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Community season 4

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Community
Season 4
DVD cover
Starring
No. of episodes13
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseFebruary 7 (2013-02-07) –
May 9, 2013 (2013-05-09)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 3
Next →
Season 5
List of episodes

The fourth season of the television comedy series Community premiered on February 7, 2013 and concluded on May 9, 2013.[1] The season consists of 13 episodes and aired on NBC on Thursdays at 8:00 pm ET as part of the network's "Comedy Night Done Right" programming block.[2]

The season marked the departure of showrunner Dan Harmon and overall received mixed reviews from critics. In the series's fifth season, Harmon returned as showrunner, and the fourth season was referred to retroactively as "the gas-leak year."[3]

Cast

See also: List of Community characters

Starring

Episodes

See also: List of Community episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		US viewers
(millions)
721"History 101"Tristram ShapeeroAndy BobrowFebruary 7, 2013 (2013-02-07)4013.88[4]
732"Paranormal Parentage"Tristram ShapeeroMegan GanzFebruary 14, 2013 (2013-02-14)4032.76[5]
743"Conventions of Space and Time"Michael Patrick JannMaggie BandurFebruary 21, 2013 (2013-02-21)4043.08[6]
754"Alternative History of the German Invasion"Steven TsuchidaBen WexlerFebruary 28, 2013 (2013-02-28)4022.83[7]
765"Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations"Tristram ShapeeroSteve Basilone & Annie MebaneMarch 7, 2013 (2013-03-07)4053.29[8]
776"Advanced Documentary Filmmaking"Jay ChandrasekharHunter CovingtonMarch 14, 2013 (2013-03-14)4082.58[9]
787"Economics of Marine Biology"Tricia BrockTim SaccardoMarch 21, 2013 (2013-03-21)4062.95[10]
798"Herstory of Dance"Tristram ShapeeroJack KukodaApril 4, 2013 (2013-04-04)4072.32[11]
809"Intro to Felt Surrogacy"Tristram ShapeeroGene HongApril 11, 2013 (2013-04-11)4132.84[12]
8110"Intro to Knots"Tristram ShapeeroAndy BobrowApril 18, 2013 (2013-04-18)4093.13[13]
8211"Basic Human Anatomy"Beth McCarthy-MillerJim RashApril 25, 2013 (2013-04-25)4102.33[14]
8312"Heroic Origins"Victor Nelli, Jr.Steve Basilone & Annie Mebane & Maggie BandurMay 2, 2013 (2013-05-02)4122.67[15]
8413"Advanced Introduction to Finality"Tristram ShapeeroMegan GanzMay 9, 2013 (2013-05-09)4113.08[16]

Production

Prior to the fourth season's production, series' creator Dan Harmon was fired by Sony Pictures Television.

The series was renewed for a fourth season of 13 episodes on May 10, 2012.[17] On May 18, 2012, after returning to California from a cross-country flight, series' creator Dan Harmon received a text message alerting him that he had been relieved of his position as Community showrunner by Sony Pictures Television. Reportedly, Harmon's erratic behavior (such as his drinking, his tardiness, his falling asleep at work and his disappearing in San Francisco for a few days during the SF Sketchfest) and leadership style (namely the “tug of war between his perfectionist tendencies and his procrastinator nature”) were the reasons that the studio fired him.[18] To replace Harmon, Sony Pictures Television hired writers David Guarascio and Moses Port, the co-creators of the short-lived CW series Aliens in America.[18][19] Sony Pictures Television claimed that Harmon would serve as a consulting producer, but Harmon affirmed via his Tumblr that he would not return in a position without executive prerogatives.[19] Regardless, Harmon was credited as an "executive consultant" for the season, despite not working on a single episode.[20]

The fourth season saw other behind-the-scenes changes, as well. Executive producers Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan, writer/producer Chris McKenna and actor/writer Dino Stamatopoulos all departed following the third season. Frequent episode directors and executive producers Anthony and Joe Russo also left in order to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier.[21][22] McKenna, Stamatopoulos, and Joe Russo later returned to work on the show's fifth season.

Returning writers for fourth season included co-executive producer Andy Bobrow, producer Megan Ganz, and staff writer Tim Saccardo, who had been with the series since season two; and co-executive producer Maggie Bandur, and writing team and executive story editors Steve Basilone and Annie Mebane, who joined the series in season three.[23][24][20] New additions to the writing staff in the fourth season included co-executive producer Ben Wexler, co-producers Hunter Covington and Gene Hong, and staff writers Issac Gonzalez and Jack Kukoda.[20] Cast member Jim Rash (who won an Academy Award for co-writing The Descendants) wrote the eleventh episode of the season.[25] Tristram Shapeero, who directed several episodes during the first three seasons, was promoted to an executive producer and directed the majority of the fourth season's episodes.[20]

Filming for the season began in August 2012,[26] and the series was initially scheduled to premiere on October 19, 2012, airing in a new time slot on Fridays at 8:30 pm.[27] In early October 2012, NBC delayed the premiere.[28] NBC.com released a video of the cast of Community in character addressing the delay of the season premiere; this video humorously claimed that October 19 is merely a "state of mind".[29][30] On October 30, 2012, NBC announced that the fourth season would premiere on February 7, 2013, returning to its original time slot of Thursdays at 8:00 pm.[1]

Chevy Chase's departure

This was the final season to feature Chevy Chase as a series regular.

It was not fun at all [to write Chevy Chase out of the show]. Especially because for a couple weeks we did not know from day to day, from hour to hour, whether we had Chevy or not. We literally had to come up with multiple contingency plans: what if you had Chevy for one more day? What if you didn't have him at all? What if you had him but only under very specific conditions? It drove us fucking crazy.

Andy Bobrow, discussing writing Chevy Chase's departure into the story.[31]

During the filming of "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking", Chevy Chase became angry at the racist direction his character was heading. While venting his frustrations, he used the slur "nigger"; episode director Jay Chandrasekhar argued that Chase's use of the word was "political," and an attempt to point out how racist his character had become.[32] Regardless, the slur upset cast members, and Chase walked off of the set. He later returned to film some additional scenes, but later announced on November 21, 2012 that he had left the show.[33][34]

As a result of timing and the agreement made, Chase's character Pierce is absent for two episodes—he did not appear in tenth episode, "Intro to Knots", or the twelfth episode, "Heroic Origins".[35][36] He also appeared in a voice-only role in the episode "Intro to Felt Surrogacy", which was the final episode produced for the season, and as part of his agreement to leave the show, Chase was required to record all audio for the scenes where his character, alongside the other characters, appeared as a puppet.[37][38] The season finale, which was filmed out-of-sequence, as it was the eleventh episode produced, marked the final on-screen appearance of Chase as a regular cast member.

Reception

Rating

The season premiere, "History 101", was seen by 3.88 million viewers and scored a 1.8 in the 18–49 demographic.[4] This meant that its ratings were up when compared not only to the third season finale (which was seen by 2.48 million viewers and received a 1.3 in the 18–49 demographic), but also the aforementioned season's premiere (which was seen by 3.93 million and received a 1.7 in the 18–49 demographic).[39][40][41] The premiere's ratings were enough to generate cautiously optimistic speculation that the show would be renewed for a fifth season (speculation that was later confirmed).[41][42] However, as the season wore on, the ratings began to dip, which led some to wonder if this would be the show's last season.[43] The season's final episode, "Advanced Introduction to Finality", was viewed by 3.08 million viewers and scored a 1.3 rating in the 18–49 demographic.[16]

Critical reviews

The fourth season received mixed to positive reviews from critics, and is considered to be the weakest season of Community due to Harmon's absence. The fourth season scored 69 out of 100 based on 17 critics on Metacritic based on episode 1 and 3, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[44] On Rotten Tomatoes, it was reported that 65% of critics gave the season a positive review.[45] Verne Gay of Newsday stated, "Still defiantly Community, still good and still uninterested in adding new viewers."[46] On the other hand, Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall stated, "It feels like [Moses] Port, [David] Guarascio and the other writers decided to reverse-engineer the [Dan] Harmon version of Community, but couldn't quite manage without the missing ingredient of Harmon himself."[47] Mike Hale of The New York Times has stated that the series "has been dumbed down, its humor broadened past recognition, and the two episodes provided for review...have fewer laughs between them than a single good scene from the old Community."[48] At the end of season 4, The A.V. Club's Emily VanDerWerff confessed, "I never thought I would say this, but I just don't care anymore."[49]

Harmon's response

In an episode of Harmontown — a weekly live-comedy podcast — Harmon initially said that, while the season was an "impression, and an unflattering one," it was merely "not [his] cup of tea." Later in the same interview, however, he likened it to "'flipping through Instagram just watching your girlfriend blow everyone' and seeing a friend 'Like' a photo of your ex-girlfriend with her new boyfriend on Facebook."[50] Harmon also described the season as like "being held down and watching your family get raped on a beach".[51] Later, in a Tumblr blog post, Harmon apologized to fans of the show, its cast and crew and the writers. He apologized for the rape comparison and for using the phrase "durpy durpy dur" in a joke about the season, saying that the phrase is "language used to dehumanize the developmentally disabled".[52] Sony later expressed an interest in having Harmon record commentary tracks for all the fourth-season episodes, although this did not come to pass.[53]

DVD release

The fourth season was released on DVD in region 1 on August 6, 2013 (2013-08-06),[54] in region 2 on October 28, 2013 (2013-10-28),[55] and in region 4 on July 3, 2014 (2014-07-03).[56]

References

  1. ^ a b Villarreal, Yvonne (October 30, 2012). "'Community' goes back to school Feb. 7 as NBC sets midseason slate". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
  2. ^ "Shows A-Z - community on nbc". The Futon Critic. Retrieved March 19, 2013.
  3. ^ Hudson, Laura (January 3, 2014). "Community Gets Funny Again by Embracing Its Own Failure". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Bibel, Sara (February 8, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Community' & 'The Big Bang Theory' Adjusted Up; 'Person of Interest' & 'Elementary' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  5. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (February 15, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Zero Hour', 'Big Bang Theory', 'Community', 'Idol', 'Elementary' & 'Grey's Anatomy' Adjusted Up; 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  6. ^ Bibel, Sara (February 22, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory', 'Parks and Recreation', 'Grey's Anatomy' & 'Elementary' Adjusted Up; 'Beauty and the Beast' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
  7. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (March 1, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Community' Adjusted Up; No Adjustment for 'American Idol' or 'Zero Hour'". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  8. ^ Bibel, Sara (March 8, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'American Idol' Adjusted Up; 'Glee' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  9. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (March 15, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory', 'American Idol' & 'Community' Adjusted Up; 'Elementary' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  10. ^ Bibel, Sara (March 22, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings:'The Vampire Diaries', 'American Idol', 'Grey's Anatomy' & '1600 Penn' Adjusted Up; 'Beauty and the Beast' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  11. ^ Bibel, Sara (April 5, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory', 'American Idol', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Two and a Half Men', 'The Office', & 'Wife Swap' Adjusted Up; 'Scandal' & 'The Mindy Project' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  12. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (April 12, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Hannibal' & 'American Idol' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
  13. ^ Bibel, Sara (April 13, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Vampire Diaries' & 'American Idol' Adjusted Up; 'Glee' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  14. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (April 26, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Vampire Diaries', 'The Big Bang Theory' & 'American Idol' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
  15. ^ Bibel, Sara (May 3, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory', 'American Idol', 'The Vampire Diaries', 'Two and a Half Men', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Glee','Parks and Recreation' & 'Hannibal' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  16. ^ a b Kondolojy, Amanda (May 10, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Big Bang Theory', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'American Idol', 'Vampire Diaries', 'Two and a Half Men', 'Wipeout', & 'Elementary' Adjusted Up; 'Glee' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  17. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (May 10, 2012). "NBC's 'Community' Renewed with 13 Episode Order". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
  18. ^ a b Rose, Lacey (July 17, 2013). "'Community's' Dan Harmon Reveals the Wild Story Behind His Firing and Rehiring". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  19. ^ a b Harmon, Dan (May 19, 2012). "Hey, Did I Miss Anything?". Dan Harmon Poops. Tumblr. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  20. ^ a b c d "Community - Credits". NBC. Archived from the original on May 27, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  21. ^ Adalian, Josef (May 18, 2012). "Dan Harmon Is No Longer Showrunner on Community". Vulture. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  22. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (May 19, 2012). "Can 'Community' work without Dan Harmon?". HitFix. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  23. ^ Fitzpatrick, Kevin (May 24, 2012). "'Community' Writer Confirmed to Return for Season 4". ScreenCrush. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  24. ^ "Andy Bobrow, Annie Mebane and Steve Basilone Also Returning". Dan Harmon Sucks. May 25, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  25. ^ Masters, Megan (February 23, 2013). "Community's Jim Rash Previews His Freaky Friday-esque Episode: 'It's Very Greendale'". TVLine. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  26. ^ Siegel, Tatiana; Belloni, Matthew (July 12, 2012). "Ken Jeong Signs on for Expanded Role in 'Hangover: Part III' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  27. ^ Ausiello, Michael (June 14, 2012). "Fall TV: NBC Sets Premiere Dates, Including Summer Debuts and Late Start For Community". TVLine. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  28. ^ Carter, Bill (October 8, 2012). "NBC Delays Premiere of 'Community'". The New York Times. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  29. ^ Snierson, Dan (October 19, 2012). "'Community': 'Troy & Abed in the Morning' addresses the show's delay". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  30. ^ Ng, Philiana (October 19, 2012). "'Community' Stars Address Premiere Date Shift: October 19th Is 'a State of Mind' (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  31. ^ Bobrow, Andy (2013). "It was not fun at all". Reddit. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  32. ^ Nelson, Jenny (May 16, 2013). "Talking to Broken Lizard's Jay Chandrasekhar about 'Freeloaders' and the Chevy Chase N-Word Thing". Splitsider. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  33. ^ "Episode 6: Chewin' It #6 with Kevin and... Jay Chandrasekhar". Nerdist Industries. April 10, 2013. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016. Note: Pertinent information appears at around the 49:00 mark.
  34. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (November 21, 2012). "Chevy Chase Leaving NBC's 'Community'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  35. ^ VanDerWerff, Emily (April 18, 2013). "Intro To Knots". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  36. ^ VanDerWerff, Emily (May 2, 2013). "Heroic Origins". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  37. ^ VanDerWerff, Emily (April 11, 2013). "Intro To Felt Surrogacy". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  38. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (November 21, 2012). "Chevy Chase Leaving NBC's 'Community'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 22, 2012.
  39. ^ "Thursday Final Ratings: 'American Idol', 'Grey's Anatomy', '30 Rock' Adjusted Up; 'Touch', 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. May 18, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  40. ^ Seidman, Robert (September 23, 2011). "TV Rating Thursday: 'Big Bang Theory' Leads Night; 'X-Factor' Steady, Solid Starts For 'Whitney,' 'Person Of Interest'". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  41. ^ a b "'Community' Ratings Return Up For NBC In Season 4 Premiere". Huffington Post. February 8, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  42. ^ "'Community' Renewed for Fifth Season by NBC (Updated)". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. May 10, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  43. ^ "Bubble Watch: 'Beauty and the Beast' Likely to be Canceled; 'The Following' Upgraded". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. February 24, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  44. ^ "Community: Season 4". Metacritic. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  45. ^ "Community: Season 4 (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  46. ^ Gay, Verne (February 6, 2013). "'Community' review: Never fear, the gang's all here". Newsday. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  47. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (February 7, 2013). "Review: NBC's 'Community' not the same without Dan Harmon in season 4". Hitfix. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  48. ^ Hale, Mike (February 6, 2013). "Same Classroom, New Curriculum on 'Community'". The New York Times. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  49. ^ VanDerWerff, Emily Todd (May 9, 2013). "Community: Advanced Introduction To Finality". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  50. ^ Busis, Hillary (June 17, 2013). "Dan Harmon Compares Watching Season 4 of Community To... Some Terrible Stuff". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  51. ^ O'Neal, Sean (June 17, 2013). "Dan Harmon had some predictably harsh words for Community's fourth season". Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  52. ^ Harmon, Dan (2013). "It Won't Happen Again Again". Dan Harmon Poops. Tumblr. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  53. ^ Evans, Bradford (September 9, 2013). "The 'Community' Season 4 DVD Doesn't Feature Dan Harmon Commentary". Splitsider. Archived from the original on July 26, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  54. ^ "Community: The Complete Fourth Season". Amazon.com. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  55. ^ "Community - Season 4 [DVD + UV Copy]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  56. ^ "Community: Season 4 (DVD)". EzyDVD.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
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