{"id":42059,"date":"2018-04-02T05:49:45","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T11:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=42059"},"modified":"2018-04-02T06:04:24","modified_gmt":"2018-04-02T12:04:24","slug":"zach-braff-is-happy-to-be-back-on-tv-scrubs-fans-should-be-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/zach-braff-is-happy-to-be-back-on-tv-scrubs-fans-should-be-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Zach Braff is happy to be back on TV. ‘Scrubs’ fans should be, too."},"content":{"rendered":"
By CURT SCHLEIER<\/div>\n

(JTA) \u2014 Lightning struck Zach Braff in 2001. The up-and-coming Jewish actor, who had appeared in a few films \u2014 perhaps most notably a small role in Woody Allen\u2019s \u201cManhattan Murder Mystery\u201d \u2014 landed the lead role of John \u201cJ.D.\u201d Dorian in the hospital-based sitcom \u201cScrubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the way to starring in 175 episodes of the show, which became one of the most beloved comedies of the 2000s, Braff wrote and directed \u201cGarden State,\u201d released in 2004. The indie dramedy film, which also starred 23-year-old Natalie Portman, established the kid from South Orange, New Jersey, as a promising director in addition to being a first-rate comic actor.<\/p>\n

But he surprisingly left \u201cScrubs\u201d in 2009, while its ratings were still respectable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s something you\u2019ve been doing for so long, well, I didn\u2019t want to phone it in,\u201d Braff said in an interview with JTA. \u201cI was tired. I don\u2019t mean to complain. It\u2019s the best job in the world, but you do get burned out. I wanted to go out on a high note.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Braff quit the show, he largely vanished from the mainstream film and TV world. He performed in theater on and off Broadway, notably in the adaptation of Woody Allen\u2019s \u201cBullets Over Broadway: The Musical.\u201d He also wrote a play \u2014 \u201cAll New People\u201d had a run at New York\u2019s prestigious Second Stage. His 2014 film \u201cWish I Was Here,\u201d which he wrote and directed, was heartfelt but mostly panned by critics following a limited release.<\/p>\n

As he headed further down \u201cthe directing path,\u201d Braff realized something was missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI missed acting, I missed comedy,” he said. “And when this was put in my lap, it seemed perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u201d is a reference to \u201cAlex, Inc.,\u201d an ABC sitcom that premiered March 28 with Braff as its protagonist and main star. The network gave the show a coveted slot, on Wednesdays between \u201cThe Goldbergs\u201d and \u201cModern Family\u201d (that\u2019s 7:30 p.m. Central Time, if you were wondering).<\/p>\n

Braff plays Alex Schuman, a Jewish character based on real-life Jewish podcast pioneer Alex Blumberg \u2014 a former producer for NPR\u2019s popular \u201cThis American Life\u201d and \u201cPlanet Money\u201d podcasts. Blumberg gave up the relatively cushy world of NPR \u2014 with its salary, health benefits and paid time off \u2014 to start his own podcast company, Gimlet Media, in 2014. Gimlet has spawned several of its own very successful podcasts, including \u201cStartUp\u201d and \u201cReply All.\u201d<\/p>\n

In \u201cAlex, Inc.,\u201d Schuman leaves his feel-good radio show (\u201cNPR on Prozac,\u201d he calls it) when his idea for a meaningful but depressing story is rejected He attempts to start his own show to prove the innocence of a convicted murderer. When that doesn\u2019t pan out, Schuman decides to make the podcast about the process of starting a podcast business \u2014 mirroring the arc of Blumberg\u2019s \u201cStartUp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, like most ABC sitcoms, \u201cAlex, Inc.\u201d mostly deals with the ups and downs of family life. There is a narrator via voiceover, a happy ending complete with warm fuzzy feelings in each episode and the recurring theme that fathers don\u2019t always know best.<\/p>\n

The cast includes Tiya Sircar, whom many will know from NBC\u2019s hit comedy \u201cThe Good Place,\u201d as Schuman\u2019s wife. Braff said that if the show is renewed for a second season, it will explore the dynamics of a mixed religious family. (Blumberg is married to Nazanin Rafsanjani, a fellow media producer who is Asian, like Sircar.)<\/p>\n

Braff also reserved special praise for Elisha Henig, a recent bar mitzvah who plays Schuman\u2019s son, Ben.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Family Ties\u2019 was supposed to be a star vehicle for Meredith Baxter until this kid Michael J. Fox took over. [Henig] is going to be the next Michael J. Fox,\u201d Braff said.<\/p>\n

Braff is not religiously observant, but he is aware of his distinctly \u201cJewish sense of humor,\u201d which he infuses into almost everything he works on. He greeted JTA with a cordial \u201cShalom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised on Mel Brooks and Woody Allen and Neil Simon. I totally inherited that from my father,” he said. “I grew up in North Jersey and he would bring us in to see Neil Simon plays and Mel Brooks movies. \u201cI think there is a [comic] timing ingrained in me, that New York sense of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Braff attended Hebrew school and was a bar mitzvah at Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange. With  the Passover holidays ongoing, he is reminded of his father\u2019s love of the seder.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father could make a Passover seder longer than anyone else,\u201d Braff said. \u201cHe always wanted to do the after-dinner part, and we\u2019d all say, \u2018Oh, no. Not the after-dinner part, too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Judging by his enthusiasm for the new project, Braff is enjoying \u201cAlex, Inc.\u201d far more than his dad\u2019s seders, despite the hectic schedule. He directed four of the 10 episodes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith kids in the mix and physical comedy, you\u2019re always racing. There\u2019s no downtime,” he said. “There\u2019s some behind-the-scenes video where I look like I\u2019m schizophrenic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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