‘Community’ canceled by NBC; is the ‘six seasons and a movie’ prophecy over?

“Community” fans, we are now at the darkest timeline, indeed. In a surprise move today, NBC has opted to pull the plug on the beloved comedy (and one of our personal favorites of all time) is gone after five seasons on the air.

The sad thing here is that this wasn’t a year we were as worried about it compared to after season 4, or after season 3 when Dan Harmon was fired. It felt like there was some justification to keep it around, mostly because other comedies were low-rated on the network, and that six seasons would have gotten it at least partially to “six seasons and a movie” like many fans wanted.

The feeling that we have right now, though, is that the show may not necessary be at an end … at least not yet. “Community” is a huge internet show, and it is certainly feasible that Sony could gauge interest from various streaming services or cable networks (Comedy Central airs it in syndication) to find a home for one more season. Or, maybe there will be a Kickstarter for a movie someday. We are in an age, though, where being canceled is not necessarily a death sentence. We’ll just have to wait and see if these are options that are actually being explored.

For now, let’s just try to console ourselves by remembering the good times, the blanket forts, and the episodes where this show really pushed the envelope. NBC has never had a show quite like this, and they may never again as they have moved further and further away from the quirky comedy route lately.

We’ll have a few more updates on this story as some of the news breaks. Meanwhile, be sure to sign up now to get some other further updates courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: NBC