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TV.com is trying to decide which NBC Thursday-night comedy is the best. Will Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, or 30 Rock reign supreme?

This is what they say about Community:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury (by the way, you look handsome and/or pretty today), you will hear my opponents talk about how The Office has launched careers, and how Parks and Recreation has a guy with a funny mustache. But one thing you won’t hear them talk about is heart. This, my friends, is what puts freshman comedy Community ahead of the pack. The way the show’s writers have transformed a group of misfits into a tight-knit clique has been natural and heart-warming. More than just a series of non-sequitor jokes, Community puts its characters into action for a purpose and not just a chuckle. As for its competitors, The Office and Parks and Recreation are basically the same show, and 30 Rock is just an overblown Saturday Night Live sketch. Plus, what other TV show could end its Christmas episode with its cast bloodied up from a street brawl, yet still manage to be touching? Only Community. I rest my case. —Tim Surette

Read their review of the rest of the Thursday night lineup at TV.com .

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Coming direclty from NBC:

NBC Gives Pickups To Thursday-Night Comedies ‘30 Rock,’ ‘The Office’ And ‘Community’ For 2010-11

Renewals Follow Previously Announced Green-light for “Parks and Recreation” on Thursdays.

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – March 5, 2010 – NBC has renewed three more of its Thursday-night comedies – “30 Rock” (9:30-10 p.m. ET), “The Office” (9-9:30 p.m. ET) and the freshman series “Community” (8-8:30 p.m. ET) for the 2010-11 season.  The returning programs join the previously announced “Parks and Recreation” (Thursdays, 8:30-9 p.m. ET) that also will return for next season.

The announcement was made by Angela Bromstad, President, Primetime Entertainment, NBC and Universal Media Studios.

“We are happy to give these early pickups to these critically acclaimed, incredibly funny comedies,” said Bromstad.  ”As a result, we look forward to continuing our rewarding partnership with the respective creative teams and talented show-runners for ‘30 Rock,’ ‘The Office’ and ‘Community’ as they all consistently deliver quality shows.”

First-year comedy “Community” is averaging a 2.7 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 5.9 million viewers overall so far this season, with “Community” originals winning the time period among adults 18-34 and men 18-34.  Since moving to the Thursday 8-8:30 p.m. (ET) half-hour on October 8, “Community” has improved the time period by 24 percent versus NBC’s adult 18-49 average earlier in the season.

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Good news!! NBC has renewed COMMUNITY, THE OFFICE, and 30 ROCK for new seasons, according to Michael Ausiello. That means that their entire Thursday night comedy lineup will be back (Parks and Recreation has already been renewed).

Read more: NBC Renews COMMUNITY, THE OFFICE, and 30 ROCK For New Seasons | Daemon’s TV

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“The thing I love about NBC is that comedies have a chance to grow their legs,” said Gillian Jacobs, who plays Britta. Jacobs and her cast mates talked about the show’s future during a recent set visit at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. “NBC allowed ‘30 Rock’ to find its legs, they allowed ‘The Office’ to find its audience, and look at ‘Parks and Recreation.’ It really is taking off this year.”
Dan Harmon, the creator, head writer and executive producer behind “Community” describes NBC’s Thursday-night comedy lineup as a brand and his show as a part of that brand. “We’re like an emcee for an evening of fantastic comedy,” Harmon said. “They put us on at 8 o’clock and we really hold our ground.”

From The Detroit News.

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Movie Line has an interview with Community star Yvette Nicole Brown. Here are some of the highlights:

Community has a great ensemble. What do you think Shirley’s place is in the show’s core?
I think Shirley’s kind of the heart of the show in that she’s really sentimental and she just adores everybody in the group, even Chevy’s character Pierce who hits on her all the time. She just really has a love for everyone, so I think the love that oozes out of her and her excitement for everyone makes everyone a cohesive unit. Because she’s got two sides where she’s really, really sweet and then also really, really full of rage — I think that kind of keeps everyone a little nervous around her. The “unstable-ness” of her is where the funny comes in from Shirley.

Some hubbub stirred up online recently, withCommunity fans wondering about the implications of the way your name is presented in opening credits. It appears that a knife is going into a cake that says “Nicole Brown” on it, while your first name “Yvette” floats above. Were you surprised to hear that people drew connections to the slain Nicole Brown and the O.J. Simpson trial?
It was not intentional, and it’s still on credits. People really took that the wrong way. People don’t know that my real full name is Yvette Nicole Brown, and I’ve had it my whole life, long before Nicole Brown was murdered. No one respects her name and legacy more than me, because I kind of carry it now, you know? That’s not something I would’ve chosen for myself, but that’s the way it worked out. The cake and the knife are the two sides of Shirley; she’s sweet and she’s rageful. No one ever thought, “Oh, let’s do something funny about someone who was murdered.” That’s horrible!Nobody involved in the show has that type of spirit.

I was really thinking that the people who saw that and made that connection, it said more about them than about any of us. It sickened me to see that, that people thought we would do that. That people thought I would allow that. You know what I mean? It was just disgusting to me. It has nothing to do with Nicole Brown Simpson, and I totally respect her and — I’m horrified by it. I think the reason it remained is because we knew we hadn’t done that for that reason. We knew why it was there. If you look at everybody’s credit, there’s something about each person. Like Alison [Brie’s] character Annie is very funny, so she has smiley faces. It all has something to do with who the person, or character is. It has nothing to do with anything else.

Can you talk about watching Joel McHale progress on the show? He appears to have become very comfortable as the season has gone on.
Joel is just one of my favorite people on the planet. He’s a very caring, loving family man. All of his snarkiness and smart-aleckiness hides, or is wrapped around, this amazing heart. So that’s the first thing. In regards to his evolution, I’ve been so impressed with him as an actor. I’ve seen him in a couple of things way before he did The Soup, but to see his level of skill? When you’re in a scene acting with someone, a lot of times, when the camera is on them and not on you, you get to actually watch them as a spectator and enjoy them. And Joel’s ability to, what we were talking abouy, change on a dime, but he is the person who has the supercomputer brain. I don’t know if you’d paid really close attention to the chunks of dialogue this man has to deliver, but [creator] Dan Harmon is so intelligent, and so witty and interesting, a lot of things are so deep and crazy, they’re hard to say. Joel has had more tongue-twister-type monologues stuff than everybody — he and Gillian [Jacobs] actually have the most. He is able to deliver it in a way that’s real cerebral, but you’re like “Oh, I get that.” But he’s able to deliver it because he’s such a skilled actor. He says things that are mean-spirited, but because Joel is so likable, you’re OK with it. His innate likability is serving the character Jeff in a way the producers probably never thought was possible. He can do everything as far as I concerned.

Lastly, NBC’s Thursday night lineup is, without a doubt, the most solid in primetime — though it’s not the most highly rated. Is that disheartening?
A lot of shows didn’t start out huge. Seinfeld was seen by almost no one when it started, The Office too. I think we’re going to be a slow burn. There’s going to be people who watch season two, and if we’re lucky to get a season three, people who are then going to go, “What is this show?” and they’ll catch up. I don’t know why more people haven’t found us, but there are a lot of shows that aren’t highly rated that I love. We happen to be on a network that loves to give comedies a chance. Other networks are quick to cancel shows that don’t immediately come out of the box with fifty thousand, million viewers. We’re on a network that says, “No, we love this show, and we’re going to give it a chance to get numbers.” I’m grateful we’re on NBC and thankful we’ll be able to find the audience we’re supposed to have.

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The New York Magazine has an interview with Community Creator Dan Harmon. Here are the highlights:

When I first started watching the show, I was initially turned off by McHale’s character, Jeff. And then very quickly, it seemed like he turned into a nice guy. Was that always the plan?
When we started out, I wanted to spend the first twelve episodes telling the story of this guy who’s this lone wolf, having his membranes dissolved by a new community. That plan sort of went awry in that I think we were more successful than we predicted we would be with making the audience comfortable with this group as an unlikely family. So really, by the Halloween episode, it already felt like we’d told the story of Jeff growing on these people and vice versa. We also didn’t predict that people would adore every single one of those characters for different reasons. It feels like we jumped light years ahead of schedule, and could do this ensemble-comedy show. … And Joel McHale can do his own thing in the background that can be some sort of geek psychological story about him overcoming his pettiness. That’s an upcoming episode, by the way.

What’s up with Jeff and Britta (Gillian Jacobs)? Are they going to be the next Pam and Jim?
That’s actually another important thing about the pop-culture aspect of the show: The characters have all watched Friends, they know Star Trek, they’ve watched The Office and 30 Rock, even. Much like the audience, they’re not going to tolerate having a “will they/won’t they” shoved in their face. The nice thing about having a character like Abed is that you can be meta, and the audience can trust you because you can send them little signals that you’re on the case.

And what about some of your other pairs, like Abed and Troy. They’re such a funny duo; was that a casting choice?
No, it was way more organic than that. I remember the writers and I being very excited about Chevy Chase’s character and Troy, how they were going to be the Beavis and Butt-head of the show. But we sort of abandoned that story, because it didn’t germinate as quickly. And then when we did that first 30-second tag that goes on the end of an episode, that rap with Troy and Abed, and people loved it so much, and you could feel the chemistry while we were shooting, it was instantly apparent that that’s the thing you go towards.

How long do you think the show can last?
Jeff is going to get a bachelor’s degree, and contrary to popular belief, you can get one of those at a community college. And so we’ve got that four-year story — is his life changed or the same? Or is something going to happen to derail the whole thing, for example, the cancellation of our show? I don’t have any ambition to be the next Laverne & Shirley, and have it run two decades. Jeff’s not going to grow a beard and start teaching there while the rest of them open a pet store across the street.

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The peacock network has made a surprising early pickup and has renewed Parks and Recreation for a third season.

The Office and 30 Rock are all but guaranteed to be renewed but there’s no word on how the Parks order will affect Community’s chances for survival. The Chevy Chase freshman sitcom typically performs better than Parks so it would seem that it’s also a lock for renewal.

However, the network has eight comedy pilots in development and would likely want to keep a Thursday night timeslot open to try one or two. The network may be waiting to look at the new pilots until making a decision about Community.

We are still hoping for the good news!

Source: TV Series Finale

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As NBC races to fill the programming void left by the “Jay Leno Show” mess, the network has picked up addition episodes of several series.
Dramas “Trauma,” “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: SVU” have all received orders of at least two or three segs more.

And on the comedy side, critically acclaimed but little-seen Thursday 8 p.m. duo “Community” and “Parks and Recreation” have been handed more eps. “Community” will produce three more episodes, while “Parks and Recreation” has received an additional order for two more segs.

NBC had already ordered more than the traditional 22 episodes for “The Office” and “30 Rock.”

Source: Variety

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On Milwaukee choose Community as one of the best TV shows of 2009:

1. NBC’s Thursday night comedies. Just as it was in the days of “Seinfeld” and “Cheers,” and “The Cosby Show” before that, NBC’s Thursday night is again must-see TV.

It starts at 7 p.m. with the newest entry, “Community,” created by ComedySportz alum Dan Harmon and featuring Marquette gradDanny Pudi. That’s followed by the most improved show of 2009, Amy Poehler’s “Parks and Recreation,” which has moved beyond its roots as a clone of the documentary style of “The Office.”

This year’s “The Office” is dealing with the uncertainties of the economic mess we’re all in and “30 Rock” remains the daffiest show on television.

The best way to digest the night is to DVR the lineup and watch each episode twice, just so you don’t miss all the hidden gems.

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“Community” is NBC’s best comedy pilot since “The Office,” but the net may be asking too much of it: After airing a few times behind “The Office” at 9:30, it will slide into the tough 8 o’clock slot that had been occupied the past couple of years by the fading “My Name Is Earl.”

A year or two ago, “Community” would have stood a better chance at succeeding, but it’s up against too many good shows this season. It also doesn’t help that its lead-out “Parks and Recreation” isn’t exactly a ratings magnet.

[read the full post in Variety]