With Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase Both Gone, Is Community’s Season Four Doomed To Fail?

remy sucks

Let me make something clear right off the jump. I love the show, Community. I think the ensemble cast works wonderfully together, the writing on the show is top notch, and every actor or actress brings their own amazing energy to the table. I love the pop culture riffs, I love the homo-eroticism, and I love the Leonard (shut up, Leonard!). But I would be lying to you were I not to mention my apprehension going into the fourth season, which starts tomorrow, Thursday night, at 8 pm.

I figured what better time than now to explore some of the behind the scenes changes that may be spell trouble for our favorite community college, Greendale. A quick warning, this article will be streets ahead of any others you may come across today. Also, someone will be called a “fat f*ck” so if the pairing of those two words make you cringe, you may want to go elsewhere. Me drudging up so much dirt on the show is why they are all collectively thinking I suck in that picture. Also, Microsoft Paint for the win.

cumunity

I would have sex with 68% of this cast. Up to you to figure out who.

For those not aware, things have been rumbling behind the scenes at Community for some time now. The two things you have all heard the most about is Dan Harmon being fired from the show he created, and Chevy Chase being fired off the show he helped make awesome. The thing most don’t seem to be aware of is, the two problems are almost one in the same. First, we will address the Chevy Chase thing. Chevy Chase is, well, Chevy Chase. Even though the man has dropped off and not done anything spectacular since Fletch, he still tries to act like he is king shit, and he does this everywhere he goes. While initially, Dan wrote Chevy’s character, Pierce, as sort of a rich, arrogant fool, but he DIDN’T write him as a prick.  But  Harmon having to work so closely with Chase, began to write Chevy’s character traits into the Pierce. Believe it or not, he has done this with all the cast, though. Even the blossoming sexuality of Annie after the first season was a direct result of all the attention her boobs were getting on the web. Something that Harmon actually didn’t like. Here, though this is done in jest, check out how Harmon interacts with the stars who helped make his show famous:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ydwGdhm4A

Orange you glad he didn’t say banana? 

And this brings us to our second part in all this, Dan Harmon. It was plain to see from how the media focused on it and clung to the issue that Dan and Chevy were not seeing eye to eye that there were some problems behind the scenes between these two. In simple terms, a clashing of egos. It was Harmon’s show, they were just stars on it. And the more and more Harmon would write Chevy’s character into a prick (with serious racism and hate issues), the more and more Chase was getting pissed he was being made into the antagonist on a show that didn’t initially have one. To this point. I slightly agree with Chase. Pierce was a fool, but in those first few seasons, his foolishness was absolutely charming. Thing is, they evolved that foolishness into pure hate, making him, and the show, a little harder to watch. This culminated with the D&D episode that made every fat kid cringe for twenty two minutes straight. Great episode, without a doubt. Yet Pierce took himself new levels of bullying.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX2UEWvTX-Y

Gone was all stupidity that made him charming, replaced by seething hate.

Though the episode was wonderful, there was a real change to the tone of the Pierce character, and it stayed with him, only being perpetuated more and more as the seasons went on. But the Harmon/Chase feud was starting to finally bubble over. And it was only going to get worse.

greenz

This is the awkward face you make after Chevy Chase calls you a n****r on set.

Flash forward the amazing “Digital Estate Planning” episode of Community, when all the characters go into a video game and have to fight their way out. The way the episode was supposed to be built was around an amazing end that would have changed the pacing for Chevy’s Pierce character. Only problem, Chevy left the set that day and refused to film the scene (which you can find out in more detail here). This caused a major element of Pierce’s returning humanity to not be flushed out and explored at all, and this time, it was Chase’s fault.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqXV8Ec4poA

This episode is one of the greatest episodes of anything ever.

This really drove the nail into the coffin for Harmon, and much of the cast, regarding Chase. When the wrap party finally came for that season, a drunk Harmon had some very strong words for Chase. But Chevy was at the wrap party with his entire family. While Chase refusing to do that scene did damage the show, that was not the place to air your grieving, and to do so in such fashion was classless. Ofcourse, Chase had to fuck things up further by drunk dialing Harmon later on and letting him know just what he thinks of him. I will give you a hint: fat f*ck. See, I warned you about that in the intro for a reason.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXRf06GFMIc

Both men seem equally classless to me, to be honest.

But Harmon, wanting to out “classless” Chase yet again, went and played the voice mail for a live audience. This, ofcourse, made its way onto the web. At this point, people involved with Community felt like they were in the middle of an abusive marriage. Suffice it to say, with little reasoning outside of the obvious, Dan Harmon got fired from his own show. This may end of being, for all intents and purposes, the death blow for this show. While season four has yet to air, they had planned to start the season twice and had to move it back (to this coming Thursday, February 8th, at 8 pm). On top of that, Chase finally cracked and exploded on set this season, leading to him being fired as well. Well, he says he wasn’t “fired” and chose to leave, but after yelling the N word in one scene starring both African American cast members, it is hard to imagine any network wanting to keep that kind of time bomb around. Chase said he only yelled it in the scene because that seems to be the vile direction they were going with Pierce, but that is like an actor raping an actress on set and saying he was “in character”. That just doesn’t fly with me.

wga

” Holy crap, I said THAT? I’d fire me, too.”

And that brings us up to the current conundrum we are facing. Can Community survive all this drama? I am writing this because I am scared. I am not one who enjoys sitcoms. So the fact that there is a current sitcom I love is a rare and beautiful thing. And make no mistakes about my TMZ style reporting up to this point, I f*cking LOVE this show. But how can a show that was built on Harmon’s writing and ideas, and a show that relied so heavily on the Pierce character, take both of those hits and still retain the charm that turned us to fans in the first place? There is no way to know, other than to tune in and give them a chance, and this Thursday night at 8 pm, that is just what I intend to do.

weed

Chevy Chase isn’t acting here. He is just being a confused old man, God bless his angry soul.

Truth is, I never got over the death of Alex. Oh, you may remember him from his other name, Star Burns. If there is a TV God, that teaser at the end of season three will make season four well worth it, Harmon and Chase or not. THE RETURN OF STAR BURNS!

burns

He will be seen riding the tail of a comet into heaven, piloted by the greased up ghost of Patrick Swayze.

By the way, I might be as homeless as Chang soon, so show a brother some love if you can. Annie’s boobs would be proud.

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14 Comments

  1. Drama llama strikes again. Geez, get over yourselves.

    Chase’s character was perfect before they started making him such a shithead. I don’t know why they kept writing him this way, especially if Chevy was not in on it. I assumed Chevy was forcing them to make him into such an asshole.. Surely the ratings/reviews for this character turn were not positive. I’d be upset too..

    Most of the last shows with Chevy in them would have almost been the same without him. He just became some sort of extra wheel, instead of a part of the show. His character just felt out of place. I think the core group will be just fine without him on the show.. they’re all amazing actors and characters too.

    There are still antagonists in Community.. they have a whole heating/air school dynamic with John Goodman. And there was are a lot of new teachers this year that look promising.

    I am still very excited about tomorrow’s show.. As Community’s status says, “OMG Today is the 6th, WHICH MEANS tomorrow is October 19th!!”

  2. Great write up Remy. Looking at the promos that have been released in the last couple of weeks it looks like the new showrunners have a handle on it. It’s not going to be enough to send it into a 5th season (or a 6th/movie) but it will push to syndication with some dignity.

  3. God, if there is one thing I hate about the internet, it’s all the drama llama-ing. Get over yourself. I don’t know why they were writing Chase’s character like that even though you just spent half your article explaining it to me in great detail, but…..[snore]

    No, seriously, I’m with you man. Community was amazing and clearly came from the creative mind of a very nerdy dude. I’ve got little confidence for this season, especially with all of the behind the scenes shenanigans, but I’ll show up regardless.

    I disagree that Chase’s contextual usage of the N-bomb was a fireable offense since he supposedly just sad if they were going to make his character such a bigot the may as well have him say it and that was the extent of his usage. People act like he was calling his costars N-words or something, and that just was not the case. And no, I don’t believe in that nonsense that black people can use it at all times for all things and white people never for anything. If you want freedom and equality, it means exactly that, and a word used in a non-hateful manner to express something should not be held against them based entirely on the color of their skin when they say it. Intent matters, and Chase’s usage was clearly not harmfully intended and therefore not racist. He’s still an asshole, though.

  4. I think this article does a fair job explaining the Chase/Harmon fall out. The think the problem with Chase, beyond the ego, is that he thought “Community” would be a standard TV comedy. I think that’s where a lot of his frustration came from because he just didn’t get the show. Of course this doesn’t excuse his self destructive racist behavior.

    Harmon is quickly becoming someone in love with his own genius.

  5. I am so looking forward to seeing this now! YAY! I’m so glad it’s back 😀 I’ve been waiting for it to air again. But yea Star Burns and Chevy Chase not being on it, we will see how this goes. But I’m sure there is enough talent in this show to keep it alive and funny 🙂 Thank you for the update 😉

  6. Hey all, I will address these comments in a second. My llama has been acting really odd all day, standing in the corner with its back turned to me and stuff. I can’t get anything done. One could say, it is being dramati…wait a second…

  7. Drama Llama? Frickin really??? LOL! Do we not know that Chevy Chase is really a frickin asshole? You know he even had issues on SNL with Dan Akyroyd (spelling?), and let’s not get started with his fued with Bill Murray. Honestly, Chevy is an amazing, and comedic actor, and can sometimes play a fool, BUT the SHOW MUST go on! darn it…and yes bad attitudes can get you fired from any job. I loved this article, and gave me interesting insight/feedback about Dan Harmon, who I cannot believe got fired from his own show??? Crazy…now I know I don’t personally like sit-coms either (I much rather watch cartoons like Teen Titans or Adventure Time…YEA i said it), but this show I LOVE. So I can’t wait to see the next episode tomorrow 😀 Great article as always Remy 😉 Thank you for the insight and update about the show that I had no idea about until today. You totally made my day about this one lol Can’t wait to see it tomorrow 🙂

  8. Star Burns won’t be back. The actor, Dino Stamatopoulos, who played Star Burns was also a writer on the show and left alongside Harmon. It’s a fair bet he won’t return in any capacity.

  9. I’ve seen some videos where the other writers are talking, like in panels, and combined with the remaining actors that are still great I still have a lot of hope that season 4 will be good. At first I thought Harmon was everything for Community, but later I felt like the other writers also know the show and its quality very well.
    So in the case of Community I absolutely don’t want to say it’s doomed and I’ll judge it after watching.
    I’m not too upset Pierce is gone, to me it sounds like he was very annoying and out of place in many situations since the beginning. And as someone else in the comments said his character didn’t add anything to many of the last episodes.
    The quote of Pierce in the Dreamatorium episode where Abed plays all characters comes to mind: “Can I just interject and say I don’t know what the hell is going on?” – He was just there for side gags, not integrated in the stories.

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