DS wrote:
I thought the last season of The Office was pretty great and the show needed to get rid of Steve Carell's character.
The hiatus sucks for me as a viewer because I want to watch episodes, but I think it's not the network trying to kill the show but rather, the network knowing that they can't grow the Parks and Rec audience but it's also the strongest comedy they have right now and the audience is loyal. With failing shows, bouncing around the time slot and hiatuses kill them because the weak audience doesn't care enough to follow the show wherever; they only watched the show 'cause it was on after the show they do care about or whatever. I think NBC knows it can put P&R on hiatus and whenever it comes back, the audience will be back. Meanwhile, they are trying to build their other comedies like Sean Saves the World, which can't survive on just the lead-in from Parks and Rec (and it won't because it's just not a smart comedy like Parks and Rec's audience wants).
But do I think it's a smart or great decision? No.
I agree about season 9 (especially Dwight shooting the dead body), but the 6th, 7th, and 8th were often really stupid and poorly written. And yeah I totally see your point and I'm definitely one of those loyal viewers who will take the time to watch it whenever they decide to air it. Either way though, I'm still mad about 30 Rock. The last season was hilarious, and could have been so much better if they had taken the time to develop Kenneth as the NBC exec.