Scrubs Season 8 Coming November 17th (3 months after DVD release)

[_Bolt_]

For the past two years ABC and Buena Vista Home Entertainment have pledged only their top two rated current television series, Lost and Grey's Anatomy, to Blu-ray Disc. Other series including Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Scrubs, Private Practice and others have remained DVD exclusive.

Today you can cross one of those series off the aforementioned list in what could be a sign of ABC and Buena Vista beginning to truly embrace Blu-ray on TV. Scrubs: Season Eight will be coming to Blu-ray Disc this holiday season. The previous seven seasons of Scrubs on Blu-ray will, for now, remain MIA.

The eighth season of Scrubs with Zach Braff and his cohorts has previously been announced for a DVD bow on August 25. The Blu-ray version won't arrive on store shelves until November 17, almost three full months later.

Tech specs are still hazy but I can report all 18 episodes will span 2 discs. Probable but unconfirmed specs are 1.78:1 1080p video and some flavor of lossless audio.

Bonus features are almost identical to the DVD version with the exception of two additional never-before-seen webisodes.

My Bahamas Trip
Deleted Scenes
Bloopers
Alternate Lines
10 Webisodes
2 Additional Webisodes (BD exclusive)
Retail pricing for Scrubs: Season Eight on Blu-ray is $54.99 for the two-disc set (that is not a typo). Amazon.com pre-order pricing should come in around the $40 range and I'll be sure to pass along that link once available. In the meantime, enjoy a sneak peek at the likely final cover art below.

TheHDRoom

[Afrobean]

I'm glad to hear about this.

Actually, I'd be mad to not hear about this. This season was the first broadcast in 16:9 and HD. The previous seasons were filmed with the 16:9 frame protected, I hear, so I wouldn't be too surprised to see the older stuff hit HD in one form or another in the future, but it is clear that this stuff was planned to HD from the get-go.

Actually, is there even a good reason this should be released months later? And is it really fair to call the webisodes exclusive to BD when they've all been online for quite some time now?

[aygie]

Originally Posted by Afrobean

I'm glad to hear about this.

Actually, I'd be mad to not hear about this. This season was the first broadcast in 16:9 and HD. The previous seasons were filmed with the 16:9 frame protected, I hear, so I wouldn't be too surprised to see the older stuff hit HD in one form or another in the future, but it is clear that this stuff was planned to HD from the get-go.

Actually, is there even a good reason this should be released months later? And is it really fair to call the webisodes exclusive to BD when they've all been online for quite some time now?

Maybe they can't get into the production lines? I remember a LONG time ago some the insiders said that TV shows and music BDs get last dibs behind Movies and games. Could be the reason.

How was season 8?

[_Bolt_]

Well the same thing happened to Chuck last year where they basically decided last minute to put it on Blu and so they had to wait until the DVD was done to start production on the blu.

Season 8 was probably the best since season 4 or 5

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Being that I have all prev 7 seasons on DVD, I'm not going to wait on the blu, will just pick up the DVD in August. Plus, only one other person I know has blu and I do lend out my seasons to a few people so will have to stick with the DVD.

[DigitalfreakNYC]

Fantastic!!!!

[jw]

better late than never as I always say

[NoQuestion]

Glad to see season 8 coming to blu. I wish we were getting a complete series in November, but this is better than nothing.

[OrlandoEastwood]

I love the show. I have Season 1 on DVD; I know I am behind on it. I've mainly been catching it on Comedy Central.

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by Afrobean

I'm glad to hear about this.

Actually, I'd be mad to not hear about this. This season was the first broadcast in 16:9 and HD. The previous seasons were filmed with the 16:9 frame protected, I hear, so I wouldn't be too surprised to see the older stuff hit HD in one form or another in the future, but it is clear that this stuff was planned to HD from the get-go.

Actually, is there even a good reason this should be released months later? And is it really fair to call the webisodes exclusive to BD when they've all been online for quite some time now?

Were the previous seasons shot in HD? I thought the producer said that shooting it in HD wasn't necessary, because the show wouldn't benefit from it.

[DigitalfreakNYC]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

Were the previous seasons shot in HD? I thought the producer said that shooting it in HD wasn't necessary, because the show wouldn't benefit from it.

From what I've read, they were all shot with the 16x9 frame protected...so I dunno.

I'm going to do some screenshots comparing the flashbacks in the final eppy to the DVD's from Season 1 and see if there's any difference in composition.

Yeah....I'm a geek.

[JTH182]

Originally Posted by DigitalfreakNYC

From what I've read, they were all shot with the 16x9 frame protected...so I dunno.

I'm going to do some screenshots comparing the flashbacks in the final eppy to the DVD's from Season 1 and see if there's any difference in composition.

Yeah....I'm a geek.

Actually that's a really good idea! Post your results

[Ricky Roma]

I love that cover.

[MTRodaba2468]

Originally Posted by Dr.Zoidberg

Being that I have all prev 7 seasons on DVD, I'm not going to wait on the blu, will just pick up the DVD in August. Plus, only one other person I know has blu and I do lend out my seasons to a few people so will have to stick with the DVD.

That's my dilemma. I have the other 7 seasons, and really wouldn't want to wait an additional 3 months to get it, but I want the better picture quality too...

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

Were the previous seasons shot in HD? I thought the producer said that shooting it in HD wasn't necessary, because the show wouldn't benefit from it.

Look at the opening sequence. Originally produced in SD 4:3, but when the show switched to HD, miraculously the title sequence switched to HD 16:9 without trouble (i.e. the matte was opened rather than cropped). This is an easily compared piece of material, unlike the flashbacks in the final episode.

But yeah, there are the flashbacks in the final episode as well. I almost feel like they might have been tipping their hand to the fans to say "see, we can do the old seasons in 16:9 HD too!"

[Nathan2k]

Hate to bump, but does anyone know if this is region free?

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by Afrobean

Look at the opening sequence. Originally produced in SD 4:3, but when the show switched to HD, miraculously the title sequence switched to HD 16:9 without trouble (i.e. the matte was opened rather than cropped). This is an easily compared piece of material, unlike the flashbacks in the final episode.

This is a pretty late comment, but I just found out about this. If you check the title card, you can see that the widescreen version stops earlier with moving towards the x-ray than it does in the 4:3 version. So it was altered to make the title fit in the 16:9 version. So that might mean that the show wasn't protected for widescreen but was cropped to do so, like what happened with Seinfeld when it's broadcast in HD.

[McGarnigal]

Has to be just an opening titles crop, or cut of a few seconds, the other footage offers more than made the original frame (i.e. season 8 finale season 1 flashbacks)