Despite the headline-nabbing addition of new host Howard Stern, Monday night’s season premiere of America’s Got Talent debuted to lower ratings than last season, surprising some analysts, while confirming what others suggested—the prime-time field is too cluttered with competition for Stern’s presence to make a difference.  Some have even suggested that Stern was even too well-behaved and professional for the broadcast.

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Well, Community fans, we’ve got some good news, and we’ve got some bad news.  The good news is that Community, one the sharpest, funniest, and most outlandishly clever sitcoms on television has been renewed by NBC for a fourth season, after several months of uncertainty.  The bad news?  Well, since Community, like Arrested Development before it on Fox, has consistently struggled in the ratings department despite its excellence, NBC has only renewed the series for 13 more episodes (as opposed to the 20 to 25 episodes the show has previously had per season).

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Community/former SNL star Chevy Chase isn’t exactly known as a man of tact or mincing words, as evidenced when Community creator Dan Harmon released voicemails earlier this year featuring Chase frothing that the beloved NBC comedy is “a mediocre f*****g sitcom” that “ain’t funny to me.”  Rumor had it, though, that Chase and Harmon had recently buried the hatchet about the show.  Not true, according to Vulture, who recently spoke the cantankerous comedian.  Chase still hates Community, and finds his character only “moderately” funny, which is “beneath” him and his career.

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Andy returns to The Office this week with (newly reacquired) girlfriend Erin, only to find Nellie firmly entrenched in his office as branch manager. Comedy ensues. Well, enough comedy to power the latest episode with funny one-liners and great work from the ensemble cast. We even get a sexed-up Robert California appearance – always a plus.

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Thank God! Parks and Recreation is back after a five-week hiatus. Bradley Whitford even drops by as a guest star. The fate of the Parks Department drives the episode, along with two, equally engaging story lines in “Live Ammo”. The election is only a few weeks away, and this funny episode serves as a nice return for fans to get up-to-speed on what’s happening in Pawnee as we get set for the show’s big finish to season 4.

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Alec Baldwin isn’t exactly known as the most reliable source of information on the longevity of 30 Rock, the NBC comedy in which he stars, as the actor has frequently mused and Tweeted that each new season for the show would be either its, or his, last for NBC.  In fact, just this time last year, the famously cantankerous star came under fire for announcing that 30 Rock was over.  And in keeping with this annual tradition, the actor has once again announced that 30 Rock is ending, this time in the Spring of 2013.

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After about a month on ice, “The Office” returns to the NBC line-up with an Ed Helms-directed episode that delivers plenty of laughs. With the fate of the series still unknown, the first-rate “Welcome Party” begins the season eight home stretch of five, all-new episodes, which could be the once loved/still loved show’s last.

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Yesterday, we reported that Community—NBC’s half hour comedy that has becoming a cult, fan and critical darling but still struggles in terms of ratings—would receiving the animated webisode treatment in order to satiate jittery fans who are hungrily awaiting the show’s March 15^th return from an NBC-imposed hiatus.  While the jury is still out as to whether or not Community will be returning for another season, you can finish the 10 remaining episodes this spring.  How do we know?  Because there’s an awesome new trailer that tells us so (watch it after the jump).

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In case you hadn’t heard, Lindsay Lohan brought her troubled reputation and apparent Robery Z’Dar head transplant (seriously, whatever she’s done to double the size of her face has aged Lohan about 20 years) to Saturday Night Live over the weekend, which all part of the Public Persona Rehabilitation process (she already posed in Playboy, so this is the next natural move).  And, perhaps because a hungry nation was watching to see if Lohan’s head would explode (either from stress or radical surgery), she scored SNL’s second-highest numbers of the season.

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