Undead "Community" Shambles On

Well, this is an outcome I never would have predicted at the start of this season. "Community" has been renewed for a fifth season after a bumpy and delayed fourth season. Meanwhile, NBC has reveamped nearly its entire comedy lineup, cancelling the once promising freshman shows "Go On" and "The New Normal." While "Community" had some good episodes this year, and I've been a lot more forgiving than many other fans, I'm not sure that I'm happy about it getting yet another reprieve. Since creator Dan Harmon was ousted from the show, "Community" just hasn't been the same.

Let's start with the positives of this season first. I liked the "Freaky Friday" and Sophie B. Hawkins Dance episodes. I'm willing to go to bat for the secret origins, Inspector Spacetime convention, and even the puppet episodes. However, everything else, including last night's season finale have all been pretty meh. It's not that they didn't have good ideas or that they weren't ambitious, but the execution just wasn't what it should have been. Jeff consistently being a more positive and altruistic person? Britta and Troy getting together? Chang returning to Greendale as Kevin, faking a case of Chang-nesia? Fine in theory, but the writers didn't seem to have any idea where to go with them. Jeff 's insirational speeches just got blander and less cynical, Chang had a last-minute change of heart that cut short his evil plotting, and the best thing about Britta and Troy's relationship was their break-up and return to the status quo.

I tried to be patient at first, but at the weeks went by, it became clear that the new guys weren't coming close to matching the quality Harmon and the old crew had achieved. The friendships at the center of the show were too frequently mushy, and sentiment was leaned on very heavily to force resolutions that didn't feel earned. There was plenty of meta commentary, but the subversive edge was almost totally gone. In-jokes got overused and the gimmicks were more obvious. Last night, for instance, brought the return of the Darkest Timeline characters from "Remedial Chaos Theory," more paintball battles, a new spin on "Troy and Abed in the Morning," and even a few nods to the dictator Chang, but the reasoning for bringing all these elements back didn't hold water. It was just fanservice, where in the past the show wouldn't done this without also seizing the opportunity to comment on the nature of fanservice, or to at least be more clever about how it was deployed. Existing weaknesses were also amplified. If the Harmon-era writers didn't know what to do with Pierce, the Guarascio and Port-led writers didn't even seem to try. This wasn't helped by Chevy Chase's obvious absence from several episodes after he quit the show.

I've read predictions from a few other critics that the show is transitioning to a safer, blander, and more generic version of itself, but I suspect that further changes are going to be more radical. Jeff Winger has finally graduated from Greendale after four seasons, fulfilling the show's original premise. Sure, he's grown and changed enough that he'll stick around to have more hijinks with his friends in the future, possibly as a new teacher, but the Study Group will be no more. It's going to be a rough transition when the state of the characters isn't as well-defined as it should be. Most of the character development from the first three seasons was preserved in the fourth, but attempts to advance from there have been shaky at best. There's been a notable lack of depth to this year's stories, possibly because the writers were more concerned about preserving the show's existing chemistry than pushing forward. However, they're at a point where they have to embrace the change fully, or they're just going to flounder.

There's every reason to be hopeful that the writing will improve and the show will regain more footing next year. I don't know what the fifth season is going to look like, but there are still some talented writers on the roster, and plenty you could do with a cast this talented. Chevy Chase being gone certainly won't hurt. However, I think it's telling that a rumor that Dan Harmon might be approached to return to run "Community" got more positive response than the renewal announcement. Considering all the bad blood and the politics, this is a highly unlikely prospect. However, it's clear that "Community" fans still very attached to the show and they're still sticking around in large enough numbers for NBC to keep it around for a little longer. I'll still be watching, though not with nearly as much enthusiasm. The goal of reaching six seasons and a movie isn't as appealing as it once was.
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