parks and rec is one of the funniest shows on tv and they are putting it on hiatus in favor of a dumb ass betty white show? :x
nbc fucking sucks. community is great. but it's return shouldn't push parks and rec out. this blows.
wowowowowowoowow. What? Really?
bunch of dopes running that network
norm's article said it was going on hiatus until the end of april when that Up All Night show is done. when a show goes on hiatus, it usually means that's the first step towards extinction...i'm assuming
That cannot happen. Cannot. I probably should have read the article but yeah, that better not happen.
can't get into parks and rec...not a fan of those doc-type shows but what i have seen it shouldn't be put on hiatus especially since whitney is still on the air
whitney...i couldn't watch more than 5 minutes of that show. remember that dumb show they had last year about the call center in india?
what are they thinking??
parks and rec should be on ifc or comedy central or hbo etc etc.....network tv is just horrid.
community would be better suited on cable too. they are niche shows that naturally won't get a big audience.
they are niche shows that naturally won't get a big audience.
but they should! that's the problem with this country...fucking morons won't watch intelligent, clever shows and instead will go nuts watching one asshole pick a mate from a group of another 25 assholes!
really thought chevy got his over inflated ego in check...guess not
Community's Chevy Chase and Dan Harmon are supposedly fighting, and Chase threatened to leave the show
by Sean O'Neal April 2, 2012
In case Community’s solid return, the bonhomie created by its cast’s loveable camaraderie and the Internet’s rallying support, and the optimistic outlook for the show’s fourth-season renewal have you feeling over-saturated with saccharine good feelings, this weekend offered a dash of bitters to go with all that nauseating sweetness. On Saturday, Deadline picked up on a month-old report from Reddit regarding a performance of Dan Harmon’s semi-regular Harmontown—part stand-up act, part Q&A/therapy session—in which Harmon shared a fairly ugly, NSFW voicemail message left for him by Chevy Chase, then set about exposing a supposed simmering feud between the showrunner and his eldest, crankiest star. And because we have become, in many ways, a de facto Community news bureau, we sort of have to talk about it.
According to Deadline’s investigation, it all started when Chase walked off the set while shooting the upcoming season finale, refusing to finish one of his scenes. Then, at the wrap party, Harmon “got up and gave a ‘Fuck you, Chevy’ speech in front of Chase and his wife and daughter, and encouraged the crew to join him in saying ‘fuck you’ to the actor”—an act of revenge that didn’t sit well with Chase, who soon exited, then left the above message where he called Harmon an “asshole, alcoholic fat shit” and invited him to “suck my cock.” Harmon later shared it with a live audience, whereupon it made its way online. And so here we are.
Taken on its own, none of this seems all that surprising: Harmon and the rest of the cast and Harmon have regularly joked about the difficulty of working with Chase, with Harmon even recently petitioning Dan Aykroyd to come and steal him from the show. And according to Deadline’s report, Chase has stormed off set multiple times and engaged in frequent arguments with Harmon and executive producers Anthony and Joe Russo, suggesting all those jokes have an underlying truth—and really, Chase has had a reputation for being kind of an asshole for years now, so why wouldn't they? In many ways Chase's shitty attitude is part of his comedic aura, and one assumes that anyone working with him treats it like handling a particularly cranky relative whom you love and hate in equal measure, and can’t simply euthanize because of morals and stuff.
But adding yet more fuel to the "feud," in a case of unfortunate yet intentional timing, the voicemail leak coincided with the publication of this interview with Chase from The Huffington Post—reportedly conducted a few days before he abandoned the finale shoot—in which he shared all of his most negative feelings about Community. And taken together, it begins to sound like maybe relations with Chase really are reaching a boiling point, because the show is beneath the standard for "innovative" humor that has become synonymous with the star of Cops And Robbersons:
I have creative issues with this show. I always have. With my character, with how far you can take [Joel McHale's] character…just to give him a long speech about the world at the end of every episode is so reminiscent. It’s like being relegated to hell and watching “Howdy Doody” for the rest of your life. It’s not particularly necessary, but that’s the way they do these things. I think it belies the very pretenses that his character, Jeff, has, that he’s giving these talks. They’re supposed to, in some way, be a little lesson to people who watch sitcoms…to that degree, I can’t stand sitcoms.
I’m not really gonna buck you all up a lot and say that this is the one, the one that tells it innovatively. It is what it is. I would like to see it go further. I think, if you know me and my humor over the years, you know that this is certainly not my kind of thing. I probably won’t be around that much longer, frankly.
Anyway, such threats aside, this is as far as the “feud” has gone, with no official comment yet from Chase, NBC, or Harmon—though Harmon, who maintains an unusually open communication with fans through his Twitter feed (especially if they say something that pisses him off), has chastised several for bringing up the incident and “pretending to know anything about [it],” or making judgmental comments to “strangers about gossip” (gossip that we acknowledge we are perpetuating, but then, that's kind of our thing). And besides the inherent truth in both of those statements, considering the lighthearted ball-busting in which Harmon, Chase, and the rest of the Community gang regularly engage, it’s hard to know how much of this, if any, to take seriously. There have even been suggestions that the story is being fueled as an appropriately meta means of generating Charlie Sheen-like publicity, minus the sex and poetry.
Being both natural skeptics and fans of the sort of comedic creativity that arises from people who love to hate each other, we err on the side of this being sort-of true and also not that big a deal, ultimately destined to blow over or even continue to fester into its own running gag. And if it doesn’t, and Chase is really serious about leaving, well, at least Pierce’s death will probably be funny.
can't get into parks and rec...not a fan of those doc-type shows but what i have seen it shouldn't be put on hiatus especially since whitney is still on the air
whitney...i couldn't watch more than 5 minutes of that show. remember that dumb show they had last year about the call center in india?
what are they thinking??
parks and rec should be on ifc or comedy central or hbo etc etc.....network tv is just horrid.
community would be better suited on cable too. they are niche shows that naturally won't get a big audience.
uuummmmmm, could it have anything to do with Amy Poller being preggers? taking time off for birth and all that mommy stuff?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Dan Harmon Is No Longer Showrunner on Community
By Josef Adalian
Pop-Pop and Boom! Dan Harmon will not be returning as showrunner of NBC's Community, and whether he'll remain involved at all with the series he created at remains very much in doubt. Sony Pictures Television, which produces the series with Universal Television, has closed a deal with Happy Endings writers David Guarascio and Moses Port to join Community as showrunners and exec producers. The deal comes less than a week after Vulture broke the news that Harmon hadn't been signed on for season four and that no negotiations between him and Sony had taken place. Vulture hears that now that Sony made its deal with Guarascio and Port, it plans to ask Harmon to remain involved as a writer and consultant -- but not as the person in charge of the show. (He's expected to remain a "consulting producer" no matter what). Given Sony's decision to make a deal for Harmon's replacement without telling Harmon directly, it seems a longshot that Harmon will agree to a diminished role. This is a very dark timeline, but for people familiar with the situation, it is not at all a surprising development.
Harmon and Sony have been at odds since the first season of Community, clashing over everything from the show's creative direction (the studio and NBC have both, at times, asked Harmon to make the show at least somewhat broader in its appeal) to Harmon's management style (the producer admitted as recently as last month that he was "damn bad" at key elements of his job not related to what gets on the screen). In addition, Community has been plagued with numerous writing staff defections over its three season run. Most recently, longtime exec producers Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan announced they were leaving for a new deal at 20th Century Fox TV, while directors/producers Joe and Anthony Russo are also no longer part of Sony and thus are not involved in the show on a day-to-day basis.
According to multiple people familiar with the production of Community, Harmon's flaws as a showrunner were at least partially responsible for much of the turnover the past few years. As one person familiar with Harmon's strengths and weaknesses told Vulture, "Dan is a brilliant at ideas, but he's terrible at [management]." Others, however, believe Sony and NBC execs made errors, too. The fact that Sony didn't even call Harmon to see if a deal could be done -- if only to maintain at least the illusion that it was trying to keep Harmon around -- will almost certainly be cited by Harmon supporters as proof of the studio's indifference to his involvement with the show going forward.
Another sign of the studio's issues with Harmon came last year, when Harmon's previous overall deal with Sony was up. Sources tell Vulture that the studio offered him a one-year extension rather than a more traditional two- or three-year agreement. Harmon, said to be insulted by the studio's lack of long-term commitment, initially balked at returning, people familiar with the situation say; the studio then offered a one year deal with an option for a second year. The thinking behind Sony's bargaining: If Community didn't make it to season four, it didn't want to keep Harmon on its payroll. Harmon ultimately agreed to a simple one-year deal, potentially giving him more leverage if and when the show was renewed--- or making it easier for Sony to do what it has now done by hiring new showrunners.
Even before NBC officially renewed Community last week, Sony began making overtures to other writers on the show to take over from Harmon. Goldman and Donovan, for example, would have been logical successors to Harmon, but they signed a deal with rival studio 20th Century Fox TV, and most likely would not have wanted to do the show with Harmon out of loyalty to the writer. To land Guarascio and Port, it is understood that Sony stepped up with a significant and lucrative extension of the writers' most recent deal with Sony and that it even agreed to give the producers so- called "points" in the series (that's a percentage of the show's syndication profits). The duo have a strong reputation around Hollywood for balancing quirky with mainstream, working most recently on Happy Endings but also creating the critically admired CW series Aliens in America five years ago. It's understood that several studios had been trying to snag Guarascio and Port for new fall shows, with Universal Television hoping to get Sony to loan out their services so they could run The Mindy Project on Fox.
One of the immediate questions raised in the wake of Sony's decision to hire new showrunners is: Given that Sony and Harmon have long had a difficult relationship, and yet somehow managed to make things work, why did Sony decide to make a shift now? After all, NBC has announced a schedule in which the show is set to move to Friday nights and has only ordered 13 more episodes -- two moves that would signal NBC has little faith in Community's ability to blossom into a bigger hit at this point, and that these next 13 episodes will likely be the show's last. Wouldn't it have just made sense for Sony to tough it out with Harmon for a few more months, rather than risk a fan backlash over Harmon's ouster? Perhaps, but people familiar with Sony's thinking say the studio is probably figuring that while Community with Harmon would have almost assuredly been entering its final season, a change at the top creatively might somehow result in viewers giving the series another chance and NBC becoming more invested in finding a way to keep it alive beyond the 13 episodes ordered. The studio has been tenacious in the past when trying to keep assets alive (it found a way to get Til Death and Rules of Engagement into syndication), and it didn't want Harmon to be the one person determining whether or not Community lived to see 100 episodes. Sony might have also taken into account NBC chief Bob Greenblatt's ambivalent at best attitude toward Community in general and Harmon in particular. The entertainment division chief could not have been much less supportive of Harmon than when he told Vulture he wasn't too concerned about the possibility of a Harmon exit. "Shows lose showrunners all the time and do well," he said.
And yet, bringing on Guarascio and Port is no guaranteed solution. In fact there's a chance fans could revolt if they believe the show's quality has suffered because of Harmon's absence. Harmon has cultivated a strong following on Twitter and via his blog, and it's a certainty that this constituency will see Harmon's exit as nothing short of a catastrophe. Whatever Harmon's reputation, in multiple conversations with Vulture, people associated with the show-- even some who've had issues with his management style -- have repeatedly called him the creative soul of the series, much as Aaron Sorkin was the beating heart of The West Wing. (Sorkin, of course, exited that show two years before its cancellation). One of Community's biggest assets has been its loyal fan base and strong social media presence, and Sony is undoubtedly inviting a backlash by its actions. And yet: It's also quite likely that many fans of the show have no idea who writes or runs the show, and watch only because of the characters on it and the actors -- Joel McHale, Yvette Nicole Brown, Donald Glover, et al -- who play them. If the new team produces funny episodes, Twitter's opinion might not matter. http://www.vulture.com/2012/05/dan-harm ... -sony.html
and dan's response
HEY, DID I MISS ANYTHING?
Kids:
A few hours ago, I landed in Los Angeles, turned on my phone, and confirmed what you already know. Sony Pictures Television is replacing me as showrunner on Community, with two seasoned fellows that I’m sure are quite nice - actually, I have it on good authority they’re quite nice, because they once created a show and cast my good friend Jeff Davis on it, so how bad can they be.
Why’d Sony want me gone? I can’t answer that because I’ve been in as much contact with them as you have. They literally haven’t called me since the season four pickup, so their reasons for replacing me are clearly none of my business. Community is their property, I only own ten percent of it, and I kind of don’t want to hear what their complaints are because I’m sure it would hurt my feelings even more now that I’d be listening for free.
I do want to correct a couple points of spin, now that I’m free to do so:
The important one is this quote from Bob Greenblatt in which he says he’s sure I’m going to be involved somehow, something like that. That’s a misquote. I think he meant to say he’s sure cookies are yummy, because he’s never called me once in the entire duration of his employment at NBC. He didn’t call me to say he was starting to work there, he didn’t call me to say I was no longer working there and he definitely didn’t call to ask if I was going to be involved. I’m not saying it’s wrong for him to have bigger fish to fry, I’m just saying, NBC is not a credible source of All News Dan Harmon.
You may have read that I am technically “signed on,” by default, to be an executive consulting something or other - which is a relatively standard protective clause for a creator in my position. Guys like me can’t actually just be shot and left in a ditch by Skynet, we’re still allowed to have a title on the things we create and “help out,” like, I guess sharpening pencils and stuff.
However, if I actually chose to go to the office, I wouldn’t have any power there. Nobody would have to do anything I said, ever. I would be “offering” thoughts on other people’s scripts, not allowed to rewrite them, not allowed to ask anyone else to rewrite them, not allowed to say whether a single joke was funny or go near the edit bay, etc. It’s….not really the way the previous episodes got done. I was what you might call a….hands on producer. Are my….periods giving this enough….pointedness? I’m not saying you can’t make a good version of Community without me, but I am definitely saying that you can’t make my version of it unless I have the option of saying “it has to be like this or I quit” roughly 8 times a day.
The same contract also gives me the same salary and title if I spend all day masturbating and playing Prototype 2. And before you ask yourself what you would do in my situation: buy Prototype 2. It’s fucking great.
Because Prototype 2 is great, and because nobody called me, and then started hiring people to run the show, I had my assistant start packing up my office days ago. I’m sorry. I’m not saying seasons 1, 2 and 3 were my definition of perfect television, I’m just saying that whatever they’re going to do for season 4, they’re aiming to do without my help. So do not believe anyone that tells you on Monday that I quit or diminished my role so I could spend more time with my loved ones, or that I negotiated and we couldn’t come to an agreement, etc. It couldn’t be less true because, just to make this clear, literally nobody called me. Also don’t believe anyone that says I have sex with animals. And if there’s a photo of me doing it with an animal - I’m not saying one exists, I’m just saying, if one surfaces - it’s a fake. Look at the shadow. Why would it be in front of the giraffe if the sun is behind the jeep?
Where was I? Oh yeah. I’m not running Community for season 4. They replaced me. Them’s the facts.
When I was a kid, sometimes I’d run home to Mommy with a bloody nose and say, “Mom, my friends beat me up,” and my Mom would say “well then they’re not worth having as friends, are they?” At the time, I figured she was just trying to put a postive spin on having birthed an unpopular pussy. But this is, after all, the same lady that bought me my first typewriter. Then later, a Commodore 64. And later, a 300 baud modem for it. Through which I met new friends that did like me much, much more.
I’m 39, now. The friends my Mom warned me about are bigger now, and older, bloodying my nose with old world numbers, and old world tactics, like, oh, I don’t know, sending out press releases to TV Guide at 7pm on a Friday.
But my Commodore 64 is mobile now, like yours, and the modems are invisible, and the internet is the air all around us. And the good friends, the real friends, are finding each other, and connecting with each other, and my Mom is turning out to be more right than ever.
I cant believe NBC would renew Community for a shortened season just to gut the creative side of it out.
Sure, the cast is amazing and will do their best, but the writing and just kind of insanity of ideas is what makes it all work. Taking out Dan Harmon after already losing Neil Goldman, writers, etc... just terrible.
Kind of takes the edge off of the excitement of the renewal. We'll see though...
Also sucks to know how happy Chevy must be right now. :evil:
I just bought the first three seasons on DVD (thank you, selfish Christmas!). I'm not sure I even want to watch the fourth season ... no Harmon, Chevy leaves halfway through, and one of the show's best writers just left. Maybe it'll be worth it ... but if not, the end of season 3 is a great way to end the entire series in my mind.
Comments
That cannot happen. Cannot. I probably should have read the article but yeah, that better not happen.
whitney...i couldn't watch more than 5 minutes of that show. remember that dumb show they had last year about the call center in india?
what are they thinking??
parks and rec should be on ifc or comedy central or hbo etc etc.....network tv is just horrid.
community would be better suited on cable too. they are niche shows that naturally won't get a big audience.
but they should! that's the problem with this country...fucking morons won't watch intelligent, clever shows and instead will go nuts watching one asshole pick a mate from a group of another 25 assholes!
http://www.avclub.com/articles/communit ... sed,71769/
This week's episode had me CRACKING up!
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
and dan's response
Sure, the cast is amazing and will do their best, but the writing and just kind of insanity of ideas is what makes it all work. Taking out Dan Harmon after already losing Neil Goldman, writers, etc... just terrible.
Kind of takes the edge off of the excitement of the renewal. We'll see though...
Also sucks to know how happy Chevy must be right now. :evil:
"Let's check Idaho."