Scots Taffer on 19/5/2012 at 09:21

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Not sure how many fans of Community are up in the hizzouse, but for those who are and aren't aware of what shit has just gone down, here's the timeline.

Community gets pulled mid-season by NBC due to rating performance.
The fanbase swells and gathers momentum in the interim to keep Community on the air.
Community airs its second half of the third season.
The filming of the finale and subsequent wrap party is a fucking disaster.*
Is Community going to be renewed for a 4th season?
Yes. A half-season.
Why a half-season?
Oh that'll become clear...
Dan Harmon, creator, producer, writer, very hands-on in every area, is back too, right? RIGHT!?!
Uh, could you close the door please?

* Chase refused to film a scene in the finale because he objected to Harmon's abuse of his character. These two have butted heads throughout the series production. Chase is an egotistical bastard past his prime and Harmon is a self-destructive (apparently alcoholic) narcissist so these two would obviously fit together like a glove. Anyway, the wrap party culminates with Harmon leading the entire cast and crew in singing "fuck you" to Chevy Chase ... in front of his wife and daughter. Chevy (quite understandably upset) leaves a (http://www.tmz.com/2012/04/02/chevy-chase-rips-community-creator-i-hope-you-die/) vitriolic voicemail for Harmon, which he then shared and allowed to go viral.

A clusterfuck, basically. And now this: (http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-fien-print/posts/dan-harmon-is-out-as-community-showrunner-david-guarascio-and-moses-port-are-in) Harmon is out.

Now I'll be honest, I've been a big detractor of this season of Community. I think they stuck it in neutral and didn't take anything (characters, story arcs) as far as they did in previous seasons and in fact, if anything it suffers from a case of repeating what's worked and bloating it like so many action movie sequels - see the pillow/blanket fort two-parter as an example of this kind of self-indulgence. It's funny, but not as funny or as interesting as Harmon thought it was. Similarly with the Law & Order episode, it's funny as a parody but it's an easy mark. What made Community fucking great and inspired such rabid fans was episodes like Modern Warfare which combined parody with heartfelt character development and great jokes based in the characters. Notwithstanding my criticisms they've produced some STELLAR episodes (timelines & 2nd clip show are the obvious picks so far with the 3-part finale still in hand although the very idea of a 3-part finale as one-upmanship of s2's two-parter finale is part of the reason I think this show's quality is waning).

Part of the issue here is Harmon; his self-destructive persona bleeds through in the writing on a fairly regular basis. One of the show's strength is its meta-commentary and self-aware humour, but that's a really fine balance to strike and not start to become grating with one-note wink-nudge type jokes (see Arrested Development for a show that did this sort of stuff amazingly well and managed to integrate it into the plot without it being just soapboxing).

See his response to his firing (http://danharmon.tumblr.com/post/23339272200/hey-did-i-miss-anything) here. Obviously he's upset and has every right to be in how they've fucked him over, but that strain of "fuck you" has run through every Dan Harmon post I've ever read. He's clearly a creative dude but very angry and insecure which leads to him making some very big errors in personal judgement - the Chase example being an obvious pointer here.

This stinks like revenge, very well executed revenge. It's clear Harmon is a self-doubter so how better to fuck him over than to greenlight his show and axe him? My personal suspicion is that a sadistic NBC exec has taken Harmon's actions post-wrap-party as a affront to the studio's reputation, or perhaps they just don't like their showrunners being public fucksticks, or perhaps they love Chase more than Harmon does, but for whatever reason they have fucked Harmon over and fuck him over good.

It'll be interesting to see where they go with their half a season with new writers. That is assuming that key cast and crew don't abdicate when it becomes clear that Harmon will have nothing to do with the show going forward - which he won't. His post makes that clear enough if you were unsure, but knowing what I've read of the guy, there was no chance he was going to return to his baby utterly impotent and having no creative control (as I say, whoever did this, did a fucking amazing fuck-you hit job on Harmon, they get him and wanted to hurt him).

Thoughts?

fett on 19/5/2012 at 22:57

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I blame Koki and the whoever that assdip is that started the FB group. WE HAVE MORE STORIES TO TELL.

YcatX on 20/5/2012 at 22:20

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Bwhahahaha...

Scots Taffer on 21/5/2012 at 03:44

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I was misinformed, and I still haven't seen them.

Scots Taffer on 21/5/2012 at 08:42

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You refer, no doubt, to my homie Gustavo Fring.