Many a fan of NBC’s cult comedy series Community is probably uncomfortably familiar by now with the saga of costar Chevy Chase stirring up trouble behind the scenes, the most infamous example being his tempestuous relationship with ex-showrunner and creator Dan Harmon.
Moreover, Chase’s public disparaging of the show-making process – and dismissal of the show as amounting to “a sitcom on television, which is probably the lowest form of television” – has left members of Community‘s limited, but fiercely-loyal, fanbase waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, it appears as though it has at last.
Deadline has been informed that Chase and the Community producers (which also includes the newly-appointed co-showrunners David Guarascio and Moses Port) are indeed “parting ways by mutual agreement.” This announcement follows on the heels of a report from last month, revealing that Chase dropped the N-word during a recent on-set tirade – one prompted by his disgruntlement over scripted lines for his character, Pierce Hawthorne, which the actor deemed too offensive.
To be frank, Chase’s premature departure from Community has seemed inevitable for a while now. The show’s second season concluded on a cliff-hanger, with Pierce acknowledging that he no longer wanted to be a member of ‘The Greendale Seven’ after both his and their dysfunctional behavior over the past year. Thereafter, the character was brought back for season three; however, his role in the over-arching narrative (and even episodic proceedings) was noticeably downplayed – with few exceptions, such as Pierce’s discovery that he has a half-brother in the “Digital Estate Planning” episode.
By the sound of it, the Piece character in season four isn’t so much stagnant (like in season three); rather, he actually regresses back to his clueless non-PC antics in the first couple seasons. Hence, it might be for the best that Chase just steps away from the series – even without taking his off-screen deeds into consideration – as the Community showrunners seem unable to create any more compelling material for him (unlike the rest of the core cast).
The Greendale Seven (and Chang)
Deadline is reporting that the majority of filming on season four of Community has been finished by now, so presumably steps have been taken to account for Pierce’s absence from the show in the last handful of episodes. Indeed, his departure might be one of numerous developments that take place in order to properly wrap things up on the show – which, in all likelihood, won’t be getting a fifth season, due to its niche appeal and smaller ratings (and that prediction comes from someone who is a steadfast supporter of the series).
Harmon did take steps to bring some closure to the lives of the oddball students at Greendale Community College in the show’s season three finale (in case it wasn’t renewed for a fourth season). Hopefully, the additional episodes won’t diminish the satisfying vibe left by the last one that was produced under Harmon’s watch – not to mention, avoid invoking the love-it-or-hate-it reactions from fans that the unexpected fifth season of Fringe has prompted.
Community season 4 will premiere on Thursday, February 7th, 2013 @ 8 p.m. on NBC.
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Source: Deadline
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If he wants to split, probably for the better.
SIX SEASONS AND MOVIE!
He’s a baby who hasn’t done anything since the 80′s so who cares.
Man i love chevy
One of the funniest guys of his generation, but he will never get full credit because of his terrible decision making and overall bad attitude.
Bugger.
I won’t miss Pierce. Of all the cast members, he was the most expendable.
Not Britta? You would seriously not notice if she was not in an episode she is such a back seat character.
I’m not seeing that everyone else is absolutely necessary, just that Pierce isn’t that important of a character.
Totally agree, britta is worthless.
Britta is the worst!
I hope he got fired and that it wasn’t amicable and that we resultingly get to hear him give hilariously narcissistic egomaniacal reasons for his departure. Guy is a grade-A d-bag, some of the stories I’ve read about him over the years are absolutely unbelievable. I don’t even know how he ever got work in Hollywood if even 1/10 of the stories are true
The stories go back as far as Caddy Shack….he was and is still a Richard head.
Sad he is leaving, but hopefully this will spaerk more intrest in the show and bring up the ratings. I think that they will get a fifth season because the start sndycation next year, and NBC might try to see if that brings in any new fans. GO HUMANBEINGS!!!!!!!!!!
Well he certainly won’t be missed. Now we can finally get a few episodes that don’t have to force in a few jokes for him.
Good. He wasn’t that much of an important factor. Erase all traces and replace him with Chang.
To give you an idea of Chevy Chase’s love affair with the sound of his own ego, read this:
http://gawker.com/5899097
I read that even though there is 2 episodes left to film they have already filmed the finale so it should be easy to write him off for the 2 episodes and then have him there for the last.
In all honesty though I don’t like the fact that he’ll be a part of the whole season minus the 2 episodes. IMO he doesn’t deserve it. The say goes that you don’t s**t where you eat and for the past few years that’s all he’s done. Actually since season 1 of SNL that’s all he’s done.
Now that he will be as about as unhireable as any actor his age times 10 maybe just maybe he’ll take the time to realize life could have been a lot worse for him and maybe he’ll take the time to go back and try to repair the damage he’s done over the past 30 something years. But who am I kidding??? This is Chevy Chase I’m talking about.
Maybe now we’ll be in a happier timeline.
#sixseasonsandamovie
What was Chevy Chase’s career going before community?
My wife and I will definitely miss Pierce. He was often the best part of the show and for what it’s worth, I agree with Chase that Harmon was making Pierce too weird and too mean. Sad that it had to end this way, it was a great show and if it had gotten the ratings, we would probably be saying that the friction and tempest was good for the show. Pierce will always be the only person to drown in a parking lot twice.
Britta is awesome fck you guys
“Pierce will always be the only person to drown in a parking lot twice.” OH YEAH! Ahahah I will miss Pierce
Pitty about that, Pierce is my favorite character.
I don’t agree with what others have said here. Pierce is definitely an important part of the seven. His random lines and weird comments added to the variety of the group. With him it sort of just feels like a teen show too. He made me laugh a lot. The others sometimes are a little too stereotypical to be funny.
I meant: without him it would just feel like a teen show.
I will love this show as long as Annie is there
I am going to guess that most of the Chevy haters here are under 35 and have never watched Fletch or the Vacation movies. Chevy has great comedic talent and his Pierce character was overly vulgar at times.
I love Pierce and im so sad the actor has decided to leave! I think his caracter was great and it will be wierd to see the group without him, I think its a mistake, all of them are important in the group, thats what makes this series so special.
…And then they were renewed for a fifth season.