The most revealing thing about Dan Harmon being...

The most revealing thing about Dan Harmon being ousted from Community is that it’s such a powerful (in a bad way, of course) display of how crass studios can be when it comes to their TV shows. First off, it sure seems like Sony threw NBC under the bus because part of me thinks that no matter how badly they’re doing, they would have never renewed the show had Sony not been so desperate, and now they’re stuck for another season with a terribly-rated show that is going to lose even more viewers this upcoming season, if the backlash will follow through (not to mention that it’s going to air on a Friday night).

More importantly, because I doubt most are going to shed tears over NBC’s situation, this is Sony telling us that not only do they not understand Community’s appeal, they don’t even care to try to understand it. I can only speak for myself when I say that the majority of the show’s appeal boiled down to Harmon’s creativity but yet, I still think it’s undeniable that the show’s idiosyncrasies were his thing, for better or worse. This move is Sony trying to have their cake and eat it too. It’s them trying to push Community for at least one more season to get syndication for it but also them trying to broaden its appeal. They had to know that this show was on its last leg - there’s no way that at this point in the show’s life, that it’ll magically grow an audience size that will keep it alive. You can’t give a show its dying breath just so you yourselves can get paid but also make a move towards accessibility. There’s no point.