[quote name='joeposh']Well FOX also marketed it as a goofball comedy when it was first put out, and then put zero marketing push behind it, outside of a few "emmy award winning" ad's before the debut of the second season. They pretty much dug it's grave with the timeslot move and constant pre-emptions this season. I've seen ads for The Office ever since it debuted last spring, even when the first season was struggling to find itself. NBC stuck with the show and now it's a success because of a strong push (although I haven't been too keen on their treatment of Scrubs).[/QUOTE]
They don't market Scrubs well because they don't own Scrubs, they just own the right to show episodes of the show. It is produced by Buena Vista (at least the dvds are, which has ties to ABC). Whereas a dollar of marketing for The Office goes not only toward the show, but also promotes the eventual DVD or iTunes episode release. A dollar of marketing for Scrubs is a dollar toward promoting the TV broadcasts as well as promoting the dvd release by a competitor. From a numbers standpoint, ads are better spent on shows wholy owned by NBC-Universal. This is probably why Scrubs has been jerked around a bit in terms of less-than-stellar timeslot, and the delayed start of this season.
On the subject of AD, I think it is a shame they moved it from Sunday when they did, just as Family Guy and American Dad made it worth it to stick around for more of the Sunday line-up. War at Home only suceeded because of it's timeslot, pure and simple. On the other hand, you cannot completely blame Fox, other shows on the network have been just as good and met MUCH quicker ends. Considering it is Fox, I am amazed it lasted as long as it did given the ratings, 2 and 1/2ish seasons. Be thankful they stuck with it and didn't cancel it after the first run of 13 episodes.