[re: Community]
I have a feeling the backlash from their "delay" and the fact that NBC had to scramble to state it has NOT been cancelled (yet) has NBC knowing that there are some rabid fans.... and will at least afford them one more season. And since Harmon apparently wanted to do 4 seasons, that could at least get us to the end of the show properly.
There's also the fact that if it does go another season, it'll reach the episode quota for syndication, which would probably make NBC a good bit of money.
[I, like Bob, have never seen an episode of Community (and don't intend to), but I don't wish ill will to those that do watch (so: no torches and pitchforks, please

). That said... to the italicized part of TheUnabeefer's comment and to the above:]
That's possible, but these days I think that execs look at the
intensity of the fanbase for shows
far more than they used to - possibly more than syndication rights - because now they start to factor in "how many sets of the DVDs do we think we can sell?" as that can be as lucrative as advertising/syndication dollars (or for some shows possibly more so, I don't know).