Six Seasons and a Movie: continuing Community

Community, the semi-autobiographical sitcom set in an inexplicably strange community college, has an almost unique online fanbase. Few other shows have inspired such loyalty or obsession, so when NBC announced its cancellation, the internet exploded. The hashtag #sixseaonsandamovie trended on Twitter, protests were staged outside the network headquarters and fans wrote letters begging NBC to reconsider. But while they refused to change their minds, other corners of the industry took notice. Nearly two months later Yahoo announced a sixth season of the show to be streamed online while Sony also announced the long awaited movie. The fan base rejoiced, but others have been more sceptical. For a show with such an uncertain history, will the sixth season be the show’s  crowning glory, and demonstrating the power of its followers, or a mistake which will doom Community to the sitcom afterlife?

For a show with such a huge cult following, Community has never had high viewing figures. Like other critical darlings – 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation – its future was always uncertain, and the well-publicised internal disputes and lack of any award nominations until season three only added to the fear. The replacement of Dan Harmon as showrunner and the following fourth season, a half order, became a base breaker for the fandom. While some felt it was an improvement on earlier seasons, others criticised the different tone of the episodes and the occasionally out of character dialogue. Many stopped watching, convinced that Community couldn’t survive. But despite season four’s mixed reception, the show was renewed for a fifth season (again, a half order) with Dan Harmon reinstated.

The original series cast of Community

However, this reinstation meant the departure of Chevy Chase, a main cast member since the first episode. Although season five was critically considered a return to form – though patchy at times – the show has continued to haemorrhage actors. Donald Glover, another main member since the beginning, left five episodes into the new season and since the move to Yahoo other actors have hinted they too may not be present for much longer.

Community’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness has always been its fan base. Posts have been written on blogs psychoanalysing characters with less than ten minutes of screen time, and there are hundreds of Tumblr accounts dedicated to enthusing about the show. However, the die-hard nature of the fandom also means that disagreements over characters and seasons are taken to extremes. With every actor departure, fans divide again on whether the show is better or worse without them, and if their replacements are worthy of the shoes they fill. Simple disagreements about seasons turn vicious very quickly, as do “shipping wars” between different couples.

Community is not the first network show to be adopted by companies looking to build their fan base. Arrested Development was another cancelled by its network after three seasons due to low viewing figures which was resurrected last year by Netflix for one more season. Like Community, the new streamed season was half the length of a normal order, and was hugely divisive for fans. The changes in format were largely unpopular, and while some argued that the show just took a few episodes to reach the heights of earlier seasons, others were adamant it never reached that peak. Resurrecting a popular show to lure viewers onto a new website may be a sound business idea, but more often than not the new seasons disappoint the viewers.

Community ended on a high, with a well reviewed finale where five of the seven original mains were still present. Is it worth threatening that for just thirteen more episodes?