These aren't all just products of NBC's marketing department, either. "One of the cool things about Scrubs is it's like a weird college film making class," joked Lawrence. "We work in this creepy, deserted hospital in the Valley. All the writers are there, all the actors are there, we all still hang out. And writers and actors alike come up with all this odd Internet stuff."

More than a comedy: "Our fans want to get into the depths of people's lives."

But the content of the show itself is, of course, the reason these viewers are already engaged enough to lap up its creative methods for fan engagement.

The last episodes of the season air over the next two Tuesdays, and Lawrence promises to "drop a couple of bombs" - another sign of his confidence that May 16 is the season finale, not the series finale. "One of the things we like doing as a writing staff is ending the year with things we have to deal with or unravel the next year, because it helps us dive into stories when we come back."

This season, Lawrence and his writers decided to embrace the creative freedom of a show that had nothing to lose. "We've just been doing whatever has made us laugh, and for whatever reason, it's garnered us a bit of a critical renaissance," he said. "So we're going to keep doing that. This year we really stopped trying to be everything to everybody and just did the things that made not only us, but our core group of fans laugh."

Scrubs is not just about the laughs, though. Recently it dealt with a decision by Dr. Cox that resulted in three patients' deaths, and his subsequent drinking binge. That somber storyline was surrounded by elements such as J.D.'s absurd fantasies and The Todd's now equal-opportunity sexual innuendo.

"One of the goals we had on this show early on was to take shows like The Wonder Years and M*A*S*H as models," said Lawrence, who co-created Spin City at age 26 and also wrote for Friends' first season. "We feel the most successful episodes of Scrubs are ones that can make the transition from very broad, silly comedy to something with emotional impact and depth very quickly. When it works, usually they're our favorite episodes."

Scrubs has evolved as the core characters progressed from interns to residents to attendings, with newbie J.D. now the near-equal of his mentor, Cox, and with his own group of newbies to teach. "I feel like the show's point of view has evolved from that child-like innocence into a more comedic, cynical, been-there-done-that atmosphere," he remarked.