NBC’s ‘Community’ season 4: Writer Megan Ganz heads to ‘Modern Family’
Typically when you have a story about a comedy writer leaving, it becomes the sort of story that only a few smart people pay attention to. However, this is a little bit different when that show is “Community,” where almost every person who watches qualifies as a “smart person,” and there is a general understanding that every writer is valuable to making the show so gosh-darn brilliant (hence the figurative sound of heads exploding when creator Dan Harmon was fired).
The news breaking today is particularly sad, since the exit of Megan Ganz to “Modern Family” means that the show is potentially losing someone who was behind some of the show’s strongest episodes, including the season 2 bottle episode “Cooperative Calligraphy” and the “Law & Order” tribute from season 3 entitled “Basic Lupine Urology.” She also wrote the two documentary filmmaking episodes for the show, which explains why the crew over at Steve Levitan’s show wanted her so badly in the first place. (She has some season 4 episodes coming up, as well.)
Ganz actually first made the announcement to the fans on “Community’s” super-active Reddit forum, where in a lengthy letter (which you can read in full here) she explained how much she loves the show while also talking about why she decided to move forward:
“For the last three years, the sum total of my contribution to this planet (in terms of effort, passion, and things I let myself go soft and pimply for) could be described as follows: Community. Recently, I was offered a job writing for Modern Family, and although it’s unclear what will happen with Community for the fifth season (or the sixth season, or the movie), I’ve decided to take this new position. Tomorrow is my first day and I’m excited and scared to start this new … well, everything. I’m sure the coffee will probably be the same.”
From a mere business standpoint, this move by Ganz is surely understandable, mostly given that the future of “Community” is doubtful considering that season 4 is up once again “The Big Bang Theory” and has been off the air for almost a full year. Meanwhile, there’s probably no better place for job security out there than “Modern Family.”
So congratulations to Megan on the gig, but she will surely be missed if “Community” lives on and she cannot come back to write another episode. If you want to watch a new video preview for the show, you can do so over here.
Photo: NBC
