“Six seasons and a movie” has been the mantra of “Community” fans since an offhand joke in the second season. Now that dream may be ending one season and one movie short of reality.
NBC has officially canceled “Community” after five seasons. Last season, “Community” managed an eleventh hour renewal when its parent studio, Sony TV cut a deal with NBC that included one of this season’s biggest new dramas, “The Blacklist.” “Community” creator Dan Harmon was rehired as the showrunner and the series had a strong creative resurgence thanks to Harmon and returning executive producer Chris McKenna.
Despite the demise of “Community,” there is a chance that the series could return for a sixth season. Comedy Central would be the most obvious choice to pick up “Community,” as it already has the syndication rights for the first five seasons. Harmon and company have previously floated the idea that “Community” could be picked by a streaming service like Hulu, Netflix or even Sony’s Crackle.
While that slim hope exists for “Community,” it will be an uphill battle for “Revolution.” NBC canceled the J.J. Abrams produced drama after two seasons. “Revolution” was one of NBC’s success stories last season when it was paired with “The Voice.” Without “The Voice” as a lead in, “Revolution” dropped like a stone in the ratings.
“Revolution” has its own diehard following, but it is also a significantly more expensive show to produce than “Community” and it doesn’t have enough episodes to enter daily syndication. If the last few years of TV resurrections have taught us anything, it’s that anything is possible. In theory, a network or a streaming service could also be interested in picking up “Revolution.” It just isn’t very likely to happen.
NBC will announce its complete Fall 2014 lineup later this month.
