8 TV Shows You Had No Idea Were Rewritten By Real Life Events

Community in general is a show that was constantly rewritten by reality. Take the fact that season five ends by mocking NBC's failed attempts at creating new comedy shows, for example, despite the fact season five was broadcast by NBC.

But the character of Pierce was much more substantially altered by reality. Around of the time of the show's third season, actor Chevy Chase and Community creator Dan Harmon had a series of feuds that went public, including Harmon playing an angry voicemail from Chase to listeners of his podcast. These clashes seemed largely down to creative differences over Pierce's writing, which Chase believed was no longer funny.

What this resulted in (or was a result of) was Chase's erratic behaviour on set. For example, the season three episode Digital Estate Planning was supposed to end with Pierce playing catch with his father, a moment Harmon considered to be one of the most important of the season, but Chase decided he didn't feel like shooting and left the set, substantially altering the ending.

Over the course of Chase's time on the show his frequent absences made it so the writer's rarely included him as a key part of the central narrative, practically demoting him to an extra in case he didn't show up or participate. The season four episode Heroic Origins, for example, sees a stunt double stand in for Pierce, who is only seen once from behind, because Chase left season four before it had finished filming.