Donald Faison is a really acquainted face on the sitcom scene due to 9 seasons of Scrubs, and he returned to community TV comedy within the 2024 TV schedule as a sequence common on NBC’s Prolonged Household. His new character, Trey, undoubtedly is not a carbon copy of Turk from the medical comedy, and that is not the one main distinction between Scrubs and Prolonged Household, as the brand new present is a multi-cam present with a dwell studio viewers. The actor spoke with CinemaBlend and bought sincere in regards to the change from single-cam Scrubs.
As Trey, Donald Faison is engaged to Abigail Spencer’s Julia, however it would not be a sitcom if the premise was that straightforward. Julia has gone by way of a divorce from Jon Cryer‘s Jim that was so amiable that they change out and in of the identical condominium in Boston. Sadly for Jim, Trey is extremely profitable and charismatic, making the dynamic all of the funnier with Jim and Abigail’s children within the combine. (You’ll find the complete first season thus far streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.)
I spoke with Donald Faison and Abigail Spencer on the SCAD TVfest pink carpet, and he weighed in on performing in entrance of Prolonged Household‘s dwell studio viewers after the higher a part of a decade on Scrubs with out that viewers:
I really like the dwell studio viewers. It is quite a lot of enjoyable. We used to attempt to do the identical factor on Scrubs, the place the crew was our dwell studio viewers and we might attempt to make the crew snicker. So it is quite a lot of enjoyable to face in entrance of people who find themselves paid to snicker. [laughs]
Viewers might not have heard the crew cracking up when Donald Faison and his fellow Scrubs co-stars have been dropping jokes on the medical sitcom, however the solid may make the crew snicker on set! Laughter on set does not imply the expertise is strictly the identical on Prolonged Household, although, and Two and a Half Males‘s Jon Cryer truly has extra expertise in entrance of a dwell studio viewers.
For her half, Abigail Spencer solely had nice issues to say about Donald Faison entertaining the group! She spoke up in help of her co-star/on-screen fiancé:
He is nice at it! I’ll say Donald is our morale booster [and] fixed showman. Jon and I are very nervously operating our traces within the nook and we’re like, ‘Donald, can you retain the viewers entertained whereas we run our traces?’ [laughs]
I can not say that I am shocked that Donald Faison is a continuing showman and entertainer. There have been loads of laughs on the SCAD TVfest pink carpet with the Prolonged Household solid, a lot of them courtesy of the Scrubs alum. Faison responded to Spencer’s feedback about how he actually feels about his function as showman:
I do not thoughts, truly, to be sincere with you. I like the sensation of standing in entrance of individuals and exhibiting my ass, I assume. [laughs]
Abigail Spencer instantly responded with “They usually find it irresistible too!” It stays to be seen if the viewers is large enough for NBC to resume Prolonged Household for a second season, however the present is outwardly quite a lot of enjoyable to movie, and it has a recipe for achievement.
In any case, two of the celebs even have quite a lot of sitcom success beneath their belts due to Donald Faison’s time on Scrubs and Jon Cryer’s time on Two and a Half Males. Creator Mike O’Malley brings greater than 100 episodes of Sure, Pricey expertise to the present behind the scenes, and that is solely one among his comedy credit!
Abigail Spencer has rather more expertise with dramatic roles like Megan on Gray’s Anatomy and Lucy in Timeless, however she’s definitely holding her personal reverse Faison and Cryer on Prolonged Household. It is only a matter of time (and new episodes) to seek out out if the solid will reprise their roles for a second season.
Tune in to NBC on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET for brand new episodes of Prolonged Household, following Night time Court docket – which simply added a sitcom star of its personal with Brooklyn 9-9‘s Melissa Fumero as visitor star – at 8 p.m. ET. You may as well revisit Donald Faison’s time on Scrubs with the sequence streaming by way of Hulu subscription and Peacock subscription.
