10 Moments That Literally Stopped TV Shows
3. "And That's Canon" - Community
Community is one of the most gleefully self-aware comedies of all time, and one which relished toying with notions of reality and the fourth wall wherever possible.
But the season five finale "Basic Sandwich" took this to extremes even for the show's standards, by having loveable pop-culture obsessive Abed (Danny Pudi) briefly break through the fourth wall and wink at the audience.
As Abed and Annie (Alison Brie) are having a sweet heart-to-heart, the subject suddenly shifts to "next year" - as in, whether the show will get renewed for season six - at which point Abed says, "We'll definitely be back next year. If not, it'll be because an asteroid has destroyed all human civilisation."
Abed then looks off into the distance and says "And that's canon," before the camera angle abruptly changes to show Abed looking directly at the audience, all while Annie has no idea what the hell he's doing.
Abed then quickly remembers himself and brushes the moment off, but as a nod to fans concerned about the show's possible cancellation, it was an hilarious way to stop the episode dead in its tracks and give the series a concrete ending in case it wasn't renewed.
Ultimately Community was cancelled for about seven weeks before a sixth season was picked up by Yahoo!, so for the better part of two months fans were left to believe an apocalyptic event had wiped out all life on Earth. Genius.