Tagged: community

“Where do I sign?”

These days the people who make television are expected, for a variety of promotional and fan base–stroking reasons, to engage in something resembling dialogue with their viewers. But Harmon was the first showrunner who seemed like he was creating a TV show in order to have that dialogue. Community was Harmon shooting off a flare gun to attract like-minded weirdos, articulating a worldview — institutions are bad, individuals are good, normalcy is an illusion, people who feel uncomfortable on the planet constitute a kind of sociocultural 99 percent, what we all have in common is our brokenness. Every character represented a facet of his personality; every episode was packed with callbacks and homages and fractalized sub-references aimed at people who, like him, had been warped and saved by pop culture at an early age. And he wanted us to know he was doing this. He didn’t just want the attention that came from blogging, tweeting, Reddit-ing, and annotating every episode for the A.V. Club — he seemed to need it, for reasons deeper than ego or vanity. He wanted to be out there in direct communication with the small but passionate group of people who liked his TV show because he wanted to connect.

Alex Pappademas spent 36 hours with the fascinating Dan Harmon, creator of “Community” (he was fired after the show’s third season) and a person who is widely considered to be “difficult.”

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Actor Leaving Television Show

Here’s something to be thankful for today: Chevy Chase is leaving “Community,” according to news that seeped out the day before Thanksgiving, when people likely wouldn’t be paying much attention. The reason we should be thankful for this is that we’re finally (hopefully?) going to be spared more stories about how much he hates working on the show and how much other people hate him and yes, it’s a small thing, it’s really the littlest of little things, but since it’s Thanksgiving we will just choose to be thankful for this minute thing.

Also, viewers won’t even notice much of anything for a good long while, because he has already filmed most of the episodes in the show’s delayed, abbreviated fourth season. And since the “Community” premiere has already been postponed, and since the show has terrible ratings, and since NBC only ordered a 13-episode season, and since NBC has made it clear they are moving away from the network’s low-rated (but great) comedies of the last several years, it is generally accepted that the series probably won’t make it beyond the fourth season. So, this basically means that Chevy Chase is leaving the show a few episodes before the show presumably comes to an end.

So that’s your holiday “Community” update. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Dan Harmon’s Reddit AMA

Dan Harmon, the deposed creator of “Community,” did a Reddit AMA on Wednesday. Would it shock you to know that Harmon was funny, open, bitter, caustic and seemed happy to delve into things like his creative process, his vaguely infamous feud with Chevy Chase and whether he’ll be watching this year? No, it probably wouldn’t shock you, because that’s what Harmon does*. If you are endlessly curious about Harmon (and I am), it’s a really entertaining AMA.

* – I’m not complaining! It’s nice seeing someone in his position being so open and accessible — or seeming to be that way, anyway, because this could all be a shtick to sustain an online fan base, I recognize that, and while I do not think that is the case here I am aware it is possible. I vastly prefer his style to the evasiveness of Matthew Weiner or the petulance of Ryan Murphy.

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Sony says “Community” cast members feel fine about the Dan Harmon firing

The Firing of Dan Harmon continues to be the great drama of our time. (And by “great drama,” I mean “regrettable but ultimately, sadly understandable severing of a business relationship involving a show that very few people watch.” Also, most people are probably unaware that this drama is even taking place, because most people do not know much about this “Community” or this “Dan Harmon,” but we can ignore that because you are reading something on the Internet and therefore an interest in all things “Community” is assumed.

Anyway! Since the firing was such a public and maligned mess, and since the show’s cast contains many talented individuals who have other projects and therefore other opportunities to answer questions from the media and the public, Sony realized that there was a danger of these cast members speaking honestly about their feelings w/r/t the Harmon Saga. So rather than let someone comment on the fact that, say, Harmon was fired without so much as a phone call, Sony has decided to tell these cast members how to respond.

The Hollywood Reporter snagged a memo containing the talking points Sony sent to the cast and crew. I would assume this sort of thing happens fairly often — I can only imagine the “Luck” talking points memo was about 40,000 words long, about half of that specifically dealing with Nick Nolte-related answers — but it’s still interesting to see it come out in public. I recommend reading the whole thing (it’s not long), if only so you can try to see how Sony wants every cast member to repeat the phrase “‘Community’ comes back this fall” from now until “Community” comes back this fall. (Hey, look at that. It sorta worked!)

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On Dan Harmon and “Community”

As I said in an earlier post, I was traveling for much of the weekend and unable to post here. This means I am way, way late on the whole Dan Harmon thing, which means you have probably read every conceivable take on the subject, which means the last thing you want to do on a Tuesday is read about what someone has to say about the weekend’s old news. I get that, so if you want to skip this, go right on ahead. I understand. Anyway, here are my thoughts: Continue reading →

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“Community” renewed for fourth season

It’s official! NBC has renewed “Community” for a fourth season. Pop pop and so forth and so on. The network is ordering a shortened 13-episode season, following a similar 13-episode order for “30 Rock” earlier today. Unlike with “30 Rock,” this isn’t officially the final order for the show; if the ratings are decent (or if all of NBC’s other shows fail miserably), there could be additional episodes — and I’ll stop before speculating on anything beyond that.

Meanwhile, the world awaits news on “Parks and Recreation.” Going into this week, the consensus seemed to be that “Parks and Rec” was a safer bet (as it is closer to having enough episodes for syndication) than “Community.” So now we wait.

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More TV News: “30 Rock” Renewed For One Final Season

As everyone expected, NBC renewed “30 Rock” for an abbreviated final season: 13 episodes and then it’s off to TV Heaven to hang out with “Cheers” and “Newhart” and…what’s that? “‘Til Death”? How’d you get up there? Anyway, “30 Rock” has regained some of its old form in its current sixth season. I think a shortened season is actually better for an older show like this, because they can focus on those 13 scripts and not have to stretch to fill out a 22 episode order. But are there even any “30 Rock” writers left to help Tina Fey? I sure hope so.

Meanwhile, “The Office” is probably going to get renewed. Ed Helms, Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski are about to resign for one more season, so we can expect one final year for that show.

And no, we don’t know anything about “Community” or “Parks and Recreation” yet, which is AWESOME. We all have faith that NBC will bring back those low-rated, critically-acclaimed, endlessly-amazing shows, because we have to have that faith, because considering the alternative would be downright painful. The season (SEASON) finale of “Parks and Recreation” airs tonight, by the way, in case you happen to have 15 million Nielsen boxes available.

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“Community” finally returns tonight

So obviously you are aware that “Community” is back TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. ON NBC, because you have spent the 98 days since the last new episode of “Community” in an uncomfortable “Community”-less state of unending tension and perpetual boredom. Or maybe you’re one of the people who has made the “Community” hiatus so tolerable by filling the Internet with wonderful, bizarre odes to “Community.” Either way.

I know “Mad Men” is back in just 10 days, and that show has been off the air since October 2010, but this is the biggest television premiere of the month, season and probably the decade. “Community” as a show represents so much of what can be right with television — absurdly inventive writers, wonderfully realized characters, perfectly cast actors — and so its absence has been all the more notable because a show like this was forced off of the airwaves while “Whitney,” “Rob,” “2 Broke Girls,” “Two And A Half Men,” that Tim Allen show, that Chelsea Handler show and so much other miserable awfulness has been broadcast without mercy.

“Community” is also a particularly perfect show for a particular segment of the audience (i.e. my generation), which is why it is the Internet’s favorite show: people who love their comedy when it seems to move too quickly to keep up with everything, when it references things for a purpose and not for the sake of “Family Guy”-esque randomness, when things build from week to week and jokes become sustained and almost take on a life of their own, while character relationships deepen and grow and the storylines become impossibly intricate deconstructions of and homages to whatever the writers dream up.

If you haven’t watched “Community” yet, you really should. If you have watched it before, you probably need no reminders. Tonight! 8 P.M.! On NBC!

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“Community” Comes Back In March!

Good news, everyone! “Community,” the smartest sitcom not on the air because NBC shelved it because NBC does everything wrong (also, because the show’s ratings are awful), is finally coming back! Specifically, it will be back on Thursday, March 15, at 8 p.m., and again that’s THURSDAY, MARCH 15, AT 8 P.M., so please tell all of your friends as many times as possible.

Of course, this is a good news/mildly irritating news thing. As we all know, the Peacock giveth and the Peacock taketh away. “Parks and Recreation” will take a five week hiatus to make room for “Community,” because having their two best shows on at the same time makes too much sense for the network behind “The Firm” and “The Playboy Club” and “Emeril” and “Joey” (yes, we’re still mad about “Joey”).

What’s going to happen is that on THURSDAY, MARCH 15, AT 8 P.M., “Community” will reclaim its old timeslot. “30 Rock” will be pushed back to 8:30 p.m. “The Office” will stay at 9 p.m., reminding all of us that we used to like it and wow it is not aging well, is it? “Parks and Rec” will leave the airwaves until April 19, at which point it will replace “Up All Night” at 9:30 p.m. to air the last four episodes of that show’s fourth season. (Neither show is losing any episodes — “Up All Night” will have finished its first season by that point, a month before the other shows, whereas “Parks and Rec” was initially going to finish its season a month early instead.)

Oh man, and there’s even some other good news tucked in the press release: “Whitney” and “Are You There, Chelsea?” will both leave the airwaves on March 28. Hopefully neither will ever return and we can never, ever speak of them again.

Anyway: “Community!” THURSDAY, MARCH 15, AT 8 P.M.! Six seasons and a movie, people. We’re getting there.

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