Two days ago, Community cast member Donald Glover was reputed to be appearing in only 5 of the future season’s 17 episodes. It’s said that it’s in order to focus on his music career. Shortly afterwards, a palpable cry of “Oh, Lord, the end is nigh!” arose from the Community fanbase, as it so often does. Some fans think this news will open the door to other cast members leaving, while others – with the certainty of Rapturists – say that the show is definitely going to be cancelled this time. So, are Community fans right to be paranoid? Is it the beginning of the end for the show?
It seems that most of the fans’ fears stem from the fact that Community has never really been popular. So what if it’s received awards and accolades and let journalists finally get to use terms like “meta” and “innovative” in a television review? It can’t possibly contend with the ratings giants of Nerds Say the Darndest Things and Ashton Kutcher’s Last Chance Saloon. Community’s rumoured torturous production was also worrying – stories of pitch meetings where prospective writers were terrified of speaking up and last minute rewrites in a haze of booze and drugs being the most common. It’s amazing the show even got aired. Yet, despite (or perhaps because of) this, its first 2 seasons were good, solid comedy. There was good characterisation, references woven in without being awkward and re-imaginings of old sitcom ideas. Yes, the third season did drag a bit but it was still better than other shows on the air.
Unfortunately, ratings plummeted and NBC decided to put the show on an indefinite hiatus. They didn’t count on Community having such a strong and very loyal fanbase, though – these Community-warriors (Communists?) quickly took to the Internet to campaign for its return. And you know what? Executives listened. Executives: the big, cigar-smoking men who still don’t understand the hippity-hop. There was no time for Community fans to question why this had happened. They just knew that Community had a new season with the same cast and crew - nothing could go wrong, the war was won!
Ironically, shortly afterwards, it became known that there were feuds on set. Actor Chevy Chase left and Dan Harmon, beloved show-runner, was fired. A group of writers also left the show in protest. Chase did film the rest of his scenes but, with a different cast and crew, the result was the whole of Community’s fourth season feeling like Star Trek’s third season episode: Spock’s Brain.
Even after all that, though, Community’s still on the air, is preparing for its fifth season and still has its loyal fans. Stranger still, NBC has brought back Dan Harmon as the show-runner, which has resulted in rumours being started, by me, that he is a wizard. In closing, then, Community’s been through a lot - a hiatus, a near cancellation, a firing, protests, the mysterious disappearance of temporary showrunners… so, whilst disappointing, a cast member reducing their screentime is nothing to get excited about. Community fans, you have to relax. After all, what’s the worst that can happen?
*crosses fingers*
Featured Image: NBC
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