Even though ABC picked up NBC cast-off Scrubs for an eighth season, the future of Sacred Heart Hospital is up in the air as the main character, played by Zach Braff, won’t be coming back for a ninth season. Season 8 of the hit sitcom begins in January and has made a jump from NBC, where it been a staple, and garnered Emmys for NBC, since 2001, to ABC. The season is in the can and Braff, Judy Reyes (Carla Espinoza) and the show’s creator Bill Lawrence have decided not to return for a ninth season. Actor ZACH BRAFF has confirmed his exit from TV comedy SCRUBS, confessing he feels free now that he’s quit his role as DR. JOHN ‘J.D.’ DORIAN. And Braff can’t wait to branch out of TV and try new movie roles, because he always felt restricted while contracted to the programme. He says, “(I left Scrubs because) there’s so much I want to do with my life. (It was) the most amazing experience of my life, but when you work on a television series, they own you.” [From Contact Music] Zach has made a pilgrimage to Tel Aviv, Israel and earned his pilot’s license since finishing the show, both things he wasn’t able to do before for insurance reasons. He appears to be loving the new found freedom and expanding his horizons, which you can’t fault anyone for. I bet, too, though, the freedom to do movies has alot to do with the decision as well. My family are all extreme Scrubs fans. Quotes from the show are peppered into our day-to-day conversation all the time, even inappropriately by the youngest of us. And as such huge fans, I took a poll as to whether the show should even try to go on without Braff and it was a consensus, without JD, there is no Scrubs, and without Carla, there isn’t even a Sacred Heart. It’s always a shame when the spark is taken out of a show and the networks try to drag them out a few more seasons. It ruins the magic of the show forever. I really hope ABC brought the series to a close befitting the much loved show with Season 8 and they don’t try to drag Donald Faison and John C. McGinley into something embarrassing for both of them. http://www.celebitchy.com/24016/zach_braff_is_leaving_scrubs_behind/