I don’t think I’ll be watching the next season.
Most idiotic bit of network interference since CBS renewed Bob.
The show’s top writer, Chris McKenna, tweeted last night that he’ll be leaving the show now that Harmon is gone. Also, Harmon’s 2 chief “lieutenants” (as Sepinwall calls them) have already left to work on a new show at Fox.
And with Harmon spending his days masturbating and playing Prototype 2 (and why wouldn’t he?) there won’t be much left there to keep any kind of consistency in the transition.
Something from the Sepinwall story this morning that I found interesting:
" “Community” is the only sitcom I’m aware of where every episode’s story was modeled on Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey”… "
I’d never thought of it that way before, but it seems pretty accurate when you think about it.
…yeah: I’m out.
Damnit, why even bring it back?
It’s kind of refreshing when somebody doesn’t play the “but it’s all good and it was a mutual decision” cards on things like this, though (because of his talent) I hope it doesn’t hurt his career.
Giancarlo seems to have aged a lot since he got blown up. But, I suppose one would.
Joel McHale in tight Goth clothes… damn.
I like Ken Jeong, but I fault Chang for some of this show’s low success. He just doesn’t work as a regular character.
Lots of DUNE references, it seemed to me at least, partly with Troy and the AC school (the Freon Fremen?) and in Jeff’s fight with Chang. I was surprised John Goodman’s character really was dead- I expected it to be a fake, but backlit postmortem Jedi visitations don’t lie.
I liked the video game episode. I don’t have a lot of gaming experience - mainly Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda from the original NES - but I guess it was enough for me to get a lot of the references. Although it seemed like this episode was meant to have happened earlier, because Troy and Abed are seen entering the study room at the end, even though by that point they had been expelled.
While the next 2 episodes were good, it seemed like the arcs were finished in a big rush. The air conditioning annex seemed to have quite a buildup from the beginning, and it ended up with Troy joining them for half an episode and then the department becomes normal. And Evil Abed was defeated fairly quickly too. But all in all, a good 3 episodes. I also got the feeling that the final one was meant to act as a series finale, but I’m glad it isn’t.
That? NEEDS TO HAPPEN!
What cracked me up about the video game episode was the way each character interacted with the game. Right off the bat Hawthorn didn’t know how to move the player, so he was just running into a wall. Jeff was overly aggressive and ran at thing. And then Abed spending time going through each and every drop down menu methodically. Asking the same question over and over until something changed. “Let’s hang back and learn their tactics.”
“She wants me to meet her father”
“My father is the blacksmith”
Reminded me of a really old video game called Leisure Suit Larry and the Land of the Lounge Lizards.
So much of this show is a weird character study or out 7 people interact in different scenarios. It started with the 7 randoms attending a community college. But then through 3 seasons kept plopping them into other scenarios like a massive paintball game.
And this is why you don’t play your employees’ drunken phone messages for public laughs. (I have no idea if they’re connected but when talking about Harmon I’m sure it made it easier for Sony being able to add “and he’s quite the asshole” to the end of each sentence.
Too bad. I’ll certainly give the show a shot but it does not bode well.
If she has a guest spot, her name should be Hilda.
I’ve read a lot about Dan Harmon’s personal problems – he’s probably a functioning alcoholic – and frankly, I’m not surprised to see him essentially fired. You have to be an extra-special-super-genius for your bosses to put up with assholish behavior on a consistent basis, and while he’s good, he ain’t that good.
McHale is not usually my type, but I have a sick weakness for the sarcastic Winger character. Dress him up in leather pants and eyeliner, and I was a goner.
I agree about Chang. I’m so sick of Chang at this point, yet I loved his occasional appearances in early seasons.
Link?
Although I too am sick of Chang (he’s better in small doses), I got a chuckle out of “Benjamin Franklin Chang.” 
Harmon apparently chewed Chase out in front of his family and a drunken Chase left a voice mail message, which Harmon leaked to the internet.
Dan Harmon discussing his alcohol consumption with the Onion A.V. Club:
Find out what vodka he drinks and send all of our showrunners a case, if it will get the same results.
Or have a hit, in which case you could kick war orphans and the nuns who feed them on live TV while strung out on heroin, PCP, ecstacy, and two drugs still in beta testing and the producers will claim it’s a misunderstanding and all’s well. Unfortunately, Harmon didn’t do that either.
Interesting little part about the finale, Jeff’s final speech was basically the opposite of his first little speech:
1x01 Pilot
Professor Duncan: I’m asking you if you know the difference between right and wrong.
Jeff Winger: I discovered at a very early age that if I talked long enough I could make anything right or wrong. So either I’m god, or truth is relative. And either case booyah.
…
Professor Duncan: The average person has a much harder time saying ’booyah’ to moral relativism.
3x22 Introduction to Finality
Jeff Winger: I mean, guys like me, we’ll tell you there’s no right or wrong—there’s no real truths. And as long as we all believe that, guys like me can never lose. Because the truth is, I’m lying when I say there is no truth. The truth is—the pathetically, stupidly, inconveniently, obvious truth is, helping only ourselves is bad and helping each other is good.
…
Pierce Hawthorne: Booyah, good person!