Braff 'would love to' return, but nothing's signed

When "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence gave the go-ahead to a musical episode this season, he did so thinking that "we might wrap it up this year."

But making the musical, which airs Thursday, turned out to be so much fun that "it made us feel like we might do this show one more year."

"Very oddly, you know, 'Scrubs' is actually doing better than it's done in recent years," Lawrence said Wednesday at a press tour session for the show. "And the decision seems to have kind of come back into our lap as to whether or not we are going to go forward. I think we'll probably do another big special [episode] next year, and I would imagine that next you will be the last year of the show."

That's the good news for "Scrubs" fans. The bad news is that series star Zach Braff hasn't committed to returning to the show for a seventh season (his contract ends this year).

"There's so many variables," Braff says. "I would love to do it. I'd love to keep working with Bill and the cast. I think everyone's procrastinating that decision to the last second, so I don't know."

It sounds, though, that Lawrence and Braff, who have a pretty tight relationship, are pretty much a package deal. While Braff asserts that "I think the show can totally go on without me," Lawrence has said he's not sure he'd want to continue without Braff.

However things shake out, though, it does sound like "Scrubs" will be back next season -- if not on NBC, then possibly on ABC, a Disney sibling of the show's producer, Touchstone TV.

"I called up the head of [Touchstone TV], Mark Pedowitz, and said point-blank, 'What should we do?'" Lawrence says. "And he said don't do a series finale, so we're not gonna. And I'm not doing Zach walking out the door, because if we're back next year and he's not back, he will come back for an episode and explain why he's not back."