WTF: NBC to end Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, and Community after next season?

leslie knope gif
Knope 4 Life.

Say it isn’t so! No, really–tell me I’m wrong. While NBC has said that 30 Rock will have just one more abbreviated final season, the fate of Parks and Rec and Community is still unconfirmed. But with rumors that they too will end after next season, the internet–or at least my section of it–was already abuzz with cries of outrage. Courtney started a petition:

Liz Lemon and Leslie Knope are not only two of the funniest female characters on television, but they are played by two of the most creative and powerful women working in cultural production today. It’s been a joy for smart, complex women all over America to finally have a few laughs with women who understand their sensibility, their foibles, their triumphs, their lives. Take that away, and not only will your bottom line suffer, but we will lose direct and regular access to the most dynamic writers creating feminist, funny content around.

Although I’ve enjoyed this season of 30 Rock, I’m actually OK with calling it quits soon. It’s been around for six years already, and all the feminist explorations of Liz Lemon have probably already been written. (Perhaps it’s time for Tina Fey to go forth and create a new show–maybe one in which she has some lady friends.) And I haven’t watched Community yet–although my TV soul-mate Jos tells me it’s a Buffy-esque tribute to the importance of chosen family, so I’m sold. But if Parks and Rec is cancelled, I will be truly devastated.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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