So much for being more normal…
The Big Picture
-
Community
faced challenges behind-the-scenes, including showrunner changes and clashes with network expectations. - NBC wanted the show to be more normal and broad in appeal, leading to conflicts with the cast and crew.
- The episode “Biology 101” contained a meta-musical number mocking NBC’s desire for normalcy, reflecting the series’ tumultuous relationship with the network.
By now, it is no secret to everyone and their moms that the beloved, crazy, extremely meta sitcom Community, which ran on NBC from 2009 to 2015 and then on the defunct Yahoo! Screen in 2015, had its fair share of troubles behind the scenes. Showrunners got fired, some actors (cough, cough, Chevy Chase) were reportedly a nightmare to work with, and the Dan Harmon-created series frequently found itself on the brink of cancelation. After all, it wasn’t bringing in the numbers that the network expected with its peculiar brand of humor, and even critics sometimes went on and on about how the show was just too weird for its own good. However, this weirdness was what the devoted fans of Community expected and is still part of what makes the show such a household name to this day. Perhaps it was just too ahead of its time? Maybe. But this doesn’t change the fact that, back when Community was running, requests for it to be more normal abounded.
These requests usually came in along the lines of “the show needs to broaden its appeal.” Paintball episodes parodying spaghetti westerns, whole stories set on D&D tables, plots that had one of the main characters turned into a Jesus-like figure for the sake of cinema, and pillow forts that were turned into fully-fledged war zones just weren’t cutting it for NBC. And eventually, showrunner Dan Harmon got the boot in an attempt to make the show more palatable for a wider audience – and then, of course, they brought him back. Still, the cast and crew behind the show fought with all their might to keep the operation running with all its kookiness intact and even made jabs at more successful competitors and at NBC itself. The most prominent of these jabs appears in a third-season episode titled “Biology 101”. And it comes in the form of song and dance.
Community
A suspended lawyer is forced to enroll in a community college with an eccentric staff and student body.
- Release Date
- September 17, 2009
- Cast
- Joel McHale , Gillian Jacobs , Danny Pudi , Alison Brie , Jim Rash , Ken Jeong , Paget Brewster , Keith David
- Main Genre
- Comedy
- Seasons
- 6
- Studio
- NBC
What Is ‘Community’s “Biology 101” About?
The very first episode of Season 3 of Community, “Biology 101,” starts with Pierce (Chase) returning to the study group after leaving it in Season 2. However, with the whole group enrolled in an introductory Biology class that has just run completely out of vacant seats, Jeff (Joel McHale) sees an opportunity to cast him off once more. Karma’s a bitch, though, and soon Jeff finds himself expelled by Professor Kane (Michael Kenneth Williams) for letting his phone ring during class. With no excuse to be a part of the group, as he’s no longer taking classes with them, Jeff has a hard time keeping up with his friends, which drives him mad to the point of wrecking the study group’s table with an ax, The Shining-style. By the end of the episode, of course, things are sorted out as Professor Kane allows Jeff back into his class, giving him a ticket back into the study group as well.
In parallel with the episode’s main story, we have the dean (Jim Rash) entering and losing a power dispute with vice dean Laybourne (John Goodman) of the annex air-conditioning repair school, and an unemployed Chang (Ken Jeong) living inside Greendale’s air vents. Oh, and let’s not forget Abed (Danny Pudi) losing his mind over the change of schedule of his beloved Cougar Town and finally being introduced by Britta (Gillian Jacobs) to Inspector Spacetime, a Doctor Who parody that would eventually become one of the show’s staples.
This ‘Community’ Episode Was Banned from Streaming Services
The controversial episode’s removal from most streaming services led to strong reactions from both fans and the show’s cast.
Though “Biology 101” is, comparably, a pretty tame episode of Community, it is at the same time very wild and very on-brand for the series. And, from the get-go, it is pretty clear that fans are about to enter the ride of a lifetime, meaning not just the episode but the entire season. After all, considering the show’s history, when the dean comes in promising a year without “national lampoonery” (probably a reference to Chase’s fake departure) and stating that everything will be just as normal as can be in the next years, we know for sure that nothing is going to be even slightly ordinary. The fact that the dean spends the entire episode trying to get rid of a monkey that is allegedly living in the vents alongside Chang is just more proof that there’s no putting an end to Community‘s monkey business.
‘Community’s “Biology 101” Packs a Message to NBC Execs
But the real giveaway that Season 3 of Community will be as wild as it can possibly be, ending with developments such as Chang becoming a Napoleon-like figure with absolute power over Greendale, is in the song that the show’s main cast sings right at the start of the episode, before the dean’s normalcy-promising introduction. Titled “We’re Gonna Finally Be Fine!”, the seemingly Glee-inspired musical number takes place in Jeff’s mind and serves as a depiction of everything he wishes for his next year in Greendale: more joy, less weirdness, and more sleeping with Annie. However, the song isn’t just about Jeff’s innermost desires: it is also a big middle finger to NBC execs who wished Community was more run-of-the-mill and appealing to wider audiences.
Lyrics like “we’re gonna stand holding hands in a brand-new land, far away from the borderline” and “we’re gonna seem like a mainstream dream and be appealing to all mankind” make it pretty clear what Jeff’s daydream is actually about. The song promises a show that will not be up for cancelation as it had been in previous years, as well as a show that will win over a bigger audience. Meanwhile, “we’re gonna have more fun and be less weird than the first two years combined” is a direct reference to the kind of humor that the show employed in its two previous seasons. And how, exactly, will the Greendale Seven going to do all that? Well, they’re going to be more normal and smile the entire time! Most likely, they will also keep dressing in colorful outfits, more commonly associated with traditional sitcoms.
The connection between the song and the NBC higher-ups is made by Dan Harmon himself in the DVD commentary track for Community Season 2, in which he states that the network’s execs asked for Season 3 to be “more normal.” However, it’s really not that hard to see where the song is coming from or to understand its references – provided, of course, that you know about Community‘s difficult history at NBC.
‘Community’ and NBC Had a Somewhat Difficult Relationship
In an interview about his eventual 2012 season-long dismissal, Harmon described Community as “a show sort of reviled by everyone paying for it.” And, when we look at the series’ history, this contempt for this kind of shows. As far as we, audience members, know, things were smooth sailing for Seasons 1 and 2. However, when Season 3 dropped, NBC removed it from its mid-season schedule without much explanation, bringing it back after a four-month-long hiatus. If Harmon had doubled down on the weirdness, NBC had definitely taken notice and was not going to let itself be mocked without a response. There were talks of cancelation going around, and when the series finally came back for Season 4, it was with 13 episodes instead of 22.
In season 4, the showrunner Dan Harmon completely lost control of his ship. Though NBC told fans he would still have a say over what happened in the series, he took it to Tumblr to say that was not the case. At the time, many assumed the dismissal had to do with broadening the show’s appeal, but when Harmon returned for Season 5, The Hollywood Reporter ran the aforementioned interview in which it explained that the showrunner had more than a little trouble with the deadlines set by the network and the show’s producer, Sony Studios. Later still, it was revealed that Harmon had sexually harassed one of the show’s writers.
Season 4 of Community was reviled by critics and fans. And while some of the love came back for Season 5, the series was never the same. It got canceled by NBC after its fifth run and got picked by Yahoo! for a sixth and final season. Now, after six years of repeating the motto “Six seasons and a movie,” a film is finally set to come out. The only question remaining is how much weirdness we can expect from it. Let’s hope it is nothing too normal…
Community is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com