Tuesday morning, NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt spoke about Community's uncertain future. For the fall, the show has been uprooted and moved to Fridays where most series go to die. Therefore, many wonder if that's the network's plan. But Greenblatt claims that's not the case.
He says, "Community is a show that's been always on the bubble and we decided to bring it back again and see what a fourth season will do for us."
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But why did they take it off Thursdays and cut the episode count? "I think we're in a transition with our comedy programming. And trying to broaden the audience and what the network does," explains Greenblatt.
"The reason we did 13 episodes of that and a couple of our other shows is because we really wanted to get more comedies on the schedule. We picked up a number of new comedies for the fall and the midseason. We sort of laid out the number of episodes we needed of things in order to get new shows on."
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It's no secret that Community's creator and showrunner Dan Harmon is no longer with the show. His niche comedy and attention to detail is one of the things that made it a critical darling. Fans are worried that with him gone, Community will hit a creative wall.
"I think that the fans of Community are going to get the same show they have loved from the beginning," assures Greenblatt. "Every so often it's time to make a change with the showrunner, to evaluate the creative, and how the show is run. And how the writing staff works. Sometimes you want to freshen the show and we just decided that it was time to do that. No disrespect to anyone."
As for the big question on everyone's minds: Will Community be back for another season?
Greenblatt says, "I would love nothing more than Community to have a following on Fridays and be able to continue."
Fingers crossed!