Without Harmon, Community is sure to take a dip in quality / strangeness. The one saving grace is that the new showrunners worked on Happy Endings, another show with a slightly left of center vibe. So hopefully they can salvage something out of this season.
Just got one word for ousting Harmon.....
Senor Chang - Gay - YouTube
I am Dan Harmon, creator of Community, writer of Monster House, and Executive Producer of the upcoming Charlie Kaufman Stop Motion Animated feature Anomalisa, ask me anything! : IAmA
Dan Harmon is doing a Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. Plenty of good conversation through the posted Q and A. I have shared couple of them.
AhhBisto:
The rumour mill says that Chevy Chase walked off set at the end of filming for Season 3 because he refused to do something. What did he refuse to do?
danharmon:
He refused to do the "tag" for the Digital Estate Planning episode (the 8 bit video game episode). In the scripted tag, Abed comes to Pierce with the thumb drive he took, and says "Pierce, I've been able to adjust some of the code for your Dad's video game and I've made a version I think you might like better." He puts the thumb drive into a laptop in front of Pierce. We cut to the laptop screen, where we see Pierce's avatar on a front lawn with the giant floating head of Cornelius. Every time Pierce presses the space bar, his avatar throws a baseball to his father's head, which gives him a thousand points and a "great job, son!" Pierce presses the space bar a few times, pauses, then leans over and embraces Abed and we fade to black. When Adam Countee pitched that tag, tears instantly rolled down my cheeks, and in point of fact, my eyes are getting watery describing it to you. It was the most important part of the episode and possibly one of the most important moments of the season. I was very upset to hear that it wasn't shot because someone didn't feel like shooting it, especially since it was literally the last day of shooting, which meant we'd never be able to pick it up. I regret nothing about how upset I got. My job was to care about my show.
Timocharis:
Why did he refuse to do it?
danharmon:
The answer I heard from the people on set was that he didn't think it was funny. After he realized how upset I was about it, he said things in voicemails like "there was no script" (untrue) and "I have a weird relationship with the name Cornelius" (dumb, he had no dialogue in the tag). The real answer, I believe, is that he wanted to go home because he was tired. He probably didn't realize he was permanently damaging the episode by doing so because he often walked off set and then we would just pick up his shots later in the week. But this was the final shot of the season. The sets came down after he walked away. So this was the one time in three years that his personality caused unfixable damage to something I really held valuable.
fiveforty:
1. Did you write the finale of S3 as if it could have been a series finale? The last 5minutes, the wrap-up, is perfect.
2. At the end of the S3 finale, Abed goes into his mini-Dreamatorium. To me this symbolises that everything we see from now on isn't the real timeline, but that S4 and onward is all happening within that Dreamatorium. Was this intentional?
danharmon:
1. yes
2. it symbolizes me leaving the show. I didn't know for sure I was going to but I had a feeling I might have to.
I had no idea Chevy was so hard to work with, he always seemed to be a cool guy but sounds like he tends to walk off set a lot.
Dan Harmon genuinely seems like a dick in a lot of aspects of how he handled the show, but you can't fault him for caring about making a great show like he did.
lol, one of the most difficult in Hollywood history. Check out some of the SNL books for some great stories.Wes R said:
cokebabies said:
Alot of creators and visionaries are this way )eg James Cameron and Steve Jobs)
Another example of the sheer brilliance of Community and its creators is that back in April 2012 it got nominated for a Hugo Award (episode 'Remedial Chaos Theory' for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form), despite it being a comedy and not a regular sci-fi show.
The Hugo Awards : 2012 Hugo Awards
Winners were announced last night and though Community didn't win, it's still a great recognition for the show being nominated for a Hugo that too against three Doctor Who episodes, one of which was written by Neil Gaiman who won the award. He also gave a shout out to the Community creators.
Considering he didn't even respect the show and the sitcom medium he was working for, I am glad he is leaving.
Once his character is written off mid season, hopefully the dynamic of the group can still retain its charm and balance.
That sucks. I'm sorry, but he was one of the funniest members of the show. I'm really angry about it.
But, at the same time, Chevy kind of seems like a total ass hat so maybe its for the better.
Kind of an aside, but for you Dan Harmon fans:
Dan Harmon, Community - XOXO Festival (2012) - YouTube
I find it hilarious that Chase left and basically said that sitcoms are the lowest form of comedy...yet he is in a an Old Navy commercial doing a parody of Christmas Vacation.
I'm thrilled Chase has left and am looking forward to the shows' return. As the second season rolled along, I just didnt see what Chase's character brought to the show. I felt like they were giving him more screen time becasue he's chevy chase. Hated it. And since, I've read allot of stuff about Chase that made me think he's not the most pleasant people. if he's supposed to be so good, why hasn't he been in anything for years? After his rants at the end of last season there was a great article I read about his fueds with a ton of people in hollywood.
Good ridance.
They probably gave him more time to shut him up and get thru the season before letting him quit lol.
I recently worked on the fourth season of Community (before Chevy's exit) in a small walk-on role, and by all accounts the production was running more smoothly than it had in a while, though I doubt this season will take the same sort of narrative risks that it reached for under Harmon's run. I laughed a lot on set and many of the elements that always made the show great were on full display (like the same freakishly talented cast members, the same dedicated crew, several writers, even the same directors of many of my favorite episodes from the run of the series) --it's just that these elements now exist without the original guiding hand that pushed them to the daring highs and lows that shaped way we as viewers see the show.
I do think that the fourth season will be quite enjoyable and quite funny simply because those elements are still in place, even though it can't be like it was when Harmon ran the nuthouse. Dan Harmon is what made Community work in the fiercely original way it worked, and though the show can still work now that the world has already been built and given a life of its own, it certainly won't work the same way. I'm happy that I'll still get to spend more time with these characters as a viewer and I'm glad that the show continuing means that these people I respect and care about are still employed, but I'm still spending these last few months before it comes back mourning the loss of the dynamic that brought it into being and would have protected its essence to whatever end.
Anyway, I'm concerned about some of the expressed excitement I've seen regarding Chevy's recent departure from the series. Regardless of opinions on the actor's conduct and whether he was necessary for the show to function, THE CHARACTER he played certainly was integral to the piece. Pierce was an important narrative tool, as he was a charged entity that fostered dramatic momentum and conflict of character motivations even without external prompting. Without Pierce, the dynamic of the study group would simply be of people who all like each other pretty well and occasionally hook up. There's nothing wrong with that, but Community isn't How I Met Your Mother. Pierce was one of the elements that allowed Community to be a faster moving and higher stakes and flat out fascinating creature of a show.
I suppose it just seems too easy to say "I don't like the kind of person that character is; I'd rather just watch the show with all the fun adventures and situations and all other the clever characters, good riddance" without realizing that the unlikeable character is what often makes the other great stuff possible. Pierce may not be likeable as a human, but he's likeable and handy as a narrative tool. Not to mention responsible for some of the funniest moments in the show.
I'm worried to see Pierce go. Chevy's made clear how he feels about working the show, so I wish him well and hope he finds what he desires somewhere else. But did Pierce have to vanish with him? I sort of dream of someone like Martin Sheen coming in and continuing the role, perhaps with Abed commenting on his change of appearance. Meh.
Anyway to connect this back to props and something I'm currently excited about, if that's permissable in the subforum, here's a crosspost about a prop from the end of season 2:
Lunaman said:
I haven't got it yet, but I hope to be able to pick up a WinGun 702 Airsoft revolver for Christmas, as seen in the "A Fist Full of Paintballs" episode of Community.
Annie and the other women primarily use the 4 inch model during the episode, while Jeff, the Black Rider, and the other men primarily use the 6 inch model, though the continuity of which gun is used by who and when is not terribly consistent throughout.
This is one of my favorite episodes of one of my favorite TV shows, so I was ecstatic to learn that the guns were real and commercially available. Throw in some Hellfire Mini Paintballs and it's possible to reenact some of the coolest moments in Greendale History.
That's pretty cool that you are going to be on the show. Were you an extra? More details about the set atmosphere if you can.Lunaman said:
And really? I can actually see that happening since this is Community were talking about. The show is amazing and if Pierce is there as a different actor or not there at all, I still think it will be amazing.
Thanks for sharing that Lunaman, it's cool to know that you got to work on the set for this fourth season. I am still optimistic about the new season.
As for Pierce, he is indeed a integral part of the group and his lines are often hilarious. Due to Pierce's age and background he was a real outsider amongst the group and I totally agree that his character is vital to the group dynamic. Since Chevy left production much after filming several episodes, we are still going to get lot of early episodes with Pierce in it. Hopefully the character's departure will be very organic. It will be sad to see the character go, but I won't feel the same about the actor making the exit as he chose to do it on his own terms and apparently for the wrong reasons.
Somebody else playing Pierce? I don't know if that will work, but I am open to that idea if they come up with a convincing way to establish why his character looks different with Abed being meta about it.
I think if they do it right they could pull it off but most of the older actors with good comedy timing are gone.Vivek said:
Thanks for sharing that Lunaman, it's cool to know that you got to work on the set for this fourth season. I am still optimistic about the new season.
As for Pierce, he is indeed a integral part of the group and his lines are often hilarious. Due to Pierce's age and background he was a real outsider amongst the group and I totally agree that his character is vital to the group dynamic. Since Chevy left production much after filming several episodes, we are still going to get lot of early episodes with Pierce in it. Hopefully the character's departure will be very organic. It will be sad to see the character go, but I won't feel the same about the actor making the exit as he chose to do it on his own terms and apparently for the wrong reasons.
Somebody else playing Pierce? I don't know if that will work, but I am open to that idea if they come up with a convincing way to establish why his character looks different with Abed being meta about it
I love those commercials, that was a risky in-joke, but answered my question of why there was always differnt kids.Sharpshooter55 said:
Thanks! Yea, I was a background performer, supposedly a student at Greendale.HeyMcFly88 said:
We have a non-disclosure clause in our contract so I can't say too much about what was happening the week I worked there, but it was definitely the most fun working environment I've had on a TV set. Community's pretty complicated to make and the days are very long because they shoot every episode like its own little feature film, instead of using the cinιma vιritι documentary style camerawork on that's popular on shows like The Office and Parks and Rec or the multicamera sitcom camerawork like The Big Bang Theory or How I Met your Mother, etc. If there's any hiccups during production it can ripple throughout the week so that you end up having 16 or 20 hour days that have to get out at 4 am---it can easily become messy and often has in the past. But the crew seemed to indicate that things went very smoothly for the most part, and the week I was there we didn't get more than an hour behind schedule.
Everybody had a great time.
Perhaps, yea. There could be a James Bond/007 type thing going there. Maybe even a spy-movie episode!HeyMcFly88 said:
You're welcome! Me too.Vivek said:
Well said!Vivek said:
As for Pierce, he is indeed a integral part of the group and his lines are often hilarious. Due to Pierce's age and background he was a real outsider amongst the group and I totally agree that his character is vital to the group dynamic. Since Chevy left production much after filming several episodes, we are still going to get lot of early episodes with Pierce in it. Hopefully the character's departure will be very organic. It will be sad to see the character go, but I won't feel the same about the actor making the exit as he chose to do it on his own terms and apparently for the wrong reasons.
Somebody else playing Pierce? I don't know if that will work, but I am open to that idea if they come up with a convincing way to establish why his character looks different with Abed being meta about it
Awesome! A little bittersweet, though, knowing there's a Christmas episode that we won't be able to see until its well out of season. We could have been watching it right now!Vivek said:
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