If you're a dedicated viewer of Community, you may have started to notice that Chevy Chase's character Pierce Hawthorne had a somewhat diminished role in season 3, followed by an even more reduced one in season 4 and only a brief cameo appearance in the first episode of season 5. Chase and Dan Harmon had something of a difficult relationship - likely due to them both being relatively difficult people with slight ego issues - and Harmon's removal from the show was due partly to his playing of an angry voicemail Chase left him at his live improv comedy show, Harmontown, toward the end of season 3's run. Chevy Chase isn't the only key cast member to make an awkward exit, though; Donald Glover left the show partway through season 5, supposedly to focus on his music career as Childish Gambino, though a series of notes he posted on Twitter insist it was for another reason. Both actors played central characters in the series, and their loss removed something that feels key to Community: both Pierce's stubborn, inappropriate yet well-meaning curmudgeonry and Troy's honest naivete are conspicuous by their absence and reduce the show to something less than it was.
