'Community' Is Over, For Real This Time

The life of Community is perhaps the greatest "Will They?/Won't They?" story of television history. There has been so much back and forth between the show, its cast, and the networks about cancellation that they actually trump Ross and Rachel in the "we were on a break" department. Though Yahoo did save the series from complete demise on NBC and produced its sixth season, the show has finally come to an end. Joel McHale confirmed that Community ended with Season 6, and the Yachoo season was the series' last, in an interview with Metro Weekly, despite fans clamoring for more.

The reason it ended boiled down to the fact that Yahoo just couldn't afford the cast. "All of our contracts were up after six years. All the actors on the show, almost without exception — their stock has risen significantly and it’s out of the pay rate that is affordable to make the show. So you’re not going to be able to get Alison Brie or Gillian Jacobs at a normal television salary anymore. There is just not enough money to be able to pay for the show."

Community has always been the little comedy that could. Its audience came to love the show for its niche humor, lovable characters, and its perfect balance of whimsy and cynicism. It faced cancellation at the end of almost every season and championed on much longer than the industry predicted. Thankfully, all is still not lost for Community. A Community movie is still highly likely to happen.

Dan Harmon, the show's creator spoke at the ATX Festival earlier this summer about the prospects of a film, "I told Yahoo, 'I can't think about writing a movie until I miss Community.' They wanted to turn around a do a movie immediately, and Yahoo can get it done. They're like the NSA." Now that we know the show is over, Harmon may start missing Community a lot sooner than we all expected. Until then, I'll leave you with this.

Images: NBC; Giphy