So, this happened.
Late Friday, Dan Harmon was dropped as showrunner of Community. For a show which is for all practical purposes tied directly to one person’s creative vision, the news portends change, and the quirks that endeared the show to its rabid cult following are in danger of being ironed out in favor of a more conventional sitcom approach. Or not — nobody can say exactly how this will play out. The only thing certain is that it won’t play out with Dan Harmon in charge, or involved at all.
As you’d expect from him, Dan wrote a candid Tumblr post about his departure from the show overnight, so if you want to get his take on the firing, you should go here — as customary from Dan, it’s a good read and, as always, he doesn’t hold back much. And then, come back here and post your thoughts. Will you watch? Will you give the new guys a chance? Can a show that’s the radically singular vision of its creator survive a change at the top? Compare and contrast: Doctor Who and The Simpsons (showrunner changes, long-term survival) vs. The West Wing and NYPD Blue (showrunner changes, not so good). Post your first impressions here. I don’t have to tell you to be civil, do I?
Cheers lost its original creative team after the first year. It went on to be an 11 year long hit. And as sitcom-y and formulaic as it may seem to people these days, it was innovative as hell in it’s time. So, while I hate to see Harmon leave Community, it doesn’t automatically mean that the show is going to suck.
I’ll probably still watch, but it will be with a sad, heavy heart, and expect the quality to diminish ten-fold. Sony and NBC are just full of fools.
Community is by far my favorite show. I will still watch, but I also watch shows like Happy Endings, and Big Bang Theory. I think the show without Dan Harmon will be more like those 2, as a formulaic sitcom that makes me chuckle, but it won’t make me _feel_. Community tugged at my heart strings and made me think. Now it’ll be like hanging out with old friends, but the magic is gone.
I can’t believe they fired Dan Harmon. And the guys replacing him are a joke, ‘Just Shoot Me’, US version of ‘The IT Crowd’ and ‘Aliens in Amerca’… The thing I liked about ‘Community’ is that it was different and well thought out, not a typical sitcom. Sony messed up huge, it’s sad to see how easy it was for them to take it away from Dan.
I feel like they want to dumb down ‘Community’ into becoming a highly rated, unoriginal CBS sitcom like ‘2 and a half men’ or ‘2 Broke Girls’.
And the thing that doesn’t make sense is that they were a season away from syndication, let Dan stay and cash in after that 100 episode mark.