R.I.P. 30 ROCK R.I.P COMMUNITY R.I.P. PARKS & REC

i mean maybe nbc misses having employees badmouthing them in the press while taking meetings

do you remember what a nightmare it was when they let Chuck have a season to end the show and the whole season was just Chuck shitting on a picture of Jennifer Salke.

you guys realize we're talking about the entire NBC thursday night line-up and not a single show on the weekend right?

People are going to whine about the shows being canceled either way, but fans really don't like it when shows get canceled before an ending is written (see Deadwood, My So Called Life, Freaks and Geeks, etc.).

yes, that is probably the logic nbc has. a logic dependent on these shows going to heaven rather than taking meetings. they also thought leno would say thank you and in five years float to heaven.

community has been on the brink of cancellation forever? parks and rec took a several month hiatus this year? both tina fey and alec baldwin have said that they didnt want to extend their contracts? this doesnt feel like enough of a surprise to be "controversial" or "a bad pr move"

Looking at this from another angle: even if you don't see the 'cancellation' writing on the wall, I guarantee that the casts and crews of these shows are considering that very likely possibility. Even if NBC did decide to give the shows more than one season, it's likely that the creative teams will be so fragmented at that point that it won't be an option (see: fragmentation in the Community production team in the past week alone). It really might be worth it for NBC to go full-on scorched earth rather than saddle themselves with a whole night's worth of shows whose creative teams slowly split up/give increasingly less of a shit.

thinking da croupier might have placed a lot of money on "six seasons and a movie." he might be in trouble.

let me see if i can make this clearer. nbc has some cult comedies, a hit reality show or two, and a lot of shows no one cares about. they've just announced that the cult comedies will be cancelled (or really, kicked off NBC) in a year. the surprise is not that any of these shows are on the chopping block, but that NBC has decided to announce their EVENTUAL demise EN MASSE. NBC, the network that has regularly been bit in the ass by doing this very thing.

a logic dependent on these shows going to heaven rather than taking meetings.

oh no, not meetings!

they also thought leno would say thank you and in five years float to heaven.

You can keep bringing this up all you want but it isn't applicable here. Leno made an announcement on his show that he was leaving, and Conan signed a contract, and the networked reneged. These sitcoms don't even have full season guarantees. Plus, live television is dangerous for the network in a way that scripted television isn't. If they don't like Community episodes they can just bury them. They couldn't do that with Conan.

but that NBC has decided to announce their EVENTUAL demise EN MASSE

btw this hasn't actually happened yet.

NBC, the network that has regularly one time been bit in the ass by doing this very thing something that wasn't much like this.

i can't tell if i'm dealing with pedantry or obtuseness. i am not saying this is the death knell for nbc, but a familiar and avoidable source of embarrassment for them. they tell their talent that they're getting the boot after an awkward grace period, and, with the exception of chuck which was grateful for what it could get, they hoot and holler that they're the best thing on nbc and threaten to go to a network that would be happy to have them. nbc freaks out and everyone's got egg on their face.

whose creative teams slowly split up/give increasingly less of a shit.

Dan Harmon and Mike Schur still seem like they give a shit to me.

btw this hasn't actually happened yet.

i wondered about the "rumor" element too, but i think NBC would have dropped a "woah woah WOAH, we're only canceling 30 rock" by now if it wasn't the case

but a familiar and avoidable source of embarrassment for them.

You are saying that canceling these shows immediately without letting them write endings would be less embarrassing than the alternative, and I am saying you're wrong. That isn't pedantry or obtuseness.

but i think NBC would have dropped a "woah woah WOAH, we're only canceling 30 rock" by now if it wasn't the case

That isn't how it works.

NBC, the network that has regularly been bit in the ass by doing this very thing last in the ratings because of the consistently stupid shit that they do.

Fixed?

You are saying that canceling these shows immediately without letting them write endings would be less embarrassing than the alternative

if their goal is to wash their hands of the nerdfest they've currently got, yes.

the politics & business of network tv is def one of the stranger things ilx is into

ha otm

go read a bronies thread then

washing their hands of the nerdfest

I'm into it by proxy because the vagaries of suits dictate what winds up on TV. Having some idea of how this stuff works and why certain things happen the way they do helps alleviate a little of the frustration when things go pear-shaped with shows I enjoy.

but this is like if ilx had actual bronies on it

poly i was clearly responding to zachlyon's "re-branding" comments when i noted maybe they should just rip the band-aid off if that's the case

it's hard to believe that a bunch of music journalists and film journalists would be interested in television journalism.

well itd be easier to believe if they were film & music business journalists, but im just playin w/e carry on, i do tho think they shouldve offed the office too for symmetrys sake

the office is set to be re-booted right? whatever that means

I'm honestly curious as to how they're gonna keep The Office going with half of the cast leaving. Are they still seriously talking about starting fresh with a whole new cast (speaking of terrible NBC ideas)?

poly i was clearly responding to zachlyon's "re-branding" comments when i noted maybe they should just rip the band-aid off if that's the case

I think that would be a terrible decision, but I agree that it's something someone might do in a hypothetical situation.

NBC's decisions are roughly equivalent to waiting until the last week of your lease to start looking for a new place to live.

but im just playin w/e carry on

psh when did you go soft

a breezy googling suggests there's already some folks saying the parks & rec/community death sentences are "premature"

psh when did you go soft

― polyphonic, Thursday, May 10, 2012 6:43 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha i just didnt have the heart for it

tumblr may get its "jesus is risen" moment monday

People are going to whine about the shows being canceled either way, but fans really don't like it when shows get canceled before an ending is written (see Deadwood, My So Called Life, Freaks and Geeks, etc.).

So get writing, writers!

Also, "Freaks & Geeks" totally got an ending. Feig and Apatow both say it ended how they wanted it to end, just not when they wanted it to end.

Replace F&G with Party Down or Carnivale or whatev.

It would be hilarious if NBC had this green mile of self-aware last seasons on Thursdays next year

wasn't 'community' only supposed to last four seasons anyway? having the same 6-7 characters stay in community college for longer than that seems like a stretch.

I'm sure there's a reason why they named it Community and not Community College.

90210 dudes were in high school for like infinity years.

ok i haven't read this thread but we all know that this is only happening to 30 Rock so far, right?

I don't think we really know anything for sure yet.

30 Rock has been officially announced for a shortened final season.

Aside from the abbreviated seasons thing, I mean.

i thought the freak & geeks ending was great, very appropriate (plus awesome grateful dead action)

comparing that to deadwood is wrong, deadwood's ending was so disappointing and that's one of my fav shows ever

f&g ending was more successful for sure but I still think f&g deserved more time to finish telling that story.

actual last scene of Deadwood was great

yeah but there were so many storylines that were left up in the air :(

freaks and geeks it seemed better to me, i guess just because that's more what high school feels like, it's this huge experience for you and then it just...ends arbitrarily and then suddenly you're whole world has changed