If only "The Firm" hadn't spent their entire budget on cardboard boxes...

The good news for NBC: They have the Super Bowl.

The bad news for NBC: Everything else. Last night’s episodes of “30 Rock” (which went against “The Big Bang Theory”) and “The Office” (which mostly just sucks) brought in series-low ratings. So did “The Firm,” which had a 0.8 in the key 18-49 demographic – that’s HALF of what “Community” regularly pulled in.

As consequence, “The Firm” has been moved to TV’s version of a farm upstate, Saturday nights at 9 p.m., where it can frolic with – and get trounced by – the likes of “America’s Most Wanted: Crimes of Passion Special Edition” and “Local Programming.” A new series, “Awake,” about a detective who leads a double life, will take its 10 p.m. timeslot beginning in March. (Until then, repeats of “Grimm” will fill the post-“Up All Night” dead air.)

I hope NBC trolls everyone during the game on Sunday, and cuts away from the broadcast to show an episode of, say, “Parks and Recreation,” just to improve the series’ ratings, however briefly. As someone who hates both the Patriots and Giants, I welcome and encourage such a decision. So does Andy.

Courtesy of Burnsy

In 1976, NBC unveiled a new logo to replace their ubiquitous peacock. It was fancy-looking N made up of two trapezoids, and it cost more than $600,000 to develop. Thing is, a Nebraska PBS affiliate already had a similar-looking logo — which only cost $100 to design. To avoid a lawsuit, NBC paid a $1 million package to the Nebraska station, along with another $55,000 to, according to Mental Floss, “pay for the costs related to not only the legal battle, but the development and implementation of a new logo.”

Moral of the story: NBC has been a screw-up for years; it’s only become particularly noticeable in the network’s awkward post-”Seinfeld”/”Friends”/”E.R”-era. And that sucks, because they’ve aired some of the best TV shows of all-time. That’s why they’re so easy to pick on: we tease because we love. Here are 12 reasons why NBC is in last place amongst the Big Four, with some helpful advice, too.

NBC would also like me to remind you to WATCH “SMASH,” THE MONDAY AFTER THE SUPER BOWL, in case you haven’t seen the ads for the show every three seconds for the last two months.

Here’s a list that NBC totally owns: PRODUCT PLACEMENT. Of the 10 shows with the highest number of free ads in 2011, four of them were on NBC. The network should just cancel all of their Thursday night series, and replace them a three-hour block of the hot girl from the T-Mobile ad telling us about 4G speeds.

Dane Cook and Whitney Cummings might both have shows on NBC next season. Let that sink in. The network that has produced four of the greatest shows of the past 20 years — “Seinfeld,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Community,” and “Freaks and Geeks” — is now asking Whitney Cummings and the guy who recently said that he “chainsaw-f*cked” a “disgusting whore’s c*nt” to save them.

“The Firm” doesn’t cost anything to make, but it’s a perfect example of why NBC has occasionally fallen behind Univision, ratings-wise: it’s a boring-looking drama about lawyers with no stars, based on a movie that came out 19 years ago, based on a book that came out 21 years ago. Its series premiere was watched by 46% fewer people than last season’s big midseason bust, “The Cape.” At least it’s already got the movie part covered.

Yes, “The Office,” the network’s only show in the Nielsen top-30 this season, is the obvious exception here, but let’s not forget “Coupling,” “Free Agents,” “Kath & Kim,” “Prime Suspect,” and “Teachers.” Scratch that: FORGET ALL OF THOSE. Collectively, the five series ran for a total of 44 episodes, and none made it to a second season. Listen to your Green is Universal initiative, NBC, and go local.

STOP THE PRESSES. NBC has a hit with “Grimm” — by their low ratings standards, at least — even though they’re doing their best to fu*k things up. First, “Grimm” was scheduled on Friday, a day where TV shows go to have a quiet death, proving NBC can’t realize a good thing even when it’s on their network. Then when the ratings started coming, the show took a month-long break. Then three more episodes aired, then another lengthy break, then two more, than another week off. Reschedule your otherwise woeful schedule to let a string of episodes of a show people actually want to watch air in a row. Otherwise, they’re going back to the ‘stache.

ABC had “Who Wants to Be Millionaire,” the number-one show for the 1999-2000 season. CBS has “Survivor,” which didn’t finish out of the top-10 until season nine, and “The Amazing Race,” the winner of eight Emmy Awards for Outstanding Reality Program. Fox has “American Idol,” the highest-rated show for eight straight seasons. NBC has “Fear Factor,” a show that people only talk about when they’re discussing “donkey semen”; “The Biggest Loser,” which has never finished higher than #30; and “The Apprentice,” which hasn’t been relevant since 2005. The Peacock finally found a hit last season with “The Voice,” but it was a decade too late.

And “Emeril” and “quarterlife” and “Joey” and “The Paul Reiser Show” and “The Playboy Club” and so many more.

Who’d a-thunk “Father of the Pride” wasn’t going to be a HUGE hit? Not this bespectacled, talking penis. Search “Zucker” on Urban Dictionary and here’s what you get:

Synonymous with fu*ker because Jeff Zucker at NBC is the dumbest motherfu*ker in television.

a really dumb fu*kin move. Like somene sh*t themselves.

For a person or persons of authority to take away something which was rightfully earned by another party. From Jeff Zucker of NBC concerning late night television.

He is not liked.

In the early 2000s, after losing the rights to air MLB and NBA games, NBC was feeling experimental, and just like a couple who thinks they’ll be fine doing It without a condom just this once, only to drop out of school nine months later, they later regretted their decision. XFL, founded by WWF owner Vince McMahon, had some good ideas (trash-talking announcers, no PAT kicks, etc.), but suffered from a poor launch-date (right after the Super Bowl, when most fans need a break from football) and lack of high-profile names (hey, Tommy Maddox!). The XFL didn’t work because of the same reason Arena Football, which NBC also aired from 2003-2006, never caught on nationally: THE NFL AND COLLEGE FOOTBALL ALREADY EXIST. Why bother with an inferior product when you can wait a few months for the good stuff to return?

The ratings weren’t great, but they were roughly on-par with other NBC shows, like “Whitney,” that weren’t put on hiatus until an undetermined time. Plus, and Warming Glow is the perfect example of this, the fans of “Community” are, well, fanatical. There’s no other show, sitcom or drama, that has the same rabid fan base as “Community,” and NBC did more harm than good by yanking it off the schedule.

The only reason late-night TV still exists is because of routine. When you actually break an episode of “Letterman” or “Fallon” down, you realize it’s annoyingly formulaic (“This is in the news…”) and mostly just excuse for celebrities to hawk their goods for free; that’s why the Internet and viral videos specifically are the best thing to happen to the format…for us, at least. When NBC did the unthinkable and moved “Leno” to 10 p.m., changing the show’s name to “The Jay Leno Show,” they pissed off old “Leno” fans, who didn’t want their routine interrupted. And then, when the ratings plummeted, they moved Leno back to a later timeslot, bumping Conan to 12:05 a.m., which pissed off young “Conan” fans, who then took to the Internet and the streets to loudly protest.

Elsewhere, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert cackled maniacally.

And NBC had a public relations nightmare that they’re still trying to smooth over.

A friend of mine, Oriana, wrote a blog post recently about what she would do if she ran NBC. My favorite part:

Accept that you’re basically a cable network.

The very type of shows you’re best known for, the shows we use to define your network, appeal to a demographic that no longer watches TV on Nielsen-approved devices. Advertisers are apparently as dumb as we’ve always thought, and are still content to use Nielsen numbers. What they don’t understand is how valuable it can be to know you’re reaching a very specific group of people. That’s what you have to do: Make advertisers understand the value of a smaller, far more focused audience.

This is, of course, no easy task, but if NBC can find a way to prove to advertisers that the millions of articles about “Parks and Recreation” online actually mean something, they could herald in a new era, an era in which the Nielsens don’t matter. You’d be hailed as kings! They just need to think differently, like they did with “Friday Night Lights” airing on DirecTV. Ratings don’t mean as much as they did even 10 years ago, and NBC could be the network that leads the march towards…whatever’s next. It’s a chance for them to be in first place again.

I know Vince at FilmDrunk speaks of her frequently, but I’m not sure how often Matt used to write about Nikki Finke, the “TOLDJA” Lady over at Deadline.com. She’s like this old cat-lady who never leaves her house and yet somehow manages to out-scoop the rest of Internet civilization, often by berating television and movie executives or threatening to break their pacts with the devil. For this reason, I like to refer to her as Satan’s Desiccated Vagina.

Anyway, it has come to the attention of one of Finke’s underlings that NBC is planning a spin-off of “The Office” for mid-season 2013 that would revolve around Rainn Wilson’s character, Dwight Schrute.

No deals have been closed yet but I’ve learned that the proposed spinoff is a family comedy, which was the brainchild of Wilson and “The Office” executive producer/showrunner Paul Lieberstein. It will have Dwight (Wilson) living at the Schrute family beet farm and bed & breakfast, which have been featured on the show several times, including in an episode where Jim and Pam visited Dwight there. The potential spinoff will be introduced in an Office episode later this season set at Schrute Farms. “Paul and Rainn have been joking for years about Dwight’s life on the farm, his family and how ill-suited he is to run a B&B,” a source close to The Office said. “A while ago, it started to feel like a show to them. NBC agreed, it’s been further developed to include multiple generations, many cousins and neighbors.

It sounds like a terrible idea, not just because “The Office” — which will enter its 9th season next year, has already outstayed its welcome — but because the episodes that take place on the Pennsyltucky farm tend to be some of the weaker episodes. However, if they were to combine it with a spin-off of the “Home” episode of “The X-Files,” in which inbred’s inbred’s inbreds hide under the floorboards of Schrute Farm and pick of various members of the Schrute Family “American Horror Story” style, I would definitely throw my support behind it.

It should be noted, however, that despite the fact that this come from one the assistants of Satan’s Desiccated Vagina, it’s not official and, in fact, Rainn Wilson himself suggested in a Tweet yesterday that we should not “believe everything you read in the press, ok? However, it’s hard to distrust Satan’s Desiccated Vagina because she’s been known to throw her weight around and make projects happen just so her scoops turn out correct.

(Source: Deadline)

NBC, which placed 8th in the ratings last Thursday during “The Firm” (behind even Univision) has picked up several new pilots in an effort to dig itself out of its years’ long hole. The spectrum ranges from “decent idea for a show that won’t be seen because it’s on NBC” to “bad idea for a show that won’t be seen because it’s on NBC.” What we can promise you is that if you eventually love the show, it will most certainly be under a perpetual threat of cancellation. These are, however, only pilot pick-ups, and there’s no guarantee any of them will make it to series. Here are the highlights:

Downwardly Mobile: Roseanne Barr will be making her return to scripted television as a character that sounds very similar to her character in “My Name is Earl.” She would be the “proprietor of a mobile home park and surrogate mother to all of the unique people who live there in a challenging economy.” How timely.

Friday Night Dinner: This one has the best prospects for being an actually good show, as it comes from Greg Daniels (“The Office,” “Parks and Recreation”) and it’s another remake of a British series, this one about “a quirky family that has dinner together every Friday night.” David Koechner is the leading contender for the role of the father, although he’s not really all that “quirky.” Goofy, maybe.

Jimmy Fallon Untitled Project: This one has lame written all over it: It’s a multi-camera sitcom (and thus, most likely a laugh-track show) about “three thirtysomething guys who enjoy the adventures of parenting despite the fact they haven’t grown up themselves.” Yeesh. Just what television needs: More man-children.

County: On the drama side, this one has everything going for it except its premise. One of the best showrunners on television, Jason Katims (“Friday Night Lights,” “Parenthood”) will pull Jason Ritter off of “Parenthood” for this … ugh … hospital drama about “a group of young doctors, nurses and administrators in a frenetic underfunded and morally compromising LA County Hospital.” Another hospital drama is the last thing network television needs, but Katims hasn’t steered us wrong yet.

Daddy’s Girl: “Daddy’s Girl” has a somewhat interesting premise that was the subject of a huge bidding war but that will undoubtedly run out of possibilities by the 11th episode. It’s about “a young woman who returns home from overseas to find her father is seriously dating the ‘mean girl’ from her high school.”

Go On: This one I doubt even moves beyond the pilot stage. It’s about “an irreverent yet charming sportscaster who tries to move on from loss and reluctantly finds surprising solace from the members of his mandatory group therapy sessions.” Nielsen Families hate “irreverent yet charming.”

Next Caller Please: This single-camera gender comedy focuses “on a brash alpha male DJ and his new, plucky, feminist co-host set in the offices of a satellite radio station.” I don’t know about the premise, but it does come from Stephen Falk, a writer on “Weeds” and a former recapper for TelevisionWithoutPity.com, so it’d get the benefit of the doubt.

Animal Kingdom: Basically, it’s Gregory House as a veterinarian. Pass.

(Source: Deadline)

Three years ago today, we were subjected to Gilly for the first time – and we still haven’t quite recovered.

Since “SNL” premiered in 1975, the show has seen more than 800 recurring characters, according to the indispensable SNL Archives. Many have been hilarious and used sparingly (like Blue Öyster Cult cowbell player Gene Frenkle), but many more have been dreadful, overexposed, and increasingly nerve-grating through repetition. Because obviously unfunny characters become funnier the more they’re featured.

Here are 10 “SNL” recurring characters who should have stopped after an appearance or two (minimum four appearances), including the three-year-old Gilly. Finally, she actually has something to say “sorry” for.

Character: Church Lady
Played by: Dana Carvey
Appearances: 21

The Church Lady was funny at the beginning, like when “she” interviewed Tammy Faye and Jim Baker (Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman), but grew increasingly obnoxious after the fifth, tenth, fifteenth, twentieth, and, finally, twenty-first appearance, ranging from 1986-2011. (It’s a weird feeling when an ongoing “SNL” sketch is older than you are.) Special? Not quite.

Character: Billy Smith
Played by: Fred Armisen
Appearances: 4

Doesn’t it seem like the “joke” of most of Fred Armisen’s characters is that they’re not funny? Take Native American comic Billy Smith, for instance. Here’s a transcript from a 2003 episode:

Billy Smith: It sure is a pleasure to be here in New York. Is anybody here from out of town? How about you, where do you come from?
Jimmy Fallon: Uh…I’m from upstate.
Billy: Sorry.
Jimmy: I said, I’m from upstate New York.
Billy: I know! And I’m greatly sorry! Do you see? I am disparaging the place of your birth!

The intentional non-joke joke is rarely funny; it only works when the subject material is really dark, like when Lars Von Trier made his infamous “I’m a Nazi” joke. It also helps to have “FU*K” tattooed on your knuckles.

Character: Leon Phelps
Played by: Tim Meadows
Appearances: 19

There have been 11 movies based on nine “SNL” characters, from 1980’s The Blues Brothers to 2010’s MacGruber. Most of them, to put it gently, HAVE BEEN TERRIBLE. But only three have Rotten Tomatoes scores under 15%: It’s Pat, A Night at the Roxbury, and The Ladies Man, the worst of the trio. Why? The Pat movie itself isn’t funny, at all, but the IDEA of a Pat movie is fantastic, while Roxbury stars Will Ferrell, which at least gives it some credibility. The Ladies Man, as a character, is just BAD; Tim Meadows always seemed so desperate for a laugh, which took away the entire point of the supposedly “cool” character. Plus, that lisp!

Character: Opera Man
Played by: Adam Sandler
Appearances: 10

Canteen Boy/Cajun Boy/Herlihy Boy > Opera Man

Character: Christy Henderson
Played by: David Spade
Appearances: 7

I wanted to include David Spade’s Total Bastards Airline “Buh-Bye” guy, but he only appeared in two sketches. So, instead we have Christy from the Gap Girls series, which realllyyy hasn’t aged well.

Character(s): Marty and Bobbi Culp
Played: Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer
Appearances: 21

In his seven seasons on “SNL,” Will Ferrell played 27 original recurring characters. Most of them — including Frank Henderson, Jeffrey’s Supervisor, and Jacob Silj — were classics. But there were a few duds, too, like the Culps. Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer played two unhip music teachers who sang modern classics by DMX and Pink, and though they both do their best to make the material funny (and it kind of was at first), it’s hard to find THAT much humor in the duo singing Nine Days’ “Absolutely (Story of a Girl).” Over 20 appearances for a one-joke act was too much, particularly when it’s just a rehash of Bill Murray’s Nick the Lounge Singer character.

Character: Mango
Played by: Chris Kattan
Appearances: 16

Mango, the exotic dancer you loved to hate, appeared on “SNL” 16 TIMES. By comparison, “The Blues Brothers” only had five sketches, while “Celebrity Jeopardy” had 14. That’s why I chose Kattan’s Mango over Mr. Peepers — he’s the epitome of an at-first vaguely amusing character getting run into the ground for reasons beyond comprehension. They needed to fill air-time? They needed to find someone who made Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow look humble(ish) by comparison. Who knows.

Character: Fericito
Played by: Fred Armisen
Appearances: 8

Fred Armisen is the only repeat offender on this list, but that’s what happens when you’re credited with 31 characters. Honestly, very few of them are any good, and Nicholas Fehn, Manuel Ortiz, or Gunther Kelly all could have been here instead. Fericito just bugs me the most because of that “womp-womp” thing he does EVERY DAMN TIME. Armisen should really just ditch playing a variety of “ethnic” roles on “SNL,” and instead solely focus on “Portlandia,” where he’s actually quite endearing.

Character(s): Wendy and Doug Whiner
Played by: Robin Duke and Joe Piscopo
Appearances: 10

As their name implies, they whined. A lot. In loud voices and stretched-out syllables. That’s it. They’re like if you took Paul Rudd’s character from Wet Hot American Summer, particularly the scene where he dramatically throws his body around while cleaning up his mess, but made him uncool, unfunny, and obnoxious, and did it TEN TIMES in two years.

Character: Gilly
Played by: Kristen Wiig
Appearances: 4

Looking for a good time on the Internet? Do a YouTube search for “Gilly Impression”:

“Parks and Recreation” has one of the strongest ensemble casts in recent memory. While the show ostensibly stars Amy Poehler, scenes are stolen on a weekly basis by any number of characters: Chris Pratt’s Andy Dwyer, Aziz Ansari’s Tom Haverford, Aubrey Plaza’s April Ludgate, Rob Lowe’s Chris Traeger, and, of course Nick Offerman’s Ron Effing Swanson, to name a few. And as if that embarrassment of riches wasn’t enough, the show also consistently picks up great guest stars, from Louis C.K., to Megan Mullaly, to, awesomely, Detlef Schrempf. (I don’t think I’m being unreasonable when I say that every TV show could be substantially improved by the inclusion of people who were in the arcade version of NBA Jam. Exhibit A.) So it should come as no surprise to hear that the show will be adding another terrific guest this season: America’s best friend, Paul Rudd. Vulture and EW reported yesterday that Rudd will be joining the show for multiple episodes beginning January 19th, likely as Leslie Knope’s political opponent.

I can’t even begin to tell you how happy this makes me. “Parks and Rec” is one of my favorite shows, and I like Paul Rudd so much that I could watch him sit on a bench and eat a bran muffin in complete silence for an hour. The man is a delight. His contributions to dance alone are worthy of a Genius Grant, and you are an insane person if you disagree.

Man, if I watched “Chuck,” that totally would have been the reason why I went to get a Subway sandwich during my lunch break today. Because every time I hypothetically think of getting a foot-long Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast, I hypothetically associate it with…that girl from “Chuck”…and that spy thing they do…and, um, Chuck.

So, yeah, I’ve never seen an episode of “Chuck,” but according to new figures from Nielsen, people really relate the two: the time “Big Mike says that his kidnapping hasn’t been that bad because his kidnappers brought sandwiches” was the fifth most remembered product placement of 2011. Rounding out the top five:

Sheldon using Purell and Amy suggesting everyone play Twister on “The Big Bang Theory” (#1 and #3), Tessa drinking Red Bull on “Suburgatory” (#2), and Beckett driving a Ferrari on “Castle” (#4).

The Nielsen blog posting also reveals that of the 10 series with the highest amount of product placement activity, four of them are on NBC and nine are reality shows (“Idol” topped the list with 577 occurrences). The only exception: “Friday Night Lights Goes to Applebee’s” at #8 with 201. Looks like “Modern Family” is going to have to step its Target-and-iPad-loving game up for 2013 – this is the only award the show hasn’t won.

Never forget.

In a move that Jeff Winger would surely hate, yet deep down smugly appreciate, while looking good the entire time, a group of “Community” fans are asking fellow Greendale-ites to come to NYC’s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree this Thursday, at 1 p.m., to participate in a flash mob.

There’s more: they’re also requesting for everyone to “bring a tiny tree and come sing ‘O Christmas Tree’ with us.” (It’ll probably be changed to “O Christmas Troy” by Thursday.) Sporting a black goatee, like the one Evil Abed wore in “Remedial Chaos Theory,” is optional, though recommended. According to their Craigslist post, “We don’t expect the entire event to take more than a minute or two. We will be filming the event, and we will be networking with NBC and local press to explain the event to them.” Just tell them you’re celebrating you’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of the eighth season of “Friends,” and NBC will be more than accommodating.

My feelings towards flash mobs aren’t dissimilar from how the Study Group views the Greendale Glee Club: they’re often more annoying than cute, and now that old people in a Target have begun to do it (while listening to a Christmas song from “Glee”!), it’s probably time to think of another way to mock protest. But here are five ways how Thursday’s event could potentially be awesome:

1) If Luis Guzmán is there; 2) If there are MULTIPLE Sexy Santa Annie’s; 3) If everyone yells “Pop Pop” at the same time; 4) If everyone does the Britta Dance; or 5) If the entire thing becomes a giant paintball game, with all the “Community” fans mowing down the tourists who came to look at the tree. Should any of those situations happen, I’ll be there taking photos on Thursday, and they’ll all be labeled the next day on Warming Glow as, “I DON’T CARE, I LIVED IN NEW YORK” or “UGH, IT’S LIKE NEW YORK OUT THERE.”

Well, that was just…fine? “Fine” is the worst thing that can happen to “SNL.” You’re always hoping for an outstanding episode (something to argue about in the comments: when was the last top-to-bottom A+ episode of “SNL”?), but a truly awful one can just be just as entertaining. Katy Perry hosted the show this weekend, and although she wasn’t great (her timing was a little off and she tripped over her lines occasionally), she didn’t bomb, either. The rest of the cast at least looked comfortable around her, unlike when Miley Cyrus came to Studio 8H last season. She sang and smiled a lot, and wasn’t asked to do too much heavy lifting — and there was only one joke about her boobs, which came during the last segment of the evening.

So, yeah, it was fine, with the exception of the Bowl-Cutted One, Robyn, who kicked ass.

Yikes. This was Darrell Hammond’s first return to “SNL” since his tell-all, and it couldn’t have been more disappointing. The Donald Trump-based jokes fell flat, because all Donald Trump-based jokes fall flat — he’s too obvious of a target. It really made me pine for the days of Donald Trump’s House of Wings.

Worth it for Jay Pharoah’s impression of Cuba Gooding Jr. and the fact that the promo left in Seth Meyers, who actually appears in New Year’s Eve.

Kristen Wiig’s new character, Kalle. Thoughts? I thought she was fine (Wiig played her well, but there was only one joke: “We have a clip!”), but if history has taught us anything, we’ll hate the over-used Kalle soon enough. Also: check out the number of times Perry blinks. It’s terrifying. (Perry needs to ditch the blond hair, BTW.)

It’s nice to see Val Kilmer off the streets.

Weekend Update had my two favorite segments of the evening, neither of which was Alec Baldwin’s guest appearance as the American Airlines pilot who kicked him off his plane. They were: Wiig’s flirtation expert, Rebecca LaRue, and Bill Hader’s Stefon. I could watch an entire episode of Wiig playing with her hair and Stefon doling out such holiday hot spots as Hey!, now managed by Fat Sayjak. Like Hader, I lost it at the second mention of Spud Webb.

If you were waiting for the writers to make a boob joke, the closest you got was Perry revealing that she has a tattoo of Jewel above her right breast. That’s the most action Jewel’s had since 1997! Ba-zing! But yeah, this would probably the best actual sketch of the night.

Robyn’s awesome. Lip-syncing, I think, but still awesome.

In a startling and abrupt change of course, NBC has decided to let people widely considered to be funny and talented make television shows for them. Deadline has more on this risky, daring maneuver:

The Office and Parks & Recreation executive producer Greg Daniels is teaming with a writer from each of his two NBC series to develop new animated comedy projects for the network. One of the projects will be written/executive by The Office co-executive producer/co-star Mindy Kaling, who will also voice a character, the other – by Parks & Recreation producer Alan Yang. Daniels and his manager/producing partner Howard Klein will executive produce both comedies. The Mindy Kaling project revolves around a girls high-school volleyball team. Alan Yang’s toon is about a group of 20something guys sharing a house in Los Angeles’ upscale community of Hancock Park.

I know this is where I’m supposed to say something about how “The Office” fell off or whatever, but I’m not going to do that. Maybe it’s gotten a little stale lately, but when it debuted, it was really good, smart television. And “Parks and Recreation” is one of the best comedies on TV. Putting the people responsible for those shows in charge of new, fresh offerings seems so smart and obvious that I am literally in shock that NBC actually thought of it. Greg Daniels has an excellent pedigree, based on his work with “The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill,” in addition to the two shows mentioned above. Mindy Kaling is really funny, and a refreshing alternative to the “acerbic, raunchy lady” styles of Whitney Cummings and Chelsea Handler. And Alan Yang gets forever love because of his involvement with Fire Joe Morgan.

I fully expected these shows to be hilarious, critically acclaimed, and unceremoniously yoinked off the air somewhere between the first and second commercial breaks of their premieres.