On the final day of the ATX Television Festival Season 11, I woke up early to finish packing, checked out of my hotel, and headed to get in line at the Paramount. People were lined up extra early for the Scrubs Reunion panel—I think this was the main event for most people (including myself)—the single ticket and fast pass lines were forming very quickly.
After a sizzle reel—which quickly reminded me of why I had loved this show—the cast and creator of Scrubs took to the stage, each of them making an elaborate entrance. The panelists included creator/
The panelists gave a fun and lively conversation about working on the series, their characters, their friendships, their favorite moments, and more. The discussion first started off with everyone making fun of Donald’s awful Celebrity Family Feud Fast Money Bonus round answer of “alligator” in regards to an animal that could help you escape from the zoo, though he attempted to justify why he was correct. Much to Bill’s (joking) frustration, the conversation often turned to Zach & Donald’s “Fake Doctors, Real Friends” podcast, though at the same time, Bill was constantly trying to get people to refer to him as “TV’s Mike Nichols”. The group shared some fun stories about fan interactions, such as Neil Flynn getting called at from a woman saying that she was a big fan of Malcolm in the Middle, and then when he told her she was half right, she responded that she liked the series Malcolm. After some talk about the musical episode, Zach and Donald broke into a short duet of “Guy Love”.
Bill Lawrence insisted that John C. McGinley loved when fans ran up to him, to which McGinley requested that people just stay away from him, unless they or a loved one has special needs—a cause that is near and dear to his heart—in which case, he welcomes them to talk with him. The group played a game where they had to write answers to questions on a clipboard, and then hold them up to see who matched. During this game, it was revealed that Donald was the one who most often forgot his lines. However, there were some retorts from the other panelists saying Donald would have had to have actually read them first. Bill Lawrence said that one time Donald admitted he was excited to wear a mask in scenes because then they could just dub in his lines afterwards.
The panelists talked about how Carla was the grounding force of the series, though Judy Reyes said she once asked about getting more jokes for her character. John C. McGinley talked about keeping his own son close to his heart in order to round out Dr. Cox so that he wasn’t just another Kelso. Sarah Chalke mentioned that she doesn’t sing, and that she and her sister were told to pretend to sing at choir performances as children. So during the Q&A, someone asked her to lead the rest of the panelists in singing the show’s theme song, which she reluctantly did. The cast talked about how the background performers often got names based on their appearance, such as Colonel Doctor. It turned out that Dr. Beardface (Geoff Stevenson) was actually in the audience, so they took a moment to have him stand up for the crowd. When asked about a potential revival series, everyone on the panel was eager and game. Bill Lawrence said it would most certainly happen at some point, though Donald Faison postulated that a film may be easier with everyone’s busy schedules.
It was a really fun panel, and delightful to see this cast back together on that stage. The panelists were happy to continue answering questions well past their scheduled end time, which wreaked havoc on the rest of the day’s schedule as many of the other panels started late in order to allow folks who were at the Scrubs Reunion to attend the other panels/screenings.
After leaving the Scrubs panel, I headed right over to the Driskill hotel where Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff would be giving a more intimate talk about their longtime partnership and working together. The “GOAL! with Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff” panel was a last minute addition to the schedule, but since the Great News script reading had been canceled the other day, I had an open Fast Pass slot, and so I reassigned it to this one. This ended up being a wise decision, as this venue only held about 100 people (versus about 1200 in the Paramount theater). This was only the second panel I had gone to all weekend that had reached capacity.
As Zach and Bill took to the stage, it was easy to see that the two men had a great appreciation and respect for one another and each other’s work. They discussed working on one another’s projects, and jokingly striving to be the star of each other’s projects when collaborating, in order to irk the other. They talked about how Zach gave Bill a spec script for Scrubs during the first season, only to have it returned to him the next day by a crew member, with tire marks across the front. Bill mentioned that he only wrote 4 lines for one of Zach’s movies but wanted to make sure they were so good so that they ended up in the trailer and couldn’t be cut, just to infuriate Zach. Zach talked about recently working with Bill’s wife Christa Miller (who played Jordan on Scrubs). They also discussed working with Colin Hay, Zach directing Ted Lasso, and a lot more. Bill took a question about the upcoming Clone High reboot, talking about casting the roles with voice actors from the same background as the characters this time around. This led to a humorous ribbing from Zach as Bill paused while trying to figure our what to say for Cleopatra’s nationality. The 45 minutes went by so fast, and they couldn’t run long this time due to having to catch a flight, but it was a really fun way to close out the con.
Lifetime had brought the upcoming series Flowers In The Attic: The Origin to the festival this season with an early screening of the premiere and a Q&A with the cast/creatives. I would have loved to check that out had the GOAL! panel not conflicted. However, Lifetime was also hosting a huge brunch to celebrate the series, so before I headed across the street to my hotel to get my bags and head to the airport, I quickly wolfed down some food from the massive spread in the Driskill Mezzanine. The brunch was loaded with delicious gourmet sandwiches, salads, cookies, and churro donut holes, as well as a bar. Everything was decked out, with ice sculptures and real plates and cloth napkins&mdah;they really went all out. I wish I could have stayed longer but had to rush off to get my flight (though it ultimately ended up being delayed).
Season 11 of the festival felt different in some ways, but also re-captured the same spirit and fun that has kept me coming back since season 4. It was nice to be back in person again, seeing old friends and familiar faces, and meeting new TV campers. The nice thing about this festival being in person is that element of meeting people in line, hearing about or just walking into something and being pleasantly surprised, finding new potentially favorite TV shows to add to your watch list. While I loved the Alamo Drafthouse venue in previous seasons, I really appreciated the extended use of the larger Stateside and Paramount theaters this year for more panels. With the Scrubs reunion versus the GOAL! panel, it became clear that more than just 100 people want to go to many of these panels, so having that extra room is very much welcome. At the same time, this year the festival introduced some micro-programming, exclusive to camp badge holders. These were smaller panels for just 15 or so people. I didn’t go to any of these, but heard that most of these were full, with standing room only for the last few lucky attendees. Some of the topics sounded interesting, and the panelists were great, but perhaps moving these to slightly larger venues next season would be better to allow for more TV fans to attend.
The size of the con was perfect. It felt small enough such that you’re constantly running into the same people and familiar faces, but also big enough that there was more than enough programming to build a schedule, sometimes having to make some tough decisions. Those with camp badges also got access to the VOD library of the panels, allowing you to watch most panels you missed (or re-watch panels you loved) almost immediately after they took place. The festival never felt too crowded such that things were overly-packed and overwhelming, allowing plenty of room to spread out, especially for those who still felt a little uneasy with the pandemic. Some of the venues changed this year but the locations were less spread out, all within a 2 block radius, making it quick and easy to walk between them. The only thing that felt missing this year was being able to go to the SFA bar at the end of each day and see celebs mingling with the campers. While it sounded like there was some of this happening occasionally at the Driskill bar, it didn’t seem to be as prevalent as it has been in past seasons. Maybe there was some other location where people were congregating that we never found out about, or perhaps people just weren’t gathering due to the pandemic. But my usual ATX family still met up every night, and we added a few new friends to our gatherings.
For those who love TV, you should definitely consider heading to Austin next June for Season 12. You will most certainly find shows you already love represented there, and discover some new favorites and meet other TV fans along the way.
If you missed any of my other daily recaps, you can find them at: Day 1, Day 2 & Day 3.
