Thursday Taken Care Of For Another Year

NBC has ordered another year of its Thursday sitcom regulars. 30 Rock was renewed earlier, and it just announced it's picking up The Office, Parks And Recreation and Community.

I don't think there was any question about The Office--its overall rating isn't great, but it's got great demos.  We'll see next season how well it does without Steve Carrell.  Parks And Recreation was less certain, since its numbers drop after The Office, but it's found an audience, and is getting critical hosannas.  (It's on the cover of this week's Entertainment Weekly.) I was most worried about my favorite show, Community*.  Anchoring the evening at 8, it doesn't rate that well and gets beaten each week by Big Bang Theory.

As to newbies, like Outsourced and Perfect Couples, stay tuned, but they may not be long for the world.  NBC's got plenty of comedy pilots, and it's not like the unprecedented three-hour bloc of sitcoms was a roaring success.

*Another reason to worry about Community is they've introduced Shirley's ex-husband, played by Malcolm-Jamal Warner, as a recurring character.  Shirley is pregnant and he'll help raise the child, even if Chang fathered it.  It's already a bad sign (a classic Jump The Shark moment) that Shirley's pregnant, and a little Chang goes a long way. (That's a line they might use if he's the father.) But her husband is a warm, intelligent, rational person.  In other words, completely unfunny.  This whole subplot is dragging down the show.  I didn't need to see Shirley's ex, but if they had to bring him on board, at least make him funny.