#sixseasonsandamovie was the cry that went out on Twitter - and for the Eagle-eyed amongst you dotted around the place in various episodes on chalk boards and posters around campus - however, how much life has NBC's Community really got left in it, and will we ever see the Greendale seven finally graduate and move on with their lives and I can with mine? Or is that really the end of the darkest timeline?!
Ever since the first episode of Community I have been hooked. The mixture of pop culture references, crazy (and I mean crazy) characters and self-referential humour was perfectly balanced for me to enjoy the 20 minute offerings each week and still be hungry for more. As the season(s) developed and things got increasingly zany I stuck with it and became something of a super fan! Anything that the show could throw at me I lapped up: paintball, the darkest timeline, pillow forts even a Pulp Fiction tribute things seemed to just be getting better and better. That is until the latest season.
With the departure of creator and showrunner Dan Harmon there was always the worry that the show might lose its way and with him being replaced by David Guarascio and Moses Port (co-creators of Aliens in America) some might have cause to be worried about the future of Community. I stuck with it and was disappointed with the results characters stagnating, re-hashed jokes, the dreaded "Changnesia" farce, puppets and even the writers appearing dismayed with the results (Abed - "Remember when this was a show about a community college") - Though in their defense the "Intro to Knots" episode was a favorite of all time.
After catching the finale last night I was certain that this must be the end of the show that I have passionately followed from day one. With Jeff graduating the study group has ultimately lost the one thing that has been keeping them together this whole time. It was a fitting end, we started with Jeff's struggle to graduate and now we have resolved that problem and he rejoins the world a better man, and with that the final nail in the Community coffin must have been hammered in.
However, after doing a little web browsing I found out that the show has been renewed for a fifth season that is likely to lift the show finally into syndication (it only need 16 more to get to the magic 100th episode) or finally kill it dead. What worries me the most is where on earth the show will head now? It has ultimately lost its driving lead (Jeff) - though more and more recently the show has become more of an ensemble piece you have to worry that the dynamic will have shifted so dramatically that the show will be unrecognizable. Never fear though I've given it a go and thought of a few directions that the writers could look at taking the show (if any of them are reading this I could do with a job and am willing to work for free!!!)
1 - The return of Jeff I - Winger returns to Greendale as a professor of something (maybe law, maybe something more ridiculous) and of course the study group pick his class as an elective praying for an easy ride.
2 - More paintball - Everyone loved them so bring it back first episode of season 5 - double header (like they should be) this time Saving Private Greendale.
3 - Barry Trotter and Astronomy 101 - With the study group now doing astronomy as an elective next semester (season) there might be a chance to go all Harry Potter here (a lose grounding I know, but they've made bigger leaps on the show!)
4 - The return of Jeff II - With City College (or even the air conditioning school on campus) making a legal challenge to the very existence of Greendale Jeff has to return to save the school and the study group that he loves.
5 - Bring back Annie's boobs - Sure the monkey, that's what I meant.
6 - Abed and the "dreamatorium" - Taking Jeff's departure hard Abed tries to use the dreamatorium for the greater good and goes within a dream within a dream to try and get Jeff to return to Greendale - It would be a cheap Inception rip off but god damn it I want back in the dreamatorium!
7 - The other timelines - We've seen a lot of the darkest timeline recently (let's have more of dark Annie please) but what about the other ones? What is happening in them?
8 - The Walking Greendale - I could die a happy man after this! It has to happen once in my life - my two favorite shows having a baby and boy it'd be lovely (I know that a Halloween episode in season two was like this - but it didn't got far enough!)
And that's all I've got at the moment - none really all that well thought out - but it was fun for a moment to play out my very own season 5 in my head.
Just another word about crowdfunding as it's something that I've been looking at a lot recently. The biggest successes on Kickstarter of late should get the Community fan base really, really excited. Vernoica Mars and Zac Braff both of which have huge, passionate followings have gathered huge amounts of funding and support for their films - maybe if NBC can't see it in their hearts to get Community on the silver screen if we all dipped into our pockets a little we really could make #sixseasonsandamovie a reality!
Away from my rambling about Community this guy from PBS Ideas Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsideachannel?feature=watch) has something far more educational about Community if you can be bothered to learn about post modern meta narrative constructs (who said I went to university for nothing!)
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| Community - Big fan! |
With the departure of creator and showrunner Dan Harmon there was always the worry that the show might lose its way and with him being replaced by David Guarascio and Moses Port (co-creators of Aliens in America) some might have cause to be worried about the future of Community. I stuck with it and was disappointed with the results characters stagnating, re-hashed jokes, the dreaded "Changnesia" farce, puppets and even the writers appearing dismayed with the results (Abed - "Remember when this was a show about a community college") - Though in their defense the "Intro to Knots" episode was a favorite of all time.
 |
| What's next for the Greendale 7? |
However, after doing a little web browsing I found out that the show has been renewed for a fifth season that is likely to lift the show finally into syndication (it only need 16 more to get to the magic 100th episode) or finally kill it dead. What worries me the most is where on earth the show will head now? It has ultimately lost its driving lead (Jeff) - though more and more recently the show has become more of an ensemble piece you have to worry that the dynamic will have shifted so dramatically that the show will be unrecognizable. Never fear though I've given it a go and thought of a few directions that the writers could look at taking the show (if any of them are reading this I could do with a job and am willing to work for free!!!)
1 - The return of Jeff I - Winger returns to Greendale as a professor of something (maybe law, maybe something more ridiculous) and of course the study group pick his class as an elective praying for an easy ride.
2 - More paintball - Everyone loved them so bring it back first episode of season 5 - double header (like they should be) this time Saving Private Greendale.
 |
| Paintball - you know you want it back in a big way! |
4 - The return of Jeff II - With City College (or even the air conditioning school on campus) making a legal challenge to the very existence of Greendale Jeff has to return to save the school and the study group that he loves.
5 - Bring back Annie's boobs - Sure the monkey, that's what I meant.
 |
| Bring back Annie's boobs! |
7 - The other timelines - We've seen a lot of the darkest timeline recently (let's have more of dark Annie please) but what about the other ones? What is happening in them?
8 - The Walking Greendale - I could die a happy man after this! It has to happen once in my life - my two favorite shows having a baby and boy it'd be lovely (I know that a Halloween episode in season two was like this - but it didn't got far enough!)
And that's all I've got at the moment - none really all that well thought out - but it was fun for a moment to play out my very own season 5 in my head.
Just another word about crowdfunding as it's something that I've been looking at a lot recently. The biggest successes on Kickstarter of late should get the Community fan base really, really excited. Vernoica Mars and Zac Braff both of which have huge, passionate followings have gathered huge amounts of funding and support for their films - maybe if NBC can't see it in their hearts to get Community on the silver screen if we all dipped into our pockets a little we really could make #sixseasonsandamovie a reality!
Away from my rambling about Community this guy from PBS Ideas Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsideachannel?feature=watch) has something far more educational about Community if you can be bothered to learn about post modern meta narrative constructs (who said I went to university for nothing!)
Peace,
- Ted
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