Bad news for people who like good television: NBC has released its midseason schedule, and "Community" is nowhere on it. New episodes of "30 Rock" will air in "Community's" 8:00 time slot, while "Up All Night" (presently airing Wednesday nights) will trade places on the schedule with "Whitney." New drama "The Firm" -- with Josh Lucas in the Tom Cruise role -- replaces the very good "Prime Suspect," which will die after 13 episodes.
"Community" is NOT canceled -- yet. The rest of Season 3 will air at some as-yet undetermined time, so in the big spectrum of overreactions, right now we're at "The PTA is probably disbanding, but let's wait and see." Here's the crux of it:
"Community" has essentially been on a kamikaze mission for a long time now, going up against "The Big Bang Theory" and one of "American Idol" or "The X Factor" for a while now. It aired after "The Office" briefly at the start of its first season and has had to go it alone ever since. "Whitney," which gets to stay on the schedule has done better entirely because of that "Office" lead-in, and has been bleeding viewers almost as quickly as it's been arousing critical pans. "Community" is a mess ratings-wise, but it's one of NBC's few shows that still draws largely unabashed love from critics. Pulling it off the schedule temporarily given the ratings is understandable; pulling it off the schedule while leaving "Whitney" on is not. Either show is going to do the same pathetic numbers on Wednesdays at 8 - away from its "Office" cocoon, "Whitney" could easily do worse than "Community" would - and one move at least buys continued goodwill from the press and viewers, whereas there's no who will be happy that ["Whitney"] continues to air, week after week. [HitFix]
I was all prepared to whine and cry about this like it's some terrible injustice, but overnight the NYPD made a Gestapo-like raid of Occupy Wall Street, shutting down the subway and bridges and preventing any reporters from witnessing their carte blanche tear-gassing/hippie-stomping. I mean, I don't agree with NBC's decision to pull "Community" from the schedule, but at least they put it in a press release.
Click through for more analysis, NBC's midseason schedule, and Internet reactions.
There's still an outside chance that "Community" will get a Season 4:
Given the way NBC's fortunes have gone lately, I can easily see the new product failing so utterly that NBC pulls a "Chuck" and decides to stick with a known, albeit small, audience for a beloved show. (It also may help that "Community" is produced by Sony, which jumped through hoops to get FOX to keep making "Til Death" episodes for the syndication money a few years back.) [HitFix]
I don't know. Maybe I'm just a fatalist, but the worst-case scenario is three full seasons of "Community" that we can watch forever and ever on DVD. A fourth would be fantastic, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.
MONDAY: Singing is all the rage. "The Voice," which debuts after the Super Bowl, will be paired with Broadway musical drama "Smash," which has generated a lot of positive buzz.
TUESDAY:
8:00 -- "Biggest Loser"
10:00 -- "Parenthood" until its season ends in February, then the Elle MacPherson-hosted "Fashion Star."
WEDNESDAY:
8:00 -- "Whitney"
8:30 -- "Are You There, Chelsea?" (formerly "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea")
9:00 -- "Rock Center with Brian Williams" (new day/time)
10:00 -- "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"
THURSDAY:
8:00 -- "30 Rock"
8:30 -- "Parks and Recreation"
9:00 -- "The Office"
9:30 -- "Up All Night"
10:00 -- "The Firm"
FRIDAY: "Chuck" will continue to air until its two-hour series finale on January 27th. After that:
8:00 -- "Who Do You Think You Are?" returns at 8 on February 3.
9:00 -- "Grimm"
10:00 -- "Dateline"
SATURDAY: Drama repeats.
SUNDAY: "Dateline" / "Harry's Law" / "Celebrity Apprentice"
(via imgur)
(via Uproxx)
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/photo/226/thumb)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/save-me-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/tumblr_may1uv5Iva1qbhzp1_large-150x150.gif)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/both-the-great-gatsby-movies-combined-nbcs-she-ra-other-mashups-150x150.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/the-office-series-finale-recap-150x150.jpg)
NBC is the AT&T of broadcast networks! The opposite of Batman! A pizza burn on the roof of the world’s mouth!
I seriously do not know how TV and Movie execs get their bullshit ideas. Probably some parallel shit dimension.
Whitney F*CKING SUCKS. How do these people have jobs? I honestly feel bad for the actors and crew members who have to shoot that show It’s not funny and it’s not original. Community is literally one of if not the best comedies on TV and they’re putting it on hiatus to feature this god awful abortion of a show. Unbelievable.
My god, it’s “Arrested Development” all over again, isn’t it? I’m just getting over that heartbreak and learning to love again…
[www.save-community.com]
If the truth is Community is just unable to find a sufficient audience to be profitable I don’t begrudge NBC shutting it down, they are under no obligation to lose money. However, I think it is more likely that NBC is mismanaging its resources and will squander some really excellent intellectual property to chase the CBS demo, and still fail.
I hope NBC figures out how to make Community work, or sells it to another channel that could (I’m looking at you ABC Wednesday night at 9 or 9:30 after modern family and happy endings). This season has been a little rough around the edges, but at least the show isn’t the same idea warmed over for the hundredth time.
You’re right, NBC, we’ve never met kind of like your hair and dandruff shampoo.
And by the by, aren’t the ratings on “30 Rock” just as low as “Community?” What the deuce?!
Seriously, though, one can only hope that “Whitney” will tank when moved and that NBC gives “Community” one more season to make it profitable in syndication. But they got a full season order, didn’t they? So they’d presumably have time to write a real series finale.
Besides, if “Chuck” fans can save their show, I have faith that the internet can save “Community.”
The most popular sitcoms on TV are Two and A Half Men and The Big Bang Theory.
AMERICANS ARE STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID
The cops shut down OWS? Damn, this is the first I’ve heard of it. Those sneaky bastards did it when we weren’t looking. Or rather, fixed it so we couldn’t look. Bastards!
I’ve learned now to accept this. After years of seeing shows I like getting cancelled, or moved around so much that it leads to cancellation, of course my favorite show is next. Network TV is increasingly for the old and the undiscerning.
The people that made this decision have obviously never seen the Alison Brie GIFs presented here at WG.
I’m pretty sick of police procedurals, but Prime Suspect was damn good, mostly because Maria Bello acts circles around anyone on television. It’s the first thing I ever saw her in where she didn’t get naked, and yet I kept watching, so that should tell you something.
Apparently I’m the only one.
You can complain to NBC directly. Just pull down Community drop down and fill out a message.
[www.nbc.com]
Not surprising that this happened. Even less surprising is that the twitter comments by the creator and stars of Community are funnier than anything that has been on Whitney this year.
A mixed bag of news for me. “Community” being put on the path to cancellation which really sucks and the police moving in on Zuccotti Park which really sucks because there is no video of the children getting shown the door, so to speak.
As for Community, maybe the great satan (CBS) could pick it up when NBC drops it. It’d be worth turning into that shitty network just to get to keep watching it.
@Esse: The thing is that even if NBC tries for the 2HM or BBT audience they are going to lose. You can’t out CBS CBS, the shows may be dumb the people who make them aren’t, they have it down to a science.
I just don’t see what kind of expectation NBC has for community when it is, as HitFlix describes, “on a kamikaze mission” going up against broad appeal shows like The X Factor, American Idol and The Big Bang Theory. It’s near impossible to suck viewers from those shows, and I don’t see why NBC thinks ANY show will thrive in that spot, even 30 Rock.
I had an argument with my family Sunday over the fact that CBS airs 10 police prodedurals a week which are virtually identical and they countered with “all of the comedies you watch are exactly the same too”. It’s true that every single comedy I watch begins with a murder and ends with a suspect either being caught or getting away with it only to appear in later episodes.
I’m bummed about Prime Suspect. Yes, it’s a cop procedural, but I really like all the actors and the characters they play. Poor Kirk Acevedo.
I knew there was no way I’d be the first to throw in an Arrested Development anecdote, fuck you guys
Benching “Community” is bad enough, but why would you put “30 Rock,” which has traditionally run at 9:30 and has an edgier audience, in the crappy 8pm slot, and put the (decent) comedy about young parents on in the late spot when it’s traditionally run at 8pm?
I think NBC is now owned by the woman who tried to tank the Cleveland Indians in “Major League.”
Let’s set up job fair tents at all the Occupy sites and see how many of these unemployed hippies who all somehow still own iPads are actually willing to put their bong water where their mouth is.
Or…something. You know what I mean.
NBC: We’re just another FOX. Don’t forget to tune in Wednesdays to watch Whitney because whatever, dumb people get us ratings, fuck you!
The cast’s charming responses only make me realize how much I’ll miss them.
#sixseasonsandamovie
Terrible network makes a terrible decision
At least Community is getting three full seasons, to live forever on DVD. Terriers? One goddamned season and NO DVD release announced yet.
/still bitter
I agree with the Otto Man. Community didn’t belong at 8 and neither does 30 Rock. They should pair them in the 10 o’clock block, up the raunch and perversion (Hi, Jenna!) and lose half the clothes.
Also, why do garbage shows like Whitney and Up All Night get to enjoy the Office lead? There are two shows (Community, Parks and Rec) that will hold more of that audience but, are relegated to fighting off American Idol and Chuck Lorre trash. Cabletown is as inept as GE.
What I don’t get is that this season has been unavailable on Hulu or Hulu+. I paid $3 an episode to watch on Vudu (worth it for no commercials, BTW). Seems like if they let it go on Hulu they’d makeit up in volume….
I fucking hate America. Two and Half Men will live on forever, and the genius that is Community will die a quiet death while the internet rages over the news. Just because 88% of America is too god damn stupid to understand half the jokes that they come up with because it isn’t, “Derrr Ashton Kutcher had sex with anuthar womin.” so now we’ll be subjected to another terrible show with a laugh track that pulls in big numbers as NBC slowly assimilates its formerly fantastic Thursday lineup to more closely resemble the half-assed status quo that CBS and ABC pump out weekly. I hope everyone enjoys Whitney because we’re about to get 3 more of them. Parks and Rec is probably next on the block.
#sixseasonsandamovie
[www.youtube.com]
Best case scenario is as Taco Gigante said and they sell it to ABC to go in after Modern Family and Happy Endings where it would at least get a decent lead in and have little to no competition.
If they put Whitney on at 8 and Community at 9:30, this wouldn’t even be a conversation. NBC sucks at scheduling.
I read last night that NBC is adding a new comedy for the mid-winter season based on the life of Chelsea Handler. PUKE, PUKE, PUKE! They’ll probably give it a nice shiny spot in the lineup.
Chelsea Handler is to comedy what child rape is to college football.
The show is kinda retarded. Who watches that crap?
Remember when NBC was known for letting unique and well written comedies grow an audience with a consistent schedule? I don’t either but, that’s mostly because I’ve taken a lot of drugs.
If NBC advertised Community 1/10th as much as they push that wet turd Whitney on us, they’d have a bonafied hit on their hands. As it is, they clearly don’t understand how to make people happy. NBC is the AT&T of networks.
@Patty Boots: I apologize for stealing your AT&T joke. I didn’t read the comments before I posted. Mea culpa.
no…no…noooooooooooo!
Community is the best thing on TV, please don’t take it away Terrible Large Network That Always Makes the Wrong Decision!
If the writing is truly on the wall, the best we can hope for is FX picking up Community. Despite being highly unlikely, this move would render the major networks useless except when broadcasting live sports.
@terminac: Yeah, and by next year the networks will have replaced the NFL with 3 hours of “Unfunny female comic makes bad jokes about being a slut”, so they won’t be useful at all.
If half the people that have complained about this move actually watched the show, then it’d be the most watched show in America. I think more people say they watch it than actually do. It doesn’t matter how many crtics or internet nerds like a show if nobody else does. Communtity is funny, but it is too niche and gimmicky to work. Put it on FX or IFC and then nobody would care if only 12 people watched it.
I’ve calmed down since my initial rage last night. I love community, it’s never the most laugh out loud show of the week but I get more enjoyment from those 30 minutes than anything else on TV. What I’ve realized though is that I don’t know anyone else (other than you fine folks) who watch this show.
Overall my friends have decent taste in TV- they hate 2 1/2 men, reality tv, csi, etc. and love always sunny, parks and rec, and justified as much as I do. But- hardly any of them ‘get’ community. It’s a weird show that seems to speak just to my very specific sense of humor and interests. How great is it that we’ll end up with at least 70 episodes of this show, from a major network? NBC no less?
Jesus titty-fucking Christ. We are going to lose Annie’s Boobs so that NBC executives can keep trying to polish the big fat turd that is Whitney? Not only that, but they’re also going to ditch Prime Suspect which at least tried to develop actual characters and not stock caricatures. Between this bullshit and the fact that Newt Gingrich once again appears to be happening…I wish that asteroid had hit us last week.
How much better would Community be if it were on FX? All they need to do is get rid of that 2 and Half Men bullshit one night a week, and put it on right before Sunny and The League. Shit. Imagine when Archer comes back on, holy hell. Community, Sunny, The League, Archer. Who the fuck WOULDN’T watch that two hours of TV?
@Chazz – Before Community started I thought it would stink. Adults at a college, what happens if the show goes past four seasons? Then I started to watch it and it blew me away.
My wife thought it wasn’t worth watching because it seemed so flawed, and after an iffy first quarter of the first season I had to keep pushing her to keep watching. Now she adores the show. Can she get her friends to watch Community? She tries, but people expect a college Glee.
Don’t forget people adore the idiotic The Big Bang Theory because they identify themselves with those awful characters. Community has characters who are weird as hell, and invite you to laugh along with them, while TBBT asks you to laugh AT them.
Harumph harumph harumph. Hey, Smegga, have you been watching Fresh Meat?
Whitney is not that bad…….30 Rock has long ago run its course………Community is funnier than 30 Rock by any stretch…….well……at least it has better boobs…..
Up All Night????……….watching that makes me wish “Outsourced” was back on the air…..
Whitney is fucking horrendous.
Community hasn’t been that good this season, and its gotten too niche and meta ever since season 1 (which was perfect in my opinion), so its better that this show ends now before they start creating bullshit reasons to keep everyone in community college longer than 3 years. Donald Glover and Alison Brie will go on to enjoy mainstream success and everyone will fondly remember the show, rather than keep bitching about the quality decline this year (and really, there have only been 2 episodes this year that were consistently great). 70 episodes is something to be pretty dang proud of anyway.
/would kill someone if “Parks and Rec” was put on hiatus for some BS reason though
What’s sad is my uncle, who is a NPR-loving, retired college administrator with a doctorate who fucking loves Big Bang Theory and had never even heard of Community until a told him about it a couple weeks ago.
@Charlie Br0nze – No I haven’t. It’s British and I don’t like those shows. Any good? I miss Black Books though.
NBC better not fuck up the dvd release of The Playboy Club
@ Smegga. At 40 minutes an episode it’s not a laugh riot – it’s not trying to be – but it’s confident television. It’s one of those shows, like Top Gear at its best, that you can find yourself grinning through throughout.
I’ll give it a look then. I love Top Gear, no matter how stupid it gets.
@BigWiLLy
“Who the fuck WOULDN’T watch that two hours of TV?” Sadly, most people
It is a joyless time. But we all knew this would happen sooner rather than later. I still have hope for a rescue, but… it’s not super-likely. At least Up All Night is slightly more deserving of a Thursday timeslot than Whitney.
NBC IS THE SUCKIEST SUCK THAT EVER SUCKED.
You know I was having a super great day today and then NBC crapped in my punch bowl.
I really hate most American t.v. viewers (sadly, my parents are in that group). And I feel like such a jerk saying that, but I honestly don’t understand WHY people don’t demand better writing. If I can paint a picture of what the episode is going to be like after watching it for five minutes, how is it entertaining? If I’m sitting there thinking of what cheesy line the character would say next, and they actually say it, then how is that good?! Shouldn’t professional writers be better at this?!
I have a friend who is smart, funny, quick-witted, and generally cool, and she LOVES BBT. When I told her I’d never watched it (a point of pride, thank you very much) she was horrified and insisted I’d love it because “it’s right up [your] alley! It’s about geeky guys; that’s your thing!” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and begin an anti-tv diatribe for the sake of our friendship. I mean, it has a laugh track, right? Ugh.
But the worst part of it all is that there will be no reason for me to see Joel McHale shirtless a few times a year. Since Joel is man-crush worthy, how about some .gifs for the ladies, Matt? We tolerate lots of Annie’s Boobs gifs. Throw us a bone.
Community put on hold? Truly this is the darkest timeline.
Fuck you NBC, and all your executives. Get rid of Whitney. Its a crap show. If they get rid of Community it will be like Arrested Development and Firefly together.
Also Gimm is a horrible show. And Up All Night wtf is that. I love Will Arnett but come on! Really! I will not be happy unless i can watch Community and Parks and Rec every thursday