The creator of NBC’s Community, Dan Harmon, has confirmed with the Hollywood Reporter that he is in talks with Sony Pictures Television about a return to Community’s fifth season.
The creator has his own podcast called “Harmontown” on which he announced a possible return to Community this past Sunday. HollyWookie.com had a reporter present for the filming of the podcast to confirm though Harmon himself later asked that his comment about returning be edited out.
Harmon was fired from the show with David Guarascio and Moses Port taking over. Last August Harmon told KCRW’s the Business, “I would have fired me.” He went on to say, “Sony was always so bummed out about the way I wrote and thought, and they always fantasized about doing the show without me.” This came after NBC moved Community to the Friday time slot also known as TV’s graveyard though it was later moved back to its original Thursday time slot on February 7, 2013.
Community, however, remained strong this season despite this season’s mid-season hiatus as the show was replaced by 30 Rock. Fans and stars alike took to Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook with hashtags such as #SaveCommunity and #SixSeasonsAndAMovie and even a CollegeHumor video called, “Save Greendale (with the cast of Community)”. NBC announced that it was still planning to air the rest of 22 episodes in response to the social media outrage.
Perhaps it was recent opinion of critics that has gotten Sony talking to Harmon about his future role in his show. Mike Hale of the New York Times said that Community “has been dumbed down, its humor broadened past recognition, and the two episodes provided for review […] have fewer laughs between them than a single good scene from the old Community.” Or perhaps it was Joel McHale who told TVLine.com that he was “literally praying” for Harmon’s return and tweeting “@danharmon you are a true genius. You gave me the role of a lifetime & three of the best years of my life.” The cast took to Twitter expressing their concerns and sadness that Harmon would not be a part of the show’s future.
In the interview with KCRW’s Darby Maloney, Harmon ended with his one regret saying, “I think I would have made a little bit more of fun of the people that I’ll obviously never work with again.” Perhaps it is best that he did not as he may be seeing their faces in a professional capacity again shortly.