Dan Harmon’s Community is a cult comedy that acquired its own niche fandom until, of course, several things started going against it. There are many factors that play into the renewal of network shows, including ratings, the budget, casting, and production, but Sony and NBC pulled all the stops just to keep the show on the air, despite several major challenges.

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Things took a toll when the main visionary, Harmon (also the genius behind Rick and Morty), was asked to leave. It turned out Community without Harmon wasn’t Community at all. And although Harmon returned for season 5, the show had lost quite a bit of its footing by then and there were too many reasons for it to end. Here are all the ways Community got worse and worse over the years.

Lost Its Comic Niche

There’s a reason why Community stayed on the air despite being a low-rated comedy. It arrived at a point where it had generated substantial interest and a niche following - a solid viewer base that gave the producers hope. It was never a sitcom for ‘normies’ per se. Instead, it stubbornly adhered to a particular brand of self-deprecating humor that is wry and stylized but not sad.

Harmon left the show at a crucial point because sustaining any comedy show past three seasons is demanding, as the stakes naturally get higher. Going into a fourth season without the visionary who created it was devastating. Community main man Joel McHale, who played Jeff, admitted once, “The show is in Dan's brain – and he's by far the only person that can do it."

Character Inconsistencies

Evil Annie attempts to seduce Jeff wearing a red dress.

It’s a lot of work charting the growth of seven to eight main characters and balancing their arc in a consistent way so they evolve but don’t lose the foundational connection with the fans. There comes a point in every long-standing show when audiences look back and think about who a character really is.

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There are characters, like Monica Geller in Friends or Niles Crane in Frasier, who show phenomenal growth over the course of a series, and fans know enough about the character to go along for the ride. But with Community, characters like Annie or Britta do not have enough grounding to define their fictional selves. Consistent, steady character quirks are crucial, especially for a show with such outlandish narrative devices, but Community falters in that respect.

Too Much Re-establishment

Community, as a show, tried to bring in too many changes in terms of character building, which took a major toll on its storytelling. The treatment of Chang, Shirley, or even Jeff felt majorly sequestered at times, as if their character development had nothing to do with the progression of the show.

There were also so many things about each character that were not taken seriously, like how Chang had at one point tried to kill people or the lazy efforts to re-bolster Jeff as the main man once, again. It’s possible the writers took the audience's love for quirkiness for granted, but viewers had to work hard just to keep up. 

Lost Its Eccentricity

A major shift was seen post-season 3, when Moses Port and David Guarascio took over as writers after Harmon left. Port and Guarascio had previously worked on another exceptional comedy, Happy Endings. But Happy Endings was easy TV, it targeting an entirely different type of audience, who were just looking for something upbeat.

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It became very clear at the beginning of season 4, that the new writers could not keep up with the nuanced sense of outlandish comedy that Community fans were used to. The new plots lacked bite and just weren’t ‘Community’ material, and while they were still funny, they just weren't enough to make the audiences trust the new showrunners.

The Concept Episodes Stopped Working

Community’s concept-driven episodes, be them related to Dungeons & DragonsLaw & Order, or even paintball, were big draws for the show, especially for those who have been following the show since its inception.

The indulgent, nerdy format started off as a refreshing idea, but it eventually became quite redundant. This happened for several reasons. As the show evolved and matured in tone, these concept episodes did not make any room for this, especially since the new ones were too focused on the tribute or the theme and not the narrative of the show. 

The ‘Community’ Approach Backfired

Harmon’s original idea was to build a show which would eventually focus on the idea of a community of people and not necessarily around Greendale, which they just happened to attend together. He had planned to move away from the premise of a campus-driven storyline and that’s how each season was forged.

But season 4, which again, was perhaps the most crucial season for the show, had an entirely different approach altogether and Harmons’ original plan lost its footing. It became obvious that the audiences wouldn’t connect to the group if they weren’t a part of Greendale, so changing the setting was never an option.

The Dynamics Went Stale

The relationship between the members of the study group suffered on many counts as the show progressed. The fandom often blamed behind-scenes-tension with Chevy Chase and drama with Harmon. But even the interpersonal dynamics between Britta, Abed, Troy, Chang, Shirley had nothing new to offer in terms of possibilities.

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Each character had a connection with the audience, but as the show moved on, especially after season 2, Community became singularly plot-driven. The characters were simply present to get through the storylines. The scripts were not designed around them and it showed.

Did Not Take Risks

Annie acting as a lawyer in a classroom court.

Even after Harmon returned for season 5, it looked like the show was trying very hard to justify its renewals, especially considering all the drama. The plotlines were noticeably tamer and no new story elements were introduced. In a way, Community compromised on its unpredictability, which is what made it such a fresh watch.

After Troy and Pierce’s departure, the rest of the characters were clumped together and it didn't help the show. Bringing Chang, Professor Duncan, and Buzz Hickey into the group wasn’t the best solution because each of them added distinct elements that needed more room to breathe and to be brought in gradually.

Needed A Valid Negative Presence

Harmon consistently stuck to the idea that he would never introduce a black-and-white dynamic into the storyline by bringing in someone unabashedly hateful. But a force of evil or even an overly challenging figure was strongly needed in the show to rally the troops together.

As old fashioned as it sounds, this would have been a good move for the show because almost every character had a dark streak in them, especially Chang, Pierce, and Buzz. Some of the best comedies have used this trope to fuel its storylines when things got stale. 

The Finale Was Disappointing

Community had, very early on, made its viewers believe that the show was committed to the idea of growth and self-awareness since it rejected safe narratives and dabbled with subjects most comedies wouldn’t.

But perhaps to make a bid for another renewal, the season 5 finale stuck to a very safe and disappointingly predictable ending that implied that Greendale was saved, so the gang could again come back for more. This 'all’s well that ends well' ending was quite cliched and went against everything that Community had established. 

NEXT: Community: 10 Ways The Dean Got Worse & Worse