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Community: Season 6 (Yahoo!) (1 Viewer)

joshEH

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Returns on Tuesday, March 17th, with two brand-new episodes, on Yahoo! Screen. Following this, subsequent episodes will appear one during each Tuesday for the rest of the season.


A new video starring the cast and Dan Harmon (that is not directly embeddable):


http://screen.yahoo.com/community-cast-announces-season-6-162500604.html


Some highlights revealed during the TCA Press Tour:

  • A clip shows Annie attempting to talk Chang through an audition for a stage adaptation of The Karate Kid.
  • Dan Harmon says that the show was "literally hours" away from not being renewed, and that when the deal came in, Harmon and Chris McKenna had just hours to pick up any writers' options.
  • Harmon had a 40-minute phone conversation with a Yahoo! executive that "turned me 180 degrees" in favor of going there. He had been expecting to wind up at Hulu, instead.
  • Chevy Chase might make a reappearance some time during this season, but Harmon is keeping schtum for now ("If something like that were to happen -- if you were to take a man and bring him back to life like that -- I would keep it a secret. I wouldn't reveal it in a hotel in Pasadena.")
  • Harmon says there was never any discussion about a "binge-release" for the new season. He doesn't care how the show gets released and marketed, only about the content.
  • The show is now shooting on a new soundstage, the CBS Radford lot, where Parks and Recreation filmed, and the show now has basically twice the size available to them compared to their old stages on the Paramount lot.
  • The budget is now bigger than it was at NBC, and they're shooting outdoors again for the first time in years (around Season 2, from my estimation). Harmon explained that they also took some of the money that they no longer had to spend on Chevy and other departed cast members, and reinvested it back into the show.
  • Creative differences are practically gone now, compared to dealing wth NBC -- there's no longer any pressure to reach a certain ratings-number ("The corset loosens a little bit," Harmon said. "There's a tiny bit more British-ness to the humor").
  • Episode running-length is likewise no longer a factor -- some might end up going 30 minutes or longer, depending. Also, McKenna mentioned that they might not have to run credits over the episode tags either, necessarily.
  • We'll be seeing lots more of Jeff as a teacher this season, which received great feedback last year, but (in Harmon's words) they "got distracted" by other things, including Donald Glover's farewell, etc. "It is going to be a very grounded season. [Greendale] has bills to pay. It's becoming Dunder-Mifflin, which you can believe exists."
  • Yvette Nicole Brown left the show for "very personal" reasons, but Harmon is leaving the door wide open for her if she ever wants to return.
New Archer, new Venture Bros., new It's Always Sunny..., new Parks and Rec, and now new Community. What a time to be alive! And also not living in the Third World!
 

TravisR

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joshEH said:
Returns on Tuesday, March 17th, with two brand-new episodes, on Yahoo! Screen. Following this, subsequent episodes will appear one during each Tuesday for the rest of the season.
I'm happy to see that they learned a lesson from Arrested Development's Netflix debut. If you give people the ability to watch 13 new episodes of a beloved cult show in a row, they are very likely to go into "It's not as good as it used to be!"-mode.
 

joshEH

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New trailer!




original.jpg



AWWWWWW YEAH, outdoor scenes -- looks like Yahoo! actually gave them an actual budget to work with. Something feels different...as in, way more cinematic.


I'm also glad we're going to be getting a lot more "normal," in-class moments, which is something Harmon promised. Gonna log into my professorprofessorson account now, and take questions from students.
 

Paul D G

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I'm a little concerned about streaming playback when this hits. YouTube plays fine on my HTPC, but Yahoo Screen plays back slightly jerky. Watchable for the trailers, but it's going to piss me off when I sit down to watch the first episode.
 

spshultz

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Are we going to have to "Sign In" on screen.yahoo.com or register to watch these Community episodes?
 

questrider

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Yes, I am slightly concerned about how I'm going to be able to watch these new episodes as my experience with Yahoo! video has never been anything but problematic. Not to mention there is no app anywhere that I can use to watch this on my TV. It's really too bad this wasn't picked up by an established streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon.
 

TravisR

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questrider said:
Yes, I am slightly concerned about how I'm going to be able to watch these new episodes as my experience with Yahoo! video has never been anything but problematic.
Wait until a couple hundred thousand people all try to watch it at the same time. :)


I've tried to resign myself to the fact that I may have to wait until the day after the episode premieres to watch it.
 

joshEH

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Have been listening to all of the Season 5 DVD commentaries in anticipation of the new season. I watched the first disc yesterday, and am watching the second disc today.


Harmon clearly understands why things went the way they did in Season 4, holds no grudges with the show, and talks about how they were desperately trying to right the boat, introduce Jonathan Banks, and send off Donald Glover. Repeatedly, you hear, "Damn, I miss Donald." Even the Season 5 "paintball" episode, Lava Floor, was an attempt to ground the show back in character, while still doing something that bizarre.


Great tidbits so far on Disc 1:

  • Jonathan Banks's line about punching someone in the heart was written into a script after he threatened to do just that to one of the staffers backstage early in the season. The writers thought it was gold, and added it in.

  • Banks's comic strip was originally going to be smoked bacon, but someone said out loud, "Are we ripping off Parks and Rec?", and Dan Harmon said, "Shit, we are ripping off Parks and Rec."

  • Dino Stamatopoulos completely ruins the start of "Ass-Crack Bandit." Alison Brie brings them back around by pointing out how awesomely creepy Shirley's boys singing "Creep" is.

  • Apparently Dan Harmon mailed Pierce's semen containers to the actors at the end of Season 5.

  • They rip on Brooklyn Nine-Nine a bit, so lovers of the 99 be warned.

  • So far, no Yvette Nicole Brown or Jonathan Banks in the commentary, and that makes me sad. The cast absolutely loves Banks, and I would love to hear him and them together.

  • Ken Jeong doesn't do anything but laugh insanely on his tracks. The more and more I see behind-the-scenes stuff of Jeong, I don't think his comedy is spontaneous, but meticulously planned.

  • Chris McKenna apparently has faceblindness, so another Hollywood sufferer of a disease that allows them to be assholes to people they know.

  • Joel McHale hassles reporters who don't do their homework. When reporters have no idea what's going on, Joel describes Modern Family and passes it off as Community.

  • In the continuing battle of Team Britta/Team Annie, I am so Team Britta. I need a woman that cheap, and also fantastically-ungrounded.

  • In Team Brie/Team Jacobs, I am total Alison Brie-material. I would destroy whole hosts of humanity for that woman.
Will be finishing up the season likely tonight, with the new Archer somewhere in the mix, too.
 

joshEH

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So, I listened to the Disc 2 commentaries. Yvette Nicole Brown was there for pretty much the rest of the disc. Honestly, it feels like they recorded Disc 1 on one day and Disc 2 the next, because Harmon was clearly wasted by the end. The cast stayed throughout, and people just walked in or out during the commentary, depending.


Highlights:

  • Listening to Mitch Hurwitz was awesome. Like, I haven't listened to the commentaries on the Arrested Development DVDs in ages, but I might go back.
  • Yvette Nicole Brown gives Harmon hell for making Shirley the villain of MeowMeowBeenz, all because he cut a small scene at the very beginning that would have made her much more sympathetic.

  • At one point, producer Chris McKenna calls out Jim Parsons, Sheldon, and The Big Bang Theory, and the rest of the cast simply pretends those words, that show, that character, and that actor don't exist. Like, McKenna was clearly confused that the cast supposedly had no clue who or what the show was, and took 30 seconds to realize they just were not going to talk about TBBT, period.
  • Harmon and McKenna fully admit the last episode was a cockup. Straight up spent too much time writing the D&D episode, and not enough time on the finale.

  • Annie's brother (Dungeon Master Spencer) shows up for his episode, and claims to be the Jonathan Banks-whisperer.

  • Listening to Joe Russo was fun, especially as the whole cast gives him hell for name-dropping Cap during the commentary.

  • Apparently Sony couldn't release a real MeowMeowBeenz app, because the company was so large that one branch had issues with the other doing digital media, and then this other third branch said the other two couldn't do anything, period. Joel McHale was actually glad that they couldn't release an app, because it showed that huge corporations were not all-powerful due to their own girth.

  • Speaking of MeowMeowBeenz, damn, the number of famous people in that episode.

  • Also, Harmon defended his personal stance on race, because the Level 5 MMBers had both racial, gender, and age diversity. Then Brown snorts in derisive laughter and replies, "Yeah, but you have the beautiful straight white guy down there fighting and winning against it."

  • Evidently Ken Jeong spends his time sucking up to guest stars. Most of those guest stars created nicknames for Jeong's nude form. None of them complimentary.
 

joshEH

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Was reading over a list of guest stars for this season, and it looks like the following people are currently confirmed:


Martin Mull/Lesley Ann Warren - George and Deb Perry (Britta's parents)

Steve Guttenberg - "Morrie" (episode unknown)

Billy Zane as "a talent scout"

Irene Choi - Annie Kim/Asian Annie

Travis Schuldt - Subway Corpo-Humanoid/Rick

Craig Cackowski - Security Officer Cackowski

Jason Mantzoukas - a Greendale drama professor (seen in the trailer)

Brian Van Holt (from Cougartown and recently Syfy's Ascension mini-series)


But piece of casting news that absolutely had me squeeing?


Matt Berry (from The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, and The Mighty Boosh) will be coming to Greendale this season. He and Dan Harmon evidently have a working relationship going back to The Sarah Silverman Program, so pretty excited for this.


Hope we get to see EVERYONE'S parents eventually. Really want my dream-casting of Michael Emerson as Annie's father to come true...c'mon, Harmon!
 

joshEH

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Also, just read that Chevy Chase will be cameoing as Pierce in at least one, and very possibly two, episodes (confirmed by Chevy during a recent Reddit AMA).


Dan Harmon's new CBS Studios security badge:


latest
 

spshultz

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Ok, I'm chuckling for no good reason other than everyone in that top pic has an identical black briefcase on their desk.

And, there is a SHIT load of security cameras on the back wall by the door.


CSI class?
 

joshEH

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LOL...I'm guessing Berry might be playing the instructor in that episode.


The biggest sin Season 5 committed was dressing Alison Brie in sweaters, button-ups, and trousers almost every episode instead of her usual low-cut tops and skirts.


I don't give a shit that it was a conscious decision to portray character growth through wardrobe choice.They should really try to sexualize her this year. It worked for JonBenet Ramsey.


If there is no nudity, we will know that it's on purpose, because they can basically do what they want now. I think I read somewhere that Alison Brie's agent is pretty zealous about her avoiding nude scenes.



Which makes Alison Brie's agent worse than Hitler.
 

questrider

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I'm really going to miss Yvette Nicole Brown and Donald Glover this season. I miss Chevy Chase too. The cast has really been pared down a bit for this sixth season. We'll see how it works. Is John Oliver and/or Jonathan Banks going to make some appearances?


Of course, more of Alison Brie's sweater puppies would help offset the loss. :blink:


And who is the brunette in the red shirt in the picture above? I recognize everyone else but her.
 

joshEH

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Promo with tons of new footage:





Also, a brand-new Yahoo! poster:


latest



Incidentally, "Ladders" is the title of the season premiere (and also appears to be a callback to Season 3's "Curriculum Unavailable," which featured the Ladders! class; that's David St. James reprising his role as Professor Albrecht in the promo):


Ep. 98 - "Ladders" (written by Dan Harmon & Chris McKenna; directed by Anthony & Joe Russo)


Ep. 99 - "Lawnmower Maintenance and Postnatal Care" (directed by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon)


Ep. 100 - [Title Unknown] (directed by Rob Schrab)


Ep. 101 - [Title Unknown] (directed by Bobcat Goldthwait)
 

joshEH

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Also, a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos from the new season:


640


latest


latest


latest


640


latest


Joel-McHale-Selfie-6.jpg


Joel-McHale-Selfie-3.jpg


15-11-17000-1425489590.jpg


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latest



questrider said:
And who is the brunette in the red shirt in the picture above? I recognize everyone else but her.

Paget Brewster, who's playing the new Greendale administrator hired by Dean Pelton to "turn the school around" (she appears to be a nemesis to the study group in the trailers). Keith David's the other new main-cast member this year.
 

joshEH

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Really great article examining the show's twisty, bumpy road during its NBC days, leading up to Yahoo! picking it up last year:

"How Community's Long Road to Yahoo Sets Up a Fresh Start for Season 6"

Some really eye-opening passages in it, including how the recent Sony hacking-scandal involved the show:

Harmon says he's figured out how to work with the studio, and was thrilled that, in an email leaked during the recent Sony hacking case, someone at the company praised the show. "Sony is a gigantic corporation that is good at certain things that others are not – like keeping shows alive," he says. "Even when, deep down, they loathe the people who created the shows, they pump it with formaldehyde; they defibrillate it."

Some very interesting stuff regarding profanity on the show:

The freedom Yahoo offers may be too much for Harmon and McKenna. Without NBC's standards and practices deciding what's appropriate, the showrunners are policing themselves to make sure themes don't become too adult. As for language, Harmon admits to "loosening the corset." Some network-banned words will now make it onto Community, including Jesus as an exclamation. "I always found it odd that people couldn't utter that word," Harmon says. "It's so primal and not profane."

And overnight Nielsen-ratings are no longer even going to be a factor, now:

The cast members agree they won't miss waking up on Friday mornings to see the ratings. Like Netflix and Amazon, Yahoo has no plans to reveal how many people are watching – at least initially. "You may find that we had more viewers than previously counted, because I think the Nielsen system is heavily stacked against a show like Community," Jacobs says. "Kids watching us in their dorm rooms at 2 AM may now for the first time be counted." McHale's expectations are a tad higher: "I think it's going to be [streamed], like, a billion times."

According to a podcast I listened to with a review for the premiere episode of the new season (they absolutely loved it, incidentally), the episode is about 26 minutes long for Yahoo!.


Apparently Harmon will be making two separate cuts of each episode -- a longer one for Yahoo!, and a shorter, 21½-minute version for syndication.
 

joshEH

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Also, new clip from the opening episode:





LOL :D


Absolutely loving the "new" Season One retro-look of the show, now that they're back to shooting on the Los Angeles City College campus once again. Really opens the show up, visually speaking.


It looks like that old Community magic is back again for another year.


(ETA: Each of the first two episodes will be available for free streaming at 12:01 AM PST, starting tonight. So here in the Chicagoland area, for example, it'll happen around 2 AM for us.)
 

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