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Nothing is doing well on NBC.

75% percent of its viewers are in the key demo, so I skeptical of this news, but stranger decisions have been made

Five seasons isn't a bad number to go out on, although it would be too bad if they truncated it.

Like Community and 30 Rock, the announcement of renewal for a 13 episode season is expected soon.

I liked the quip someone just posted in the comments section on TVBTN: "Maybe NBC is closing in January"

Frankly, with this show, I think a 13 episode season will be a godsend. I feel like the election plotline has been going on forever, and there have been more than a fair share of dull episodes down the stretch. I think the show will benefit from being able to put more momentum and care into less episodes.

Really? I thought unlike Community, this show's been nonstop hits this year

My wife has the same stance as you, dom, but I find the campaigning and the redundant appearances of the Newport campaign director and Perd and all that to be exhausting. It feels like every episode follows the same basic structure at this point, and it's so bogged down with the storyline to give us standalone gems like the hunting trip episode or the artwork montage episode anymore.

I think it has been more consistent than Community, but hasn't reached the heights of Community's best ultimately besetting something of a tie. I've read a lot of your criticisms elsewhere Mfunk and while I think the 'election has been going on too long' thing is at best exaggerated (eight episodes versus the two years or so in real life). The structure thing though is a bit of a killer if you're interested in the story itself (I find the characters to be far more interesting and just ignore it for the most part). I certainly though think there's a way to ignore it though.

What do you mean by elsewhere?

I can think of at least one episode, number six (End of the World), that was absolutely as good as any Community episode. I really thought this season was outstanding.

mfunk9786 wrote:What do you mean by elsewhere?

People other than yourself have expressed the same criticism in other places on the Internet.

Mr Sausage wrote:I can think of at least one episode, number six (End of the World), that was absolutely as good as any Community episode. I really thought this season was outstanding.

I didn't start watching regularly until Smallest Park so I missed the one you've cited.

You should be watching Seasons 2 and 3 yesterday

And the election plotline has been going on all season long. You should go back and watch the rest of the series to at least get a bit of perspective on my opinion. You'll be glad you did.

I probably will eventually.

After tonight's episode, I can kind of see it ending organically next season. Of course, this rumor is dogging all the short-order shows at NBC.

Jeff wrote:Like Community and 30 Rock, the announcement of renewal for a 13 episode season is expected soon.

I've never been a fan of the 21-23 episode runs that US networks tend to use for their seasons, but I'm hopeful that there's a circle of hell being reserved right now if the NBC execs are doing this just to make room for more Whitney-style sitcoms.

Officially announced as renewed for 22 episodes.

Awesomesauce

Season Four DVDs out on, yes, September 4th

Great open to the season, huh? Real great use of the characters in separate spaces unlike certain other NBC comedies.

I would have guessed Ron would lead the way, but now that I think about it a little bit it's obvious that Swanson is a man who would stand by solid colors.