Community, the tv show

some dude: oh i know. it's just strange that it doesn't happen more often, when most cable stations would be happy to pull in community's ratings. and premium stations are all about the brand anyway, and what's better for your brand than preventing the next arrested development disaster? and i think in light of AD and futurama, it'd be more likely now than a decade ago.

cable stations might be happy to pull in community's ratings but a) those ratings would be even worse on a cable station and b) they won't pay the kind of money likely required to retain six main characters, some of whom can probably break out a bit

seven characters, my bad

i don't know tons about hollywood or w/e but i'm guessing another factor is that if you're an executive at, say, fx or tbs, and you want to move up in your profession or at your network, walking into a job interview and going "well in my time at fx i brought 15 major network cast offs onto our network and they did pretty decent ratings. i mean, for cable anyway. but the fanbase was really strong on twitter" is probably a lot less impressive than "i developed breaking bad"

I think there's a decent shot NBC will give it a fourth season. Well, as good a shot as it had after the first episode of the season aired. It depends on how the mid-season replacements go really.

I also realise I was crowing on about the DOOM SCENARIO about 6 weeks ago.

cable doesn't need as many viewers but they also need to have much lower budgets -- everyone on futurama had to take a pay cut and there was a noticeable dip in the production values of the animation

Also somebody on twitter pointed out that Sony pushed Til Death to 4 seasons for the syndication value of passing 80 episodes, and that was on Fox which has a number of actual ratings successes. NBC still doesn't have shit except Sunday Night Football, a waning Biggest Loser, SVU, and now a dipping Friday night "hit".

most cable stations would be happy to pull in community's ratings.

probably not for community's budget though.

xpost

nbc is in such an incredible shambling state that community returning as a mid-season replacement or just coming back next fall are not even really long-shots. it's certainly on the table.

i can't help but feel like 4 seasons would have been a perfect length for the show and i still hold out hope that Sony will bully/bribe NBC into doing four full years for syndication possibilities

A move to cable just isn't going to happen for all the reasons mentioned on top of many more.

and yeah the bigger cable channels are probably more interested in developing their own shows than picking up network castoffs.

this goes double for HBO, whose entire profile is based on developing (not just airing) "quality" programming.

I'd be cool if we had an S4 of nothing but bottle episodes

you guys who aren't up on harmon's old channel 101/acceptable tv stuff should REALLY check that out because the whole idea there is that if people don't like a show and 'cancel' it they've already got another idea down the pike. i'm sure he's gonna do something else awesome the minute community runs its course.

i thought that about mitch hurwitz but...

Ok, so I saw the full schedule.

Whitney has been losing its audience and critics hate it - and its not getting any better. When it moves to Wednesday I don't think it'll be renewed for a second season because the ratings will drop without The Office lead-in. Up All Night will probably stick around with that Office lead-in, so I imagine they'll work to get a second season because of the cast if nothing else.

I can't even venture a guess about the Chelsea Handler show, but again, they don't have a foothold on Wednesday night - or any other night, really - and as early reviews haven't been kind I can't see it becoming a surprise hit that might eventually get moved to Thursday nights.

afaik, 30 Rock's future after this season is still up in the air. It depends on Alec Baldwin, really, and I don't think Fey will continue it without him.

All other NBC hopes lay in the broadway show that's hoping to cash in on the Glee phenomenon, but broadway has a much smaller built-in audience than top 40 pop songs, and Glee is in the decline. They've got some reality shows, but there's a good chance The Voice will falter due to singing-competition fatigue. Oh, and they also have The Firm which...I dunno.

I guess it might come down to the kind of built-in brands they want to hold onto. Community's ratings have been absolutely abysmal, but it's fanbase is pretty dedicated and it gets critical kudos. FFS, Chuck has lasted five bloody seasons.

What hurts Community is the possible abandonment of the Wednesday night comedy hour for next season, but they've got absolutely nothing in the hour-long drama department to fill up the places they've got. Plus they might realize that going up against Big Bang Theory, X-Factor/Idol, and Greys doesn't leave much room for anything but a niche comedy that can attract the lucrative young/high-income demographic.

And we can be pretty sure Community will be back on in March, which just enough time to air its remaining episodes through May sweeps.

you're so optimistic, Gukbe, i love it!

really curious how 30 rock will do at 8 o'clock vs idol and big bang theory.

it'll be crushed obv

isn't that a doomed slot no matter what the show is?

they had an easy out of the (presumably) most expensive part of the show when chevy 'left' the group at the end of s2, they should have taken it. moments like these would work much better with a cheaper show and i'd be v. surprised if chevy as a name brings anyone in anymore.

is chevy actually paid more than mchale or anyone else on the show or do people just assume that because of how famous he is?

I don't think I'm being overly optimistic. I just don't think this changes much of anything. Certainly not its chances at a 4th season. I really think they'll air it in March. If they do, they'll have all new episodes straight to the end of the season, and even though advertising dollars are lower in the off-months, they'll be competing against BBT and Greys repeats for a while and if people tune in, rating might build up enough that, in combination with a sweet deal from Sony, might make a 4th season possible. There are a lot of factors at NBC that work in its favours.

I guess the elephant in the room is Comcast having enough and demanding a massive retool of the network.

xposts, obv

btw, there is NO WAY that Chelsea show will be anything besides a complete bust.

Otm

is chevy actually paid more than mchale or anyone else on the show or do people just assume that because of how famous he is?

I can't believe he's on more than mchale, or I'd agree with Gukbe (bcz I hate how he just rejoined the group like nothing had happened)

either way he's gotta be on a big package they don't need on the show.

fnarr

http://i.imgur.com/RQ2Br.gif

Perfect!

Do we know for sure that they're still filming the full 22 episodes for this year? If so what does that mean, they film the remainder when they were going to and hang onto them, or they try and fit it around the actors' schedules? Ken Jeong, Donald Glover and one or two of the others must be pretty busy right now.

Also for someone not familiar with American TV schedules is 'mid-season' January to March? So presumably we still run up to Christmas as normal?

Yeah, they'll probably air through the xmas episode as usual and then it will disappear for a while (until the Chelsea show on Wednesday nights gets canned).

Judging by the last two episodes, I don't think Ken Jeong is particularly busy (or rather, if he's busy, it's not with Community).

And yep, new episodes should continue through mid-December (everything's reruns after around December 15 or so). It's not beyond the realm of possibility for it to return in the spring, but my bet is that they'll burn off the remaining episodes over the summer.

It's confirmed that the full order will be shot and they will be aired at some point. "Some point" is a nebulous phrase that might be mean a summer burn-off, but more likely they're just not going to have anything to fill the gaps if (when) one of their midseason replacements tank.

Midseason means January/February and generally running until the end of the season proper (May). xpost

Oddly enough, I think it's Shirley I'm going to miss the most.

i miss Starburns.

POP POP

I saw Starburns in an episode of Mr Show the other day, which was cool.

he was one of the main writers on mr. show

WHAAAAAA????

what skit was he in?!

Apparently he's one of Louis CK's best friends. When Louis when on the USO tours that inspired the Afghanistan episode of his show this season, he brought Dino just for company and had to explain that they weren't lovers.

Wow. When I read CK's tour diaries I had no idea it was the same guy. And I had no idea that he was the creator of Moral Orel as well!

good summary of community's odds: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/11/vulture-answers-your-questions-about-communitys-future.html

Dude, yeah. Dino "Starburns" Stamatopoulos is all over Mr. Show if you watch closely. He's also the co-creator of Moral Orel and one of the original writers on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Dude's talented.

Oh, Orel already mentioned, sorry.

His WTF interview is a must-listen.

also him likes dominatrixs

Dino is a hero and Moral Orel is one of the greatest things ever. Frankenhole is pretty funny too.