NBC States "It Didn't Make Sense" to Renew Community for Sixth Season

[Esmeralda Portillo]

NBC States "It Didn't Make Sense" to Renew Community for Sixth Season

"It didn't just make sense for us to have another season of it at that level of audience," says NBC chairman.

Fans are elated that Community's "six seasons and a movie" goal is that much closer to fulfillment after Yahoo confirmed they were renewing the TV show for a sixth season [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135789-BREAKING-Community-Will-Return-For-Sixth-Season]. This was of course after fans were distraught that NBC canceled the show.

Community's history on NBC has been a bit rocky. At first there were creative differences between the show creator Dan Harmon and actor Chevy Chase, which was then followed by Chase's departure. Harmon also left the show and season four was delayed. There was uneasiness for sometime if NBC would even be renewing Community for season five. Conclusively, given the ratings NBC witnessed for the latest season, the company felt it wasn't a right business move to continue the show on their network.

NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt provides a bit more insight on that decision, "That sixth season thing was created by them [the fans]--I'm surprised they didn't say '10 seasons and a movie.'" He goes on to say, "And [the mantra started] before my time [at NBC]. It didn't just make sense for us to have another season of it at that level of audience."

He also doesn't seem to have high hopes for the show's success on Yahoo! Screen, "I don't know if we'll ever know how many will watch it on on Yahoo, I guess we will, I'm curious if they'll have a bigger audience with it than we did."

Here's some Community trivia: The "six seasons and a movie" mantra began as a joke within the show, where Jeff teases Abed for liking the superhero TV series The Cape. After Abed knocks Jeff's food off the table with his elaborate cape moves, Jeff screams at him the show won't last more than three weeks. Abed boldly replies, "Six seasons and a movie!" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXqLCM0d0Os] and disappears into the darkness (of the hallways). The Cape only lasted about 8 weeks.

Source: ScreenRant [http://screenrant.com/community-season-6-movie-nbc-cancellation/]

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[Random Argument Man]

"Harmon also left the show and season four was delayed."

He was kicked out.

EDIT: I'm more happy that NBC hasn't a role in this anymore. For the last 3 seasons, they've played a role into making this hard for everybody. They wanted to cancel since season halfway in season 3. Season 4 was a mess since they've kicked out Dan Harmon and production was a nightmare. Season 5 came back with Dan Harmon, but Donald Glover left. However, they did manage to salvage it.

I'm happy that we're getting our six seasons and a movie. There's always those "it was getting stale" posts coming around. I still think it's good. It just changed its style.

Why the hell can't I use the quote button anymore?

EDIT: Still can't use the quote button. It's when the power is taken from you that you most need it.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I don't know, Random Argument Man; I have the same problem. Anyways, I don't know why people are getting so upset with NBC about this; the show steadily declined in quality after the first two seasons, and it never had a massive audience to begin with. There was no financial or artistic obligation to make another season.

 

[Scarim Coral]

There still loved for the show after season 2? Sure I can see how it can still continue since they are just redoing their community years all over again but still they can wrap it as a timeskipped.

 

[Trishbot]

I barely even remember The Cape existed...

Though I am sitting here, scratching my head, going "okay, we had companies like Netflix and Yahoo swoop in and save series like Arrested Development and Community... where the heck were you guys when Firefly needed saving?"

 

[Albino Boo]

I watched the first 4 seasons and to be honest, the premise was running out of steam after the first one. Same old American clap trap everyone has to be a better person. It would have been better if if Jeff had remained ruthlessly manipulative, there is far more comic mileage from his schemes going wrong, than for him to become nicer because he has resolved his daddy issues. Senor Chang should have remained unreasoningly hostile and been the main opponent.

 

[Covarr]

NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt provides a bit more insight on that decision, "That sixth season thing was created by them [the fans]--I'm surprised they didn't say '10 seasons and a movie.'"

He wouldn't be saying this if he actually understood the joke. At the time, Sex and the City had six seasons and a movie--and nobody really expected a second movie.

And that's what this always boiled down to. The show relies heavily on in-jokes, but NBC has not been great about reruns, about giving new viewers a chance to catch up. It's also got a ton of nerd appeal, but nerds are more likely to pirate than most other groups; they've got the know-how.

Personally, I think this is going to be one of those shows that does much better on DVD and Blu-Ray than it ever did on TV. Twenty years from now, it'll have one of those fancy collector's box sets, and be one of the more fondly remembered of its time period.

P.S. Thanks

 

[sirjeffofshort]

I honestly can't blame NBC for this and their reasoning makes total sense to me. Sure the show has some avid fans, but their job is to fill their time slots with shows that bring in viewers for their advertisers. Sad and cynical as it sounds, they have no obligations to fans or even really to make something good. It's always nice when quality goes hand in hand with viewership, but sadly this isn't one of those instances.

I think everyone involved (viewers included) are much better off the way things ended up going. The internet is the proper place for a show like Community.

 

[klaynexas3]

I can see why they didn't want to do it. Season 4 was pretty bad, and season 5 was only kind of good. I'd be fine if they ended the series as is, and while I will watch season 6, I have little hope that it will be anything close to the first 3 seasons. I'd like for it to come back, but again, very low expectations.

 

[Zontar]

It's all about the money, and put simply the writing was on the wall for some time.

To be honest I'm ok with this on all levels. For the pragmatic, business side, there was just no way to justify keeping it on the air given viewership. On the artistic side, there was no reason to continue it because it had burnt its good fire and was ashes now (what, not all of us want to use shark-jumping as a metaphor)

 

[nightmare_gorilla]

if this show was even half as good as people say or got any ratings worth mentioning why has it been through a couple different networks and canned so many times? I get it that it's an internet darling and everyone is supposed to love how quirky it is but come on. don't you think if it was actually good it would have just stayed on tv?