Parks & Recreation Avoids Cancellation! Other Shows, Not So Lucky

First off, let’s raise the roof! (Do kids still say that these days?) Parks & Recreation has officially been renewed for a sixth season! That means there will be at least one more year of Ron Swanson one-liners and Leslie Knope commenting on Ben Wyatt’s butt. Even though people may have assumed the show was safe, you can never really tell what goes on behind the scenes. I mean, we all pretty much saw the treatment Community got this year, and that show also has quite the following.

Here’s a breakdown of announced saves and cancellations by network.

ABC:

They’re Keeping: Castle, Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, Revenge, Once Upon A Time, Suburgatory, The Middle, Last Man Standing, Nashville, and The Neighbors

They’re Letting Go Of: Happy Endings, Don’t Trust The B in Apartment 23, 666 Park Avenue, How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life), Private Practice, Malibu Country, Red Widow, and Zero Hour.

Huge Bummer: I couldn’t have been the only one who loved Don’t Trust The B…, right? I mean, aside from a pretty terrible title, the show had a great cast (Van Der Beek as Van Der Beek!) and great writing. Granted, I knew about this cancellation a few months ago, when ABC switched the order of episodes, the date it aired, and then pulled it off the schedule entirely. I hate it when a network sabotages a show.

Happy Endings also had a pretty impressive following. The good news is, the show is currently being shopped around to other networks – USA is reported to have already shown interest. And if that doesn’t work out, maybe Damon Wayans Jr. will stop by the set of New Girl to reprise his role of Coach for an episode or two. Because if that happened, that would be amazing.

CBS

They’re Keeping:  How I Met Your Mother,  2 Broke Girls,  The Mentalist, Mike & Molly, 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race, Criminal Minds, Elementary, 48 Hours, The Big Bang Theory, Blue Bloods, CSI,  The Good Wife, Hawaii Five-0,  NCIS, NCIS: LA, Person of Interest, Survivor, Two and a Half Men, Undercover Boss

They’re Letting Go Of: CSI: NY, The Job, Made in Jersey, Golden Boy, Vegas, Partners, Rules of Engagement

Huge Bummer: Uh – How I Met Your Mother is getting another season. That’s good for the crew, but now that we know who the “mother” is, I don’t know where there is left to go! Ted Mosby’s kids are like, five billion years old right now in real time! I was kind of hoping it’d wrap up gracefully, because too many renewals would really mess with the once-carefully-thought-out timeline of this show.

But, cheers to Survivor. I watch every season, and they seem to have kept it fresh for over ten years. (Next season’s theme is “Blood is Thicker Than Water” – will families compete against each other? How weird would it be to vote out your own son?)

Fox

They’re Keeping: American Dad, American Idol, Bob’s Burgers, Bones, Hotel Hell, Kitchen Nightmares,  Family Guy, The Mindy Project, New Girl, Raising Hope,  The Following, Glee, Hell’s Kitchen,  The Simpsons, The X Factor

They’re Letting Go Of: Ben & Kate, Fringe, The Mob Doctor, Touch, and Cops – which will be moving to Spike TV.

Huge Bummer: It’s a shame that Fringe is leaving us, but unlike many others, it’ll be on their own terms. They ended in January, after five seasons. Plus, if you miss it enough, the show has its own series of comic book.

Otherwise, this is pretty predictable. Here’s a fun game: See how many of Fox’s returning shows include either Seth MacFarlane or Gordon Ramsay.

I’m waiting for the day when those two join forces and get their own show together.

The CW

They’re Keeping:  America’s Next Top Model, Nikita, Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, The Carrie Diaries, Hart of Dixie

They’re Letting Go Of: 90210, Cult, Emily Owens, M.D., Gossip Girl

Huge Bummer: ANTM, I used to love you. But you’ve run your course. After everyone refused to say why Angelea Preston was disqualified from the All-Star season, and why a re-shoot had to (clearly) happen afterward (because obviously she originally won, and then did something to destroy it), I ended my season pass on TiVo.

And yes, I still google Angelea’s name every once in awhile to see if there’s any new news. And the season wrapped up in 2011. Obviously this all had some sort of abnormal lasting effect on me.

And finally!

NBC

They’re Keeping: Chicago Fire, Community, Grimm, Law & Order: SVU, Parenthood, Parks & Recreation, Revolution

They’re Letting Go Of: 30 Rock, 1600 Penn, Up All Night, Whitney,  Animal Practice, Deception, Do No Harm, Go On, Guys With Kids, The Office, Ready for Love, Rock Center With Brian Williams, Smash, The New Normal

Obviously NBC made a heck of a lot of cuts. Sure, a few shows (30 Rock & The Office) ended honorably. Yet with NBC having so much notification over two of their stronger comedies parting ways, it’s shocking that they decided to ax the majority of their schedule.

The Biggest Bummer: I never watched Go On (or “Goon”, as a SNL skit once referred to it as/I’ve referred to it as to try and recreate the joke), but I really, really thought this would finally be the post-Friends win for Matthew Perry. His past two attempts, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Mr. Sunshine, faced similar one-season death sentences. Since I can’t truly judge, I’ll say this: it looked like a good show.

The Biggest Non-Shock: Up All Night. Even though they had a heck of a cast (Will Arnett, Christina Applegate, and Maya Rudolph), the show’s direction was said to be headed towards a multi-camera sitcom shot in front of a live audience, after two seasons of a single camera. Prior to, they kind of muddled the direction of their three lead characters, which made the show hard to follow. Before it was officially cancelled, the show’s creator (Emily Spivey) quit, following Applegate, Arnett, and Rudolph. So pretty much, the show spontaneously combusted. I’m glad they cut the cord and didn’t try to recast.

And Once Again (Please Prepare To Raise More Roofs): Parks and Recreation is back!

We get to see Ron battle fatherhood, April battle veterinary school and Andy’s Battle of the Bands. (It hasn’t been announced if Andy will have a Battle of the Bands-related episode, but I needed a third “battle” to round out the paragraph). I honestly can’t wait.

What show cancellations have brought you down? Which are the most shocking for you? Any shows make it back on air that you figured would be toast? Feel free to discuss all things television in the comments, or on our forums!

Image Credits: awkwardgirls (Aziz Ansari), www.vulture.com (The B), www.nypost.com (Ramsay), nbc.com (Dancing Ron)