SXSW is the perfect place for a Community panel. Creator Dan Harmon and stars Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs and Alison Brie kept a full audience in a ballroom at the Austin Convention Center entertained for over an hour, going over the show’s sudden resurrection courtesy of Yahoo Screen.
As Community fans already know, the show was finally cancelled by NBC after season five. However, Yahoo stepped in and agreed to host season six on its Yahoo screen video platform. The new season will include McHale, Jacobs, Brie and other returning stars, including Ken Jeong and Jim Rash. Keith David and his booming voice have joined the show, along with Paget Brewster, who needed a break from all the dead bodies on Criminal Minds. Danny Pudi is also returning, but he couldn’t make it to Austin. Producer Chris McKenna made up for that though.
The panel was, as it should be for a show like Community, loosely organized, with Harmon acting as moderator. They revealed that we will be getting another paintball episode, but told a member of the audience that there isn’t a fully animated episode planned (unless the actors need to leave before the last episodes are written).
Brie made a point that really summed up the whole atmosphere, noting that Yahoo and the new cast help “refresh” the show. After five seasons, the show could get stale for anyone still on it, but Brewster and David brought new energy to the set. It also helps that there’s no network constantly over their shoulders. Yahoo bought into the show because they liked how it is, so they didn’t order any changes.
Harmon and McKenna said that being online does help the writers significantly, since you can write an episode up to 26 minutes long. However, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to start hearing characters swear. That would be too much of a jump. (Even if Harmon himself likes to toss around “f**k” all the time. - “What is this, South by South F**K?”)
The Q&A session did at least give us one awkward moment. Someone actually asked Harmon which character he would keep alive, while killing the rest off. It was a bit weird and McHale jumped in to keep it light.
Oh, and about the “movie” part of “six seasons and a movie,” Harmon thought that Yahoo would be down for that. Heck, Yahoo likes them so much, they might even back a music record (ok, that last part was a joke... but someone really did ask about the possibility of one). At least, since they did reach six seasons, we only have to chant “movie” now.
Community starts on Yahoo Screen on Tuesday, March 17.
photos by Daniel S Levine