Parks and Recreation

CHICAGO – When you’re in as much of a ratings struggle as NBC, it makes sense to shake things up and that’s exactly what they’re doing in the Fall with a new show or an old show in a new time every single night of the week. “Chicago Fire,” “Revolution,” “The Biggest Loser,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “Parenthood” are moving.

CHICAGO – At the start, I’ll admit to kind of hating Bob Byington’s truly unusual “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” playing this weekend at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago with local actor and “Parks and Recreation” scene-stealer Nick Offerman in attendance. It’s such a mannered, unique piece that it verges on grating.

CHICAGO – Zombies. Dragons. Gangsters. Meth dealers. David Lynch. It was a weird year for television. Was it a good year? Sorta. It was nowhere near the landmark year of 2011 but there was still a lot to like and it was easy to get to 30 shows worth mentioning.

CHICAGO – NBC/Universal released a wave of Blu-ray and DVD releases last week as four of their comedies came home with “30 Rock: Season 6,” “The Office: Season Eight,” “Parks and Recreation: Season Four,” and “Up All Night: Season One.” For some reason, “The Office” is the only NBC comedy available in HD (with an UltraViolet copy to boot) but all four sets are well-transferred and three of them feature impressive bonus material. Get your laugh on.

CHICAGO – Last year represented a notable leap forward for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as they finally embraced a few critical darlings over popular favorites, finding room for major nominations for shows like “Louie,” “Justified,” “Game of Thrones,” and “Parks and Recreation.”

CHICAGO – The 64th Annual Emmy Nominations will be announced this Thursday, July 19, 2012 at 7:40AM CST by Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”) and Kerry Washington (“Scandal”). We’ve already made clear what should be nominated in this feature but what will be nominated?

CHICAGO – So you’re an Academy voter who has put off filling out your ballot for the 2011-12 season. I understand. It’s been a ridiculously tough year for me to pick and choose my dream nominees for the major categories and my votes don’t even count. Maybe you want some help? We’re all about charity here. As someone who’s seen more TV in the last year than most people do in their lives, let me guide the way.

CHICAGO – NBC revealed their Fall schedule today and there were multiple surprises including comedies moving to Tuesday and Friday nights (we were wondering where all of the sitcoms would go) and a Fall cycle of the hit singing show “The Voice.”

CHICAGO – NBC gave us the news we’d all been hoping for since one of the best comedies on television was unceremoniously pulled from the air — “Community” will return to Thursday nights on March 15th, 2012. Of course, with good news comes bad news as “Parks and Recreation” goes on hiatus until April 19th. At that point “Up All Night” will have ended its 24-episode run and “Parks” can return. Confusing enough for you?

CHICAGO – Thursday nights looked radically different last night with changes on three major networks, including a new line-up on NBC and premieres on CBS and FOX. How’d they do? Well, CBS may have finally found a hit in the post-“The Big Bang Theory” slot, but NBC and FOX are going to have to go back to the drawing board.