NBC renews "Parks and Recreation" for Third Season

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

NBC has renewed the Amy Poehler-led sitcom"Parks and Recreation" for a third season, says the Hollywood Reporter.

According to the Hollywood Reporter: The early pickup was done strictly for production reasons to lock in actors' schedules, a rep for NBC said, stressing that the sole pickup for the sophomore comedy in no means reflects on the renewal chances of NBC's other Thursday comedies.

Indeed, "The Office," "30 Rock" and freshman "Community," which pull higher ratings than "Parks," all look good to return for another season as well. After a soft start as a midseason entry last spring, "Parks," which stars Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari, has been gaining steam this season creatively and ratings-wise.

The sophomore series--part of NBC's Thursday night comedy block--was created by two of the executive producers behind fellow NBC sitcom “The Office”--Greg Daniels and Michael Schur.

I gave “Parks and Recreation” a shot last year because of my love for “The Office,” but it didn’t hold up for me. I can admit, though, that this year the show has been much better creatively, and clearly that has affected the ratings. The same type of thing also happened with “The Office” originally--it started slow, and eventually it became a huge hit.

One reason "Parks and Recreation" has been so good this year is due to Ansari. He is the funniest character on the show (Rashida Jones is pretty good too). I’ll be looking forward to a third season.

“Parks and Recreation” airs Thursday nights at 8:30 p.m. on NBC.