'Parenthood' renewed by NBC

And finally, the last drama on the bubble for the 2013-14 season has a sort-of happy ending: NBC’s Parenthood will return for a sixth season. The not-good news for the fan-favorite family drama: Parenthood‘s order is for a 13-episode final season. NBC also announced that Parks and Recreation, which was already expected to return, will have its final season too (details).

The announcement was made as part of NBC’s fall schedule reveal, which you can find here.

The odds were ever in Parenthood‘s favor for a return in some fashion. Though the show only averaged 6.4 million viewers and a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49 this season, its lead-ins like The Michael J. Fox Show fared much worse, which made Parenthood‘s ability to kinda support a time period seem heroic, especially against one of the top-rated dramas on TV — ABC’s Scandal.

Parenthood‘s episode count over the years reflects the show’s rocky history. As a midseason replacement in 2010, the first season had 13 episodes. Season 2 swelled to a full order of 22. Three was cut back to 18. Season 4 went down to 15. Then this season ballooned back up to 22.

With this order, the lists of canceled shows on our Broadcast Ax and Death Watch lists of all the shows of the season are now closed. Tomorrow begins Phase 2 of the broadcast upfronts news surge, with NBC becoming the first network to announce its fall schedule at 11 a.m. ET.