Panic ensued when NBC left out the TV show Community in their mid-season lineup announcements.  Fans were shocked to find out in this manner, as opposed to a more explicit statement, that the show has been put on hiatus for the rest of the year. 

            Due to consistently low ratings, NBC has decided to shelve the remaining episodes, though they may still be aired at a later date.

            Community follows the unusual adventures of a band of community college misfits as they struggle to maintain their study group and their friendships throughout increasingly weird semesters.  It had aired at 8:00 P.M. EST on Thursdays but has been replaced with new episodes of 30 Rock.

            This decision reflects a history of low ratings for NBC, which is perennially fourth in a four network race. NBC’s 18-49 year-old demographic, widely considered to be the most valuable for advertising, is down 16% this year, and general viewership is down 9.3%.

            At Hopewell Valley Central High School however, NBC shouldn’t be too worried about its ratings.  Rather than being last place in the network race, NBC placed in second with 37% of the vote, just behind ABC with 47%.

        Official ratings come from Nielsen, a company that tracks viewership by monitoring a representative sample of set-top boxes.  They determine what age groups watch what shows and how often, allowing networks to tailor their advertising, cost, and programming to the viewership.

            Networks with low ratings face immense pressure to turn things around through programming overhauls.  Because ratings play such a critical role in determining how much a network can charge for advertising slots, a main source of revenue, executives aim to improve ratings.

            For a low-rated network like NBC, this often translates into rapid show turnover.  NBC introduced 14 new shows last year and 12 new shows this year. Only two of the new programs from last year, Harry’s Law and The Voice, were renewed for a second season.

        Though consistently drawing low ratings, Community has been lauded by critics for its innovative and unconventional plot lines, though Daniel Frankel on Yahoo.com wrote that it’s “too strange for its own good.”  It has gathered a small—but committed—fan base over the course of its three seasons.

            “Community’s writers do the most incredible things on a regular basis that I’ve ever seen from a sitcom,” wrote TV critic Neal Justin of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

            Some of their more outrageous plot lines to date include a paintball-war-turned-spaghetti-western mash up, a dinner party that followed seven distinct timelines due to the roll of a die, an epic Dungeons and Dragons quest, a secret rivalry between the plumbers and the air-conditioning repairmen, and a claymation Christmas special.

            Community is nothing if not original when it comes to plot lines and defies most of the traditional sitcom stereotypes.  

            Compared to time slot competitor The Big Bang Theory that charges about $198,348 per 30 second advertising slot and has 5.3 shares in the 18-49 demographic, Community’s average price is only $93,533 per 30 second time slot and hovers around 1.7 shares of that demographic. 

            Dedicated fans have started a petition to get NBC to renew Community for a fourth season.  Much outrage comes from NBC’s choice to keep the fairly unpopular new program Whitney while putting Community on hiatus. Whitney currently has a rating of about 1.9 and charges $120,604 per 30 second slot.

            Many have drawn comparisons between NBC’s decision to shelve Community and FOX’s decision to cancel Arrested Development in 2006. Both programs developed a cult-like following and garnered critical praise for their fresh and unusual take on the sitcom despite their unfailingly low ratings.

            Arrested Development was recently renewed for another season and a forthcoming movie, which has given many Community fans hope.