NBC Has Put ‘Parks and Recreation’ on Hiatus; Uh-Oh.

While initially we were grateful NBC decided to shake up its schedule in canceling both 'Ironside' and 'Welcome to the Family,' paving the way for 'Community''s January return, it seems as if NBC's replacement programming will have serious consequences for 'Parks and Recreation.' The network has opted to preempt the next three new episode of the season, including a Halloween episode that was to fortuitously air on October 31. Should we be worried?

Not only will 'The Voice''s battle rounds take over the slot intended for a new 'Parks and Recreation' this Thursday, October 24, but so too will an 'SNL' Halloween special fill in for the Parks department on October 31, and 'The Voice' again dominate the evening on November 7. NBC will make up for the slights with back-to-back installments of 'Parks and Recreation' on November 14 and 21, but fans are nonetheless feeling the disappointment.

Especially egregious is to consider that NBC has ordered several additional scripts of the critically-reviled 'Sean Saves the World,' which 'The Voice' would have originally bumped on November 7, before the adjustment made 'Parks and Recreation' the target. The schedule shift also has the inherent downside of November 21 marking the last we see of 'Parks and Recreation' until 2014, wherein it shifts to the slot behind 'Community' at 8:30 P.M. on January 9.

'Parks and Recreation' has consistently proven a ratings headache for NBC, despite its universal acclaim as one of the network's best comedies, so we might be seeing the network shift its attention to growing the stagnant newcomers above what appears to be a lost cause. We're still pulling for 'Parks,' but it's hard to deny the writing on the wall by this point.

What say you? Does 'Parks and Recreation' deserve better than NBC's most recent schedule shift?