"Girls" stars Lena Dunham, Zosia Mamet, Jemima Kirke and Allison Williams will be back for a third season.

Credit: HBO

It's official: HBO has ordered a third season of "Girls."

The comedy's producers have been talking for a while like the third season was already a done deal — earlier this week, star/creator/producer Lena Dunham told Alec Baldwin on a podcast that the third season would film in some of the studio space "30 Rock" was vacating — but the actual announcement didn't come until this afternoon.

By conventional ratings measures, "Girls" doesn't look so spectacular, as the season 2 premiere only drew 866,000 for its first telecast, and only 1.6 million viewers over multiple airings that night. But in total, across many platforms (including HBOGo), more than 3.8 million have watched that episode so far. Besides, HBO doesn't really rely on conventional ratings measures — or on ratings at all — but on things that will drive subscriptions, enhance the company's brand, etc. And "Girls" has been a huge critical success, has won several awards (including a pair of Golden Globes earlier this month) and is a show that people are talking about — whether they like it or hate it.

The third season will consist of 12 episodes, as opposed to the 10 for the first two seasons. The third episode of season 2 airs Sunday night at 9 on HBO.

Pam (Jenna Fischer) gets upset on "The Office."

Credit: NBC

A review of last night's "The Office" coming up just as soon as I crack the Dunder Code...

Jack McBrayer as Kenneth in "30 Rock."

Credit: NBC

A review of last night's "30 Rock" coming up just as soon as I've seen the porn version of "Transformers"...

On "Parks and Recreation," Andy (Chris Pratt) shows off his basketball skills.

Credit: NBC

A review of tonight's "Parks and Recreation" coming up just as soon as I text you about Michael Stipe...

Andre Braugher in the "Last Resort" series finale.

Credit: ABC

"Last Resort" just aired its series finale, and I have a few thoughts on how things ended, and then a long interview with co-creator Shawn Ryan about these 13 episodes — and, at the end, about his "Beverly Hills Cop" pilot for CBS — all coming up just as soon as I ask who Jay-Z is...

Ana Gasteyer rocking out with the "Suburgatory" dad band.

Credit: ABC

A review of last night's "Suburgatory" coming up just as soon as I all the parks in the miniature city in my basement are clothing-optional...

Dakota Johnson and Nat Faxon in "Ben and Kate."

Credit: FOX

As recently as two weeks ago, FOX president Kevin Reilly said there was nothing that could be done in-season to fix the flagging fortunes of his Tuesday comedy lineup, and that "we've just gotta play through" from then until May.

But several more weeks of ratings data for the night in general changed that opinion, as today FOX announced that "Ben and Kate" is being pulled from the schedule immediately, and that the four-sitcom bloc will be going away by March, with "Hell's Kitchen" leading into survivors "New Girl" and "The Mindy Project."

Zooey Deschanel and Jake Johnson in "New Girl."

Credit: FOX

A quick review of last night's "New Girl" coming up just as soon as I have a deaf grocer...

Aubrey Plaza and Amy Poehler in "Parks and Recreation."

Credit: NBC

If there's one thing "Parks and Recreation" has made abundantly clear over five seasons, it's that Leslie Knope can rock any job put in front of her. Tomorrow night's episode, "Women in Garbage," puts that idea to the test as Leslie spends a day (with April) working as a trash collector, all to prove a point to the male-dominated Pawnee government that there should be more civil service jobs open to the women of the town.

In this scene — exclusive to HitFix for the next few hours — we see Leslie and April gearing up for their shift as garbage women, with Leslie approaching the task the way she does everything, and April realizing this is a job she might actually like.