The Shows Mostly Formerly Affiliated with NBC's Thursday Night Comedy Block Thread **SPOILERS**

[MalaCloudy Black]

Haven't caught 30 Rock yet but man last night's Community was fucking good. Evil Vice Dean Laybourne is great.

EDIT: OK, 30 Rock was pretty good too. 5 now dog 5!

[GoGo Yubari]

I didn't like 30 Rock much at all, actually. The danger of doing an episode that's a commentary on how same-y the show can get is that it just brings awareness to how the episode doesn't have much going for it beyond a couple decent lines.

Community was good, though, particularly the Britta/Subway plot and Vice Dean Laybourne going through some things. It dropped in the ratings a bit due to Big Bang Theory, as expected, but it's still higher-rated than anything else on the NBC Thursday block right now so at this point I have to think season four is a lock.

EDIT: The gag about Cerie's "band" on Letterman was the funniest use of her character in years, though.

[Guest mr. potato head]

Very good Community, easily my favourite since the hiatus. John Goodman is awesome and it was great to see Keith Dudemeister as well. Every character seemed perfectly on point and it was just a strong episode all-around. Plus they saved Garrett!

Liked 30 Rock too, though not as much as most of the past month or so. Have to agree with GoGo's criticisms, plus the show's always weaker when it tries to replace jokes with plot.

[apsham]

Community was god damn amazing last night - the idea of Britta falling for someone who literally represents a corporation is delicious and has brought her back around to me. Although I have to say, working at Subway it's getting unsettling how many of my favorite shows they are starting to infiltrate. They're really on the ball about product placement.

[NM!]

This is regarding outside news about Community. Considering outside news of other shows potentially ruining shows for people, I'll spoiler it as it pertains to one of the main cast.

http://www.reddit.com/r/community/comments/q7zdi/going_to_harmontown_tonight/

"I didn't ask a percentage, or at all. Harmon went on a mad tirade about how Chevy is the worst. He even played a voicemail Chevy left on his phone after Dan Harmon got a couple hundred people to say "Fuck you, Chevy" at the wrap party.L I'll try to explain. In 322, the final episode of the season, it has a video game theme. Without spoiling too much, the tag and the end was supposed to be Abed changing the source code of the game to make it nicer for Chevy. All he had to do with hit the space bar a few times then hug Abed. Sounded very touching.L Instead, Chevy walked off set, saying it wasn't funny. So that tag is lost forever. It was the very last day of shooting. So the next day they have their wrap party, and Harmon gets everyone involved in the show there, about 250 I think he said in total. So Harmon is up, getting ready to show the S3 gag reel, but first chooses to make a little speech, which went something like - "Fuck you, Chevy" and inviting everyone there to say the same, which many did. Chevy and his family left, Chevy sent Dan a couple texts and a voicemail, which he played for us. I tried to record it, but only got about half of the message. I'll try to post what I have within 24 hours of this post. Here it is! http://ben64.com/​​​​​​​​reddit/​​​​​​​​r/​​​​​​​​​community/​​​​​​​​​chevy.mp3"

While I have heard that Chevy is hard to be around, having the crew say "Fuck you, Chevy" to him right in front of his family is really low. I'm not very surprised about Dan Harmon being a bit on the dickish side as well, as I unfollowed him on Twitter after constantly seeing him rudely respond to people who were genuinely asking about the show or various other topics. Honestly, while Chevy is the most expendable of the main cast, I feel it wouldn't seem a complete show without him. However, it may just be because I saw the Dungeons and Dragons episode again today in which Chevy is at his peak of Pierce's Villainous reign.

[AnnIQ Edison]

This is regarding outside news about Community. Considering outside news of other shows potentially ruining shows for people, I'll spoiler it as it pertains to one of the main cast.

http://www.reddit.com/r/community/comments/q7zdi/going_to_harmontown_tonight/

"I didn't ask a percentage, or at all. Harmon went on a mad tirade about how Chevy is the worst. He even played a voicemail Chevy left on his phone after Dan Harmon got a couple hundred people to say "Fuck you, Chevy" at the wrap party.L I'll try to explain. In 322, the final episode of the season, it has a video game theme. Without spoiling too much, the tag and the end was supposed to be Abed changing the source code of the game to make it nicer for Chevy. All he had to do with hit the space bar a few times then hug Abed. Sounded very touching.L Instead, Chevy walked off set, saying it wasn't funny. So that tag is lost forever. It was the very last day of shooting. So the next day they have their wrap party, and Harmon gets everyone involved in the show there, about 250 I think he said in total. So Harmon is up, getting ready to show the S3 gag reel, but first chooses to make a little speech, which went something like - "Fuck you, Chevy" and inviting everyone there to say the same, which many did. Chevy and his family left, Chevy sent Dan a couple texts and a voicemail, which he played for us. I tried to record it, but only got about half of the message. I'll try to post what I have within 24 hours of this post. Here it is! http://ben64.com/​​​​​​​​reddit/​​​​​​​​r/​​​​​​​​​community/​​​​​​​​​chevy.mp3"

While I have heard that Chevy is hard to be around, having the crew say "Fuck you, Chevy" to him right in front of his family is really low. I'm not very surprised about Dan Harmon being a bit on the dickish side as well, as I unfollowed him on Twitter after constantly seeing him rudely respond to people who were genuinely asking about the show or various other topics. Honestly, while Chevy is the most expendable of the main cast, I feel it wouldn't seem a complete show without him. However, it may just be because I saw the Dungeons and Dragons episode again today in which Chevy is at his peak of Pierce's Villainous reign.

Ugh. I seriously lose respect for Harmon every time I see or hear about him. That's just a ridiculously rude and petty thing to do, no matter what the reasoning behind it was.

[LL!]

A few things don't add up there.

First, who is Ben64? And why is he privy to any of this?

Second, 322? Last episode? Hardly. The show would be getting at least 24 episodes, no matter how "On the bubble" it was.

Third, the link to the supposed voicemail stuff doesn't work.

I don't believe any of that for a second.

Edit: Upon further investigation, it seems that, yes, it will be 22 episodes this season. That's odd. Still doesn't dismiss the other 2 questions.

[AnnIQ Edison]

According to the reddit thread there's something called 'Harmontown'. I'm not sure exactly what it is but it seems to be a gathering of sorts. The voicemail link does work if you actually go to the reddit thread. It just didn't copy over here.

[LL!]

I rescind my speculation, then. Holy shit. I'm hoping this turns out for the better. :/

[LittleDaniel]

Holy shit, Community is on a roll. But, yeah, not even my inner-Community fanboy can justify that asshole behavior from Harmon.

[MalaCloudy Black]

The whole thing's been redacted now and it looks like the guy even deleted his reddit account, so i'unno.

[RPS]

Sooooooo I've made a gigantic mistake in dismissing Community. This show is amazing.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Welcome to the fold!

[Josh]

You'll receive your standard-issue paintball gun and purple pen shortly.

I had people over Thursday and we watched Community, but I have a hard time focusing when people are talking, so I watched that and 30 Rock today.

30 Rock was fun and I'll repeat that I'm loving Kristen Schaal. I get GoGo's criticism, but I'd rather they take the risk on an episode like this than just stay away from it and hope no one notices they've gotten more formulaic over time.

Community was just tremendous top to bottom. Very quotable ("I grew up in the Bay Area, but I'm a father now!", "Put it in a letter, Jane Austen!", "I'm going through some stuff right now", "Eat fresh!"), a great homage without being 100% conceptual (always nice to just know it can be done), and above all else I love the focus on character and relationship development - or, in Jeff's case, perhaps non-development. I really, really like the dark direction for this season.

[livid]

This is regarding outside news about Community. Considering outside news of other shows potentially ruining shows for people, I'll spoiler it as it pertains to one of the main cast.

http://www.reddit.com/r/community/comments/q7zdi/going_to_harmontown_tonight/

"I didn't ask a percentage, or at all. Harmon went on a mad tirade about how Chevy is the worst. He even played a voicemail Chevy left on his phone after Dan Harmon got a couple hundred people to say "Fuck you, Chevy" at the wrap party.L I'll try to explain. In 322, the final episode of the season, it has a video game theme. Without spoiling too much, the tag and the end was supposed to be Abed changing the source code of the game to make it nicer for Chevy. All he had to do with hit the space bar a few times then hug Abed. Sounded very touching.L Instead, Chevy walked off set, saying it wasn't funny. So that tag is lost forever. It was the very last day of shooting. So the next day they have their wrap party, and Harmon gets everyone involved in the show there, about 250 I think he said in total. So Harmon is up, getting ready to show the S3 gag reel, but first chooses to make a little speech, which went something like - "Fuck you, Chevy" and inviting everyone there to say the same, which many did. Chevy and his family left, Chevy sent Dan a couple texts and a voicemail, which he played for us. I tried to record it, but only got about half of the message. I'll try to post what I have within 24 hours of this post. Here it is! http://ben64.com/​​​​​​​​reddit/​​​​​​​​r/​​​​​​​​​community/​​​​​​​​​chevy.mp3"

While I have heard that Chevy is hard to be around, having the crew say "Fuck you, Chevy" to him right in front of his family is really low. I'm not very surprised about Dan Harmon being a bit on the dickish side as well, as I unfollowed him on Twitter after constantly seeing him rudely respond to people who were genuinely asking about the show or various other topics. Honestly, while Chevy is the most expendable of the main cast, I feel it wouldn't seem a complete show without him. However, it may just be because I saw the Dungeons and Dragons episode again today in which Chevy is at his peak of Pierce's Villainous reign.

After listening to the voicemail, I have a hard time imagining that this is anywhere near as big of a deal as we think it is because Chevy's name-calling is pretty terrible and while I would imagine it's difficult to come up with good insults on the fly, I think someone could come up with something better than that, especially someone like Chevy. So, I'm holding out hope that it's nothing more than two co-workers with large personalities clashing.

Maybe my love for the show is blinding me but I have a feeling that if this is anything, it's being blown a lot more out of proportion by us than it is the cast and crew.

[Mjölnir]

Yeah, I almost get the feeling that this is a work on Community's part. It wouldn't surprise me, with a bunch of the people's personalities involved in it, if this was them riffing on some of the drama that goes on behind the scenes of other shows. If it is, brilliant.

If it isn't...I hope my Chevy doesn't go anywhere.

[Josh]

I'm sure it's authentic. Chevy having douche tendencies in real life is old, old news and Harmon has repeatedly been depicted as having difficulties with various forms of social interaction.

That said, it could all still easily be resolved.

[AnnIQ Edison]

Regarding the voicemail, straight from Harmon himself (Spoilered for size):

I’m really not supposed to be commenting on the situation, which I think is great advice, because anything I say will extend the story’s life and cause more fans discomfort. But as a guy who blogs or tweets every time he wipes his butt, hugs his cat or hurts his girlfriend, it’s conspicuously weird of me to say nothing at all about the giant fart with my name on it that you’ve been inhaling. It feels dishonest not to acknowledge it, it feels rude to the caring fans of the show, people who are tweeting me their concerns that I’ve jeopardized something they fight to protect, those are the sentiments that are [rightfully] the most painful because every choice I make, I try to make for the good of the show, and the show is not an expression of my ego or entitlement, it’s an expression of my desire to make strangers happy. When that’s not happening, when I’ve done something that hurts an audience, it’s always an accident. So I have to just acknowledge my mistake and apologize for it to the fans. Even the people that hate the show that are tweeting heckles at me are right, I’m a selfish baby and a rude asshole and not a person to trust with your feelings.

But the people that I really want to apologize to are the fans of the show. If you want to know what’s on my mind that I consider worth the attention of five million people, that’s the place to look, Thursdays at 8 on TV. Those are the stories and the jokes and observations about life and personal confessions that I intend for that large a venue. There is also a monthly show I do in the back of a comic book store in Los Angeles in which I say things that I intend for 150 people to hear. I tell stories about what an unlovable asshole I am and the trouble it causes for me. I rant and rave about the world’s failure to meet my standards, I talk about being drunk and stupid and heartbroken and childish and crazy and self-obsessed and self loathing and how much I love myself for it. The people that show up are paying ten dollars to listen to it, if you can believe that, and they made the drive out and put that cash on the barrel because they love or hate me but are fascinated by how much I fascinate myself - or their boyfriend made them go.

It was in that venue, months ago, that I made the horrible, childish, self-obsessed, unaware, naive and unprofessional decision to play someone’s voicemail to me. He didn’t intend for 150 people to listen and giggle at it, and I didn’t intend for millions of people to read angry reports about it. I was doing what I always do, and always get in trouble for doing, and always pay a steep price for doing. I was thinking about myself and I was thinking about making people laugh. I was airing my dirty laundry for a chuckle. I ask people at those shows repeatedly to please think twice about youtubing clips of it because it doesn’t play well outside the back of a comic book store. I always accept the risk that a well-intending fan will upload clips and something scandalous will break wide, but the giant mistake I made was involving someone else in that game of russian roulette, someone that didn’t have an opportunity to say “yeah, hilarious, let’s do this.” That was a dumb, unclassy, inconsiderate move on my part. I’m very sorry it’s reflecting poorly on the show.

It’s important to me that you not mistake this for someone thinking they’re making it better, or explaining that they’re actually a swell person. I’m explaining that you’re right, I’m a bonehead, and it sucks, it blows up in my face on a regular basis. I put an unhealthy amount of stock in the opinions of strangers, that’s exactly what makes me do stupid things, and, poetically, that’s what makes the punishment so effective. Thirty people a day calling me an asshole makes me know and feel, in my heart, that I am an asshole. I’m a real “customer is always right” kind of guy in that regard.

So, when you see me not talking about this, it’s not because I’m trying to get away with something, it’s because the more I say, the worse it gets. This is a topic that is driving ad sale revenue for a week but causing my favorite people in the world - Community fans - distress. So my desire, like yours, is to wait for it to pass. And don’t worry about the show. I agree with you that the show is what’s important. It’s why I get mad when I get mad. It’s why I’m happy when I’m happy. I will always do everything I can to make sure we get our six seasons and a move. I’m just really sorry that I’m so damn bad at that job in so many specific ways, and I promise you that every time I screw up at it, I try to get better.

Now I’ve got finish editing episode 319, and get politely scolded for commenting on the situation. If you’re reading this and you work in PR, I know, I know, I’m sorry and I’m not going to say any more.

And when have I ever let you guys down, right?

Source

[Josh]

"Hey, were you in The Cape?"

[LL!]

I am love this episode so hard.