Don’t forget about submitting your entry to the HijiNKS Ensue 6 Year Anniversary Fancy Bastard Fancy Fan Art Contest. Submissions are due this Friday. THERE ARE PRIZES! Details HERE.
Phoenix Comicon is in 2 weeks (May 23-26)! I will be there with David Willis at Booth 1749. Would you like to be our intern for the weekend? We can offer a con badge that will get you in, probably some lunch and in return you’ll get to work at our booth, getting shirts, making change, etc. We’ll make sure you get time to check out the show as well. Email comics at hijinksensue dot com.
The only comfort I took during the final 30 minutes of this season of NBC’s Community is that it was likely THE ACTUAL FINAL 30 MINUTES AS IN FOREVER. With creator Dan Harmon gone the spirit of the show has progressively tanked all season. The characters have become parodies of themselves, which is no small achievement considering that USED to be part of the fun of their dynamic. When handled with subtlety and smarts, self-parody can be the foundation of some very endearing moments. With this season, Community has replaced subtlety and smarts with a sledgehammer and a pie in the face. It reads like bad fan-fiction. At it’s core (considering the driving creative force behind its inception is long gone) it IS bad fan-fiction.
My friend, and Leverage co-creator, Jon Rogers said to me, “…You wanted #community so now you’re going to EAT EVERY BIT OF IT. Monkey’s Paw, #community fans. Goddam monkey’s paw.” He’s right. Community fans made a deal with the TV Devil, and he’s a dirty dealer. They traded Community’s soul so that it could have a longer life. But is it really Community? Is it even alive? ZOMBIE TV SHOW ATE MY BRAINS! Coming this fall to NBC.
The only thing incorrect about Rogers’ statement is I (ME, the actual ME) did NOT want Community without Dan Harmon, just like I didn’t want a final, bizarro season of Scrubs, just like I didn’t want and continue to not want more seasons of The Simpsons or Futurama. Do like Jerry did. Leave on a high note and leave ’em wanting more.
- NBC renews Community for a fifth season, possibly thanks to Amazon, Netflix
- The Best Sitcom Finales Of All Time
- Fox has somehow uncancelled 24
[Thanks to Mikey and an actual Yaoi I saw at SDCC for inspiring today’s alt-text.]
COMMENTERS: Which show or fiction series (books? do they make… books?) do you wish had been cancelled before it was and why?
Comments (45)
Cozworth · 107 weeks ago
I’m pretty sure it’s worked like a monkey’s paw. We’ll get our 6 seasons and a movie and in the end it’ll be like watching a car crash in slow motion, we all know it’ll be horrible, but we just can’t look away.
@sandchigger · 107 weeks ago
2 replies · active 107 weeks ago
Kryss LaBryn · 107 weeks ago
When it looked like it wasn’t going to be renewed, JMS got the major plot points wrapped up for the end of the fourth season, not wanting to leave fans hanging if there wasn’t a fifth. And I’m not suuure if the problem was that there was a fifth season after the pre-existing threads were more or less tied up, since he’d basically ditched the teep war thread in order to be able to fit it all in, so it’s not like he just pulled something out of his ass. I think it’s more that the fifth season was, well, kind of awful. It has some great Bester moments, but Jesus, Byron. Pun kinda sorta maybe intended. It just wasn’t the B5 we’d had for the first four seasons, and while it was still probably better than most other shows on TV at the time, it was still… yeah.
I can happily ignore season five in its entirety. Didn’t bother getting it on DVD. And frankly, “Sleeping in Light” at the end of season 4 is my favourite episode ever, I think. It is a really well-done finale to the series, and I just don’t think there was a NEED for more B5 after that. In the context of the series. Which was about the Shadow War, and stuff. More B5 *stuff* would definitely be cool. I’m still pissed about Crusade, and how long ago was that? Gods damn you, Time-Warner. Gods damn you.
Jason· 107 weeks ago
I honestly didn’t think Season 5 was that bad. It just… wasn’t that good, either, I suppose. I liked the ideas, and seeing some of those plot threads resolved was kind of nice. I think it was–almost literally–anticlimactic. Or perhaps post-climactic. Anyway, I didn’t dislike it, but I can skip it on a rewatch without any guilt, too.
Besides, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Legend of the Rangers. Does B5 fan orthodoxy even consider that canon? I know I don’t.
Mike Konecny · 107 weeks ago
tudza · 107 weeks ago
UnitedShoes37 · 107 weeks ago
I mean, I had my doubts about Community without Dan Harmon (and I still say the whole, Harmonless season should’ve been set in the Darkest Timeline), and I was as confused as anybody during “Journey to the Center of the TARDIS”, but I don’t feel like whoever took over Community this season or Steven Moffat have been raping our good friends Abed and the Doctor. They’ve just stumbled a bit. There were some genuinely enjoyable moments in this short season of Community, and they got Neil Gaiman to come back and write another spectacular Whopisode, not to mention Diana Rigg managing to be even more snarky and almost as delightful as she is as one of the greatest C-characters in all of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Is all the hyperbole really necessary? Hell, maybe, just maybe, if we show Community the same love we all showed it when we thought it was going to get murdered, the current showrunners will find their footing a bit more, and we all know Doctor Who isn’t going anywhere, even if Clara’s plot goes even more batshit than “The Overly Compressed Narrative of River Song” (a.k.a. “Let’s KIll Hitler!”)
1 reply · active 107 weeks ago
tomspeelman· 107 weeks ago
Riff · 107 weeks ago
One of the worst things about it is all the fans who say “It’s still good! It’s still good!” like Homer chasing the pig down the river. I’m going to stab the next person who says, “I guess I just like liking things,” in reference to the show.
Legendary Teeth · 107 weeks ago
1 reply · active 107 weeks ago
@borednihilist · 107 weeks ago
Tom327Cat · 107 weeks ago
2 replies · active 107 weeks ago
Stephen · 107 weeks ago
@lzyglutenfremom · 107 weeks ago
Khel · 107 weeks ago
w00hoo · 107 weeks ago
While I love Supernatural, I’m only watching it because it’s there. I’d have been comfortable with them finishing when they said they would…
1 reply · active 106 weeks ago
The Unknown FB · 106 weeks ago
The ending to the season/series mostly wrapped things up and left a good set up for the comic series, but still felt rushed at the end, and bummed me out.
Unrepentantfangirl · 107 weeks ago
Wesley · 107 weeks ago
It annoys the crap out of me when series that used to be based on humor eventually start relying on vicarious shame and call it comedy.
Didu· 107 weeks ago
As for Community, a friend promised to have an introductory season 1 marathon with me if I swore to never watch season 4, nor acknowledge its existence.
1 reply · active 107 weeks ago
Mitch H. · 107 weeks ago
Kryss LaBryn · 107 weeks ago
–Shut up. I was seventeen, okay?
Bill Murphy · 107 weeks ago
I loved that show. A comedy about a financially struggling family. In the final season (8 or 9) they won the lottery of 100 million dollars. They continued to live in their three bedroom house and fix it up a bit.
When I think of that show, all I remember was that last awful season.
Cherie · 107 weeks ago
@borednihilist · 107 weeks ago
3 replies · active 107 weeks ago
Joe A· 107 weeks ago
@borednihilist · 107 weeks ago
@AlyredTheEvil · 107 weeks ago
Joe A· 107 weeks ago
1 reply · active 107 weeks ago
agarda· 107 weeks ago
Bruceski · 107 weeks ago
1 reply · active 107 weeks ago
Bryce · 107 weeks ago
Jason· 107 weeks ago
Of course, in the end, the author retroactively ruined my enjoyment of those books much more than all the other works in the series, so… *shrug*
2 replies · active 97 weeks ago
njmckay· 107 weeks ago
That being said…. MOVIE!
emperorbailey· 97 weeks ago
They were a completely different feel, with the international sociopolitical maneuvering instead of family problems or whatever “Speaker of the Dead” was about. The villain was really terrifying, and seeing Peter’s change from a kind of scary kid into a decent leader was also fascinating.
DuckAmuck · 107 weeks ago
NBC is more at fault than anyone related to this season of Community.
Next year, watch the episodes at their correct times of year, and everything will be more easily understood.
Liam · 107 weeks ago
WorldMaker · 107 weeks ago
Anyone else notice a chalkboard in the S4 finale taunting us with the “Six Seasons and a Movie”?
That said, I actually somewhat liked the S4 finale. It WAS an attempt at a paintball finale (albeit without committing to anything like the old wanton damage of show sets). It hit a lot of the right notes and nearly proved the new writers room have almost gotten it. Biggest complaint was the cop out “it was all a dream”, because S1-S3 spent so much time subverting that. I think if they had owned that choice, and pushed for the crazy Sci-Fi consequences we all might actually be somewhat looking forward to an S5 that could be the closest thing to a half-hour comedy Fringe we might ever see…
Tara · 107 weeks ago
1 reply · active 106 weeks ago
Gregory · 106 weeks ago
tomspeelman· 107 weeks ago
Kryss LaBryn · 107 weeks ago
The Unknown FB · 106 weeks ago
IMO, the showrunners needed a kick in their aft warp coils about 1.5 seasons earlier to get on the stick and write some good character-driven stories.
The way that series was handled and ended basically killed off TV versions of Trek to this day, sadly.
Alyson · 106 weeks ago
emperorbailey· 97 weeks ago
Also, I think from Season 23, the episode called “The Book Job” was as funny as any Season 8 episode.