 Through the first season, the cast and crew, especially  writer/creator Bill Lawrence (III) (qv), were so sure that the  series would be canceled by the end of the season, that a plot twist  was created for use when theyd have a forced series finale. This  plot twist noted the fact that the Janitor, Neil Flynn (qv)s  character, never directly spoke nor was spoken to by any other  character than JD, Zach Braff (qv)s character. Therefore, the  Janitor would be a complete figment of JDs imagination. This idea  was kept up into the second season, still in fear of cancellation,  until Flynn asked Lawrence to be able to finally interact with  another actor on the series. (Although Elliot actually throws a cup  at him in the 6th episode and sarcastically says "SORRY!", in  episode 11 he gets punched on the balls by a little girl and in  episode 15 the janitor teases the nurse with the vacuum cleaner)