Review: NBC's 'Community' not the same without Dan Harmon in season 4
Same actors, same characters, many returning crewmembers, but something's clearly missing
Joel McHale and Jim Rash in a scene from the "Community" season premiere.
Credit: NBC
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The average TV viewer pays vastly less attention to what’s going on behind the scenes at their favorite shows than the average TV critic or reporter does. When there’s a major change in production, we write about it endlessly, but most of the audience neither knows nor cares.
There are special cases, though, and NBC’s “Community” — which belatedly returns for its fourth season tonight at 8 — is one of those. Not only is it one of the most self-referential shows in TV history — one of its main characters, Danny Pudi’s Abed, is essentially aware that he’s on a TV show, and comments on all the familiar tropes and archetypes the series plays with — but its creator Dan Harmon created an ongoing online dialogue with the comedy’s small but passionate collection of fans.
“Community” fans know and care about how their sausage gets made, which means they’re acutely aware that Harmon was fired after last season and replaced by comedy veterans Moses Port and David Guarascio. It isn’t often that a TV series defined by a singular creative voice has said goodbye to that voice — Larry Gelbart left “M*A*S*H” after a few years, David Milch eventually quit “NYPD Blue,” Aaron Sorkin was forced out of “The West Wing” and Amy Sherman-Palladino left “Gilmore Girls” before the end — but when it does happen, those shows haven’t felt the need to have their characters comment on the departure.
“Community,” naturally, tackles the change in the very first scene of the post-Harmon era.
Without giving away what happens at the start of a new school year at Greendale Community College, the season premiere acknowledges that things have changed, and that change — whether for someone with Asperger’s like Abed or his friends Troy (Donald Glover), Jeff (Joel McHale), Britta (Gillian Jacobs), Annie (Alison Brie), Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Pierce (Chevy Chase) — can be scary. Even taking the showrunner change out of the equation, it’s the senior year for most of the characters (Pierce has been going to Greendale forever, for instance), and they’re beginning to wonder if they’ll still be friends once they don’t have this ridiculous place to hold them together.
The season premiere’s approach makes sense, and fits in with the meta vibe that “Community” has cultivated for years. Yet having seen the premiere and another of this season’s early episodes, I can’t help thinking the show would have been better off not trying so hard to recapture Harmon’s idiosyncratic style.
For the most part, the new episodes understand who these characters are and how they relate to each other. They speak in the show’s usual cadences, and they drop the appropriate pop culture references at the right time. (The other episode sent out for review takes place at a fan convention for “Inspector Spacetime,” a “Doctor Who” pastiche that has entranced Troy and Abed.) But something’s off about almost all of it. It feels like Port, Guarascio and the other writers decided to reverse-engineer the Harmon version of “Community,” but couldn’t quite manage without the missing ingredient of Harmon himself.
As Troy puts it early in the premiere, “There’s something changed,” even if he can’t identify exactly what it is.
A television show is a collaborative process, and not just the work of one man or woman. The entire cast (including Jim Rash as Greendale’s pan-sexual dean, Craig Pelton, and Ken Jeong as psychotic former Spanish teacher Ben Chang) is back, as are many writers — including Andy Bobrow, who’s been around since season 2 and wrote this premiere — directors, and other crew members.
But there are certain cases where the spark of demented genius comes from the creator and only the creator, and the only way to deal with the loss of that spark is to do something completely different. Both “NYPD Blue” and “West Wing” struggled for a while in the immediate aftermath of their creators’ exits, then found their footing once they stopped trying to be a pale imitation of Milch and Sorkin and reinvented themselves as something the new creative team could do well. (“NYPD Blue” became a more traditional police procedural where all the characters spoke plain English, while “West Wing” essentially turned into a spin-off about a presidential campaign that still featured the original characters in supporting roles.)
Port and Guarascio have said all the right things about wanting to keep making the Harmon version of the show that fans loved, which is both admirable and understandable. But these early episodes — the Inspector Spacetime episode in particular — feel like everyone is trying much too hard to recapture some lightning that flowed out of the bottle when Harmon left. Port and Guarascio have worked on some excellent comedies over the years (most recently at “Happy Endings”), and they have one of the most talented and versatile ensembles in all of TV comedy(*) at their disposal. Having seen a couple of episodes of their Dan Harmon imitation, I think I’d rather see their own take on these characters and this setting.
(*) One of the things that set this cast apart in seasons past was how easily they could shift into different tones, genres and performing styles. It always seemed that Brie, for instance, was giving the same performance as Annie no matter the episode, yet it seemed effortless how she could play Annie in a broad comic mode, in a more buttoned-down or emotional style, or even as a plausible Old West gunslinger in one of the paintball episodes. For the first time this season, you can see Brie and her co-stars start to sweat as they try to make the material work, like a strange Annie story in the Inspector Spacetime episode that has her on her own for far too long.
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I hope so, because “Community” at its best is a treasure. But I’m less optimistic now than I was before I watched a few episodes from the new regime.
Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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Next 48 CommentsRazorback
February 7, 2013 at 10:26AM EST Reply to CommentF-? That's how I'm reading it. Seems appropriate.
loves2spooge Did you say S?
February 7, 2013 at 11:07AM ESTarrow
February 7, 2013 at 10:30AM EST Reply to CommentPort and Guarascio have been put in a tough spot. It's quite logical that they would need some time to make the transition and yet, there's a feeling that NBC won't give them that time. M*A*S*H*, West Wing and NYPD Blue were all hit shows, not struggling in the ratings.
jenfullmoon I think P&G are going to lose and get bitched out no matter what they do in this situation, really. If they did something different, I think we'd be bitching just as much as if they try to keep things the same. And since the show's most likely gonna get canceled anyway, what does it matter, really?
February 7, 2013 at 12:17PM ESTvelocityknown
February 7, 2013 at 10:34AM EST Reply to Commenthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLLmMDbpUjs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tISXeS22nZI
Bgklein Well said. My go-to this morning was "We're gonna finally be fine".
February 7, 2013 at 10:52AM ESTMorahan
February 7, 2013 at 10:35AM EST Reply to Comment#threeseasonsandletsignoretherest
Razorback Bingo.
February 7, 2013 at 10:42AM ESTOliver
February 7, 2013 at 10:47AM EST Reply to CommentIt's sad but not surprising.
I don't blame the writers for picking up what is ultimately a poison chalice. Instead, it's the fault of Sony Pictures Television and NBC Universal for getting rid of Harmon.
It's particularly galling as NBC's comedy lineup is in such disarray that had they kept Harmon around and kept the self-sustaining publicity machine surrounding the show intact then it would have almost certainly been renewed. Instead, I expect a quiet death, probably with a surprisingly successful syndication run. They killed their own damn show.
Arrwhyayeenn
February 7, 2013 at 10:48AM EST Reply to CommentIt's sad that this is the show's final season. With Harmon getting fired and Chase quitting I don't see how they can keep it up. It's going to leave a little void in my heart where it once was.
TheOneWhoKnocks
February 7, 2013 at 10:49AM EST Reply to CommentIt's obvious this was a show where Harmon was the straw that stirred the drink. But another thing to consider is that even the best comedies usually start declining around season 4.
Slam Yes. 30 Rock is a great example of the 3 year phenomenon. The Office too.
February 7, 2013 at 5:39PM ESTMatt 30 Rock also rebounded greatly in its later seasons though.
February 7, 2013 at 7:03PM ESTtheonewhoknocks
February 7, 2013 at 10:53AM EST Reply to CommentI really wish I could watch this season without knowing that Harmon was fired. I feel like it's something I'll always have in the back of my head and I'm not going to be able to fairly judge the quality.
It's the power of suggestion. If your preconditioned to be looking for something off, your going to find something off.
Not saying that's what happened to Sepinwall, I just expect it will happen to me and many others.
ChampSkins Ha - I basically just said the same thing.
February 7, 2013 at 11:10AM ESTChampSkins
February 7, 2013 at 11:09AM EST Reply to CommentI have yet to see an episode, so this comment is completely unfounded. But Greenwald over at Grantland basically said the same thing, and I wonder if people are specifically looking for differences between Harmon's Community and this Community.
Obviously, having not seen the new episodes, I don't have an opinion yet, but I do wonder if people had preconceived thoughts going in. AND I am not saying that as a negative thing, because I loved the first 3 seasons unconditionally too.
sepinwall Port and Guarascio said that if they had somehow secretly gotten Harmon to write the first few episodes of the season, people would still be looking at them and noting the differences. Which is fair. But if Harmon (who was not always perfect himself during the previous three seasons) had has name in the writing credits for *these* two episodes that were sent out for review? I would have noted that something seemed off, that Dan was leaning too hard on past gags and pop culture references, and that I hoped we'd get something brilliant soon.
February 7, 2013 at 11:44AM ESTBut to my mind, they are clearly different, and inferior (particularly the Inspector Spacetime episode), to what the show did on average during the Harmon seasons.
thejoshbaker
February 7, 2013 at 11:31AM EST Reply to CommentThis is not what I wanted to hear. Sadness abounds.
Gimme a Break You're seriously gonna tell us that if these new episodes were "their own new take on the show" you wouldn't have slammed the new guys for that, too?
February 7, 2013 at 11:47AM ESTsepinwall If they were good? I would have said that. I liked the West Wing election stuff. I liked the Mark-Paul Gosselaar years of NYPD Blue. And I knew it was going to be impossible for Community to be exactly the same without Harmon there.
February 7, 2013 at 11:52AM ESTTimeline Is it evil that i'm sort of rooting for the show to suddenly become a hit just for the reaction from all the die hard fans?
February 8, 2013 at 2:36AM ESTXK Not evil per se, but kind of sad, yes.
February 8, 2013 at 2:22PM ESTEAS
February 7, 2013 at 11:54AM EST Reply to CommentI'm very interested to see how these episodes play for me. I'm one of the rare people who really likes Community, but actually likes Season 1 the best, before the show started to get increasingly crazy and meta.
Initially the thought of the new showrunners turning this into a more "traditional" show about a fun group of characters doing wacky things at community college had some appeal to me, but from this review it doesn't sound like that's the approach they took.
February 7, 2013 at 12:25PM ESTAnyway, I would rather have them just work with the characters. Back in S1 I cared for all the characters. By the end of S3 I felt like I was being forced into caring for only Abed, Annie and Jeff. If the new guys are trying to stay more aligned with Community S2-3 they can't win. Because they won't be able to hit the highs that it hit, and they have zero goodwill on their side so if they don't hit those highs, they won't get let off the hook as many of the Harmon episodes seemed to be.
rabi
February 7, 2013 at 12:20PM EST Reply to CommentThis seems like such a cynical move by NBC. They obviously don't care for the show due to the numbers but they know there are enough rabid fans to justify streaming/DVD/syndication. At the same time they don't want to be bothered with a pain in the ass show runner so they just replace him with people more pliable so they can hit their 85-100 syndication number.
February 7, 2013 at 12:25PM ESTMike
February 7, 2013 at 12:25PM EST Reply to CommentWell, hopefully all the negative reviews will lower my expectations enough that I'll enjoy them. And if not, it's likely ending at the end of the season, anyway.
Dr. Dorian
February 7, 2013 at 12:29PM EST Reply to CommentThis almost sounds like it's going the way of "Scrubs."
What I mean by that is, all of the seasons were great until they made that "Scrubs: Med School." That has been ignored by the diehard fans, such as myself.
If it's horrible, will we all ignore the 4th season of "Community"? Is this, in fact, the darkest timeline?
Rocket
February 7, 2013 at 12:46PM EST Reply to CommentI don't expect this season to be up to the usual level. I've come to terms with that.
What I'm hoping for is something along the lines of the post-Larry David episodes of Seinfeld. That is, below the lofty standards of previous season, but still solid with a few gem episodes.
I would also say that the Harmon episodes were very rewatchable and often better the second time I watched, so I will try to judge these episodes keeping that in mind.
er
February 7, 2013 at 2:37PM EST Reply to CommentJust watched the first 3 seasons to get ready for tonight (always wanted to get into Community) ... can someone point me to where all the fanfic is?
Kyle West
February 7, 2013 at 3:18PM EST Reply to CommentOh good grief. First "Chuck," now this. Every time I let myself love a show passionately, it ends up dying a slow, ignominious, emotionally draining death in the back corner as NBC's red-headed step-child. How you maintain the emotional distance Alan, I'll never know. (Thanks for the great reviews by the way, long time reader first time writer.)
forg You gotta give NBC credit, they let Chuck have a proper end
February 7, 2013 at 11:24PM ESTM
February 7, 2013 at 4:18PM EST Reply to CommentThis review bums me out, but let's also not forget that the Community we knew and loved by the end of season 3 was also pretty vastly different from the Community of early season 1. I'm willing to give the new team the time to find their footing and figure out what works and what doesn't. I just hope NBC is willing to give them time as well.
Slam
February 7, 2013 at 5:44PM EST Reply to CommentGreat article by Andy Greenwald at Grantland.com about Community and Dan Harmon
Slam
February 7, 2013 at 5:48PM EST Reply to CommentEven if this season stinks and the show dies, "remedial chaos theory" and the two paintball episodes were magic, some of the best Network comedy stuff EVER
Matthew
February 7, 2013 at 5:57PM EST Reply to CommentThis sounds about what I was expecting. Not bad, but not very good/great.
I'm not surprised that they tried to keep doing the same type of show. If they tried to normalize it more, I don't know if the fanbase would of liked that. Though the fanbase might not like keeping it the same style that much either, if it isn't that good.
But if this is the last season, that is fine, I just hope they do get another season to try something different. I don't think you can take over a show and immediately try to change that season, you have to get a feel for the show and then do something different. You mentioned how West Wing struggled, it struggled because it tried to be the same show Sorkin was running, but it ended coming off as too preachy, or the characters(mostly Leo becoming a huge dick) actually ending up as a worse version of themselves. But by the end of the season things did start to click, and while it wasn't on the Sorkin level, it was still good. Then in season 6 they were able to try the election plot line, and while I am only halfway through season 7 right now, S6&7 have been absolutely fantastic when it comes to the election stuff, more or so hit and miss whenever they do white house stuff(that Cuba episode in S6... uggh). Community might be able to rebound later on like The West Wing did. So I will give them a pass on this season as long as it isn't flat out terrible, then hope they can get a fifth season and truly start doing what they want with what they were given.
jberger
February 7, 2013 at 5:59PM EST Reply to CommentWas Sorkin "forced out" of the West Wing? I had thought that the decision to leave was his in the end.
sepinwall It was one of those situations where there was so much strife between Sorkin, John Wells and the studio over budget overruns (many of them stemming from the show falling behind schedule because Sorkin was writing everything) that it's basically semantics. It was a toxic environment, and if Sorkin hadn't left voluntarily, I imagine Warner Bros. would've given him the Dan Harmon treatment.
February 7, 2013 at 6:28PM ESTGeorge Kaplan
February 7, 2013 at 9:27PM EST Reply to CommentHmmm, I thought it was good. Nowhere near as good as Harmon's version but it's possible for something to be good without being brilliant. It was definitely trying to hard but I think I can live with this version of the show for 13 episodes and be happier than I would be if the show had just ended after 3 seasons.
adama1843
February 7, 2013 at 9:36PM EST Reply to CommentI was extremely disappointed (and somewhat horrified) while watching tonight's Harmon-less episode. I love, love, love "Community," but didn't find one funny moment in this episode--maybe Blind/Blonde, but by that point, I was dumbfounded by what I was watching. Watching this "new" version was analogous to watching "Scrubs: Med." Ouch.
geoff_rose
February 8, 2013 at 12:48AM EST Reply to CommentYay, is it time for dogpiling!?
No, seriously. This was fun. Fun was back. The characters are back. Is this one full of great lines? Nope. Maybe next time. But Community is back, and dammit, I'm not gonna be stuck watching Abed TV.
P.S. ____ Babies was equal mixture nostalgic laughter and horror. And Gillian saying, "skills" over and over was killing me.
bjssp
February 8, 2013 at 5:17PM EST Reply to CommentAlan,
I ask this as a person who has probably never seen a full episode of the show but finds the drama around it fascinating: do you think there's any hope for the show, or should it just pack it in?
I ask because the concept seems kind of novel. Even though Chevy Chase is done with the series, and even though the characters are supposed to graduate, it's not as if it would be impossible for them to go on in some way...right? There's some value in the show going on in some way, and perhaps NBC could, as one person suggested, get someone like Bill Murray to take over Chase's role, or just be some addition to the show in his own right, perhaps it could be a second chance at success.
As I said in another thread, NBC has ordered a lot of pilots for next season, but like I said above, there's interest all around when it comes to having the show continue--that is, if it should creatively.
youngjt80
February 8, 2013 at 6:31PM EST Reply to CommentGoing into your senior year at a community college is pretty funny.
bcarroll
February 9, 2013 at 3:08AM EST Reply to Comment"It feels like Port, Guarascio and the other writers decided to reverse-engineer the Harmon version of “Community,” but couldn’t quite manage without the missing ingredient of Harmon himself."
Yes! That's a great description, and is exactly how i felt (although i came up with a 'frankenstein's monster but with no lightning bolt' metaphor). It's sad to hear this, since i so looking forward to the 'Inspector Spacetime' episode; now i'm afraid it'll just be a hollow experience.
maybe alan's right about them *not* trying to copy Harmon and give it their own spin. we don't need another 'the new WKRP in cincinnati' on our hands...
Ed C.
February 9, 2013 at 6:55AM EST Reply to CommentSo you're writing your review based on reviewing two episodes?
Joel
February 10, 2013 at 1:17AM EST Reply to Commentcan we get over the show runner change, yes he was great he created a great show but do you think that because you know he is gone you're just seeing these crazy plots e.g "the hungers games" parody as 'trying to hard'. cant we just appreciate that this gem of a show is still on the air and that this talented cast and crew of writers still get to entertain us for at least another 15 episodes.
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