Where has Heather Graham been? The comely comic actress, best known from Swingers and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, hasn't been seen in too many high-profile projects lately. Perhaps that's why she's signed up for eight episodes of NBC's Scrubs this season. As they say here in Hollywood, better to do the small screen than no screen!

Scrubs will introduce Graham as Dr. Molly Clock in its fourth-season opener (Thursday at 9:25 pm/ET). Molly joins the staff of Sacred Heart Hospital as their new psychiatrist, who's "absent-minded but also insightful." Eight episodes seem like a long guest stint, though. Could Graham be the "special guest star" who never actually leaves, like Heather Locklear on Melrose Place?

"I'm tempted to [stay] because the character's so fun and I like everyone so much," the 34-year-old cutie tells TV Guide Online. "I have a few other movie things I've been developing to produce, and they might start to go soon, so that's the only thing that could stop me — other than the fact that it's exhausting! Doing Scrubs is harder than movies. They give you the script so close to when you shoot it, whereas with movies, you get it months beforehand."

Here's the lowdown on Molly: First off, she's not Zach Braff's new Tara Reid. "[Creator] Bill Lawrence said, 'I really don't want to bring you on just to be somebody's love interest. I want you to have your own full character.'" And like many real-life shrinks, Dr. Clock is professionally fabulous, but personally disastrous....

"I'm someone who understands human behavior so well in most situations, but my love life is screwed up — I date losers who torture me!" Graham says in character. "In one episode, I have some ex-boyfriend who's in jail and is a drug addict."

As for her prospects with Braff's character, Dr. J.D. Dorian, she teases: "Bill said, 'If you stay on the show longer, maybe we'll hook you guys up.' That's up in the air. I've only done three episodes so far, so I haven't had any sex with anyone yet.

"[Another] reason they brought me on was to be friends with Elliott (Sarah Chalke) and be her mentor," Graham says. "There's one episode where Carla (Judy Reyes) gets mad at me because I'm giving advice and that's her thing. I'm also the one character who isn't intimidated by Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley). I'm not really fazed by his angry personality."

As for her possible future in TV, Graham says she'd prefer to develop and produce her very own star vehicle rather than join Scrubs as a series regular. "I have talked to my [business] partner about developing a TV show, but pretty much all we have now is movie stuff," she muses. "I was a big fan of Sex and the City so if I would [do a series], it would be fun to do a girlie TV show."

Graham's latest film project is Cake, a romantic comedy starring her as a wedding-magazine editor. It's due out next spring. "Sarah Chalke is in it! And she was so good and so funny," the actress enthuses. "Weirdly, Scrubs made their offer to me [right after we did it]." Coincidence? Hmm... We think not.