TCA: 'Community' Will Be Back This Season

NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt used his time before members of the TV press Friday to make one thing clear: Community will be back.

The series, currently absent from NBC's mid-season schedule, "has not been canceled," he told a roomful of concerned critics at the Television Critics Association winter press tour.  

“When I announced our midseason changes last fall and took Community off the schedule, I failed to explicity say that it would be back," he said, adding: "I want to expel any notion that it is just disappearing off the schedule."

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Greenblatt acknowledged how competitive the show's former Thursday 8 PM timeslot has become, and suggested the ensemble's future scheduling would come down to what happens with the network's six mid-season comedies, including newcomer Are You There, Chelsea? and the return of 30 Rock.

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On stage following the panel, Greenblatt shot down any lingering hope of the low-rated series migrarting to one of NBC's sister cable networks as Law & Order: Criminal Intent once did. "The other channels don't do this kind of thing," he said, adding that the hefty price tag for the single camera comedy would be prohibitive as well.

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