Introduction to Mourning
Why I’m so devastated about Community’s cancellation
I love the idea of a sitcom. I like the concept of deriving humour from banal situations and using the things that bring people together in life to get laughs. In practice though, most sitcoms are absolutely dreadful. One note characters make obvious jokes and a laugh track sounds at even the most effortless facial expressions. From the truly terrible farces like The Big Bang Theory to accomplished shows that still lack ‘something’ like How I Met Your Mother no American sitcom has ever used the genre exactly the way I like it. Except from Community. NBC and Dan Harmon’s community college commentary was both the best program on television and perhaps the most powerful connection I have ever had to a group of characters. Over the course of four fantastic seasons and one strangely loveable ‘gas leak year’ NBC made me fall in love with this ragtag bunch of misfits and see pieces of myself in each and every one. Then they took it away from me, the bastards.
The characters were what made Community so special. Dan Harmon created seven eccentric yet unbearably human characters. Characters that were all uniquely damaged and only found treatment in eachother. Relationships that seemed more important than anything else in the show’s universe. It’s my adoration for these seven losers that made me stick it out through season four and not hate it despite serious problems with the writing. It’s my commitment that made me rewatch the series four times. Britta was my favourite, the washed out activist that highlighted how easily one can lose sight of what they hold dear. Britta was rash, she had some very strange motivations, and at times she was positively braindead but she had the biggest heart at Greendale. Britta’s good intentions were what defined her.
Troy showed us that it’s okay to not really know who you are. Abed was a guy who struggled to function in normal society but still found his happy place. Annie tried really hard and it wasn't uncool, she was young and yet she could accomplish anything she wanted to. Pierce was a successful businessman who had more personal problems than anyone, his downfall told us that compassion and selflessness are the route to happiness not victory or money. Shirley was the classic Christian housewife and through five seasons we learned that religion is nothing without acceptance and that even the most outwardly perfect people have issues in their past. The protagonist Jeff Winger through countless trademark ‘Winger speeches’ showed that even the most immoral people can be redeemed.
That’s not all though, Community relayed life lessons with genuine hilarity and a flair for a great parody. As a movie lover I thrived on Community’s tinkering with the tropes of storytelling and genre. I tuned in every week expecting high quality pop culture pastiches. The references in Community actually had meaning, Harmon and company weren't just namedropping in an effort to reveal their own intelligence they were making a television programme for people that love entertainment. Community wasn't a show about nerds, it was a show for nerds. From paintball episodes mimicking big budget action movies, to a class named ‘Nicolas Cage — Good Or Bad?’, it was success after success.
The really heartbreaking part of Community’s cancellation is its ending. In the previous seasons Harmon had ended with a big emotional moment. Harmon was aware of the threat of cancellation and scripted his season finales with an air of closure. This year his fatal flaw was optimism — the episode ended with Abed commenting that the gang wouldn't have to worry about coming back next year. It seems ironic that NBC decided to cancel the show here, of all places. In case current talks with Hulu fall through and Community never returns to my screens I’ll rewind my version of the ending to a few episodes previously when Troy left on an around the world trip. Troy was saying goodbye to Annie and she commented that she was lucky to have known him — Troy then says that he is unlucky, because he missed out on a chance to have known her for longer. In terms of Community, I am most certainly unlucky. I missed out on another season and a movie. Although perhaps I am lucky that I got to be acquainted with such a high quality sitcom at all.