LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- CBS has rolled back its commitment to "Two and a Half Men" by two episodes while Zach Braff and Brad Garrett have written their epitaphs for "Scrubs" and "'Til Death."
"Instead of doing 24 shows this year, we'll be doing 22," "Men" co-creator/executive producer Chuck Lorre told The New York Times. "But 22 is a full order. They had asked us to produce two additional episodes, which we normally do. But we won't do it this year." Said cut is a result of co-star Charlie Sheen's stint at a rehabilitation center, which suspended production on the series from February 23 through March 15.
Meanwhile, Braff posted to his Facebook account his former ABC series won't be returning for a 10th season: "Many of you have asked, so here it is: it appears that "New Scrubs", "Scrubs 2.0", "Scrubs with new kids", "Scrubbier", "Scrubs without JD" is no more. It was worth a try, but alas... it didn't work. zb."
Garrett likewise indicated the same fate for his FOX comedy, which airs Sundays at 7:00/6:00c: "The other night, we got an 0.8 [rating]," he told Zap2It.com. "Once your mom stops watching, you're an 0.4. The network said, 'What do you suggest?' I said, 'If you give me one more month, I can take you to a zero.' And there was dead silence."
[UPDATED - 6:17PM] FOX confirmed the latter news this evening, but will continue to broadcast the series through May 9. In total "Death" will have aired 37 episodes this season, 15 of which are carryovers from previous seasons.
ABC conversely is steadfast that the fate of "Scrubs" still remains up in the air. The network announces its 2010-11 season lineup on Tuesday, May 18.
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