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

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

@televisionary

It's official: 13 eps for #Community.

Yeah, just coming in. Seems reliable.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/nbc-renews-community-for-season-4

13 episodes.

my whole FB feed is like OMG THEY CANCELED 30 ROCK?!?!

i think another season of 30 rock will be enough, it's had a fine run

i thought baldwin was gonna quit anyway?

I guess there's still a chance that this is just a direction NBC is going across the board. Like, alternating 13-episode seasons of more shows than the currently air. Which could be a smart move. Which is probably why NBC won't do that.

I guess there's still a chance that this is just a direction NBC is going across the board. Like, alternating 13-episode seasons of more shows than the currently air. Which could be a smart move. Which is probably why NBC won't do that.

There is precedent for wheel shows (as they're called). In the 1970s, NBC ran the "NBC Mystery Movie" and spun off Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan & Wife from it into their own successful series. They could easily do a "NBC Weekly Comedy" for new shows and just spin-off what sticks with people.

Who still watches the office for anything other than masochism?

The spin on this thread feels so weird, since the other day everyone was wondering whether Community was going to get cancelled, and 30 Rock ending has been pretty much a given for months. I doubt this will be P&R's last season. The article doesn't say anything about that. Whatevs.

i'm definitely ok with 30 rock ending, this was a pretty lackluster season overall

farewell unseen sitcoms

so this is where we're at officially?

* 30 rock has one final short season
* community is coming back for a short season (with the possibility of earning itself a back nine)
* nothing about parks and rec is official yet

i'm fine with 30 rock's fate and okay with community's, but goddamn do i want a full season of parks

I've said it before and I'll say it again: never change, Morbs.

That joke in tonight's 30 Rock about NBC turning into a website that sells used office supplies feels both a propos and precient.

DWH, I have changed. You will abandon some things forever in a few years, too. If you're lucky.

what have you abandoned?

the desire to try anything

Article mentions a show called "Hannibal" that I have never heard of. Instead of looking up what it actually is I am just going to imagine that it is a show starring Hannibal Burress walking around Chicago doing something awesome.

There is precedent for wheel shows (as they're called). In the 1970s, NBC ran the "NBC Mystery Movie" and spun off Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan & Wife from it into their own successful series. They could easily do a "NBC Weekly Comedy" for new shows and just spin-off what sticks with people.

I wish they'd do this.

I was agitating for a similar thing on the 30 Rock thread the other day. If a broadcast network were to go for it it'd be NBC.

I wound up watching a bit of Community tonight and I just don't get it. Not funny, not funny at all.

Hmm, that's surprising, because I've found it funnier when it's on the verge of cancellation.

mook: sitcoms is the relevant one

Article mentions a show called "Hannibal" that I have never heard of. Instead of looking up what it actually is I am just going to imagine that it is a show starring Hannibal Burress walking around Chicago doing something awesome.

As much as that would be awesome, it's another attempt to cash in on the Hannibal Lecter character.

i laughed pretty hard at community tnite

the 'weekly comedy' idea is basically the Channel 101/Acceptable TV model that the creative core of Community started out with

so like I don't really keep up w/ network tv politics but why all the schadefreude upthread at NBC's inevitable demise? i mean NBC is literally (literally!!) the only network television I watch! shame about these shows; I still dig 30 Rock and def love P&R (community I haven't really watched on the reg since s1... But glad its there etc)

You can't really just dip into these shows like you can Everybody Loves Raymond or something. That's part of why I like them, but that's also a part of why they're hurting for ratings.

The schadenfreude is due to NBC's tendency towards failing to see or appreciate when they have something good going for them and also their tendency to shoot themselves in the foot with some regularity. The people in charge have displayed a level of ineptness with both the creative and business end of running a network and they should probably not be running a network. It's like if some arrogant blowhard who didn't give a shit about food opened a restaurant and slowly ran it into the ground: there's a level of entertainment in watching the restaurant fail even if you enjoy some of the food.

(And I also love these shows, but for me, there's always been a sense of dreadful inevitability underlying that love. The NBC of today is never gonna nurture another Cheers/Seinfeld/Cosby Show into long-term existence.)

tbf nothing is ever gonna be like the Cosby Show, ever again

the *television* of today isn't going to nurture that

not in terms of creative genius or w/e I was 3 when that went off the air, but no primetime sitcom is ever gonna get 30 million households ever again selfxps

xpost

I don't think that's necessarily true. Maybe in terms of the level of viewership, but you could definitely nurture a show to the point of its becoming a long-running staple of your schedule. Other networks have their long-running staple sitcoms. I get the feeling NBC abandons shit because it doesn't get Cosby-era ratings, but nothing can in this day and age.

cosby show didn't remotely need to be nurtured into long term existence, show was #1 rated show EVERY WEEK it was on until roseanne premiered and gave it serious competition and later fox scheduling simpsons against it cut into its numbers (and made cheers #1). cheers famously was the lowest rated show on tv it's first (best) season and wasn't an actual smash until cosby premiered, seinfeld famously struggled for years.

balls bringing science

also i don't think nbc is imagining it can hit cosby era numbers, i imagine they're hoping/demanding they can get better or at least comparable numbers to pawn stars or maybe even jersey shore. on thursdays, the most valuable night of a network schedule.

I wound up watching a bit of Community tonight and I just don't get it. Not funny, not funny at all.

I hate to be that guy, but tonight's episode really did require a lot of familiarity with the Community world beforehand to make it work.

it's sorta weird that now w/ tv critics like sepinwall/seitz/avclub so much more prominent than tv critics were before (i'm not any of them approach the power shales had/has?, sepinwall probably, but shales was more a variety type critic w/ a dose of nikki finke tossed in than something like sepinwall plus i'm not sure many ppl ie viewers really read shales outside of dc/ny/la, i can't think of a show shales 'made' for example) that they're also less relevant or powerful. see also, and more importantly i'd guess, the diminished power of the emmys or the cover of tv guide.

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.

Yeah, I'm among the bigger Community stans but a four-season arc seems like it would be perfect to me. Imo, most sitcoms fade when they outlive their initial premise.