Dan Harmon not impressed with "Community" Season 4 - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Mr. Television · 06-17-2013, 03:40 PM

http://splitsider.com/2013/06/dan-ha...nity-season-4/

Dan Harmon Didn't Care for 'Community' Season 4
by Bradford Evans | June 17th, 2013

With Dan Harmon set to return to Community as showrunner for the upcoming fifth season, he got caught up on the fourth season, which he wasn't a part of, and wasn't too wild about it. Harmon discussed his thoughts on season four at the top of the latest episode of his podcast Harmontown, which dropped this weekend. Here's how Harmon started the show:

"I watched season four. I guess I already knew this, but apparently, I’m quite a genius … I think I feel pretty comfortable expressing any kind of 'Eh, not my cup of tea' about it because – this has been expressed a thousand times over – it's obviously not somebody doing what they do and trying very hard to make people happy. It is very much like an impression, and an unflattering one. It’s just 13 episodes of 'Oh, I’m Dan Harmon! [stupid laugh]! Die Hard! [stupid laugh]' I feel like I'm going back to work tomorrow morning, and I just feel like, 'Do I talk like that?'"

Harmon also revealed that he called Bill Murray while watching the fourth season to try to get him to do the show. Murray famously has no agent or manager and only fields offers via a 1-800 line, and Harmon had previously wanted Murray to play Jeff Winger's father. The showrunners for season four used a different actor, James Brolin, to play Winger's dad. Here's Harmon talking about calling Bill Murray:

"While I was watching season four, I called him and left a voicemail … I said, 'My name is Dan Harmon. I created an NBC show called Community. I would like to talk to you as soon as possible about the possibility of you [gets interrupted] … I didn't want to like try too hard or try to not try to hard, so I probably just sounded like a robot … I think he just calls you back and goes like, 'Hey, it's Bill Murray.' I don't know. I know it's not gonna happen to me, but I think it was a healthy exercise because I was watching the 'Jeff meets his father' episode. Of course, I always wanted Jeff's father to be Bill Murray. I kept putting off the meeting between Jeff and his father because I kept hoping that somehow fate would allow for that to be the case. I named him Jeff Winger. His last name's Winger after Bill Murray's character in Stripes. I just always thought Jeff Winger's dad would be Bill Murray. But there's something awesome about having all of those preconceived notions ripped away from you. It's exciting. There's something exciting about being held down and watching your family get raped on a beach. It's liberating. It makes you focus on what's important."

And here's more of Harmon pontificating on how season four went wrong in his eyes:

"The weird thing that keeps eating at me is there's a system in place that's winning because I would have had too much leverage, too much power, too much salary, as would a lot of writers coming into season four, so they just flushed us [fart sound], replaced us with two guys [who] didn't know what they were getting into. [They] went to Comic-Con, saw what was going on. People dressed as spacemen and bananas and ****; people going, 'Holy ****, I cut myself every night and watch Community.' And they went, '****' and I think they tried their best and I think that was the best idea – not the best idea, as it turns out, but the most admirable kind of impulse. It's like, 'Let's not let these people down. If there's anything else we do, let's not let these people down' …

Watching that season, it's like I have such an impulse to just do the show they probably got hired to do. They could have just done a sitcom set at a community college. Over time, people would have gone, 'Well, what about paintball? What the ****? What about chicken fingers?' But then, five episodes later, regular people would have been like, 'Oh, this is a pleasant little show set at a community college.' And they would have beaten me. The system would have won. I would have just crawled under a bridge and pooped in a bucket, just died."

JamesG · 06-18-2013, 05:40 PM

Dan Harmon Apologizes for Ripping "Community" Season 4
The Huffington Post | by Alex Moaba
6/18/2013

It was basically just yesterday that Dan Harmon was saying all those negative things about "Community" Season 4, but now, he's sorry for saying them.

On his Tumblr blog, the fired, then re-hired "Community" showrunner apologized to the many people he ripped and indirectly offended in his podcast.

"I went to bed feeling great, woke up and started work on season five of 'Community' with our exciting season five staff. I took them to lunch, checked my tweets, discovered my name in several headlines next to several bad words, and, as usual, it was then that I started to consider how my words might affect other people if viewed as headlines. After five seconds of thinking, I realized, as usual, that other people might be hurt, and that I really need to do this whole 'saying things and thinking about other people' cycle in a different order at some point," Harmon wrote.

First, Harmon apologized to the show's fans.

"I am first and foremost sorry to 'Community' fans that got paid nothing to stick by 'Community' and get us to a fifth season only to hear the incoming showrunner say some stuff that felt very un-'Community.' Even if my goal had been to hurt someone, it would never have been you. What I said was disrespectful to your love for this show, love that I sometimes erroneously equate with validation of me as a person."

Then he apologized to the "Community" cast and crew.

"Next I want to apologize to the people that did get paid to work on that season, but not enough: the cast and crew ... I was very much not thinking about anyone but myself while watching that season, which was the crime. I hope over time you’ll forgive me. I wasn’t thinking about your contribution or describing it. I was just indulging my petty feelings about being left out."

Harmon even apologized to the replacement "Community" showrunners, Moses Port and David Guarascio.

"Thirdly, because they got paid more, but still not enough, the season 4 writers. I’m sorry I pooped on your work. You had to do something nobody should have to attempt, and you had the option of doing it the lazy way or the sellout way and you clearly did what you did because you were thinking of the fans. There was some amazing stuff in there."

Finally, Harmon apologized for comparing watching Season 4 to rape.

"I am deeply sorry to anyone I hurt by using the word 'rape' in a comedic context. I am sorry to anyone I hurt by conjuring the concept of rape in a metaphor about my stupid hurt feelings. As you saw above, unless you skimmed this blog entry for the word 'rape,' I was not thinking about the impact of my words on the people that love 'Community' and work on it."

To sum it all up, he's sorry guys.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0..._3460536.html?

robyrob · 06-18-2013, 10:44 PM

he seems pretty unstable when he tweets - good for the show, bad for his own publicity.

TMC · 06-24-2013, 01:13 AM

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/21/dan_..._cant_shut_up/

"Harmon is an understated, nerdy exemplar of how fame messes people up — it forces them to keep two ideas of themselves, their personal and public personae, in sync," says Will Paskin. At some point, she says, his self-conception ought to jibe with reality.
Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#BseFkct57kX484Ub.99

06-17-2013, 03:40 PM	#1
Mr. Television 23 Years at Sitcoms Online Forum Icon Join Date: Jun 06, 2003 Location: Somewhere you're Not Posts: 62,133	Dan Harmon not impressed with "Community" Season 4 http://splitsider.com/2013/06/dan-ha...nity-season-4/ Dan Harmon Didn't Care for 'Community' Season 4 by Bradford Evans \| June 17th, 2013 With Dan Harmon set to return to Community as showrunner for the upcoming fifth season, he got caught up on the fourth season, which he wasn't a part of, and wasn't too wild about it. Harmon discussed his thoughts on season four at the top of the latest episode of his podcast Harmontown, which dropped this weekend. Here's how Harmon started the show: "I watched season four. I guess I already knew this, but apparently, I’m quite a genius … I think I feel pretty comfortable expressing any kind of 'Eh, not my cup of tea' about it because – this has been expressed a thousand times over – it's obviously not somebody doing what they do and trying very hard to make people happy. It is very much like an impression, and an unflattering one. It’s just 13 episodes of 'Oh, I’m Dan Harmon! [stupid laugh]! Die Hard! [stupid laugh]' I feel like I'm going back to work tomorrow morning, and I just feel like, 'Do I talk like that?'" Harmon also revealed that he called Bill Murray while watching the fourth season to try to get him to do the show. Murray famously has no agent or manager and only fields offers via a 1-800 line, and Harmon had previously wanted Murray to play Jeff Winger's father. The showrunners for season four used a different actor, James Brolin, to play Winger's dad. Here's Harmon talking about calling Bill Murray: "While I was watching season four, I called him and left a voicemail … I said, 'My name is Dan Harmon. I created an NBC show called Community. I would like to talk to you as soon as possible about the possibility of you [gets interrupted] … I didn't want to like try too hard or try to not try to hard, so I probably just sounded like a robot … I think he just calls you back and goes like, 'Hey, it's Bill Murray.' I don't know. I know it's not gonna happen to me, but I think it was a healthy exercise because I was watching the 'Jeff meets his father' episode. Of course, I always wanted Jeff's father to be Bill Murray. I kept putting off the meeting between Jeff and his father because I kept hoping that somehow fate would allow for that to be the case. I named him Jeff Winger. His last name's Winger after Bill Murray's character in Stripes. I just always thought Jeff Winger's dad would be Bill Murray. But there's something awesome about having all of those preconceived notions ripped away from you. It's exciting. There's something exciting about being held down and watching your family get raped on a beach. It's liberating. It makes you focus on what's important." And here's more of Harmon pontificating on how season four went wrong in his eyes: "The weird thing that keeps eating at me is there's a system in place that's winning because I would have had too much leverage, too much power, too much salary, as would a lot of writers coming into season four, so they just flushed us [fart sound], replaced us with two guys [who] didn't know what they were getting into. [They] went to Comic-Con, saw what was going on. People dressed as spacemen and bananas and **; people going, 'Holy , I cut myself every night and watch Community.' And they went, '' and I think they tried their best and I think that was the best idea – not the best idea, as it turns out, but the most admirable kind of impulse. It's like, 'Let's not let these people down. If there's anything else we do, let's not let these people down' … Watching that season, it's like I have such an impulse to just do the show they probably got hired to do. They could have just done a sitcom set at a community college. Over time, people would have gone, 'Well, what about paintball? What the **? What about chicken fingers?' But then, five episodes later, regular people would have been like, 'Oh, this is a pleasant little show set at a community college.' And they would have beaten me. The system would have won. I would have just crawled under a bridge and pooped in a bucket, just died."
	__________________ Sonny Last edited by Mr. Television; 06-17-2013 at 03:59 PM.

06-18-2013, 10:44 PM	#3
robyrob certified wackball#3 Moderator Forum Icon Join Date: Aug 03, 2003 Location: hiding under the third booth at Arnold's Posts: 58,185	he seems pretty unstable when he tweets - good for the show, bad for his own publicity.
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06-24-2013, 01:13 AM	#4
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 125,775	"Community's" Dan Harmon is an example of how fame can screw somebody up http://www.salon.com/2013/06/21/dan_..._cant_shut_up/ "Harmon is an understated, nerdy exemplar of how fame messes people up — it forces them to keep two ideas of themselves, their personal and public personae, in sync," says Will Paskin. At some point, she says, his self-conception ought to jibe with reality. Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/tv-tattle#BseFkct57kX484Ub.99

06-18-2013, 05:40 PM	#2
JamesG Freakshow Moderator Forum Icon Join Date: Feb 01, 2008 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 57,085	*Dan Harmon Apologizes for Ripping "Community" Season 4* The Huffington Post \| by Alex Moaba 6/18/2013 It was basically just yesterday that Dan Harmon was saying all those negative things about "Community" Season 4, but now, he's sorry for saying them. On his Tumblr blog, the fired, then re-hired "Community" showrunner apologized to the many people he ripped and indirectly offended in his podcast. "I went to bed feeling great, woke up and started work on season five of 'Community' with our exciting season five staff. I took them to lunch, checked my tweets, discovered my name in several headlines next to several bad words, and, as usual, it was then that I started to consider how my words might affect other people if viewed as headlines. After five seconds of thinking, I realized, as usual, that other people might be hurt, and that I really need to do this whole 'saying things and thinking about other people' cycle in a different order at some point," Harmon wrote. First, Harmon apologized to the show's fans. "I am first and foremost sorry to 'Community' fans that got paid nothing to stick by 'Community' and get us to a fifth season only to hear the incoming showrunner say some stuff that felt very un-'Community.' Even if my goal had been to hurt someone, it would never have been you. What I said was disrespectful to your love for this show, love that I sometimes erroneously equate with validation of me as a person." Then he apologized to the "Community" cast and crew. "Next I want to apologize to the people that did get paid to work on that season, but not enough: the cast and crew ... I was very much not thinking about anyone but myself while watching that season, which was the crime. I hope over time you’ll forgive me. I wasn’t thinking about your contribution or describing it. I was just indulging my petty feelings about being left out." Harmon even apologized to the replacement "Community" showrunners, Moses Port and David Guarascio. "Thirdly, because they got paid more, but still not enough, the season 4 writers. I’m sorry I pooped on your work. You had to do something nobody should have to attempt, and you had the option of doing it the lazy way or the sellout way and you clearly did what you did because you were thinking of the fans. There was some amazing stuff in there." Finally, Harmon apologized for comparing watching Season 4 to rape. "I am deeply sorry to anyone I hurt by using the word 'rape' in a comedic context. I am sorry to anyone I hurt by conjuring the concept of rape in a metaphor about my stupid hurt feelings. As you saw above, unless you skimmed this blog entry for the word 'rape,' I was not thinking about the impact of my words on the people that love 'Community' and work on it." To sum it all up, he's sorry guys. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0..._3460536.html?