Community canceled?

Community canceled? The answer to that is no not yet. NBC told multiple sources that Community may not be on the mid-season schedule but is not canceled.

Just because Community is not canceled, however; doesn’t mean it’s not in jeopardy. The ratings for Community are horrible. Atrocious actually. That being said the fans of this series remain dedicated to Community. When NBC released the mid season schedule and revealed that Community was not being bumped, the fans revolted via twitter. There is even a new twitter handle to save Community (@occupynbc) and a tumblr page (in fact more than one tumblr).

There are those who say the twitter revolt is not justified, they say if all the people complaining actually watched Community the series would not be in jeopardy. Others have said that Community is coming back for a full season after another show gets knocked off, therefore fans have no right to complain. In addition, there are critics who have taken sides with the fans saying NBC should save this series (see Sepinwall’s article for a great discussion about why Community should stay on NBC’s schedule). See a summary of the best Community tweets and an overview of what the critics are saying here.

Here at TVFiends we are Community fans. While we were shocked and disappointed by the news, we were not surprised. As much as we hate to admit it, despite being fans we haven’t been as dedicated to the series as we could be. We’ve realized we are as much to blame as NBC for Community’s removal from the midseason schedule (even if they left out Community to make space for Whitney). 

So, we’ve decided to take some accountability when it comes to Community and write an open letter to the series. Maureen Ryan wrote a great open letter on behalf of Community to the network this week.

As amazing as Ryan’s letter was, we felt like we needed to address the show directly, admit our wrong doings and let the series know it has our support going forward.

It’s honesty time here folks. Get ready, because we are going to lay it on thick.

An Open Letter to Community

Community,

Community we love you. Damn, we wish we had said that more when you were still on NBC’s schedule. Community, we are madly and passionately in love with you.

Since we love you Community you need to hear a confession. Despite loving you sometimes, we forgot about you. We ignored you and we under appreciated you.

Community we were wrong for ignoring you, for not giving you our undivided attention, for feeding you scraps and hoping you wouldn’t starve. Unfortunately, admitting the truth and accepting blame doesn’t change anything. Our confessions and acceptance of guilt does not give you back your time slot on the mid season schedule.

Community we realize now you needed more than just love. You needed attention.  We needed to commit to you, you deserved a commitment. You deserved a permanent place on our DVR to do list. Community now that you’ve left us mid season, we’ve realized you needed more, deserved more than what we were giving you. Guess now we know why they always say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

Early on we knew you were the one.  Community you were and are brilliant. You always made us laugh. Sometimes, more times than we were willing to admit, you even touched our hearts.  Community, you were consistent and reliable. You hardly ever disappointed us, in fact you exceeded our expectations time after time.

We took you for granted Community. We mistakenly believed that you would always be around. You seemed so available, we thought we could always find our way back to you. We thought we could go fool around a little bit and circle back around when it was time to get serious.

Community we thought we could put off taking you home to meet the parents and get in a couple flings in with other series before settling down. That may be blunt, it may hurt you to hear that, but it’s the truth.  We figured why not see what else is out there? What’s the harm?  If we only knew then what we know now.

We admit we’ve flirted with other series. We even crossed the line with a couple. But none of those series had what we had Community. No really, we’re not just saying that to say it. Our relationship with you Community was the real deal. Most of those other series meant nothing to us. The ones who do mean something are not the ones you are competing with.

Sometimes when we were out with other series we would catch up with you after the fact. We would come back to you Community and innocently pretend like nothing happened. We knew we did you wrong but we tried to cover our tracks by showering you with love and affection upon our return. We would steal glances of you over at Hulu or sneak peeks via Blu Ray or DVD. But we never gave you what you deserved, a commitment. A full time, DVR season pass, unwavering commitment.

You deserved more, Community. You deserved to be our plus one Community and not our last minute invite.  If we only knew then, what we know now,

A couple days ago, we were confronted with the harsh reality of the truth. All the sudden the lights came up and  Community you were no where to be found. Where did you go Community? We don’t even remember hearing the “last call” warning.

This morning Community we woke up to Whitney and let me tell you that is not a pretty sight. Don’t know if you know this Community, but that Whitney is a clinger. She’s already made us breakfast. She’s wearing our favorite t-shirt. She’s asking us what we’re doing today! When did we become a “we” Whitney? When did we become a we?

This morning we could have sworn we saw Whitney put a toothbrush in the spare drawer. She’s getting awfully cozy Community, a little too cozy. She thinks she can take your spot, trust us, even if you don’t come back, we will never let that happen. Ever.

We can’t help but think of all the bad choices on our part that led us to this point Community. There are so many. Maybe if we had appreciated you more. Maybe if we had introduced you to our friends. Maybe if we had made our relationship Facebook official. Maybe if we had just made our love for you public, none of this would happen.

We made so many horrible choices Community but never in our wildest dreams did we think we would end up here. And even if we let the worse case scenario play out in our minds, we never ever thought we’d end up with Whitney!

Community, we heard from some friends that it’s not too late. We’ve heard NBC has not giving you your walking papers. We’ve heard that it’s possible you may be willing to take us back and finish the TV season with us. We’re hoping, praying this is the truth. Don’t leave us.

Maybe we could meet up, talk this out. Does this Thursday at 8/7c work? At the usual place, NBC? We promise we will show up this time. We won’t stand you up again. We know you’ve heard it all before but this time we’re going to do better, be better. You deserve that Community. 

Let’s make this work Community. We promise to love and appreciate you, just come back Community. Promise us, that you will come back and stay for good. It’s you Community, it’s always been you. We know that now. Hopefully it’s not too late.

Love,

Your Fans over at TVFiends

What are your thoughts on the recent Community news? Are you still dedicated to the series? Do you think Community will be canceled? Sound off in the comments.