In the first comedy cancellation of the fall TV season, NBC has axed Animal Practice, its ratings-challenged veterinary sitcom, putting a cast and crew of hundreds of people and one monkey out of work. Animal Practice scored a big audience in a post-Olympics debut in August but saw its ratings slide each time it aired not after the Olympics. This is the first new fall sitcom to be cancelled and the second overall sitcom to get cut this season after NBC pulled the plug on an unaired Dane Cook midseason replacement earlier this week. NBC is handing Animal Practice’s Wednesday 8pm timeslot over to displaced sitcom Whitney, which was put on hiatus with Community last week. Whitney being slotted is promising news for Community, showing that NBC is keeping true to its promise to find new homes for its on-hiatus shows (and is doing so rather speedily).
In other good news for Community, its breakout star Crystal the Monkey now has some free time for a return appearance. That is, of course, if Crystal is willing to eat her words and apologize for acting like a big shot when Animal Practice got picked up, when she flipped the Community crew the bird, hopped in her Porsche, and peeled out.
