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*[http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/07/24/community-comic-con-panel/ Entertainment Weekly Community Comic Con Panel] |
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[[Category:Seasons]] |
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Revision as of 10:09, 20 December 2014
 Community has done it, beating the odds and overcoming a cancellation to score a sixth-season order.
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| — Deadline.com |
On June 30, 2014 it was announced that the online streaming service Yahoo Screen had picked up Community for a sixth Season. This ended weeks of speculation about renewal between Sony Pictures Television and another online entity Hulu falling through. The news arrived only a day before the cast contracts were set to expire on July 1st. A total of thirteen episodes were ordered and the show started production in the Fall of 2014. The premiere date was speculated to be sometime after Christmas, possibly January 27, 2015 (source).
Production
Renewal
After its cancellation by NBC on May 19, 2014, Sony aggressively pursued other avenues for a sixth season of Community to appear. On May 28 it was reported by Deadline.com that the online subscription service Hulu was interested in picking up the show. Hulu already had the streaming rights for the complete back catalog of Community episodes. Show creator Dan Harmon posted on his tumblr blog that while he was skeptical about renewal he would be open to returning to the show if it actually happened. In a Crave online interview with actor Danny Pudi ( Abed Nadir) he mentioned that any deal would need to be finalized before the end of June when the casts contracts were to expire. On June 24, negotiations stalled with some sources stating Hulu lost interest and other sites refuting those claims. The conflicted reports also mentioned another media company also in talks with Sony which was later revealed to be Yahoo. Sony executive Zack Van Amburg mentioned creator Dan Harmon was heavily involved in the final negotiations. On June 30 it was officially announced that Yahoo had picked up Community for a sixth Season to be aired on their online streaming network Yahoo Screen.
Cast and Crew
The last minute deal was brokered just before the actors contract expiration deadline. All of the remaining main cast from Season Five (Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ken Jeong and Jim Rash) were expected to return. However, not long after Seaon Six began production, it was announced on September 30 that Yvette Nicole Brown was leaving the show. Brown requested a release from her contract in order to take care of her ailing father. She issued this statement through TV Guide:
- “My dad needs daily care and he needs me. The idea of being away 16 hours a day for five months, I couldn't do it. It was a difficult decision for me to make, but I had to choose my dad.”— Yvette Nicole Brown
With Brown's departure two new characters were created to help fill out the returning cast. On November 9 Yahoo TV announced who would play the new roles of "Francesca "Frankie" Dart" and "Elroy Patashnik". Actress Paget Brewster was cast as Dart. She is described as a woman who's brought in as a consultant to help shape up the school. Brewster had previously played the character of Debra Chambers in Season Five of Community. Actor Keith David was cast as Patashnik, a retired scientist who comes to Greendale to reinvent himself. David had also been on a previous Community episode providing the narration for the Season Three episode "Pillows and Blankets".
On November 17 Entertainment Weekly.com reported that Martin Mull and Lesley Ann Warren had been cast as Britta's parents George and Deb Perry.
Recurring cast member Jonathan Banks (Buzz Hickey) is not expected to return since he is committed to AMC's "Breaking Bad" spin off "Better Call Saul". John Oliver's (Ian Duncan) status is unknown due to his work on "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver". At the 2014 San Diego Comic Con Dan Harmon said Oliver's participation was still "contractually possible".
On December 8, 2014, Chevy Chase (Pierce Hawthorne) did an AMA session on Reddit and revealed he has a small cameo in Season Six with the possibilty of returning for another appearance.
During his appearance at Paleyfest earlier in the year, Harmon stated that if Community was renewed he would like Donald Glover (Troy Barnes) to come back for Season Six. There has been no official word yet on Glover's possible return although he did joke about reprising the role during an IGN interview back in June. In an interview with TV line, Dan Harmon mentioned he told Yahoo that he would like to have Glover return and a spokesperson replied they would work on that. On October 3rd, Donald Glover discussed the possibility of returning in an on air interview with radio talk show host JoJo Wright. Glover admitted to having to talked to Dan Harmon about it but teased if he was going to return that he wanted to make sure it felt right to him and was handled correctly in keeping with the spirit of the show (source).
Community creator, Showrunner and executive producer Dan Harmon confirmed his and co-showrunner Chris McKenna's return. Writer Matt Roller stated on Reddit that he would be returning but Don Diego, Tim Saccardo, Andy Bobrow, Jordan Blum, Adam Countee and Parker Deay would not since they had gotten jobs on other shows before the renewal was announced. On September 8, the writing staff for Season Six assembled. A list of the current writing staff was tweeted online and included Dan Harmon, Chris McKenna, Kevin Beigel, Dan Guterman, Alex Rubens, Ryan Ridley, Matt Roller,
Carol Kolb
and Monica Padrick.
An interview on IGN posted on August 26, 2014, former Community executive producers and directors Joe and Anthony Russo revealed they were returning to direct the Season Six premiere. On November 17 it was announced by Spoiler guide.com that Jim Rash (Dean Pelton) and his writing partner Nat Faxon were going to direct the second episode featuring the debut of Keith David's character "Elroy Patashnik".
During an AMA on Reddit, Chevy Chase announced he would be filming another cameo for the beginning of the sixth season.
Development
| On his twitter account, Dan Harmon confirmed that work on the show would be starting Fall 2014 dismissing reports that Season Six would premiere at that time. Harmon later stated at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con Community panel that the first episode of Season Six would most likely premiere sometime after Christmas. According to a Yahoo Movies article, production of the show is scheduled to start on November 17. Sony executive Zack Van Aumburg stated that budget of the show would be unchanged and that because of the different format on Yahoo! screen, episodes could actually run longer than the 21 minutes broadcast versions which ran on NBC (source). At the 2014 Comic Con panel, Harmon stated he wanted to "make the same show" and not push the boundaries of what they could do simply for the sake of doing that (source). Dan Harmon confirmed on his Instagram account that filming of the show would take place at CBS studio center instead of the Paramount lot on Stage 31. Harmon has speculated the shows premiere date to be January 27, 2015 (source).
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Promotion
Promotional material
| Yahoo promotion
After negotiations were completed, Yahoo posted online a poster featuring the hashtag "#COMMUNITYLIVESON". They later had similar posters promoting the show prominently displayed at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con.
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Promotional photos
Behind the scenes photos
Interviews
Comic-Con
| At the 2014 San Diego Comic Con, a special panel was hosted by TV Guide celebrating "Community" called "Greendale Forever". Creator Dan Harmon and co-showrunner Chris McKenna were in attendance joined by cast members Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash along with creative consultant (and Star-Burns portrayer) Dino Stamatopoulos. They answered questions about the show and talked about what to expect in Season Six.
Yahoo did a great deal of promotion throughout the convention center with "Community" Season Six banners and bathroom signs. The bathroom signs had the human being school mascot outside of the men's room and the human being with a bow outside the ladies room. Yahoo also announced that there would be free sub sandwiches at the downtown San Diego Subway for four hours. In that time a Subway world record was broken for the most amount of sandwiches sold in one day.
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