Forget that little ol’ Friend of Courteney Cox we’ve been hearing so much about—beyond brilliant show runner Bill Lawrence has an even better Cougar Town guest star in mind.

Actually, he’s got five! And if you’re still a megafan of that other bit of TV magic Bill created back in the day (ahem, Scrubs!), this casting scoop will cause loads of woo-hooing, jumping high-fives and maybe even a fit of glee. Don’t say we didn’t warn ya…

J.D., Turk, Elliot, Carla and Dr. Cox are coming to Florida…well, kinda. Just not in that order. And not all of them. But some for sure!

“I promise you either Sarah Chalke, Zach Braff, John C. McGinley, Donald Faison or Judy Reyes will be on the show this year,” Bill tells us of his favorite Scrubsers infiltrating the Cougar crew’s second season.

Sadly, The Janitor is out of the equation because, as Bill puts it: “It can’t be Neil Flynn because he betrayed me and took another job on the same network,” referring, of course, to The Middle. The nerve!

But hey, we’ll take what we can get—and so will Bill! “I would kill for them to [guest star].” he adds. “[And] I guarantee you at least one of those guys.”

The show runner extraordinaire tells us he wouldn’t be against an onscreen reunion between John and Christa Miller (Scrubs supercouple Perry & Jordan), saying: “I think enough time has passed that they’re not husband and wife anymore.”

Bill’s also got a thang for hiring “within the family,” as he puts it—which means get ready for more Scott Foley and, as we first reported last week, Ryan Devlin on Cougar Town, too!

“We call it the Friends of the Family policy,” Bill tells us, “which is, I generally only bring on guest stars that are my friends or friends of the other actors or the crew so that we all know what they’re like.”

Just call ‘em the Bill Lawrence Players. And Busy Phillips (Laurie) is for it.

“Bill has been doing this for so long and is so good at what he does,” she gushes, “And he knows that when you have people who have worked together before, you don’t have to wait for any chemistry to build. He came to all of us and said, ‘If there any friends you’d like to get on the show, I’ll be coming and asking you about casting,’ and he really does. Everybody always wants to know if one of the Friends are going to be on the show, but truthfully, it’s exciting to get everybody’s friends involved!”

So really, the only thing left to say is: How the heck do we become part of the Friends of the Family gang?! C’mon, Bill, you know we love ya. Let’s make this thing happen.

From E! Online

Sarah Chalke recently starred in a short film titled “Party Guest” for the Responsibility Project. You can watch it below!

The story of a blind date that starts off promising — but for one major flaw.

The new comedy MAD LOVE, which stars Jason Biggs, Sarah Chalke, Judy Greer and Tyler Labine, has been picked up by CBS for mid-season.

Mad Love follows four single friends living in New York City – two who are falling in love and two who despise each other… at least for now. I hope the latter two are Judy Greer and Tyler Labine, now that would be perfect.

Matt Tarses and Jamie Tarses are the executive producers for Sony Pictures Entertainment in association with CBS Television Studios. Pamela Fryman directed the pilot.

Great cast and potential cute story, this has officially peeked my attention.

From Daemon’s TV

Sarah Chalke is in talks to co-star in the CBS comedy Mad Love, which is close to a 13-episode mid-season order at the network. She would replace Minka Kelly who was originally cast in the role. The project would reunite the Scrubs alumna with former Scrubs writer-producer Matt Tarses who created Mad Love and is executive producing it with Jamie Tarses.

Mad Love is an ensemble comedy about four friends in New York – Henry (Jason Biggs), Kate (Chalke), Larry (Tyler Labine) and Connie – who are looking for love. Connie was played in the pilot by Lizzy Caplan as a guest star and that role is now being recast as Caplan couldn’t commit to the series.

This is the second round of re-castings on Mad Love, which replaced Dan Fogler with Labine and Ashley Austin Morris with Caplan just before the pilot was shot. Chalke’s character Kate is described as a pretty, clean-scrubbed Midwestern who is a sweet but strong-willed romantic. She falls in love with Henry at the top of the Empire State Building and often tackles her cousin and best friend, Connie, to the ground in order to get her way.

Mad Love, produced by Sony TV and CBS Studios, is expected to be joined by the 20th TV-produced mid-season drama Chaos, whose pickup deal at CBS is said to be nearing completion. Shalke was in demand and did two pilots this year, ABC’s Freshmen and CBS’ Team Spitz, which also was produced by Sony.

From Deadline

Everyone wants a piece of Sarah Chalke.

Sources confirm to me exclusively that the in-demand Scrubs vet — who already scored a starring role in the ABC sitcom pilot Freshman — has booked a second pilot, the high school-set CBS comedy Team Spitz.

Chalke, who is technically billed as a guest star since the project is in second position to Freshman, will play a guidance counselor. The cast also includes Daily Show alum Rob Riggle as football coach.

From the Ausiello Files

Is “Scrubs” finally a goner?

According to star Zach Braff, the long-running comedy is finished.

After nine seasons and two networks, Braff says the ABC series won’t return next year.

Posting on Facebook, Braff said to fans: “Many of you have asked, so here it is: It appears that ‘New Scrubs,’ ‘Scrubs 2.0,’ ‘Scrubs with new kids,’ ‘Scrubbier,’ ‘Scrubs without JD’ is no more. It was worth a try, but alas … it didn’t work. zb”

Braff, who played Dr. John “J.D.” Dorian on the medical series, starred in only a handful of episodes this season, which attempted to reboot the show by adding younger cast members.

An ABC representative said the network hasn’t made an official decision.

Given the program’s weak ratings this year, a return does seem unlikely, especially in light of ABC’s comedy success with its Wednesday block led by “Modern Family.”

From the New York Daily News

How I Met Your Mother is looking for someone to play Stella — well, someone to play someone playing Stella in a movie-within-the show. It’s not clear yet if Sarah Chalke herself will be back, but the show’s looking for her bizarro.

Recall last May’s “As Fast As She Can,” where Future Ted told us what happened to the woman who left him at the altar: She and Tony (Jason Jones) moved to California, where Tony wrote a hit movie The Wedding Bride. Well, that hit movie is coming to the Mother ship — and Ted is not going to be thrilled with how he comes off.

Is Stella, uh, getting her groove back? Are these the reconciling exes? And who should play movie Stella — or movie Ted?

Source

The Los Angeles Times has some more information about “Freshmen”, which is the new pilot she will be the lead in on the ABC network…

“Freshmen,” a multi-camera ensemble about three first-year members of Congress who live together in a Washington, D.C., row house, has interesting names behind it. Greg Malins, of “How I Met Your Mother,” wrote it; his producing partner is Arianna Huffington (yes, that Arianna Huffington); and Pam Fryman, director and executive producer of “How I Met Your Mother,” is directing it. Icing on the cake: Sarah Chalke (“Scrubs”) is a lead.

The network has not announced which shows will make it through to the final line-up during the 2010-2011 schedule, but let’s hope that “Freshmen” gets picked up!

“Scrubs” star Sarah Chalke is returning to ABC with another comedy project.

Chalke has joined the cast of “Freshmen,” which centers on the friendship of three freshmen members of Congress — two men and a woman — who live together in D.C.

Chalke will play the woman, Jane, a beautiful, smart and funny freshman Congresswoman who was the VP at a multi-billion dollar company when she was just 28, and who won her district with the largest margin of any candidate since 1977. However, when it comes to men, Jane is a disaster waiting to happen.

Greg Malins (“How I Met Your Mother”) wrote the script and is executive-producing with Arianna Huffington.

Chalke, who played Dr. Elliot Reid on “Scrubs” for eight years, reprised the character in several episodes of the show this season.

From Reuters

Congratulations Sarah!! :)

It’s a boy for Sarah Chalke!

The Scrubs star and fiancé Jamie Afifi, an entertainment lawyer, welcomed son Charlie Rhodes Afifi on Christmas Eve, her rep confirms to PEOPLE exclusively.

The baby boy is the first child for the actress, 33, and Afifi, 36, who were engaged in Dec. 2006. The couple announced the pregnancy in August.

Charlie will have some company in the Scrubs nursery – Chalke’s costar Judy Reyes welcomed daughter Leila Rey in November.

Source