NBC - No Breakout Comedies!

Oh, dear . . .

NBC's "Go On" won't. The Matthew Perry sitcom, which started out so promisingly back in September, is being canceled after one season. I think Perry knew that, because while on Chris Matthews' MSNBC show to talk about his activism in helping people overcome addiction (he has a personal history with that), he and Matthews mentioned a few of the roles he's played on TV, but his role as radio host Ryan King on "Go On" didn't come up. This must be frustrating for Perry, as he must have thought he finally found the role that would make people forget he was Chandler Bing on "Friends." :-(

There's more. As an NBC sitcom no one was watching, "Go On" has plenty of company. Also canceled are "Whitney" (I am so glad I put Whitney Cummings on my beautiful women picture blog while she was still technically relevant!), "1600 Penn" (give it up, Jenna!), "Up All Night," and - big surprise - "Guys With Kids." Ha ha ha, fathers displaying incompetence in raising their children - what a wonderful idea for a sitcom! (Yeah, right.) Except that no one else agreed.

Also, "The New Normal," a "Modern Family" copy, is also in trouble. It hasn't been canceled yet, but it hasn't been renewed, either. Even "Community," a cult favorite, may be getting canceled. The Amy Poelher sitcom "Parks and Recreation" is the only NBC sitcom that has been renewed so far for the 2013-14 season.

NBC is said to be completely revamping its sitcom lineup for next year, which is something of an understatement. With "The Office" on its way out and practically nothing else returning even if "Community" and "The New Normal" do get picked up for 2013-14, it is obvious that the once-proud Peacock Network is in so deep a hole after nine years of failure after failure that nothing short of a major overhaul can save it, and maybe not even that. I'm getting the impression that NBC Universal's cable networks - oh yeah, after promising to return in April, Ed Schultz starts his two-hour Saturday/Sunday show at 5 PM Eastern this weekend - are making the money to support the broadcast network, even though it should be the other way around. Well, that would explain why MSNBC's programming is mostly talk with precious little news reporting. At least NBC's broadcast news department has a solid reporting reputation.

Oh yeah, Brian Williams' "Rock Center" news magazine show is being canceled.  This marks NBC's 56,486th or 56,487th failed attempt at a legitimate "60 Minutes" clone.

Public access . . . NBC's stations and affiliiates could become public access channels . . ..