There's the good, the great, and then there's the BEST. Welcome to MTV Geek's Best of 2012 -- what we thought were the cream of the crop this year in the world of GEEK!
While TV shows get canceled and messed with all the time, the fate of "Community" over 2012 has been particularly, spectacularly cruel. Should we blame the Mayans?
MTV Geek is counting down the 10 Most OMG Moments Of Geek! #8 concerns a certain cult TV show...
To put it bluntly: if you are a fan of "Community," 2012 really sucked.
The year kicked off with the future of the show thrown in doubt: would they get canceled by NBC? Would they even be allowed to finish out their third season? By February, fans got an affirmative on that third season. And even though a fourth wasn't set in stone, it looked like the dream of "Six Seasons And A Movie" was still a viable one.
THEN:
Dan Harmon leaks an angry voicemail from "Pierce Hawthorne" himself, Chevy Chase, for a bunch of his fans. Between Harmon's action, and Chase's long list of grievances, it is clear that all is not rosy at Greendale. Cue media brouhaha.
Harmon apologizes. Back to business. What else could possibly go wrong?
By mid-May, Dan Harmon was fired from "Community."
Only a few days before he was let go, I had written a post that outlined "The Community Code", which theorized that Harmon knew since the beginning of the third season that he -- and the show -- was on thin ice and was eventually going to get the axe. If you follow the episodes that season, I postulated, you could almost "read" the particular struggles Harmon had with the network, culminating in the rather grim-sounding titles of the two last episodes: "Course Listing Unavailable" and "Curriculum Unavailable."
BUT NOT TO WORRY "COMMUNITY" FANS: in June, the show was officially on the fall schedule. NBC even had this neat thingie where you could make your own Greendale ID card:
And the series had new showrunners, David Guarascio and Moses Port, who boasted such sitcoms as “Mad About You,” “Just Shoot Me” and “Happy Endings" on their resume. They knew Harmon's shoes were pretty big ones to fill -- but the cast was hitting the convention and PR circuit and everything looked like it just might be coolcoolcool. Even a series of ominous Harmon interviews -- one in which he warned that Sony was "going to smother it with a pillow very quietly..." -- couldn't completely throw us off the "Community" vibe we were feeling as it geared up for its (albeit truncated) 4th season. Which was set for October 19th.
And then, mere weeks before it was set to return, NBC said the show was "delayed indefinitely."
This prompted a video from the "Community" cast, who at this point had to be seriously wondering where their next paycheck was coming from:
"Abed: "Welcome to our fourth season. We spoke to the powers-that-be, and we agreed to premiere on October 19th --"
Pierce: "What powers that be?! It's just the two of you pretending to have a show!"
Troy (under his breath): "Sometimes it feels that way..."
Then, by the end of October, NBC finally announces a NEW premiere date...in February.
By this time, all hard-core "Community" fans have grey hair, teeth falling out, on anti-depressants, etc. It was like a surrealist peformance, played out before our very eyes -- DID SEASON FOUR OF "COMMUNITY" EVEN REALLY EXIST?!
But once again, NBC goes on the PR tour, showing off still from the new season, and the hope (though sorely battered) starts to rise again.
Six...seasons...and...a movie.
On November 21, THR reports that Chevy Chase has "quit" the show, two episodes shy of finishing out the truncated 4th season.
As much as the new season continues to be hyped up, I have to admit: Chase's sudden exit was like that final bit of realization that "Community" seemed doomed. Nay, cursed. News of show stars Joel McHale and Donald Glover producing new shows or offered deals for pilots only made everything more clear. Could you blame them for planning an exit strategy? Could you blame Chase? After the year that was the "darkest timeline" for the Greendale Seven?
While TV shows get canceled and messed with all the time, the fate of "Community" over 2012 has been particularly, spectacularly cruel. Should we blame the Mayans?
or was it this guy:
Next time in "2012's Most OMG Moments In Geek": A very unlikely hero emerges out of one of the largest-grossing films of the year! And then dies! And then maybe will come back with his own show! Be there!
Related Posts:
2012's Most OMG Moments In Geek #9: The Green Lanterns Of Controversy
2012's Most OMG Moments In Geek #10: The Ponds Exit 'Doctor Who'
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