[NBC] Community

[hepcat]

I tried watching Whitney once because someone I know tried to compare her to Sarah Silverman. 

She's no Sarah Silverman.  Sarah Lee is funnier.

[Turtle]

Dear god.

3 episodes.

Watching the first right now, but it's amazing.

[hepcat]

What a fantastic end to the season.  All 3 made for some great TV, although the video game episode stole the entire evening.

[Bullwinkle]

What a fantastic end to the season.  All 3 made for some great TV, although the video game episode stole the entire evening.

That's the only one my stupid DVR decided to record.  Loved it, though.

[Azhag]

Will be watching with the wife tonight 

[EngineNo9]

Aaand Dan Harmon was apparently fired from the show by Sony (and his own blog reply also quoted below):

Spoiler for Hiden:

HEY, DID I MISS ANYTHING?

Kids:

A few hours ago, I landed in Los Angeles, turned on my phone, and confirmed what you already know.  Sony Pictures Television is replacing me as showrunner on Community, with two seasoned fellows that I’m sure are quite nice - actually, I have it on good authority they’re quite nice, because they once created a show and cast my good friend Jeff Davis on it, so how bad can they be.

Why’d Sony want me gone?  I can’t answer that because I’ve been in as much contact with them as you have.  They literally haven’t called me since the season four pickup, so their reasons for replacing me are clearly none of my business.  Community is their property, I only own ten percent of it, and I kind of don’t want to hear what their complaints are because I’m sure it would hurt my feelings even more now that I’d be listening for free.

I do want to correct a couple points of spin, now that I’m free to do so:

The important one is this quote from Bob Greenblatt in which he says he’s sure I’m going to be involved somehow, something like that.  That’s a misquote.  I think he meant to say he’s sure cookies are yummy, because he’s never called me once in the entire duration of his employment at NBC.  He didn’t call me to say he was starting to work there, he didn’t call me to say I was no longer working there and he definitely didn’t call to ask if I was going to be involved.  I’m not saying it’s wrong for him to have bigger fish to fry, I’m just saying, NBC is not a credible source of All News Dan Harmon.

You may have read that I am technically “signed on,” by default, to be an executive consulting something or other - which is a relatively standard protective clause for a creator in my position.  Guys like me can’t actually just be shot and left in a ditch by Skynet, we’re still allowed to have a title on the things we create and “help out,” like, I guess sharpening pencils and stuff.  

However, if I actually chose to go to the office, I wouldn’t have any power there.  Nobody would have to do anything I said, ever.  I would be “offering” thoughts on other people’s scripts, not allowed to rewrite them, not allowed to ask anyone else to rewrite them, not allowed to say whether a single joke was funny or go near the edit bay, etc.  It’s….not really the way the previous episodes got done.  I was what you might call a….hands on producer.  Are my….periods giving this enough….pointedness?  I’m not saying you can’t make a good version of Community without me, but I am definitely saying that you can’t make my version of it unless I have the option of saying “it has to be like this or I quit” roughly 8 times a day.
The same contract also gives me the same salary and title if I spend all day masturbating and playing Prototype 2.  And before you ask yourself what you would do in my situation: buy Prototype 2.  It’s fucking great.

Because Prototype 2 is great, and because nobody called me, and then started hiring people to run the show, I had my assistant start packing up my office days ago.  I’m sorry.  I’m not saying seasons 1, 2 and 3 were my definition of perfect television, I’m just saying that whatever they’re going to do for season 4, they’re aiming to do without my help.  So do not believe anyone that tells you on Monday that I quit or diminished my role so I could spend more time with my loved ones, or that I negotiated and we couldn’t come to an agreement, etc.  It couldn’t be less true because, just to make this clear, literally nobody called me.  Also don’t believe anyone that says I have sex with animals.  And if there’s a photo of me doing it with an animal - I’m not saying one exists, I’m just saying, if one surfaces - it’s a fake.  Look at the shadow.  Why would it be in front of the giraffe if the sun is behind the jeep?

Where was I?  Oh yeah.  I’m not running Community for season 4.  They replaced me.  Them’s the facts.

When I was a kid, sometimes I’d run home to Mommy with a bloody nose and say, “Mom, my friends beat me up,” and my Mom would say “well then they’re not worth having as friends, are they?”  At the time, I figured she was just trying to put a postive spin on having birthed an unpopular pussy.  But this is, after all, the same lady that bought me my first typewriter.  Then later, a Commodore 64.  And later, a 300 baud modem for it.  Through which I met new friends that did like me much, much more.

I’m 39, now.  The friends my Mom warned me about are bigger now, and older, bloodying my nose with old world numbers, and old world tactics, like, oh, I don’t know, sending out press releases to TV Guide at 7pm on a Friday.

But my Commodore 64 is mobile now, like yours, and the modems are invisible, and the internet is the air all around us.  And the good friends, the real friends, are finding each other, and connecting with each other, and my Mom is turning out to be more right than ever.

Ah, shit, I still haven’t called my fucking Mom.  

Mom, Happy Mother’s Day.  I got fired.  

Yes, Mom.  AGAIN.

I guess it isn't any wonder why they shoved out 3 Community episodes at once, only signed on the next season for 13 episodes, and pushed it to Fridays with Whitney.  

[Bullwinkle]

Aaand Dan Harmon was apparently fired from the show by Sony (and his own blog reply also quoted below):

Spoiler for Hiden:

HEY, DID I MISS ANYTHING?

Kids:

A few hours ago, I landed in Los Angeles, turned on my phone, and confirmed what you already know.  Sony Pictures Television is replacing me as showrunner on Community, with two seasoned fellows that I’m sure are quite nice - actually, I have it on good authority they’re quite nice, because they once created a show and cast my good friend Jeff Davis on it, so how bad can they be.

Why’d Sony want me gone?  I can’t answer that because I’ve been in as much contact with them as you have.  They literally haven’t called me since the season four pickup, so their reasons for replacing me are clearly none of my business.  Community is their property, I only own ten percent of it, and I kind of don’t want to hear what their complaints are because I’m sure it would hurt my feelings even more now that I’d be listening for free.

I do want to correct a couple points of spin, now that I’m free to do so:

The important one is this quote from Bob Greenblatt in which he says he’s sure I’m going to be involved somehow, something like that.  That’s a misquote.  I think he meant to say he’s sure cookies are yummy, because he’s never called me once in the entire duration of his employment at NBC.  He didn’t call me to say he was starting to work there, he didn’t call me to say I was no longer working there and he definitely didn’t call to ask if I was going to be involved.  I’m not saying it’s wrong for him to have bigger fish to fry, I’m just saying, NBC is not a credible source of All News Dan Harmon.

You may have read that I am technically “signed on,” by default, to be an executive consulting something or other - which is a relatively standard protective clause for a creator in my position.  Guys like me can’t actually just be shot and left in a ditch by Skynet, we’re still allowed to have a title on the things we create and “help out,” like, I guess sharpening pencils and stuff.  

However, if I actually chose to go to the office, I wouldn’t have any power there.  Nobody would have to do anything I said, ever.  I would be “offering” thoughts on other people’s scripts, not allowed to rewrite them, not allowed to ask anyone else to rewrite them, not allowed to say whether a single joke was funny or go near the edit bay, etc.  It’s….not really the way the previous episodes got done.  I was what you might call a….hands on producer.  Are my….periods giving this enough….pointedness?  I’m not saying you can’t make a good version of Community without me, but I am definitely saying that you can’t make my version of it unless I have the option of saying “it has to be like this or I quit” roughly 8 times a day.
The same contract also gives me the same salary and title if I spend all day masturbating and playing Prototype 2.  And before you ask yourself what you would do in my situation: buy Prototype 2.  It’s fucking great.

Because Prototype 2 is great, and because nobody called me, and then started hiring people to run the show, I had my assistant start packing up my office days ago.  I’m sorry.  I’m not saying seasons 1, 2 and 3 were my definition of perfect television, I’m just saying that whatever they’re going to do for season 4, they’re aiming to do without my help.  So do not believe anyone that tells you on Monday that I quit or diminished my role so I could spend more time with my loved ones, or that I negotiated and we couldn’t come to an agreement, etc.  It couldn’t be less true because, just to make this clear, literally nobody called me.  Also don’t believe anyone that says I have sex with animals.  And if there’s a photo of me doing it with an animal - I’m not saying one exists, I’m just saying, if one surfaces - it’s a fake.  Look at the shadow.  Why would it be in front of the giraffe if the sun is behind the jeep?

Where was I?  Oh yeah.  I’m not running Community for season 4.  They replaced me.  Them’s the facts.

When I was a kid, sometimes I’d run home to Mommy with a bloody nose and say, “Mom, my friends beat me up,” and my Mom would say “well then they’re not worth having as friends, are they?”  At the time, I figured she was just trying to put a postive spin on having birthed an unpopular pussy.  But this is, after all, the same lady that bought me my first typewriter.  Then later, a Commodore 64.  And later, a 300 baud modem for it.  Through which I met new friends that did like me much, much more.

I’m 39, now.  The friends my Mom warned me about are bigger now, and older, bloodying my nose with old world numbers, and old world tactics, like, oh, I don’t know, sending out press releases to TV Guide at 7pm on a Friday.

But my Commodore 64 is mobile now, like yours, and the modems are invisible, and the internet is the air all around us.  And the good friends, the real friends, are finding each other, and connecting with each other, and my Mom is turning out to be more right than ever.

Ah, shit, I still haven’t called my fucking Mom.  

Mom, Happy Mother’s Day.  I got fired.  

Yes, Mom.  AGAIN.

I guess it isn't any wonder why they shoved out 3 Community episodes at once, only signed on the next season for 13 episodes, and pushed it to Fridays with Whitney.  

They really should have just put it out of its misery.

That sucks.

[kratz]

Bummer.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Not that NBC execs aren't total douches in this scenario for the way this was all handled, but this guy doesn't seem to be able to work too well with others, and not just Chevy. Reading articles about him, he doesn't sound very together.

[EngineNo9]

Not that NBC execs aren't total douches in this scenario for the way this was all handled, but this guy doesn't seem to be able to work too well with others, and not just Chevy. Reading articles about him, he doesn't sound very together.

Yeah, I think he is pretty open about the fact that he sucks at managing people.  Regardless, he was the creator of the series so without him it wouldn't exist, especially in the form we all like.

[Eel Snave]

It seems like it was Sony who made the call, not NBC. Sony owns the show.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

You're right, I had a brain fart.

[Eel Snave]

Yeah, surprisingly, NBC has been pretty cool with Community. It's gotten horrible ratings for years, and yet they've kept it in its time slot, very patient with it, hoping it'll take off, just like they were with The Office, 30 Rock and Parks & Rec.

[Bullwinkle]

Yeah, surprisingly, NBC has been pretty cool with Community. It's gotten horrible ratings for years, and yet they've kept it in its time slot, very patient with it, hoping it'll take off, just like they were with The Office, 30 Rock and Parks & Rec.

Well, except for keeping it off the schedule this year until deciding later to put it on mid-season with a 13 ep pick up, and then pulling the same for next year, but also dumping it into the Friday night death slot. 

And, you know, letting the guy who created it and is very hands-on (Harmon is the show, essentially) get stomped all over.

The Hollywood Reporter just blasted NBC, saying they basically Britta'd the whole situation: Why Firing Dan Harmon From 'Community' Was Stupid And Very NBC

[Eel Snave]

Wow. Good article. Well, I stand corrected. This is the darkest timeline, I guess.

[CeeKay]

bye bye Chevy.

[PR_GMR]

bye bye Chevy.

Leave it to Chevy to walk away from the best thing that happened to him in many years. I hear he's a major tool in real life. Sounds like the rumors about that are true.

[Bullwinkle]

bye bye Chevy.

Leave it to Chevy to walk away from the best thing that happened to him in many years. I hear he's a major tool in real life. Sounds like the rumors about that are true.

That's my take, too.

And let's not forget that he also had a hand in destroying the show before leaving it.

[Bullwinkle]

This show makes me sad now.

[msteelers]

This show makes me sad now.

This. I've only watched the first two episodes this season, but it's a shell of what it used to be.

[Bullwinkle]

This show makes me sad now.

This. I've only watched the first two episodes this season, but it's a shell of what it used to be.

The actors all seem like they feel trapped, too.

[Zinfan]

This show makes me sad now.

This. I've only watched the first two episodes this season, but it's a shell of what it used to be.

The actors all seem like they feel trapped, too.

Yep add me to the list of disappointed fans.

[hepcat]

Here was my take on the new season post Harmon (originally posted on OO):

I think I figured out what is missing for me.

When Harmon was in control of the show, I would often rewind numerous times during the show to catch the littlest of things. Small easter eggs that he would embed in scenes as nods to fans and nerds alike.

Last night would've been a constant rewind fest had Harmon been involved. But I rewound only once because I thought I saw something...and it turned out to be nothing.

The attention to detail is what's missing in my opinion. It's gone from being a show that you really have to pay attention to, to a show that you can just listen to most of the time.

Also, the romance subplots feel REALLY forced and out of place...as if the scripts were being passed through a focus group as ironically shown in last night's episode.

[Bullwinkle]

The focus group moment did seem like a nod to what had happened, but who would have made that nod?  Writers, I guess, but given the rest of the show, that seems like giving them way too much credit.

There was a poster at the convention.  I don't remember what it was now, but I remember seeing some sort of word on it and thinking that it would have been something clever in the old days, but it was just limp here.