NBC Places PARKS AND RECREATION on Hiatus Until Early 2014

Following last week's news that NBC had cancelled its freshman series WELCOME TO THE FAMILY and IRONSIDE, the network has now quietly placed its Amy Poehler-starrer PARKS AND RECREATION on hiatus until early 2014.

Vulture has revealed that beginning this week, PARKS AND REC will be replaced by an encore episode of THE VOICE, before returning for back-to-back episodes on Nov. 14 and Nov. 21. NBC will then air various sports and holiday specials until the coemdy returns with COMMUNITY in January 2014.

The hiatus doesn't necessarily mean a cancellation is imminent, however. Since 30 ROCK and THE OFFICE went on off the air, NBC has yet to prove that it can sustain a Thursday night comedy block without PARKS.

As Vulture's Josef Adalian explains:

"The network desperately wants to get more viewers to sample 9 p.m. comedy Sean Saves the World. It's betting that all of the special programming it's planned for the 8 p.m. hour will do better than Parks, thus boosting Sean. It's also a very clear sign than NBC, perhaps not unreasonably, has given up on the idea that Parks will ever grow its audience."

From Emmy Award-winning executive producers Greg Daniels ("The Office," "King of the Hill") and Michael Schur ("The Office," NBC's "Saturday Night Live"), "Parks and Recreation" is a hilarious ensemble comedy that follows Leslie Knope (Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Amy Poehler, NBC's "Saturday Night Live," "Baby Mama"), a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana, and her tireless efforts to make her quintessentially American town just a little bit more fun.

In the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department, Leslie's office mates include Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe, "Brothers and Sisters," "The West Wing"), a health nut who wants to live to be 150 years old, and Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari, "Human Giant," "Scrubs"), a fashion-obsessed wannabe player whose greatest dream is to own his own nightclub. Leslie's boss, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman, "Children's Hospital," sporting one of the most impressive moustaches on Primetime television), hates the very government he works for. Leslie is supported by Ben Wyatt, her husband and former campaign manager (Adam Scott, "Friends with Kids," "Party Down"); her best friend, Ann (Rashida Jones, "Celeste and Jesse Forever," "The Office"); former shoeshine boy extraordinaire, Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt, "Zero Dark Thirty," "Moneyball"); and Andy's wife, April, the disinterested intern now the Director of Animal Control (Aubrey Plaza, "Funny People"). Rounding out the Parks and Recreation staff are the fun-loving Donna Meagle (Retta, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") and the department's punching bag, Jerry Gergich (Jim O'Heir, "Castle").

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