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Spoilers (9)
The show was based on Dan Harmon's life at community college, attempting to reconcile with his girlfriend in Spanish courses. He has also stated the characters are loosely based on the people he hung around with and has nothing to do with his film and television career.
The Pierce Hawthorne character is supposed to have made his fortune with a moist-towelette company called "Hawthorne Wipes." Chevy Chase, the actor who plays Hawthorne, in real life also has a family fortune derived from a personal sanitation product. Chase, whose real name is Cornelius Crane Chase, is the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, who was heir to the Crane Plumbing company, which manufactures and distributes plumbing fixtures and products (most notably, toilets for home and commercial markets) in North America.
Dan Harmon modeled the characters of Jeff Winger and Britta Perry after himself and an ex-girlfriend, respectively.
The character of Abed is based on a real person also named Abed: Abed Gheith
Each episode ends with a credit as "A Dan Harmon/Russo Brothers _________". The last word(s) include "Fiasco", "Parade of Tears", "Diorama", "Bridal Shower" and "Tantrum".
Creator/showrunner Dan Harmon was fired after the third season by Sony Pictures Television. Crew members claimed that Harmon caused numerous delays in shooting and that his work habits caused tension between himself and the writers. Harmon was replaced with David Guarascio and Moses Port. Writers Chris McKenna and Dino Stamatopoulos also left. After a low-rated fourth season, Harmon was rehired and Guarascio and Port were fired. McKenna and Stamatopoulos also returned.
Dan Harmon originally wanted Annie to be played by an Asian or Latina actress. He eventually cast a white actress - Alison Brie - in the role, but later created a character named Annie Kim played by Irene Choi, who is Asian, as a nod to his original idea.
Patrick Stewart was considered for the role of Pierce Hawthorne.
The actor that plays Abed, Danny Pudi, is actually half Polish and speaks the Polish language fluently.
The movie posters in Abed's room (Back to the Future Part II (1989), Vibes (1988), Stand by Me (1986), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), etc.), hang in different spots from episode to episode.
After five seasons, NBC canceled "Community" in May 2014. Sony, the show's production owner, was involved in talks with Hulu to renew the show for its Sixth Season. Talks with Hulu collapsed, however, but Yahoo! purchased a 13-episode order and renewed the show in June 2014 for a Sixth Season. Harmon said in a July 2014 San Diego Comic Con panel: "Community Season Six - now you're watching the way you used to watch, only now it's legal," jokingly referring to how many in its audience watched the show illegally on their computers. "Community" aired new episodes exclusively on the online streaming site, Yahoo! Screen, in March 2015.
Andy Dick, Jerry Minor, Tony Hale, John Michael Higgins, Ian Roberts, Rob Corddry and Jeff Garlin have all appeared in Arrested Development (2003) as well as in Community. The creator of Arrested Development, 'Mitchell Hurwitz' (qp), has also made an appearance and Dan Harmon made a cameo appearance in Arrested Development.
In the fourth season (without creator Dan Harmon's involvement), the main cast were given more freedom to improvise.
In 2009, Donald Glover told The New York Daily News that one of his inspirations for his "Community" character, Troy Barnes, was the character of Brian "Smash" Williams in the TV show "Friday Night Lights." Glover said, "When you think of the former high school football star, you think 6-foot-2, white, meathead as the model for that kind of character. Since I'm not 6-foot-2 or white, I just thought about what I could bring to it. I thought about Smash Williams from 'Friday Night Lights,' like the cocky quarterback, and played around with that."
Takes frequent shots at competing show, Glee (2009).
The show's creator, Dan Harmon, was the co-founder of Channel 101. Many actors who have appeared on the show have also appeared in Channel 101, including Jack Black, Drew Carey, Rob Corddry, Chevy Chase, Donald Glover, Joel McHale, John Oliver, Patton Oswalt, and D.C. Pierson.
In one episode Abed (Danny Pudi) says he got offered and accepted a screen apperance on his favourite show Cougar Town. Danny Pudi did himself appear on Cougar Town and is credited as 'Visitor'.
Showrunner Dan Harmon revealed at the 2014 PaleyFest that Joel McHale lobbied for Harmon to be rehired after Harmon was fired after the Third Season. Harmon then met with co-showrunner Chris McKenna and both agreed to return for the Fifth Season.
The drawing of the head peeking over the wall in the opening credits when Joel McHale 's name is shown, is of Kilroy. Famous for popping up in World War II with the line, "Kilroy Was Here".
The Boob-A-Tron 6000 that Abed and Troy have in the season one episode "The Art of Discourse" appears "alive" in a flashback of Annie and Jeff in the season two episode "Paradigms of Human Memory" This references the conversation between Abed and Troy in "The Art of Discourse" where Abed says that Boob-A-Tron will come to life when bong water is spilt on his circuitry.
In Season 5 Episode 6, Abed and Rachel are seen watching 'Rick and Morty', which is also created by Community creator Dan Harmon.
Ray Liotta was Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna's first choice for the character of Buzz Hickey in the fifth season. Harmon revealed at 2014 PaleyFest that he was in several phone calls with Liotta, but ended up eventually casting Jonathan Banks.
The characters Gilbert (Giancarlo Esposito) Professor Buzz Hickey (Johnathon Banks) and Matt Jones (Badger) appeared in episodes of Breaking Bad, with creator Vince Gilligan having a cameo appearance in a Season 5 episode.
In episode 6.04, Frankie comments that she is unable to reach the I.T. lady - referencing her first appearance on the show as the I.T. lady Debra Chambers in episode 5.06.
In the pool episode in season 1 and whale hunting season in season 4, Jeff and the Dean are wearing the same briefs.
In season 1 episode 5 (Advanced Criminal Law), Abed says that Troy (Donald Glover) is related to Danny Glover as a joke. However, the rumors of Danny Glover being Donald Glover's father are not true.
Spoilers
Chevy Chase left the series towards the end of the fourth season. Nevertheless, he agreed to return for a surprise cameo in the fifth season premiere. Although Chase had a public feud with showrunner Dan Harmon, Chase departed during the season Harmon was not running the show. Harmon has later stated their feud was resolved before the story hit the news.
A list of disclaimers in the end tag of the Season 6 finale, narrated by show creator Dan Harmon:
- Dice not included.
- Some assembly required.
- Lines between perception, desire, and reality may become blurred, redundant, or interchangeable.
- Characters may hook up with no regard for your emotional investment.
- Some episodes too conceptual to be funny, some too funny to be immersive, and some so immersive they still aren't funny.
- Consistency between seasons may vary.
- Viewers may be measured by a secretive obsolete system based on selected participants keeping handwritten journals of what they watch.
- Show may be canceled and moved to the Internet where it turns out tens of millions were watching the whole time.
- May not matter.
- Fake commercial may end with disclaimer gag which may descend into vain Chuck Lorre-sque rant by narcissistic creator.
- Creator may be unstable.
- Therapist may have told creator this is not how you make yourself a good person.
- Life may pass by while we ignore or mistreat those close to us.
- Those close to us may be those watching.
- Those people may want to know I love them but I may be incapable of saying it.
- Contains pieces the size of a child's esophagus.
In one episode Abed (Dani Pudi) tries to seduce Annie (Alison Brie) in order to impress the group and he impersonates Don Draper, the main character from the show Mad Men (2007). Alison Brie appeared throughout the seven-season run of "Mad Men" as Trudy Campbell, and kept the role when she was cast as Annie; Brie has said there have been several occasions where she would film scenes as Trudy in the morning and then immediately head over to the "Community" cast to begin working on her scenes there, and that both shows were 100% supportive of her work and made sure the schedules fit.
Episode 5.6, the ticker bar at the bottom of a news report about a bear attack at a birthday party says "Levar Burton and non-celebrity captured by pirates in the Gulf of Mexico." This refers to Troy's departure from the show.
In 2014, Yvette Nicole Brown confirmed that she had asked to be released from her sixth-season contract because the demands of caring for her gravely ill father had become overwhelming. She also said that Sony had allowed her to accept a recurring role on a midseason version of The Odd Couple airing on a different network; Brown explained that The Odd Couple, as a multicamera sitcom, would be less taxing on her schedule than Community, which is a single-camera show.
Donald Glover left the series during the fifth season to pursue other interests. Contrary to popular belief this was not to pursue his music career as a rapper under the pseudonym Childish Gambino.
Professor Ian Ducan (played by john oliver) is absent for seasons three and four which troy references In the season four episode: Into Felt Surrogacy, he later returns to Greendale in season five saying he had returned to England to care for his sick mother.