Scrubs could be soon in the same company with the likes of Peter Gunn, Let's Make A Deal, Get Smart, Scooby-Doo, Family Matters, JAG, The Hogan Family, Step by Step, The Critic, Diff'rent Strokes, Taxi, and Buffy, The Vampire Slayer: series that has aired on more than one network.
ABC is reportedly picking up Scrubs for next season, which has aired on NBC since 2001, when the show was produced by Touchstone Television, which has been since rechristened ABC Studios.
Both ABC and ABC Studios are owned by The Walt Disney Co.
Throughout television history, more than fifty shows have switched networks. A handful, including The Price Is Right, has aired on as many as three networks (NBC, ABC, and CBS.)
Scrubs has been hurt by the writer's strike - ABC Studios had planned to produce eighteen episodes, but has since been cut down to twelve. The move to ABC would make financial sense for the network since it has already has an audience, and the network needs hit comedies - even if the "hit" is modestly-rated, such as Scrubs.
In other words, chalk one up for vertical integration.
Trivia: Even soap operas aren't immune to the network switcheroo. In late 1975, The Edge of Night became the first soap to change networks by switching from CBS to ABC.
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