NBC’s ‘Community’ season 5: Chevy Chase actually compliments Dan Harmon

For those of you who are looking for a pretty fantastic read when it comes to all things “Community” and Dan Harmon, you are going to find it in this week’s new issue of The Hollywood Reporter. The magazine gives a pretty in-depth account of the showrunner’s dismissal from NBC (consistently turning in scripts late had something to do with it), how he was asked back (thank Joel McHale largely for that), and also his desire to stop speaking about working on his Harmontown podcasts, so that the show can speak for itself, and justify a sixth season based largely on the subject matter first and foremost.

But what to us actually comes as the biggest surprise of the entire article lies within the quote from former star Chevy Chase, who has barely spoken about his time on the show the past two years, including following his departure at the end of 2012. The former “Saturday Night Live” star is complimentary of his relationship with Harmon, though also makes it clear via a joke that it is better that he does not return to the show moving forward:

“Dan and I are friends again. He’s brilliant and can be very funny. The reason I wanted to do the show in the first place was Dan’s writing. And I stand by that. But I have to go now, I’m very busy writing Community’s Ice Capades Extravaganza.”

Granted, you could also argue that the word “can” here is a subtle dig, given that the magazine also notes that Harmon and Chase frequently engaged in dust-ups on the set about his character’s writing, which would later become fodder for future episodes about Pierce Hawthorne as the curmudgeon of the study group.

There is still no premiere date for “Community” season 5 (sadly), but we are likely to find out some more news later this week courtesy of the show’s Comic-Con panel. (Click on the menu above if you want the latest from the convention already.)

What do you think about “Community” season 5’s prospects at the moment? If you do want to read some more news about the show’s production thus far, you can do so here.

Photo: NBC