Donald Faison is a very familiar face on the sitcom scene thanks to nine seasons of Scrubs, and he returned to network TV comedy in the 2024 TV schedule as a series regular on NBC's Extended Family. His new character, Trey, definitely isn't a carbon copy of Turk from the medical comedy, and that's not the only major difference between Scrubs and Extended Family, as the new show is a multi-cam show with a live studio audience. The actor spoke with CinemaBlend and got honest about the change from single-cam Scrubs.
As Trey, Donald Faison is engaged to Abigail Spencer's Julia, but it wouldn't be a sitcom if the premise was that simple. Julia has gone through a divorce from Jon Cryer's Jim that was so amiable that they switch in and out of the same apartment in Boston. Unfortunately for Jim, Trey is incredibly successful and charismatic, making the dynamic all the funnier with Jim and Abigail's kids in the mix. (You can find the full first season so far streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.)
I spoke with Donald Faison and Abigail Spencer on the SCAD TVfest red carpet, and he weighed in on performing in front of Extended Family's live studio audience after the better part of a decade on Scrubs without that audience:
I love the live studio audience. It's a lot of fun. We used to try and do the same thing on Scrubs, where the crew was our live studio audience and we would try and make the crew laugh. So it's a lot of fun to stand in front of people who are paid to laugh. [laughs]
Viewers may not have heard the crew cracking up when Donald Faison and his fellow Scrubs co-stars were dropping jokes on the medical sitcom, but the cast could make the crew laugh on set! Laughter on set doesn't mean the experience is exactly the same on Extended Family, though, and Two and a Half Men's Jon Cryer actually has more experience in front of a live studio audience.
For her part, Abigail Spencer only had great things to say about Donald Faison entertaining the crowd! She spoke up in support of her co-star/on-screen fiancé:
He's great at it! I will say Donald is our morale booster [and] constant showman. Jon and I are very nervously running our lines in the corner and we're like, 'Donald, can you keep the audience entertained while we run our lines?' [laughs]
I can't say that I'm surprised that Donald Faison is a constant showman and entertainer. There were plenty of laughs on the SCAD TVfest red carpet with the Extended Family cast, many of them courtesy of the Scrubs alum. Faison responded to Spencer's comments about how he honestly feels about his role as showman:
I don't mind, actually, to be honest with you. I like the feeling of standing in front of people and showing my ass, I guess. [laughs]
Abigail Spencer immediately responded with "And they love it too!" It remains to be seen if the audience is big enough for NBC to renew Extended Family for a second season, but the show is apparently a lot of fun to film, and it has a recipe for success.
After all, two of the stars also have a lot of sitcom success under their belts thanks to Donald Faison's time on Scrubs and Jon Cryer's time on Two and a Half Men. Creator Mike O'Malley brings more than 100 episodes of Yes, Dear experience to the show behind the scenes, and that's only one of his comedy credits!
Abigail Spencer has much more experience with dramatic roles like Megan on Grey's Anatomy and Lucy in Timeless, but she's certainly holding her own opposite Faison and Cryer on Extended Family. It's just a matter of time (and new episodes) to find out if the cast will reprise their roles for a second season.
Tune in to NBC on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET for new episodes of Extended Family, following Night Court – which just added a sitcom star of its own with Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Melissa Fumero as guest star – at 8 p.m. ET. You can also revisit Donald Faison's time on Scrubs with the series streaming via Hulu subscription and Peacock subscription.
