Dan Harmon News

Leaked Memo: 'Community' Studio Tells Cast How to Address Dan Harmon Firing

Dan Harmon 

Sony Pictures Television issues a talking-points memo in an effort to minimize media backlash over Harmon's exit as showrunner of the NBC series.

In the wake of Community creator Dan Harmon’s firing from the NBC comedy, studio Sony Pictures Television is taking steps to minimize backlash in the media.

The Hollywood Reporter has obtained a talking-points memo sent from the studio to cast and show representatives during the weekend. The memo, titled "Community Message Points," includes point-by-point suggestions on how to deal with the inevitable deluge of questions surrounding Harmon's abrupt departure from the low-rated critical darling. The studio confirmed Friday that David Guarascio and Moses Port would be replacing Harmon as showrunner when the series returns to NBC’s schedule for its fourth season in September.

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Harmon, known for his erratic behavior, took to his own blog later that night to blast both the studio and network for what he characterizes as a mishandling of the situation. After noting that he wasn’t contacted by either, he says: “Community is [Sony’s] property, I only own 10 percent of it, and I kind of don’t want to hear what their complaints are because I’m sure it would hurt my feelings even more now that I’d be listening for free.” Cast members later expressed solidarity with Harmon via Twitter.

Class Dismissed: On The “Dan Harmon Being Fired From ‘Community’” Situation

Soooo….it’s a big thing that you’ve probably read all about by now, but, Community show creator and executive producer Dan Harmon won’t be back for the next thirteen episode-long fourth season.

I’ll just say, I am a huge fan of Community, one of those who’s invested in Dan Harmon’s Twitpics of the writers’ room white boards as much as the episodes themselves.  It’s just the truth that the show won’t be the same without him.  Community, as far as I’m concerned, had a phenomenal series finale last Thursday, a beauteous three episodes, the last ending with a montage in which Jeff googles his father.  That’s as much closure as I need.  It’s not that I think the writers can’t do a decent job of writing the characters without Harmon. It’s not that I think the new showrunners Sony chose, Moses Port and David Guarascio (of ABC’s Happy Endings), will have anything but the best intentions.  But, as Harmon wrote in his personal blog post, he was a “hands on producer”…..and that’s putting it as lightly as one can get. Dan Harmon was the show.

And I do love Dan Harmon. But then again, this is coming from a hopeful comedy writer with unintentionally masochistic goals — all I’ve ever wanted is to slave away at four in the morning in a writers’ room, yelling with a mouth full of cold pizza back and forth about whether that character would actually use the word “flatulence” or not.  In short, I can understand that Harmon is so passionate about his work, so seeped in the creative that his performance in other aspects of the “showrunner” job description may not have lined up with what Sony and NBC had in mind.

Community has gone through staff changes galore, and Harmon has never been quiet about his discontent with the network and the studio.  But the issues that arose in this situation are the result of a whole bunch of crappy moves made by almost everyone involved, decisions and statements that reinforce that show business is first and foremost that, a business – a business that it is filled mostly with people who either got bullied in middle school and never learned to deal with confrontation or bullied people in middle school and never got properly disciplined for it.

It’s hard for me to say anything negative about Dan Harmon, and it’s even harder for me to seem like I’m defending Sony and NBC, but both sides have made this situation a mess, and I’ve learned a lot from it.

Sony Issues Dan Harmon Talking Points Memo To 'Community' Cast Members

A leaked memo suggests that the powers behind NBC's cult comedy series want the story of Harmon's dismissal to go away quickly.

Last week, fans of "Community" were shocked when series creator, Dan Harmon was replaced by incoming showrunners, David Guarascio and Moses Port at the behest of Sony Pictures Television. Harmon had some choice words about the subject almost immediately afterwards, but both Sony and NBC have seemingly tried to downplay Harmon's dismissal.

The Hollywood Reporter has obtained a leaked memo from Sony that was sent to the cast of "Community" that offers helpful tips and talking points about what happened to Harmon and how to address the future of the series.