Dan Harmon has decided to step down as showrunner of Community. In a press release, he stated, “While I cherish the time we all spent creating something that has touched a portion of the population, I have decided to step aside and let another voice take over, and to pursue other projects in television. NBC has been nothing less than supportive of me, and I look forward to producing more television shows with them.”
Nope, totally kidding. Harmon found out he was fired when he got off a plane, turned on his phone, and discovered that NBC had announced his departure in the most professional way possible: A Friday night press release to TV Guide. Bob Greenblatt, NBC Entertainment Chairman, has said that he expects, “Dan’s voice to be a part of this show somehow. I’m just not sure if that means him running it day to day or consulting on it.” Harmon, in his Tumblr, said that he had his assistant start to pack up his office days ago. In between the show getting picked up for 13 episodes next season and Friday night, Harmon has had absolutely no contact with Sony Pictures Television, and could see the writing on the wall. If you expect someone to stay onboard after what amounts to a demotion, you generally want to schedule a meeting with them before you announce their demotion. While Harmon is still a part owner of Community, he has said on his Tumblr that he now wields absolutely no power over the creative content of the show.
The rest of the creative team has also left the show in phases. Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan (recognize those first names from characters on the show? If not – go watch it. Now.) have left for Fox, and the Russo brothers (the producing/directing team) also no longer have a deal with Sony. Last night, the show’s sole remaining writer from the first season, Chris McKenna announced that he was also leaving the show.
Who is stepping in? Sony has hired Moses Port and David Guarascio to helm the show. You may remember them from Just Shoot Me or Angels In America. I don’t. The only guy I remember on Just Shoot Me is Steven Levitan, and he’s busy with Modern Family right now. I’m not saying these two guys can’t do a good job, I’m saying they can’t do Harmon’s job.
Dan Harmon was in a constant battle with the network over the creative content of the show. He consistently produced half hour after half hour of some of the most creative and original programming since Seinfeld. NBC, for whatever reasons, couldn’t figure out how to promote it correctly. They did things such as schedule it opposite The Big Bang Theory. They pushed to make it more conventional. Harmon fought back, and garnered a (further) reputation as a difficult person to work with.
Harmon co-created The Sarah Silverman Program and was fired. Sarah Silverman told him, “I can’t have someone on set who is crazier than me.” He has a pretty well-documented history with Chevy Chase, including leading a “Fuck you, Chevy” chant at the season wrap party in front of Chase’s family, and then playing Chevy’s understandably angry voicemails for crowds. He’s been described in various publications as being terrible at management. I don’t have any trouble believing this. However, how often have core people been fired from television shows for being difficult? Roseanne Barr was an absolute terror, as were Brett Butler and Cybill Shepherd. Brett Butler was kept on for five years until her drug addiction proved too much to deal with. Roseanne wouldn’t refer to her writers by their names. She made them wear numbers around their neck. That show lasted for 9 seasons. Personality clashes are more often overlooked in entertainment, unless a very high-profile person on the show issues an ultimatum. Chevy Chase would be the person to do this, but his runaway hit, Vegas Vacation, was a long time ago. He doesn’t have the pull he did back in the 1920s. Were the choice between Chevy leaving and Harmon leaving, the show would suffer much less without Pierce Hawthorne. Community has a stable of auxiliary characters that could slide into his seat at the study table and maintain the supply of old person wackiness.
The parallel I see in most articles about Dan’s departure is when Aaron Sorkin left The West Wing after the fourth season. Some of the battles were the same. Sorkin regularly ran behind schedule and over budget. John Wells stepped in, but the show lost its voice. It became boring, and didn’t pick up until the election storyline, one and a half seasons later. Wells couldn’t replicate Sorkin’s touch. While I’m sure Aliens in America was a fine show, you can’t expect the new showrunners to be able to clone Harmon’s vision and style. While Community has a very strong cast, they’re all slaves to Harmon’s obsession with structure and doing episodes about television episodes. This was a show that could wring actual emotion and catharsis out of an episode about people looking for a lost pen or shooting each other with paint. Stuff like that had never been done before, and most likely cannot be cloned.
Photo: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
