In probably one of the
most highly welcomed twitter notices of all time, Dan Harmon confirmed that he will be heading back to care for his cult-favourite television show Community after a year long absence to helm the upcoming Season 5. As all fans of the show know and for those that have just started to catch up on Community via bittorrent or Netflix (that's okay, you're forgiven) - Community is the story of a diverse group of community college students that attend probably the worst college in America; Greendale Community College, school motto E Pluribus Anus and their gender non-specific mascot the Human Being. It was initially centered around Jeff Winger aka Joel McHale as a disbarred self-obsessed lawyer who had to return to school to earn a law degree and the study group he formed grow into a show about friends, family and ... well, that's bullsh*t. Let's just say when a show does a pretty decent rip on current zombie culture with a Halloween episode that involves everybody turning into 'quasi-zombies' due to some infected army D-grade taco beef, thanks to the budget cutting Lady Gaga-dressed Dean, you know that something else is there. Something fresh and exciting; it was the evolution of comedy and some of us were trying to yell through the canned laugh track noise of dozens of other sitcoms that here was one that actually could make you laugh out loud, by yourself. Most of this could be credited to Dan Harmon, a fantastic nut who obsessed on minute details, that pushed the comedy envelope in much the same way Arrested Development and The Office did. He was a man who tried hard to stay as true to his vision(s) as possible in the eyeball-pulling politics of American prime time television. In his obsession to continually push the bar further and to impress the subsequent fans he was creating, people slowly started to notice. Bad people. People who had money and still paid attention to Nielsen Ratings and such and constantly informed him that the show's ratings weren't all that high, despite what the few people on the internet said. They were people of a different age that are slowly dying off as the internet continues to mold popular opinion and demand. While Nielsen Ratings may help decide which Reality TV shows are shown to keep America dumb, the internet is working hard to keep shows with intelligence alive in the face of whatever 'Poor White Trash USA' or 'Rich White Trash USA' reality show that is coming up next on specialty cable. Dan Harmon's rehiring may have as much to do with the success of Arrested Development's highly anticipated yet unorthodox Netflix-funded 4th season and the talks of the movie to go along with it; Community plugged the idea of six seasons and a movie (something the fans had been demanding) into
their Season 4 Finale. I
ventured here that it would be lucky to make it to a Season 5 (it has) much less 6 (yet to be determined). I stand by my opinion that Community was missing Dan Harmon something fierce, like the Titanic was missing a stronger hull but if anybody can get Community back on top, it will be Harmon.
When Dan Harmon called out Chevy Chase as being an a**hole and basically to go 'f**k himself' in front of the entire crew at the Season 3 Wrap Party, it was definitely an uncool move by a guy that was obviously just holding it together after the continued pressure of being at the leading edge of comedy in television. When Chevy Chase told NBC that it was either Harmon or him, it was from a guy who's feelings were hurt. Chevy Chase had built a career on being a bit of a dick to some people, but also being one of the funniest guys working in the 80's. He wanted the respect that he felt he deserved. Dan Harmon wanted someone who would not continually question what the hell was going on in the latter half of season 3, just to shut up and trust him. It came down to what was more important to the show by the people that signed the checks, the name recognition power of Chevy Chase or the odd nutball in the writer's room, who wanted to have a show completely done in 8 bit animation and do an episode about a sabotaged biology experiment involving a squashed yam in the style of Law and Order. Harmon out, Chase in. It took a rather lackluster season to make NBC executives realize that Dan Harmon is to Community what Mitch Hurwitz is to Arrested Development. Without one, you can't have the other. The failure of the Dan Harmon-less Community has enforced to some extent that in Hollywood, in today's day and age the aging star is only as good as the guy who writes his lines. I can't imagine the tension on set as people (who shall remain nameless here) tried to recreate the Dan Harmon touch on the show. Chevy Chase may have won the war but he lost the popularity contest and he all but disappeared from the show as a shadow of his former self, ironically much like his movie presence in the 90's. It's a welcome change from what primarily is a Top-down creative imbalance in the Entertainment Power Structure. Some of the world's most beautiful people have expressed words of beauty, hilarity and shame to either great Oscar-winning effects or have delivered the same words to near career destroying infamy while the person who wrote those words is often overlooked. The success of shows like Arrested Development and Community are due to the passion of people of semi-uncompromising vision. They are surrounded by strong writers and cast that help foster and shape that vision so that there still is a future for those that have the passion, especially those that have the passion to rave about it on the internet. Thank you Netflix, thank you Community. Chase Out, Harmon in.