Start sending [insert Community-specific item here] to the executives at NBC immediately!
Or not. Let's not everyone freak out, now. To misquote the poetess Whitney Houston, "It's not bad, but it's not okay." When NBC unveiled their mid-season slate of programming, there were quite a few gasps heard 'round these parts when Community wasn't in its Thursday night slot before Parks and Recreation, with 30 Rock making its return in the 8-8:30 slot. The week-to-week numbers haven't been great for Community, and NBC--who's been struggling for a couple of years now to not be the version of the network parodied in 30 Rock--needs a couple of hits to get those ratings back up, because no one wants to be the primetime network running Life Alert ads.
There should be a little bit of reassurance to fans of the show over at NY Mag's "Vulture" column, where writer Josef Adalian received confirmation that the show is simply being "benched" for a bit. And take solace in two things: first, there are at least four episodes left before the break and NBC might be weighing a fourth season, simply to get the show up to the necessary 100-episode syndication level.
When the news broke earlier this afternoon, you could see fans of @NBCCommunity practically lurching through the stages of grief in fast-forward: "No, not Community," to "Why weren't we watching more Community," inevitably to "If you keep the show on, that means more of us will buy boxsets," and there are four more stages after that and I'm betting you guys are already bored with the bit. And some of you guys are simply livid about this bit of maybe good/maybe bad news for the show, and I get that, really. But an #occupyGreendale hashtag on Twitter? It's sort of weird and "bad fannish" in a way that I don't think any show deserves, but here we are.
The person who had it worst, though: Whitney creator and actress Whitney Cummings who's had to field numerous "They cancelled Community but left Whitney" tweets since the news broke earlier in the day. To quote Ms. Cummings from this evening on Twitter:
"Can everyone just stop being a d**k for like five minutes?"
Again, I get the sentiment: I'm still a little burned that HBO didn't give a fourth season to Deadwood but let David Milch begin the bizarre and terrible experiment that was John From Cincinnati, but keep in mind Cummings didn't do anything to you guys. Whatever the merits of her show (which is actually getting shuffled over to Wednesday nights), don't dump on her. Again, it's weird, and misdirected, and doesn't really do anything to help your cause.
In the meantime, enjoy the remaining winter episodes of Community when they air on NBC Thursday nights at 8:00.
Related Posts:
Is A Doctor Who Movie On The Way? (And What Would It Be Like?)
'Supernatural' 7.08: 'Season 7, Time For A Wedding!' Recap
--
Discuss this story in our Movies/TV forums! Follow @MTVGeek on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more!
