Ch. 4) - an elaborate homage to "The Princess Bride" - refers to it as "The Finale." Not "season," not "series." "Finale."

NBC keeps using that phrase. I do not think it means what they think it means.

To borrow a bit of wisdom from "Princess Bride" charlatan Miracle Max, "Scrubs" is dead to NBC, but is it mostly-dead or all-dead? Mostly-dead is slightly alive - and, though no one will say it on the record until at least the network upfronts next week, team "Scrubs" is already producing another 18-episode season to air next fall on ABC - where with all-dead, the only thing you can do is go through the pockets and look for loose change.

Now, far be it from me to give "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence (who decided to take the hospital comedy to ABC when NBC refused, post-strike, to let him make the handful of episodes he would need to give his baby a proper send-off) a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it, but I worry that he's fallen victim to one of the classic blunders. The greatest, of course, is never get involved in a sitcom with Paula Marshall, but only slightly less well-known is this: never try to stretch things out when your legacy is on the line!

You get the idea. To read the full thing, click here.