NBC’s ‘Community’ season 5 renewal official; pop pop!

Watching NBC cancel so many of its programming has been a very stressful experience, especially if you are a fan of “Community.” After all, why keep this show, which has already lost Chevy Chase, when you canceled “Go On” with higher ratings?

At the end of the day, we’re just happy that our opinions and logic just don’t matter sometimes, because Vulture is reporting that NBC and studio Sony Pictures TV are very close to renewing the show for a fifth season on the strength of the season 4 finale Thursday, which tied “American Idol” in some key demos. The ratings for the show aren’t great, but we think that Robert Greenblatt and the other bigwigs love doing their little rich-men dance over the fact that this show actually brings them young, male viewers.

There are some details being worked out still, with one of the primary ones being just how many episodes the new season will be. Expect at least 13 again, but with the network so devoid of other shows nothing is really guaranteed at this point. After all, who wants to throw a new show to the wolves against “The Big Bang Theory”? At least Jeff Winger and company have proven that they can take a few punches from Sheldon Cooper and company.

Case won’t be back for a new season, but we assume that the rest of the cast will. While the quality of season 4 was at times in question (in particular early on with that steaming pile known as the “Inspector Spacetime” episode, which should have been one of the best), the second half of the season was noticeably better.

In case you missed it earlier, here’s a nice eulogy of some of the victims of NBC’s cancellation spree so far.

Update: Pop open the bottle that’s closest to you (even if it’s ketchup): The show is officially now renewed, per sources.

Photo: NBC