One of the more surprising revelations in NBC’s (leaked) fall schedule, which will be formally presented at tomorrow’s upfronts presentation, was the absence of comedy Parks and Recreation, widely heralded as one of this season’s creative success stories, from the Thursday night comedy lineup, as the show will be held until January. Though star Amy Poehler is currently pregnant, it turns out that is not the reason that the show is being shelved until midseason. NBC West Coast Chairman Jeff Gaspin told reporters that the decision was made to give new comedy Outsourced (which will air at 9:30 p.m.) a prime timeslot.
“It was our toughest decision to make,†he said. “But to get new comedies on our schedule, Thursday is still the best place to launch. We expect Parks and Recreation to be back on the schedule Thursday and it’s not any way an indication that we don’t think it’s as good as any other comedy. We’ve learned from cable that you can wait as long as a year, create more anticipation and not lose any momentum.â€
We feel the same way about having to wait six months for new Parks that Ron feels about meetings, or Leslie about libraries.
NBC fall schedule: Possible farewell movies for ‘Law & Order’ and ‘Heroes’ [Hollywood Insider/EW]