Tag / Dan Harmon

by jim

Now About That Movie

community-jeff-winger-dean-peltonAgainst all odds, Community is coming back for a sixth season, thanks to a last minute reprieve from Yahoo!, of all places.  Dan Harmon is still on-board as showrunner and the main cast at the end of last season, Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Ken Jeong and Jim Rash, are expected to return.

Earlier in the spring, Yahoo announced a slate of comedy series that it expected to create.  Having a show like Community, with a built in, rabid audience, can only help Yahoo’s other shows get noticed.

I had made peace with the loss of Community, as I wrote a week ago.  Having it come back from the dead yet again was certainly unexpected.  Here’s hoping Yahoo does right by the show and the Harmon and company can produce a sixth season worthy of those that have come before.

by jim

Post Mortem – Community

communityOn September 17, 2009, I found myself watching a new comedy on NBC despite my best intentions.  Starring the guy from The Soup and Chevy Chase, I was sure that this show, titled Community, would be a dud.  Surprisingly, I ended up liking the pilot and came back the following week.  Eventually, Community rose to the top of my watch list and became one of my favorite shows.

Sadly, despite critical acclaim and a fiercely loyal fanbase, the fandom for this particular show was small.  Every season, the show was on the bubble and it probably would have been cancelled years ago if NBC wasn’t totally desperate for anything resembling a hit.  But along the way, we got three tremendous seasons.  When showrunner Dan Harmon was fired after season 3, the show seemed doomed once again, but it came back for a surprise 4th season, which saw more trouble and the eventual departure of Chase.

Given all of that, it was a foregone conclusion that the show would be cancelled last year.  Once again, the little show that could surprised the world by not only being renewed for a 5th season, but by bringing back Dan Harmon to once again helm the show.  A throw away line from early in the shows run, six seasons and a movie, had become the rallying cry of the shows fans and now seemed to be within reach.  Sadly, after a 5th season which saw the departure of Donald Glover, NBC finally pulled the plug.

So I say thank you to Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Donald Glover, Jim Rash, Ken Jeong, and, yes, Chevy Chase for a wonderful run.  #SaveGreendale #SixSeasonsAndAMovie

by jim

#FiveSeasonsAndNoMovie?

community-jeff-winger-dean-peltonExactly one year ago, Community looked to be ending on a down note after a fourth season run adrift due to the firing of creator Dan Harmon and, to a lesser extent, the loss of Chevy Chase.  The next day, however, NBC surprised everyone by giving the show a surprise renewal for a fifth season.  A season which even brought Harmon back in to the fold.  While creatively the show improved, moving closer to what it had been in the first three seasons, the ratings continued to be depressing.

Today, NBC announced that there would be no such reprieve this year, cancelling the show and dashing the hopes of its fans who had taken a throwaway line from an second season episode (Six Seasons and a Movie!) and turned it into a rallying cry during the annual wait to see if the show would return.  It would be easy to look at this as a day of disappointment, but the DVDs of 3 great years (along side 1 decent year and 1 better left forgotten) will live on when the show should have, and likely would have, been cancelled much earlier.

by admin

Midseason Review – Thursdays

old-tv-set1Thursday night is traditionally the busiest night of the television week. Here’s our look back at my pre-season thoughts on what’s on the slate for this season.

7:00

The Big Bang Theory – Entering its 7th season, the show’s ratings continue to grow.  Everyone is in a relationship now, so we’ll see how the show handles that.

The continues to be a ratings juggernaut while still being a good comedy.

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland – Originally conceived as a mini-series to air while Once Upon A Time was in hiatus, ABC execs were so enamored with this spinoff show that they moved it to the fall and gave it its own timeslot.  Will 2 hours of weekly fairy tales prove to be too much?  Only time will tell.

I made it through about 2 episodes of this train wreck before I had to drop out.  Turns out there is a limit to the amount of fairy tales I can handle in a week.

8:00

The Crazy Ones – Robin Williams returns to television for the first time since Mork & Mindy, which is not something I would ordinarily be interested in.  Add in David E. Kelley, who has been more miss than hit lately, and this would likely get a pass from me.  However, the inclusion of one Sarah Michelle Gellar has guaranteed that I will at least check it out.

The show has done a tremendous job of toning down the Robin Williams factor to a reasonable level and has been one of the surprises of the new season.

Grey’s Anatomy – Back for a 10th season, the show was revitalized a bit last season with the addition of a new group of interns.  Hopefully they can keep it up this year.

The show continues to entertain, even if it isn’t the ratings hit it was in its earlier days. Continue reading →

by jim

RIP Community

communityAfter three great seasons and one so-so season, Community aired what is most likely its final episode tonight.  The little show that could lived life on the bubble and proved that a show starring Chevy Chase and the guy who hosts The Soup could somehow turn into one of my favorite comedies.  Despite this past season, which, thanks to the departure of creator Dan Harmon, was very uneven and a shell of its former self, it will continue to hold a special place on my DVD shelf.  Pop Pop indeed.

by jim

2012 New Fall Season – Fridays

It’s time to wrap up our look at the new fall season with Friday’s slate of shows.

7:00

Whitney – There were some good things about this show last season, but I’m honestly somewhat surprised that it got renewed.  Of course, being dumped on Friday nights doesn’t show much confidence on NBC’s part that the show will be able to grow an audience.  Speaking of a network having no confidence…

7:30

Community – I’m shocked, but pleased, the Community is coming back for a fourth season, even if it is without creator Dan Harmon.  This has been one of my favorite shows over the past few years, but it remains to be seen if it can keep up without its singular voice running the ship.

8:00

Made In Jersey – I’m not sure if I’m going to give this one a try, but star Janet Montgomery did impress during the second season of Human Target.

Fringe – The 5th, and final, season is slated for 13 episodes and picks up after last season’s trip to the future, a future where Anna Torv’s Olivia is no longer amongst the living.

Nikita – The third season finds Nikita back with Division after taking down Percy last year.

9:00

Blue Bloods – Year 3 of CBS’s dependable, if not spectacular, police procedural.