Pilot of Canceled Spinoff, ‘The Farm,’ To Air As Episode Of ‘The Office’

TVLine is reporting that even though The Office spinoff The Farm, a series that was supposed to be centered on the Schrute Family Beet Farm (Gee… can’t imagine why NBC didn’t pick that up to series) will air as an episode of this, the final season of The Office.  That is all.  More details here.

NBC Will Not Pick Up ‘The Office’ Spinoff, ‘The Farm’

In what really comes as no surprise, NBC has decided to pass on spinoff of The Office, The Farm revolving around Dwight Schrute and the Schrute Family Beet Farm. Rainn Wilson confirmed this news today on Twitter.  The Office is currently in its final season and will air its series finale in May, 2013.

NBC: Community (And More) RENEWED, Harry’s Law, Awake (And More) CANCELED

OK, there were a whole bunch of moves made at the major networks this week with a ton of cancellations, renewals and new series pickups announced.  We’re only going to cover the renewals cancellations, right now and we’ll leave the new series pickups until next week’s upfronts so we can dedicate more time to them and provide more information about them. NBC was one ofthe busiest networks this week and here’s the breakdown.

RENEWED

• Community:  Like we predicted, fan support, improved ratings and a syndication deal with Comedy Central that will start in fall 2013 made Community‘s renewal a no-brainer.  It’s only for 13 episodes but the reason for that is that NBC needed the extra money to pick up some new series.  Don’t worry, though.  We expect that the back nine will be picked up by November.
• Law & Order: SVU:  To our utter surprise, enough people are apparently still watching this to keep it alive, but we suspect that this renewal has less to do with ratings (it’s not even a top 25 show any more) more to do with the fact that NBC has sold their collective souls to Dick Wolf and pretty much has to do whatever he tells them.  This renewal coincidentally was announced the same day that NBC picked up the Wolf-produced Chicago Fire and Wolf signed a new develppment deal with them. We talked about his before when we previewed reviewed Law & Order: Los Angeles which thankfully disappeared as quickly as it came. NOTE to NBC: we’re sick of Dick Wolf and we don’t care what you think you owe him. His productions have become nothing more than filler that could be used for something that was actually original and interesting.
• Parks & Recreation:  Consistently funny and in a good timeslot on Thursday.  No surprise here that it’s getting a fourth season.
• The Office:  Yes, Michael Scott is gone, but as we noted last year, perhaps it was a good thing that he left to shake things up a little at Dunder-Mifflin.  The Office really has been a lot funnier than it has been in years and even though Robert California (James Spader) won’t be with us next season, the cast is strong and we’re all still watching.
• Up All Night:  We liked Up All Night when we reviewed it in the fall and audiences have, as well.  Not much more to say, this wasn’t particularly surprising.
• Whitney:  And then there’s Whitney, possibly the second worst sitcom of all time trailing only $#*! My Dad Says.  We have no idea what is compelling audiences to watch this garbage.
• Parenthood:  Don’t care about this at all, it’s not our type of show.  We can do without the whiny, self-important melodrama.  However, we will say that those standards make it a perfect vehicle for Peter Krause…. which is why he’s perfect on the show.
• 30 Rock:  Although we aren’t regualr viewers of 30 Rock, we have never turned this show on and have it not be hilarious. This will be its seventh and final season.

CANCELED

• Awake:  This is disappointing but not unexpected.  We loved this show but it was far too high-concept science fiction to be successful on a major network… especially on NBC… especially as a mid-season replacement.
• Harry’s Law:  On the upside this piece of David E. Kelley propaganda is finally over.  Justice at last! Sorry, but audiences can only tolerate soap-box preaching for so long.
• Are You There, Chelsea?:  This show was terrible, glad to see it go.
• Best Friends Forever:  This was a good show and it’s unfortuante that NBC didn’t launch it in the fall with more promotion.
• Bent:  It wasn’t as good as BFF, but it was decent.

The Office: Showrunner Paul Lieberststein Signs Three-Year Deal with Universal Media Studios

Deadline is reporting that The Office showrunner Paul Lieberstein has signed a three-year deal with Universal Media Studios.  This is good news because although we still haven’t found a new branch manager of Dunder Mifflin, we should expect at least three more years of the series.  It also means that we’ll have three more seasons of our favorite Human Resources manager, Toby Flenderson, who if you didn’t already know is played by Lieberstein.  This is the first contract like this for Lieberstein and will have him developing new shows near the end of it.