Given the successes of 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, and Up All Night, the fall 2011 TV season has earned the title “year of the comedy”—though, unfortunately, at least one freshman sitcom will be left out of the celebration. (Also, with Last Man Standing, Man Up, and I Hate My Teenage Daughter lying in wait, let’s not be so quick to exclaim the sitcom’s return to prestige and prominence.) In the wake of floundering ratings—and a particularly unfortunate 1.0 in the 18-49 demographic for last night’s “Rebranding”—NBC has announced the cancellation of the Hank Azaria-Kathryn Hahn vehicle Free Agents, the second series to be yanked from the network’s schedule this week.
This puts Azaria in the precarious position of being completely out of work should those dire warnings about The Simpsons pan out, though the news isn’t without its silver lining/comedy-geek carrot-and-stick. As Party Down co–creator Rob Thomas said this past summer, the only thing stalling a movie adaptation of the cult comedy (aside from the usual scheduling and funding rigamarole) was John Enbom’s work on Free Agents. Maybe he can make it up to the Free Agents cast by finding places for them in them in the Party Down movie that’s definitely maybe (Right? RIGHT?!?!) happening now.