Fans of the cult comedy Community were in for some great news today, June 30th, when Gillian Jacobs tweeted about the return of the show. Against all odds, Community has been brought back. After weeks of negotiation, Sony Pictures TV has closed a deal with Yahoo. This fall Community will be receiving 13 episodes to air on Yahoo Screen. It came close to the end as the options on the cast were set to expire today. There has been interest from a few outlets in continuing the show after it was cancelled last month. The list of possible suitors also included Esquire, Hulu, and Crackle.
— Gillian Jacobs (@GillianJacobs) June 30, 2014
Dan Harmon, creator of Community, is returning as executive producer with Russ Krasnoff, Gary Foster, and Chris McKenna. Upon the announcement of the deal, Harmon said, “I look forward to bringing our beloved NBC sitcom to a larger audience by moving it online. I vow to dominate our new competition. Rest easy, Big Bang Theory. Look out, Bang Bus!”
“The fans spoke and we listened. Thanks to Yahoo, and the amazing team that makes Community great, we’ve avoided the Darkest Timeline yet again and plan to deliver a fantastic season,” said Zack Van Amburg, the president of programming and production at SPT. Jamie Erlicht added, “You can’t get to six seasons and a movie without a 6th season. Yahoo is the perfect home for the continuation of this journey.”
“Yahoo is all about connecting the best creators to the audiences who love their work,” stated the CMO of Yahoo, Kathy Savitt. “Community has an incredibly passionate and loyal fan base who have fought hard to keep this amazing show alive. We couldn’t be more excited to work with Dan, Joel, and the entire cast, as well as Sony, to deliver a great Season 6.”
Harmon seemed hesitant at first, but he warmed to the idea of continuing the show elsewhere. He said, “I’m not going to be the guy that re-cancels cancelled Community.”
Sony TV has a history of reviving cancelled series. They previously made a deal to move Damages to DirecTV after FX cancelled it. The also managed to bring back Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime and Unforgettable on CBS. All of these series have gone to air multiple seasons post cancellation. Fans can only hope they will do as good of a job, if not better and give them what they’ve always wanted, six seasons and a movie.
