Community cast member Yvette Nicole Brown announced on Twitter today that the show officially has a return date: February 7th, and even better, it’ll be getting its old Thursday 8pm timeslot back. Sure, that means it’ll once again be competing with ratings juggernaut The Big Bang Theory, but it’ll be nice to see the show in its old home again. Community will be taking the 8pm slot from 30 Rock, which will finish its seven-year run in January. This news comes hot on the heels of Canadian network City TV proclaiming they were premiering the new season next month, only to go back on their word almost immediately. That unreliable post, however, and all of the online hullabaloo it caused, might have been responsible for forcing NBC’s hand, causing them to finally announce a date for the show’s return. Hopefully, Community’s ratings will be high enough when it comes back so that NBC doesn’t turn it into a three-camera sitcom with a live audience like they’re doing with Up All Night.
In other less-exciting NBC news, TVLine reports that Josh Gad’s midseason White House sitcom 1600 Penn (trailer here) will premiere Thursday, January 10th, presumably in Up All Night’s 8:30 pm spot. This means it’ll be Community’s companion show for the rest of the season.