SXSW: Yahoo's 'Community' Takes on Fan Tweet "#Sixseasonsandamovie"
Community, the single-camera sitcom about a group of students at a community college in the fictional town of Greendale, Colorado, which aired for five seasons on NBC was acquired by Yahoo! and renewed for a sixth 13-episode season that will premiere tomorrow, March 17, on the Internet TV. Even years before its cancellation by NBC, fans have already taken to the slogan "six seasons and a movie," a line from the episode the show's 21st episode. At Sunday's panel discussion during the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, the slogan was the topic of discussion with fans in relation to Community's future, according to Variety.
The panel kicked off with the stars Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash, Ken Jeong, Paget Brewster, Keith David and executive producer Chris McKenna, along with the show's creator Dan Harmon facing a room full of fans.
On the likelihood of a movie, Harmon said: "Yahoo seems down for just about anything. I don't know why they'd turn their nose up to a movie about a low-rated show. They seem to be very naive."
On the continuity of the series, McKenna conjectured: "They finally figured out how to defeat us. They just let us have a show. Last year was hard because we were losing characters and there was just a lot to do...It was a lot of bills to pay and we're still paying them."
On the difference between being on Yahoo! and NBC, Brie said: "It's been a difficult question to answer from our perspective because there's not a huge crazy difference. Dan's [Harmon] weirdness, it's just able to exist more. That's more of the difference. In the smaller moments, when someone's having a rant, that rant can live a little bit longer." She also added: "I think part of that vibe is yes, being at Yahoo, and feeling incredibly supported. Everyone from Yahoo who visits is like, 'We get it. Just do your thing.' It's so refreshing. The vibe has been so fun."
On the observation that while episodes ran for about 22 minutes on NBC, but at Yahoo! each runs up to 26, McKenna told the fans: "Now you guys are getting a lot more Community because we love our stuff, and we're not cutting it out." And McHale added, "The episodes were so short [at NBC and] we would go, 'All of this is gold'...I think it's just awesome that we can just do as much as we can now."
Newcomer to the show David for his part, said: "You never know what it's going to feel like walking into a situation that's been established for so long. I can't remember ever being so welcomed...It's like Vietnam, baby!" Fellow newcomer Brewster added: "It's very scary joining a cast that's been together for so long. It's true, at first, sometimes we didn't know what you were talking about."
The panel discussion ended with Harmon improvising a beat-boxing rap of the Community sound track and reminding the fans to tune in on Tuesdays at 8:00 at the Internet.