'Community' Gets Jan. 2 Return Date

Greendale fans, rejoice — NBC has announced that Community will return on Jan. 2, 2014.

Despite getting a surprising fifth-season renewal, Community was left off NBC's fall schedule. In terms of the show's history, that's pretty standard stuff. NBC has done almost everything it could to run Community into the ground — random scheduling, hiatuses, showrunner firing — but the show is still alive.

Community's fifth season should be an interesting one. Show creator Dan Harmon is back, but he's without Chevy Chase and (with the exception of five episodes) Donald Glover. While Harmon and Chase never got along, Glover's loss should be a big one.

NBC will air back-to-back episodes of Community at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 2, with the show sticking around at 8 p.m. after that ... right at the same time CBS airs The Big Bang Theory. That's TOTALLY how you make sure your programming gets ratings, NBC. Geniuses.