Community

Cymelion

You all have no idea how long I've known about this. If you did you would hate me.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/john-oliver-is-finally-coming-back-to-community,102776/ Also, despite the lack of a return date (we're assuming October 19th) spirits are still high on set and everyone's having a fun time. It's been freaking grueling though.

So what you're saying is we should all do tons of speculation about Community just so we can compound it because if we get something right you'll read it and go …. "Hhhhhhnnnnnnngggggg"

piratemarimo

this is the best news I've heard all day, especially because the worst news I've heard all day is that they're auctioning off the Psych set. :sad: I was sad at the idea that we'd never get to see John come back for more episodes. I'm biased, but he's top tier on my list of favorite minor characters. more bad rapping would be awesome.

Takaho

Is this…optimism I feel?

Kitsune Inferno

http://www.avclub.com/articles/levar-burton-is-also-coming-back-to-community,102997/

Best season ever.

Nex 0

.

Nex 0

What it is Like to Work for Dan Harmon

The stories are true. The man is insane. He's a workaholic; he's a perfectionist. It can be a overbearing. However, he's incredibly nice. When he's frustrated or annoyed, he doesn't blow up at you in front of everyone. He makes calm suggestions. Even in private he never really yells at you. On set he is the consummate professional. Off set is when you have to worry about him. But you all already know all about it.
He is pretty set in what he wants to do, but he is always taking suggestions, and if you say something he likes, well, you're pretty much set.
That happened to me like 10 minutes ago. I'm working Key Grip on the episode currently in production, which means a lot of things, but mainly that if there's a tracking shot, I'm responsible for the dolly. Today he and Director X, weren't entirely sure how to shoot the scene, so they asked me what I thought, and they liked what I said enough to go with it! And now Dan Harmon knows my name! It only took him a month!

Joel high-fived me on the accomplishment.

Also, the cast as you can imagine is awesome.

Anyway lunch 1 is over, and we have about another 12 hours of shooting today. (We started at 6.) Back to the grind!

herr_sebbe

@Kitsune:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/levar-burton-is-also-coming-back-to-community,102997/

Best season ever.

Can I one-up that?

OnePark

@Nex:

What it is Like to Work for Dan Harmon

The stories are true. The man is insane. He's a workaholic; he's a perfectionist. It can be a overbearing. However, he's incredibly nice. When he's frustrated or annoyed, he doesn't blow up at you in front of everyone. He makes calm suggestions. Even in private he never really yells at you. On set he is the consummate professional. Off set is when you have to worry about him. But you all already know all about it.
He is pretty set in what he wants to do, but he is always taking suggestions, and if you say something he likes, well, you're pretty much set.
That happened to me like 10 minutes ago. I'm working Key Grip on the episode currently in production, which means a lot of things, but mainly that if there's a tracking shot, I'm responsible for the dolly. Today he and Director X, weren't entirely sure how to shoot the scene, so they asked me what I thought, and they liked what I said enough to go with it! And now Dan Harmon knows me name! It only took him a month!

Joel high-fived me on the accomplishment.

Also, the cast as you can imagine is awesome.

Anyway lunch 1 is over, and we have about another 12 hours of shooting today. (We started at 6.) Back to the grind!

Awesome! I'm glad God knows your name. You should go to Harmontown and see if you get brought up on stage or something.

Nex 0

http://tvline.com/2013/10/03/nathan-fillion-community-season-5-nbc/ All my dreams are coming true you guys. (And all my patience is being tested waiting for news to officially break.) The only way this could be any better is if I got to work with Bryan Cranston. (Hint. Hint. Except not really. If that ever happens I will probably really die from happiness.)

Huschel

Yay. It was about time that finally worked out. Can't wait to see Fillion on the show.

LUFFY1fan

@Nex:

http://tvline.com/2013/10/03/nathan-fillion-community-season-5-nbc/ All my dreams are coming true you guys. (And all my patience is being tested waiting for news to officially break.) The only way this could be any better is if I got to work with Bryan Cranston. (Hint. Hint. Except not really. If that ever happens I will probably really die from happiness.)

What job do you have for Community? Just a camera person?

Nex 0

@LUFFY#1:

What job do you have for Community? Just a camera person?

I'm a grip/lighting technician for Sony. On Community though I've gotten to Key Grip a few times, which essentially means I run the dolly.
Basically I'm always sweating. But it's nice because I get shorter hours than some of the other crew members.

Kitsune Inferno

If Welcome to the Family gets pulled soon, is Community maybe ready to fill the slot by November I wonder?

tatermoog

After Harmon's bitching out of Ganz on Twitter today, I don't think I'm going to bother watching Season Five. I just don't think I can give it a fair shake with as much as I dislike the man–or at least, his public persona--and I had trouble dredging up the interest to finish Season Four after my distaste for Three.

Upside, this thread will be much less of a pain to read now!

Nex 0

Watch it for me, tatermoog.

However, I'm not sure what yo're talking about. He bitched at people on Reddit today, and Ganz responded to it on twitter, but as far as I know it didn't go much farther than that. He's kind of upset she's not around anymore, but they're still on good terms.

TLC

http://www.pajiba.com/trade_news/community-writer-megan-ganz-tweets-the-perfect-response-to-dan-harmons-rape-analogy.php

All I have to ask is…why a beach?

tatermoog

Short version: after Harmon initially took the high road about trashing Season Four since people he respected worked on it, it seems like it was short-lived. Besides the thing TLC posted above, he recently got on Reddit and trashed it again when some people suggested–and I somewhat agree with this--that the problems with S4 were in part a product of S3: http://www.hollywood.com/news/tv/55036801/dan-harmon-community-season-four-reddit

Ganz responded–reasonably--with "Anything you have to say about season 4 could be accomplished by writing a really great season 5. Then fans will do your bashing for you."

Anyways, Harmon tossed off a few condescending responses to her mixed with a little of his usual demagoguery, and it might be tongue-in-cheek for all I know, but it's just obnoxious to me now. I mean, he's pretty much trashed Ganz's work--fair or not--in defense of S3, where most fans (not me!) agree that the best and central episode was the one she wrote.

Harmon may be a genius--most accounts are that he is--and I'm sure there are a lot of assholes in the business, but it's difficult to pay any attention to Community as a show without getting all this other stuff in the background, and I'm not good at separating it mentally. It's my problem, not the show's, really.

TLC

I personally haven't liked Community past season one but that's just me. Harmon should keep that arrogance of his in check though because even under his hand the show isn't the flawless, perfect comedy gold he thinks it is.

DarthAsthma

I still get a bit of culture shock going in this thread seeing how many seem to have disliked season 3, when all the people I know in rl(including me) love that season. So many really memorable episodes.

But nevermind before this devolves into a silly argument about what's the best season ala similarly futile arguments of the likes "what's the best Final Fantasy"(I love all 3 seasons).

I haven't rewatched Community in quite a while. I can't even say if I'm excitingly anticipating season 5 now but in general it seems like I fell a bit out of love with the show after season 4(for whatever reasons).

I don't know what to think about all the drama surrounding dan harmon. Having watched quite a few videos of him speaking publicly I never got the "him being an awful human being" vibe. There also have been incidents where people got riled up about things he said that were taken totally out of context(pretty much a lot of stuff taken from harmontown). But I also can't deny that there also have been a lot of poorly thought through comments coming from him.
Given that I don't know the guy I've always felt unsafe making a judgement call beyond "poor public display", without knowing the nuance/context of some of the inappropriate stuff he said. Which I feel has importance judging by the sheer fact that community itself is a show with nuance.

I remember being chastised a lot last season(not necessarily on this board don't remember), for being part of the group that wasn't in love with season 4(I watched the whole season thus in my opinion giving in a pretty fair chance) only because my preconceptions were colored by the knowledge of Harmon departing(which I never felt was true). It's kind of ironic to see people now letting their preconception being colored by his somewhat usual behavior/return to the extent of already giving up on season 5.

In any case I'll be there given that the show has done a lot for me and in my book no matter how S5 will turn out, I always have S1-3 which in my opinion has a fine ending.

tatermoog

Oh, you're not in the minority at all, DarthAsthma. Pretty much all of the people I know who watch Community loved S3. I tend to learn to love shows for very particular reasons, and S3 pulled away from them, in my eyes. S4 tried to get back to them a little, but even I have to admit the execution was frequently lacking, though I think I enjoyed the Sophie B. Hawkins Dance more than any episode in S3.

Most of my pulling away from the show was just because I didn't like the show as much, and when it hit Blankets and Pillows–which most people loved and I hated--I had a hard time getting back into it. Add in my growing distaste for Harmon, and it's just time to check it off the list. We'll see if I stick with it, though; I'm wildly erratic.

Kitsune Inferno

I didn't enjoy Season 3's back half nearly as much as the first ten episodes of that season. Or rather, the stretch from Remedial Chaos Theory to Regional Holiday Music. I feel like that was Community at its best. The following twelve? Before season 4, it was pretty much a low for me.

Season 4 had a lot of good episodes, a few decent, and as many clunkers. I'm not sure how I feel about the season now knowing Harmon's back, but we shall see when season 5 happens hopefully once Welcome to the Family gets canceled.

Nex 0

Season 3 is still my favorite throughout. Especially the back half. Everything post the impression episode is solid gold. The the clip show is my favorite episode of the series.

Also, I'm a sucker for serialization, so Community's light attempt at it really won me over.
Season 2 is a close second, quality wise.
And Season 1 isn't too far behind.

Season 4, outside of 3 episodes, can go eff itself.

Also, even though I'm not allowed to discuss anything about the season, I can say this: the atmosphere on set is amazing. Just from talking to the crew that's been around for a few years and the cast, there's a much happier vibe with Harmon around, despite how demanding he is. The affection the cast, especially Joel, have for him is obvious.
It's just not possible to have a bad day on this set. It is a vast improvement over Days of Our Lives, which I worked on over summer, and was a rather dull and unexciting set.

How that will translate to the quality of the season I'll leave up to you.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

And if my words about the set aren't enough of an indicator, how about this now official news:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/brie-larson-robert-patrick-a-bunch-of-other-people,104100/ My number of autographs are sky rocketing. I haven't got to meet any of them yet, I just knew they were coming back. But we're slated to start production on Brie Larson's return very soon. But seriously. Paget Brewster, Robert Patrick, and Nen friggin' Folds?

Guys. Trust me. You're gonna wanna watch this season.

Kitsune Inferno

Brie Larson's back.

Everyone go home. The universe is right with itself.

andre

@tatermoog:

Short version: after Harmon initially took the high road about trashing Season Four since people he respected worked on it, it seems like it was short-lived. Besides the thing TLC posted above, he recently got on Reddit and trashed it again when some people suggested–and I somewhat agree with this--that the problems with S4 were in part a product of S3: http://www.hollywood.com/news/tv/55036801/dan-harmon-community-season-four-reddit

Ganz responded–reasonably--with "Anything you have to say about season 4 could be accomplished by writing a really great season 5. Then fans will do your bashing for you."

Anyways, Harmon tossed off a few condescending responses to her mixed with a little of his usual demagoguery, and it might be tongue-in-cheek for all I know, but it's just obnoxious to me now. I mean, he's pretty much trashed Ganz's work--fair or not--in defense of S3, where most fans (not me!) agree that the best and central episode was the one she wrote.

Harmon may be a genius--most accounts are that he is--and I'm sure there are a lot of assholes in the business, but it's difficult to pay any attention to Community as a show without getting all this other stuff in the background, and I'm not good at separating it mentally. It's my problem, not the show's, really.

She wrote Remedial Chaos Theory?

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Nex:

Season 3 is still my favorite throughout. Especially the back half. Everything post the impression episode is solid gold. The the clip show is my favorite episode of the series.

Also, I'm a sucker for serialization, so Community's light attempt at it really won me over.
Season 2 is a close second, quality wise.
And Season 1 isn't too far behind.

Season 4, outside of 3 episodes, can go eff itself.

Also, even though I'm not allowed to discuss anything about the season, I can say this: the atmosphere on set is amazing. Just from talking to the crew that's been around for a few years and the cast, there's a much happier vibe with Harmon around, despite how demanding he is. The affection the cast, especially Joel, have for him is obvious.
It's just not possible to have a bad day on this set. It is a vast improvement over Days of Our Lives, which I worked on over summer, and was a rather dull and unexciting set.

How that will translate to the quality of the season I'll leave up to you.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

And if my words about the set aren't enough of an indicator, how about this now official news:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/brie-larson-robert-patrick-a-bunch-of-other-people,104100/ My number of autographs are sky rocketing. I haven't got to meet any of them yet, I just knew they were coming back. But we're slated to start production on Brie Larson's return very soon. But seriously. Paget Brewster, Robert Patrick, and Nen friggin' Folds?

Guys. Trust me. You're gonna wanna watch this season.

What exactly do you do? I remember when you posted that you got a job, but I don't remember what. (whatever would be effing amazing)

Nex 0

@andre:

What exactly do you do? I remember when you posted that you got a job, but I don't remember what. (whatever would be effing amazing)

I do a lot of lighting work. A lot. Various other grip duties as well. I had to hold a boom once.
The best part is, in my contract with Sony (whom I technically work for which is how I scored an invite to the Breaking Bad finale party) I am officially enlisted as a Key Grip as well as Lighting Technician, so, on the rare occasions that Community uses a dolly, which isn't that often, I run the dolly, which means I am responsible for camera stillness during a tracking shot. But that's not what I meant when I said it was the best part, no, what I meant by that is that being listed as a Key Grip means I get to work with the director and cinematographer (though lighting already has me working with him) when working out a shot. And that's invaluable experience for me, as I'm trying to better learnt he craft.

Long story short: I do lights and dollies and stuff.

project1980

@Kitsune:

Brie Larson's back.

Everyone go home. The universe is right with itself.

andre

@Nex:

I do a lot of lighting work. A lot. Various other grip duties as well. I had to hold a boom once.
The best part is, in my contract with Sony (whom I technically work for which is how I scored an invite to the Breaking Bad finale party) I am officially enlisted as a Key Grip as well as Lighting Technician, so, on the rare occasions that Community uses a dolly, which isn't that often, I run the dolly, which means I am responsible for camera stillness during a tracking shot. But that's not what I meant when I said it was the best part, no, what I meant by that is that being listed as a Key Grip means I get to work with the director and cinematographer (though lighting already has me working with him) when working out a shot. And that's invaluable experience for me, as I'm trying to better learnt he craft.

Long story short: I do lights and dollies and stuff.

That is cool. I'd usually be content just writing that, but I wnat you know that I honestly think it. Getting to peak inside Dan Harmon's head is like a freaking dream.

Silver R. Bolt

I'm behind in the thread, but I want to throw out some random responses.

First off, I still can't help but picture tatermoog as his avatar at a computer. Its the little things in life.

Next, Bre Larson coming back is great. She's my personal favorite Abed love interest and happy that she wasn't an one off. She's pretty popular with the fan base and might help ease the pain of losing Troy. All the guest star sound awesome.

Speakin on the Megan Ganz thing;

I've personally got insulted by Dan Harmon's assistant on Reddit because I responded to someone who said that Sony brought Dan Harmon because he makes good television. I disagreed, I feel like the impression I got from Dan Harmon himself was that they don't care the quality of writing as long as the show does well; which Community doesn't perform overly well as it stands and on tv. He just kind said what I was was irrelevant and he's glad I can convince myself of it. I'm not a fan of this "Dan Harmon is living god" mentality that r/Community has.

And honestly Season 4 I find just as enjoyable as Season 3. And I think a lot of the elements people complained about Season 4 is present in Season 3 just there's a lot of rose tinted glasses for it. And while most of the episodes range from okay to great; there's a few really bad ones…. The finale, the origins episode, the god awful Muppet episode. I still think Season 4 has some of the stongest episode in the last 2 years; Susan B Anthony Dance and Freaky Friday.

But while I do think both Dan and Megan are in the wrong, going on Twitter and publicly fighting or tongue in cheeking bantering. Its kind of sad to see what looked like a good friends ruin their relationship over pettiness. And that Dan should understand the pressures writing not only his tv show without him, but writing a god damn tv show can have. I mean, I can't imagine the weight it had been on the writers when going in Season 4 with how infused Dan was to the show and its fan base.

Kitsune Inferno

Chris McKenna wrote RCT, not Megan Ganz.

I don't know how "ruined" their relationship is, honestly. I'm sure they're used to this stuff with him by now, but meh.

Good news is Welcome to the Family will almost certainly be canceled like right now. Community, here we come?

tatermoog

@Kitsune:

Chris McKenna wrote RCT, not Megan Ganz.

Aaaand taterfail.

The Brie Larson news is interesting (and good!) because it's the first sign that an optional storyline that was started in S4 might actually get added to S5.

Kitsune Inferno

I love the internet is acting like it's not a matter of IF Community is replacing WTTF, but WHEN. I personally think we'll find out a couple hours after finals. (ESPECIALLY if WTTF adjusts down)

Gizmo

So I browse the av club frequently and noticed this:
An article that has Donald Glover explaining why he left Community this year.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/donald-glover-shared-a-bunch-of-really-personal-no,104227/

tatermoog

I'm legitimately a little worried about Donald Glover. His Twitter account over the last few years has been preeeeetty erratic.

Kaiolino

Community is returning January 2 in its familiar timeslot.

Kitsune Inferno

Woot, woot. This early of a premiere might mean an order extension too.

OnePark

Dan did mention they have the option for 2 more, that may have just been pre-premiere talk since Sony could order two more. Hopefully we get some more, but I figure another season would be easier to get versus more episodes this season.

Nex 0

Ever since we got the notification we've been in overdrive on set.

I'm probably gonna have to disappear for a while. Between work and my wedding next Saturday I am not going to have time to really be online much.

Cheerio.

Conekiller

Whoah hey! Congrats Nex!

tatermoog

@Nex:

Ever since we got the notification we've been in overdrive on set.

I'm probably gonna have to disappear for a while. Between work and my wedding next Saturday I am not going to have time to really be online much.

Cheerio.

At last, Hot Goth Britta is mine and mine alone!

Seriously, though, congrats my friend!

Kitsune Inferno

@tatermoog:

At last, Hot Goth Britta is mine and mine alone!

Seriously, though, congrats my friend!

A new challenger approaches!

Congrats, Nex! Enjoy the married life.

DarthAsthma

Congrats! Enjoy your special day.

OnePark

And with that Dan Harmon reveals it's next to impossible for extra episodes. Had they premiered November 1st (apparently the last possible day) they could've easily extended production but it seems season five production is going to wrap before it premieres so it's not looking good.

bepo

@tatermoog:

At last, Hot Goth Britta is mine and mine alone!

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3d3zeVQKj1r4kxexo1_500.jpg

Seriously, though, congrats my friend!

i am dissapointed i liked it when she whore those costume were here body wasn`t accenturated

Silver R. Bolt

@bepo:

i am dissapointed i liked it when she whore those costume were here body wasn`t accenturated

Its not like she was in disguised as a magician assistants which are typically serialized and attractive to distract viewers from seeing the illusions. I mean not at all.

Nex 0

Hello Mr. Gilligan, so lovely to see you again. Oh, what's that, you remember my name from the five minute conversation we had a month ago? Well excuse me while I go fangirl in the corner. (But seriously, he's like the bestest guy ever. Having him and Harmon in the same room should have been too much awesome for the universe to handle.)

http://www.avclub.com/articles/community-casts-breaking-bads-vince-gilligan-in-co,105123/ In other news, I apparently picked the best year to be born, so that I could graduate and get a job at Sony at precisely the right time for me to work with all my idols. This is getting a little ridiculous.

Kbai.

Silver R. Bolt

[http://www.vulture.com/2013/11/david-cross-will-guest-star-on-community.html

L](http://www.vulture.com/2013/11/david-cross-will-guest-star-on-community.html)et's just add David Cross to the mix.

Kitsune Inferno

I was thinking earlier today about this.

Community, the past two years, has returned to (relatively) very strong premiere ratings. It got a 2.2 for the season 3 hiatus (and tied The Office!) and a 1.9 for the season 4 premiere (and brought Parks and Rec to highs!).

Considering that Dan Harmon is actually back and Community's been off the air for nineteen months now (:3), do you think we'll get a big premiere again? If so, I'm willing to bet it tops the S4 premiere at the very least. But the fun thing is that if Community even ties the 2.2 from season 3, it becomes NBC's highest rated comedy telecast of the year.

Gizmo

It depends. How much advertisement has the return been getting, and how much buzz has the show's return been getting? I could see the premiere not doing too strong just because the show's been gone for such a long time that people might have moved on.

Silver R. Bolt

I think NBC has only advertised a few times on their Twitter and Facebook pages for Community. I don't expect any TV commercials. We might see an increase because of bigger named stars, the return of Dan Harmon, and potential new Comedy Central fans.

Kitsune Inferno

Well, it depends I guess on when they start. Advertising in December is not a good idea because nobody watches TV in December. So if they want to get viewers they should probably start airing them this month.

Also in Community's ball court, ratings are abnormally high in the first week of January for some reason. Last season, Whitney and Chicago Fire hit season highs and I think most of CBS surged that week as well.