Community faced its darkest timeline once again and - once again - managed to survive. The series wrapped up its fourth season this week with "Advanced Introduction to Finality." Finality could be the key word, especially if NBC opts not to renew the fledgling comedy. Some fans might even argue that it's time for NBC to let the series go. It hasn't been the same since Dan Harmon left, anyway. But a recent report suggests that NBC is leaning toward sending Community to a fifth season.
Citing Hollywood insiders, Vulture says NBC is "very close to ordering a fifth season of Community. NBC hasn't commented one way or the other and talks are still reportedly underway about the number of episodes. It sounds like NBC is happy with how Community held up against American Idol last night and may be willing to give the series the go-ahead for at least one more season.
I'm taking this news optimistically. I still love Community, and I make no apologies for it. I can understand why some fans have complained about the series in its post-Harmon era. On the writing side, the comedy has drifted from some of the brilliance and originality that made us love it to begin with. That can happen with long-running sitcoms that start to show their age. The humor begins to rely too heavily on previously established story and character development and the episodic plot tends to be weaker and strained. We see fewer amazing, stand-out episodes in some aging sitcoms, but we tune in because we love the characters and we'll watch faithfully until the series comes to an end. I'm thinking about the more recent seasons of The Office or going back further, Friends. Both series' peaked before their final seasons. Only, with Community, the process of relying a bit too heavily on plot-autopilot seems to be happening sooner than it might have if Harmon were still around… assuming it ever came to that for the series with Harmon around. We'll never know.
With the above said, I still think Community is one of the funnier series on TV, and I plan to keep watching if NBC keeps airing it. Whether or not they do sounds unconfirmed at this point, but if Vulture's information is accurate, we could be hearing news of a renewal soon enough.
UPDATE: TVLine confirms that Community has been renewed for Season 5!
