NBC’s decision to cede their Thursday post-Office slot to Outsourced this fall — thereby bumping Parks and Recreation’s third season into 2011 — may still work out in P&R’s favor, maybe. But you know whom it’s definitely bad for? 30 Rock, the show that currently airs Thursdays at 9:30.
NBC officially picked up five new comedies this morning. If a couple of them are hits and/or 30 Rock’s viewership collapses at 8:30, will we need to worry about its cancellation? Since the Peacock seems reluctant to be purposely funny on other nights, if you like Thursday’s current Community-P&R-Office-Rock block, you should probably be rooting hard for the failure of the network’s new sitcoms. Remember, if Outsourced somehow becomes a hit — unlikely though that may seem! — 30 Rock (or P&R and Community!) could find itself in real trouble. We miss you, Ben Silverman!
Despite historically mediocre ratings — remember when Tina Fey thanked her “dozens and dozens of viewers†at the 2007 Emmys? — 30 Rock has miraculously avoided NBC’s ax for four seasons, mostly owing to its cushy time slot following The Office (the network’s best-performing show) and a certain topless-singing, ski-jumping network chairman who couldn’t find anything more popular to replace it with. But what will become of it when it moves to the less secure, post-Community slot at 8:30, and with NBC actually confident in a slate of new shows for once? 30 Rock’s ratings are already down from last season’s Palin-boosted highs. How much lower will they drop?