Ratings: NBC’s ‘Community’ consistent, but is it enough for season 5?

While we still don’t feel like we have enough evidence on “Community” season 4 thus far to make it the subject of a ratings debate article, the latest numbers do continue to suggest that there is a range in which viewers are checking out the show … and while it’s not a great one by any means, it may be enough to secure that elusive season 5 renewal.

Let’s examine the facts from this past week: “Community” scored a 1.1 in the 18-49 demographic for its new episode airing on Thursday night, which means that it has actually fared better than any other new NBC comedy this week. To be fair, “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation” were in repeats, but “Go On” (1.0), “The New Normal” (0.7), “1600 Penn” (0.9), and “Whitney” (1.0) all failed worse despite not having a timeslot that includes both “American Idol” and the strong-even-when-it-is-a-repeat “The Big Bang Theory.”

Just how much is NBC willing to gut its own comedy lineup? This is probably what we are going to be asking ourselves in the weeks ahead. “Up All Night” is already pretty much dead, and we have no hope for “Guys with Kids,” “1600 Penn,” or “The New Normal” given their recent trends. The presence of Matthew Perry alone (and the higher ratings the show got in the fall) may be enough for the network to take a flier on “Go On,” but conventional wisdom suggests that they cannot end the year with “Parks and Recreation” as their only returning comedy. “Community” could get a season 5 to push it to that syndication threshold, though we really can’t see it getting a better timeslot.

Do NBC’s other failures help “Community” in your eyes, or do you believe that this show is ultimately going to be dead? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below, and if you want to read our most-recent episode review, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: NBC