New year. New school. Community is different.
But we already knew that. Dan Harmon is gone, along with Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan and several others. Moses Port and David Guarascio have taken over as executive producers. This is old news. This is the reality that fans like myself have been mulling over and bemoaning for over 8 months.
The premiere of the fourth season, “History 101,” finally aired, and unsurprisingly, things just didn’t feel the same.
Sure, there were many superficial differences, but was the show fundamentally altered in any way? To answer this question, I defer to the much built-up Hunger Deans. To call this a parody of The Hunger Games is a bit of a stretch, as it more resembled a parody of American Gladiators.
Community has done broad parodies before, so I can look past that. But there’s something else that really struck me about the Hunger Deans episode. For the first time, Dean Pelton has the resources to carry out his elaborate fantasies. Before, his assets consisted of little more than his “sister’s” outfits. Not only that, but the Hunger Deans went off without a hitch.
The Dean is no longer doing the best he can with what little he has. He is now achieving what he wants with considerable means. "History 101" was a good example of why this direction might not work. The failings of Greendale and its overenthusiastic Dean have been such an important part of the show for so long, that it is jarring for a fan to see this disappear. Not only that, but it also lowers the stakes significantly. In the past, Greendale’s failings have been a funny obstacle that the students must overcome on their quest towards graduation.
So are changes like this a bad omen for myself and other fans? Probably. But looking at “History 101” as the foundation for what we can expect from the rest of the fourth season may not be entirely fair. After all, this wasn’t just a set-up episode, it was a transition episode. The episode’s thesis was fairly clear: Yes, this season is going to be different, but so were all the others. So get over it.
With that in mind, the predominant theme of the “History 101” was change, and Abed, true to form, wasn’t equipped to handle that. The gimmick of “History 101” (no, not the Hunger Games parody, the other gimmick), Abed TV, was in essence just a less ambitious version of “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”. Fun, but not entirely fresh; a reminder that making a joke about being different isn’t the same as being different.
It would have been easy to drag this arc out for the entire season, but thankfully, Abed’s fears were resolved in the episode’s final act. So let’s hope that’s the last of the meta-commentary on the show’s new owners. The point was made well enough in one episode that anything more would be superfluous.
If “History 101” is an indication of the new standard, I’m not a thrilled fan. But if “History 101” is a transition to the new standard (which I believe it is), then I’m an optimistic fan and am willing to keep following Community loyally. Even if “History 101” wasn’t great, it was still a thrill to see my favorite characters back in action. I found myself forgetting about the past 8 months of waiting.
Going forward, the worst that Port and Guarascio could do would be to completely imitate the style that Harmon et al established. Loyal fans will be able to spot the falseness inherent in such a venture almost immediately.
Port and Guarascio, we know you aren’t Dan Harmon. So now that you’ve affirmed that, please answer this more important question: Who are you?
In a perfect world, Port and Guarascio will hit their stride within the next few episodes. I, personally, would be willing to accept major differences in the show, as long as those differences are the product of self-expressive intentions, and not of cheap imitation. It might sound critical, but I say this with love and sincerity: The real magic of Community has always been rampant creative self-indulgence. The goal of season four shouldn’t be to indulge the ghost of Dan Harmon, or even to indulge the fans. The goal should be for this new staff to indulge themselves.