"Community" and "Whitney" premiere dates delayed

"Community" fans will now have to wait a little longer for the show's return.

The cult-favorite comedy was scheduled to begin its fourth season on Oct. 19, but NBC has now decided to delay that premiere date.

The second season of "Whitney" was also set to premiere on that Friday night, but the network has postponed that as well. No new return dates have been given.

In a statement, NBC said that it is postponing the "Community" and "Whitney" premieres to focus on promoting its new shows airing earlier in the week. The network added that it could decide to move the two shows to another night.

"Given the success we've had for the past four weeks - including winning the first week of the season in adults 18-49, we've decided to continue to concentrate our promotional strength on our new NBC shows that are scheduled Monday through Wednesday and have therefore decided to hold 'Community' and 'Whitney' from their previously announced premieres of October 19th," the statement said, according to Entertainment Weekly. "Without having to launch these comedies on Friday at this time, we can keep our promotion focused on earlier in the week -- plus we will have both comedies in our back pocket if we need to make any schedule changes on those nights. When we have a better idea of viewing patterns in the next few weeks, we will announce new season premieres of 'Whitney' and 'Community.'"