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Lewis Jacobs / Lewis Jacobs/NBC
We'll miss you most of all, Abed.
If you, like "Community's" Abed, sometimes have a hard time differentiating between TV and real life, we have some sad news for you.
NBC just announced its midseason lineup -- a schedule that does not include the low-rated but much-loved "Community." (Aaand here's where we must say: Msnbc.com is a joint venture between NBC and Microsoft.)
Fans on Twitter are already freaking out, even though the show is not being cancelled, and will just be shelved briefly, according to The New York Times. But as we reported back in May, recent research suggests that if you're already mourning the loss of your favorite characters, you're likely not the only one. When a favorite TV show goes off the air, even temporarily, its absence has a real psychological impact on its most fanatical viewers.
"We develop these relationships with certain characters," lead study author Emily Moyer-Guse, who's also an assistant professor of communications at Ohio State University, told me back in May. "We develop them over time -- it's actually part of the normal way we watch and enjoy TV," said Moyer-Guse. "We watch these shows, and we start to think of them like a friend.
"It’s kind of the same things that drive real relationships with people," she explained. Moyer Guse did her study during the TV writers' strike of 2007 and 2008, when so many shows were briefly off the air. These fans knew their shows were coming back, but they were still sad about even briefly losing them. More from our earlier post:
(Study participants) were also asked why they watched TV -- for companionship? To relax? To escape? Finally, the students were asked what they did with their newfound free time, now that their shows were off the air.
People who said they had deeper "friendships" with their favorite TV characters also said they felt lonelier in the characters' absence. And the students who said they watched TV for companionship reported the most distress related to their shows' temporary absences. And, no, people didn't use this break in the TV season to do crazy things like exercise, garden or read -- most said they just watched reruns, or surfed the Internet.
Are you already sad about "Community's" hiatus?
Related:
- Sources: 'Community' isn't canceled
- Losing 'Oprah' may lead to lots of lonely ladies
- Watching 'Jersey Shore' will make you dumber
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Leave a Comment:
What a bummer. Community is one funny show. Really loved the Chaos Theory episode with 6 different play outs of the same scenario depending on the roll of a die. Evil Troy and Evil Abed.
what do you think?????
Here's hoping it NEVER comes back! Now they need to get rid of Parks & Recreation. DULL AND BORING!!!!!!!!!!! NBC sabotaged Outsourced to try and save these losers. It's just like Fox and Til Death. CUT THEM LOOSE!
They better not cancel it. It's one of my favourite shows on TV. I don't care if they move it to a different time slot, since I watch it on Hulu. But it better come back. Networks these days seem to be getting rid of their best/well-written shows in place of more "universale" fare, which is mostly pablum at this point.
Just so long as they don't replace it with yet another stupid, boring, brain-dead reality show, I could care less. It's not M*A*S*H we're talking about here, people!
It really was the only show I watched on NBC that night and one of the very few that I do watch on that network. At least I can watch the Big Bang Theory in real time instead of later now. I agree that Outsourced should have been saved. If they would get rid of the reality shows and competition shows then we could have some quality programming again. Very few of the good shows are done on the major networks anymore.
No! I don't think I've ever laughed so hard watching television. Community is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. This is very disappointing but I guess not all that surprising as it's always the smart and quirky shows that limp along in the ratings and/or get canceled.
I am still mourning My So-Called Life.
Community may have been the only show on broadcast television where a character reenacts "My Dinner with Andre" and the creators expect the audience to understand and appreciate the reference.
It's smart and a bitingly honest and hilarious portrayal of difficult friendships and why some people are worth it. It's also one of the only shows on broadcast television I can watch with my tween kids and not be horrified at the blatant and crude sexual references that disrespect and degrade women.
I will no longer be watching ANYTHING on any related NBC channel with Community off the air. I expect to watch both new and repeat episodes of Community the whole season. The rest of the channel could be cancelled for all I care. Please cancel Whitney, put her in front of a firing squad and let us see her dead body, in character I mean. Bring Community back and put it on after the Office you idiots that schedule this station.
so if you cancel someones favorite show it creates a void of loneliness?
then why dont they get some REAL friends to fill the void
I'm confused