UPDATED! NBC Gives 'Community,' '30 Rock' and 'Parks and Rec' Short Seasons?

UPDATE: TVLine is confirming that NBC has picked up Community for another season.

Worshippers of the Greendale Seven can breath a huge sigh of relief: NBC has renewed Community for a 13-episode fourth season. The show joins the already-picked up 30 Rock, Parenthood, Law & Order: SVU, Smash and Grimm.

PREVIOUSLY: Deadline Hollywood is reporting that NBC will give Tina Fey's 30 Rock a seventh and final season, while also picking up Community and Parks and Recreation for additional seasons. The caveat to all of this? These seasons will all be abbreviated in length.

To the quote!

It looks like NBC's 30 Rock will be back for a likely abbreviated seventh and final season. I hear the Emmy-winning comedy has closed deals with its key high-level writers to return for what is expected to be a final season of 13-14 episodes. 

Meanwhile, veterans Community and Parks And Recreation both are in the running. I hear that, like 30 Rock, all returning NBC comedy series are likely to get short orders.

Should we consider a 13- or 14-episode season a victory for a show like Community? The show is the smartest comedy on television, but NBC has never had an idea what do with it, as evidenced by its winter hiatus. With syndication deals with Comedy Central and Hulu, there's the chance that Community could live on either on cable or the Internet if and when NBC cancels it.

No word yet on the fate of The Office, but if NBC knows what's right (ha ha ha ha ha ... sorry), it will put the veteran comedy out of its misery. The show is blatantly recycling some of its best plot points now (The Michael Scott Paper Company, for example). It's run out of creative energy.