I am still living in hope that any given Friday (or, hey, any day, I don't care) will turn out to be Oct. 19th in our hearts.

But the "Watch Full Episodes" part of NBC.com (that also says " catch up on Season 3 leading to Community's glorious return") has "available until 1/5/13" tacked onto the recent episodes. So I would guess US and Canada air dates will be the same and are tentatively January.

CityTv pulled that premiere date.

But TVLine is reporting Community back on Feb 7: [link]

Oh goody. We will have the Halloween episode in time for Easter!

Joel McHale confirmed Community will air on 2/7

Well, I do feel better having a date, but that is a long time from now.

I guess I can probably stop hoping that there will be more episodes ordered for the season, huh?

Futon Critic says 13 episodes.

Which would probably have the show conclude in May.

I got into stupid weird arguments with people who were saying that we don't know they won't pick up the back 9.

Are you new to TV? How do you know the term "back 9" and can't see the writing on the wall for this show, that every time it airs is another miracle that we grab onto and don't question?

If we see a season 5, it wouldn't make that guy right all along--it would just mean the very unlikely happened--they are not airing these 13 to raise the flag and see who salutes. We have already been counted.

Also, if yer lucky, airing Mockingbird Lane isn't burning off a $10 mil investment, and it's a backdoor pilot. If yer lucky.

Mockingbird Lane got some surprisingly good ratings.

Also, if yer lucky, airing Mockingbird Lane isn't burning off a $10 mil investment, and it's a backdoor pilot. If yer lucky.

It's on Hulu Plus right now and I'm loving it. Amazing sets as you'd imagine from Fuller. Eddie Izzard is fantastic. Loving the premise and the way they've reimagined everything.

Marilyn, in particular, is far more interesting. She come off sort of like Emma on Glee by way of Olive Snook. Jokes could be a little tighter, but I appreciate the focus on grounding the world and characters somewhat. Portia looks gorgeous in her gothery, and Jerry O'Connell really does an interesting take on Herman.

Since I want it, I expect it will not be picked up.

xpost: Oooh, good news from le nubian to raise my hopes for that extra velocity upon dashing.

That it did. And I'm sure if NBC thinks they can make more money out of it, they will. They have a couple more months to make a commitment. But it's the backdooriest of backdoor pilots. They've apparently said they don't intend to make that sort of urban fantasy TV, they disagreed with Fuller's vision, he's off working on Hannibal...the deck is stacked.

I don't think it was aired on a level playing ground, but easy money is easy money.

I do wonder about Community--when you consider every possibility other than changing a thing about the episodes, what would it take to succeed? Marketing? Different network? Different timeslot? What does it take to get that sort of quality that's making a small group of people deliriously happy to work out?