NBC's '30 Rock,' 'Community,' and 'Parks and Recreation' will be renewed, sources say
However, all three NBC shows will have shortened seasons.
'30 Rock' will be one of the NBC comedies returning for an abbreviated season next year.
Ali Goldstein/NBC/AP
For those who are big fans of NBC’s Thursday night comedy line up, the news is good as the network is close to smoothing out deals for 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and Community to return next season—but there’s a catch.
In what will be the seventh (and most likely final) season of 30 Rock, the Emmy-winning comedy series has been cut down to an episode count of only 13 or 14 shows. NBC has secured deals with the series’ key writers as well as co-executive producers Jack Burditt, Josh Siegal, and Dylan Morgan. Community and Parks and Recreation are also expected to make a return for next season, also with reductions in episodes. Following a long midseason hiatus, Community returned in March to complete its third season and will enter its fourth next fall with Parks and Rec back for a fifth.
No official word if either Parks and Recreation or Community will meet their ends next season—but rumors of 30 Rock’s swan song have been popping up for awhile – one of the most recent being from the unmuzzled mouth of show star Alec Baldwin. After Twitter tirades about new time slots, and “stalking” from NBC’s Today Show, Baldwin stated that he will be back on the hit comedy next year, but 2013 will be its end. Baldwin then concluded his online outburst with “I think I’m leaving NBC just in time.” The much calmer Tina Fey added to the claim last month on The View by saying the end is “visible on the horizon… We can’t do this for 35 years.”
NBC abbreviating its veteran Thursday night lineup may be a way of not only saving some money, but making room for the new comedies the network has planned – including Go On, starring former Friends alum Matthew Perry, which the network has recently picked up. With freshman shows Whitney and Up All Night not doing so well, it seems likely both will be added to the comedy cleanse – especially Whitney, as show star Whitney Cummings has landed a new talk show on E! called Love You, Mean It with Whitney Cummings, which is set to air this fall.
Scott Stoute blogs at Screen Rant.