Dan Harmon Leaves “Community” After Being Replaced As Showrunner


05/19/12 04:21am
9 Comments

Rumors that Dan Harmon has been replaced as Community‘s showrunner have been rife all night, but it has now been officially confirmed that Harmon will not be returning for the hard-won fourth season. It had previously been implied that Harmon would still have some part in the creation of the show,  with Entertainment Weekly reporting that NBC’s Bob Greenblatt said “I expect Dan’s voice to be a part of the show somehow”. Harmon himself, however, has just published a revealing Tumblr post which explains the real nature of his departure from the show. Harmon writes:

“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.”

You can read his full Tumblr post here. Community will certainly never be the same again without Dan Harmon at the helm, and we’re sad to see him go. Let us know what you think in the comments.

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  • http://www.youtube.com/missxrojas Rosianna

    are you kidding me? :( :( :(

  • http://twitter.com/BradAusrotas Brad Ausrotas

    Well, there goes that show. Harmon was the vast majority of the reason why Community was so great. With cancellation, it could have died with dignity, remembered for its greatness. Now the show is metaphorically going to piss its pants before taking the slow way out.

  • RealSpaceModels

    DefinitelyNOT cool cool cool.

  • Nicole

    This is so upsetting. The rumours about him leaving had been going around for a while, but I was too busy praying that they would get a season 4 to worry about that. You only have to listen to the DVD episode commentaries to realise that Dan isn’t exaggerating about how much input he has on the show. I am genuinely devastated.

  • Critterfur

    Yeah, I’m thinking this is pretty bad news. I never thought I would be wishing Community had ended for good last Thursday, but that’s how I’m feeling right now. It seems like NBC is doing the most half-assed job possible in bringing the show back (the 13 episode order, moving it to the dead-air of Friday nights, and now this). If NBC is actually investing any effort into the show now, it’s most likely the wrong kind of effort; it seems like they’re going to do exactly the wrong thing and restructure the show so that it gets better ratings. What does that mean? Well, watch the opening few minutes of the Season Three premiere and you’ll probably get a good sense of it all; they’re going to dumb it down, spread it thin (so that every possible audience takes an interest in it), and turn it into just another average sitcom, instead of the weird genius baby it is. Either the plan won’t work (in which case NBC will feel justified in finally axing the show) or it will (and we’ll be left with A show, but not THE show). I know this is all par for the course when it comes to entertainment, which usually concerns itself with the bottom line and the lowest common denominator, but I still can’t help but feel that the show’s prospects are bleak.

    • Nicole

      I feel the same about now kinda wishing that Thursday had been the series finale. It ended so well that if it had been cancelled I think I would’ve been okay. Now I am really worried.

  • JuJu

    If season four is suppose to be the last season, they hey should have just ended it now on a high note. Whenever a show runner leaves a show the quality always suffers and I’m sure now they’ll dumb down the show. If this is about the Chevy Chase thing, they should have let Chase go instead. I’m sure McHale and Brie will have careers after Community, but I just hope racist Hollywood will appreciate Golver and Pudi’s talents.

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