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A Huge Loss to the Community


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It’s a brutal time to be a Community fan. Less than a week after NBC half-assedly renewed the comedy for a shortened fourth season of just 13 episodes, Dan Harmon has been let go from his showrunning duties. You can read Harmon’s full thoughts on the matter over on his tumblr, but needless to say he is not pleased and more than a bit confused. Likewise for some members of the cast, whose Twitter reactions to the bad news have been collected over at TV Fanatic. Both Badass Digest and The Hollywood Reporter have terrific breakdowns of why this is a stupid and poorly planned move on NBC’s part. (With the former mentioning how writer Chris McKenna and executive producers Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan are also leaving the series, a further indication of how strange the fourth season will be). One thing is certain: when Community returns, it will do so with its heart and soul yanked out of it. Fans of the show are likely wishing it was cancelled at this point instead of having everything that was unique about it so thoughtlessly stripped away. I realize that behind the scenes showbiz machinations of this sort could be considered somewhat out of place here, but the series is so beloved amongst many of you that this news seemed important to mention. If you are a fan, feel free to turn the comments into a wake for the series because Community as you knew it is gone. Hell of a way to start a week.

Update:
Endless thanks to TR commentator Trevin Sandlin for pointing out these fascinating articles from Vulture and HitFlix that point out some of Harmon’s flaws and how they potentially played into NBC’s decision. This story keeps getting more fascinating…