NBC's Community Thread - 6/2 - Ep. 13: "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television"

[mronegative]

[h1] Dan Harmon's Reddit AMA: 5 Things We Learned About 'Community'[/h1]
By Alex Moaba Posted: 08/22/2012 5:01 pm

Dan Harmon does Reddit AMA.


Fired "Community" creator Dan Harmon sat down for a Reddit AMA on Wednesday, where he answered fans' questions about his ouster from the eccentric NBC comedy and revealed his favorite episode of "Community" ("Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" from Season 2). Here are the five most interesting "Community"-related tidbits we learned from the discussion.



1) Harmon had a feeling his firing was coming, and adjusted "Community" storylines accordingly:

You can actually see one [of] my "fourth season" ideas getting bumped up into the end of Season 3, because Jeff Winger has to decide, at the end of Season 3, that even though he's endured Greendale for the express purpose of getting his old life back, in the end, he has to choose Greendale over his old life, because Greendale has made him a better person. The fact that it happened at the end of Season 3 is because at the time of writing the script, I had a sneaking suspicion that either the show or its creator would not be back for Season 4.

2) Harmon thinks Alison Brie would win a brawl between the "Community" cast. And his description of the imagined throwdown reads exactly like one of his crazy "Community" scripts.

I feel like Joel would come out swinging and start winning right away, but he'd tire himself out chasing Gillian and Donald around the ring. Once Joel got to his exhaustion point, things would get bloody and ugly for a while, with Danny doing a lot of horrible things that nobody knew he could do -- I just have that sense that Danny would suddenly bust out a crazy eyeball eating maneuver he learned in some class -- but in the end, Yvette would reveal that she had lined the whole room with explosives and she would emerge victorious. From the room. But Chevy would be behind the door with a bat and take her out. Then he'd collapse because that's a lot of bat swinging for a legend his age. So I guess Alison would win because nobody would have felt good about punching her.

3) Sadly, Harmon isn't really in touch with the "Community" cast, despite the support they showed him after he was fired.

Not as much as I'd like. I'm not a real go-getter socially. I love them all -- yes, even Chevy -- and owe them anything they'd ask, in exchange for giving me the most important three years of my life, and I've heard third hand that they feel the same, and I believe it. They're busy people at the moment and will be for a while, but I will always love them and hope to see them again. We walked over hot coals together ... we just didn't do it in the same room very often.

4) Harmon wanted Jeff to meet his dad in Season 3, but an NBC executive warned him not to make the story too depressing. Jeff's father will, however, be a part of "Community" Season 4.

One thing I'm sure will happen in Season 4 is Jeff will meet his Dad, because we were going to do it in Season 3 but then one of the NBC execs started saying "just make sure Jeff meeting his Dad isn't a dark story," and I didn't want to write one of the series' most important stories under that hex, so I said, "let's just punt that story to Season 4." And we ended Season 3 with Jeff googling his Dad, so ... !

5) Harmon elaborated on what happened when Chevy Chase walked off the "Community" set, the incident that ignited their feud.

He refused to do the "tag" for the Digital Estate Planning episode (the 8 bit video game episode). In the scripted tag, Abed comes to Pierce with the thumb drive he took, and says "Pierce, I've been able to adjust some of the code for your Dad's video game and I've made a version I think you might like better." He puts the thumb drive into a laptop in front of Pierce. We cut to the laptop screen, where we see Pierce's avatar on a front lawn with the giant floating head of Cornelius. Every time Pierce presses the space bar, his avatar throws a baseball to his father's head, which gives him a thousand points and a "great job, son!" Pierce presses the space bar a few times, pauses, then leans over and embraces Abed and we fade to black. When Adam Countee pitched that tag, tears instantly rolled down my cheeks, and in point of fact, my eyes are getting watery describing it to you. It was the most important part of the episode and possibly one of the most important moments of the season. I was very upset to hear that it wasn't shot because someone didn't feel like shooting it, especially since it was literally the last day of shooting, which meant we'd never be able to pick it up. I regret nothing about how upset I got. My job was to care about my show.

Check out Harmon's entire Reddit AMA here.

 

[88th]

Such a big fan of the show, extremely sad that it will most likely die.

 

[king0fthis23]

Community..Arrested Development v, 2.0.

 

[big j 33]

[h1]Community's season premiere will have lots of "tributes," which is itself a reference to something [/h1][h2] [/h2]
 It's all very meta

By Sean O'Neal  September 7, 2012

Given one last chance to attract the broader audience that has so eluded it, Community's fourth-season premiere will give America something it already loves: Jim Rash wearing "multiple dresses." But also, as revealed in this Entertainment Weekly  preview, a parody of mega-popular series The Hunger Games—or as EW  puts it, "tribute," because Hunger Games—with a similarly cutthroat competition staged, at the Dean's suggestion, in order to win enrollment in a class called "The History Of Ice Cream." (Joel McHale explains, "Ice cream is something that people eat every day and they probably don’t know its origin story. **** you and your elitist I-don’t-need-to-know-about-my-frozen-treats-and-where-they-came-from attitude.") Above you can see an image from said contest for the elective of your dreams/eyeballs of curious Hunger Games-obsessed teens; below is an image of a man who won an Oscar.

Will this ploy to drum up viewership through pop-culture parody stunts and high-concept cartoonishness upset fans who are already upset about that sort of thing and will likely never be appeased anyway? Maybe! If so, it probably also goes for McHale's other revelation that the Oct. 19 premiere will also be "an homage to something that kids in the late ’80s and early ’90s watched on Saturday mornings." Double Dare? Saved By The Bell? Their parents fighting again? Only six more weeks until you find out. 

 

[alexander2182]

Got the first season of Community for $10 @FYE yesterday yall might wanna check yall spots

 

[big j 33]

According to TV Guide, Donald Glover — Troy Barnes on NBC’s Community  — is developing a new sitcom for NBC loosely based on his own life. Glover would also star in the sitcom, and NBC is willing to give Glover a put pilot, which means that the network pay a large penalty if the pilot doesn’t air.

Wuh OH. What does that mean for Glover’s participation in Community?

Glover’s new sitcom is in the “second position,” meaning that his priority will remain Community. He’s committed to remaining on the show. But what does that really  mean? If NBC is offering Glover a put pilot ahead of a short 13-episode season which has been dumped on a Friday, it likely means that NBC has no real intention of renewingCommunity, sees little prospect for its future, and is trying to tie up the talent on the show in anticipation that it will end its run this year.

I suppose that’s good news and bad news, as it still remains to be seen what Community  will look like without Dan Harmon, although the first indications suggest it will still be awesome. I suspect, however, that a sitcom based on Glover’s life would also be well received: He grew up in a nice family (so nice, they had foster children); he had an amazing arts education; and then became a stand-up comedian, sketch-comedy actor, sitcom actor, and rapper. I’m sure there is plenty of material in his life from which to mine. It won’t be like Community, though.

http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2012/09/donald-glover-sitcom/

 

[cryingfreemancoa]

http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2012/09/donald-glover-sitcom/

Sounds interesting

 

[alexander2182]

http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2012/09/donald-glover-sitcom/

Sounds interesting

If they get a good cast and writers

 

[blakep267]

If they get a good cast and writers

well Donald himself is a good comedy writer so I would have hope for it already. Im just wondering would it be something liek Everybody hates Chris, where as its more retrospective or something like that crappy show on TBS with Steve byrne

 

[club-27]

Steve WHO?

Give Donald Glover a bunch of creative leeway (which NBC seems to be ok with giving him, seeing as how they believe enough in him to pay for the pilot entirely) and he'll be ok.

He used to write for 30 Rock when it was in its prime, and seems very intelligent. im a fan.

 

[big j 33]

I wouldn't be surprised if Donald took some Community writers to his new show once it gets cancelled.

 

[alexander2182]

I would expect it to do good too but Community & 30 Rock dont revolve around one person.

 

[blakep267]

Steve WHO?

Give Donald Glover a bunch of creative leeway (which NBC seems to be ok with giving him, seeing as how they believe enough in him to pay for the pilot entirely) and he'll be ok.

He used to write for 30 Rock when it was in its prime, and seems very intelligent. im a fan.

the white/asian guy with that show on TBS about his bar he owns with his dad

 

[iluvjordanxi]

I love the show but I dislike Shirley. Her voice, her looks... Britta seemed like the intelligent type but as the show progressed... She just seems dull and unoriginal. I had a think for Annie from the start even though Britta was the Jeff's love interest. She just does it for me but my friend doesn't agree . Anyways great show and I'm almost finishing up season 2 but Shirley is making this hard to watch. I started liking Pierce once I knew his purpose for the show and whats funny is there is a person in my sociology class thats his age and he says the most rediculous stuff. There was this incident where a nfl player got fined for not going to the game but instead attend the birth of his child and the teacher asked was it okay for him to be fined. Then the Pierce in my class said he should not be fined if only the pregnancy was an emergency...

and then started saying the wife could have taken pills to induce the birth earlier or later... I kid you not and the teacher had that dumbfoundead look

That discussion was the highlight of the class.

 

[club-27]

the white/asian guy with that show on TBS about his bar he owns with his dad

OHH yeah, i actually watched Sullivan and Son 

Melanie 

 

[Nawzlew]

I started on this show mad late, but caught up like a month ago.



One of my favorite scenes

"We're trying to get Jeff ready for the fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.... ght.""

 

[spidermachine916]

lqtm, a friend of mine from work saw this and i couldn't believe it when i saw it too...



edit:

 

[big j 33]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but..
[h1]NBC Delays Launches Of Comedies ‘Community’ & ‘Whitney’[/h1]
NBC has put its Friday comedy block on hold. The network announced in May that it would premiere Community  andWhitney  on October 19 and air them in the Friday 8 PM hour on Friday hour. Now both shows’ return has been postponed, withGrimm  reruns slated for the Friday 8 PM slot for the time being. Here is NBC’s statement:

Given the success we’ve  had for the past four weeks – including winning the first week of the season in A18-49 – 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 19[sup]th[/sup].  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. “

 

[Master Zik]

:x They keep pairing Community with Whitney, there's nothing to do but expect cancellation.

 

[noskey]

I better see one of these terrible Thursday shows get cancelled and Community back on that night if NBC's gonna keep ******g around with the show.

 

[laker4lifeman]

Community might replace 30 rock once it's done.

 

[ohmygosher]

Community is about to get the AD treatment.

Maybe Netflix picks it up in 7 years???

 

[alexander2182]

If only there was a way to protest, This **** is ******g ridiculous.**** Grimm, **** Go On **** the New Normal **** Jimmy Fallon **** Jay Leno. When are they bringing this **** back, **** the Voice **** the Revolution man **** SNL. Fools cancelled it to show ****** reruns. Not new and original content that aint better than Community. RERUNS, RE ******G SYNDICATED GRIMM that nobody gives a **** about. Man **** it throw that **** on Comedy Central these ****** play too much

 

[roc boy jada]

Ah, crap. I'm pissed.

 

[|A-Man|]

If only there was a way to protest, This **** is ******g ridiculous.**** Grimm, **** Go On **** the New Normal **** Jimmy Fallon **** Jay Leno. When are they bringing this **** back, **** the Voice **** the Revolution man **** SNL. Fools cancelled it to show ****** reruns. Not new and original content that aint better than Community. RERUNS, RE ******G SYNDICATED GRIMM that nobody gives a **** about. Man **** it throw that **** on Comedy Central these ****** play too much

NBc gotta a lot of crap they air. Don't agree with everything you named but Grimm and Revolution are weaksauce. As far as those "comedies" What's worse is the commercials I see for them where they're already being praised as new and innovative comedies of the 21st century and ****.

I'm beginning to think as far as sitcoms go there'll never be another long lasting quality one.