fyi. the last remaining writer on the show from S1 is leaving also.

[link]

I don't think there is still any magic attached to 100 episodes, and even if it were, Community's not making it that far with as many episodes as they have ordered so far. You can get to syndication with 88 (still not really getting there) or even in your first season (so would they care?) these days.

I would prefer the show be canceled and go out on this finale. The final 3 eps were perfect.

I wouldn't go that far. I mean, I'll agree that the final 3 eps were perfect, but I can't yearn for cancellation without even seeing what happens in season 4, with or without Harmon.

In my googling for information I stumbled over the AV Club's Walkthrough of Season 2 with Harmon, which was pretty interesting, and at the end of it they asked him about his plans for Season 3:

And so whether I like it or not, and as risky as it is, I need to lay some plans at the beginning of season three that we’ll build to at the end. And I think that’s going to be a sweeping enough change to accomplish. I’ve been studying The Wire over this break and observing the art of the opposite of modularity, which is serialization. That’s not to say that season three of Community will be season four of The Wire, but it is to say that beyond Modern Family and beyond Parks And Rec, the ingredient that will keep Community alive to season four exists somewhere in The Wire. [Laughs.] I don’t know how to explain that, but I know it has something to do with the way they end their seasons with these glamorous montages and needle-drops of these stories that seemed disparate and all operate on some theme.

Nifty.

ita,

some arguments that people were making is that Sony has a moderate history of pushing shows to 100 eps if the can. The thinking behind this is that while it has 88 eps now (with the planned 13 ep 4th season, that the new showrunners might be more amenable to pushing for an additional 12 with a lower budget (and other concessions) than Dan Harmon likely would have been.

I agree that 100 isn't magical from my perspective (and while I have the DVDs sitting on my shelf) from S1 and S2, but apparently Sony likes this number.

t,

you are more optimistic than I am, and I appreciate that. I just feel some despair in thinking the creative minds behind "Just Shoot Me" are now the showrunners for "Community."

Yeah, I'm trying to ignore the Just Shoot Me connection because it distresses me.

100 episodes used to be magical from a syndication perspective, but that is no longer the case. I don't think it has any particular value anymore, and if there is a syndication number it is now 88, but shows have also made it to syndication with significantly fewer. Three and a half seasons gets you to just eighty four episodes if my arithmetic is correct, which is neither. So why would there be any particular benefit to Sony?

fyi. the last remaining writer on the show from S1 is leaving also.

Yeah, and Chris McKenna is responsible for such classics as "Paradigms of Human Memory" and "Remedial Chaos Theory." That's going to hurt.

I just feel some despair in thinking the creative minds behind "Just Shoot Me" are now the showrunners for "Community."

Aren't they also the creative minds behind Happy Endings, which I've heard is pretty awesome?

ita,

as I understand it, Sony likes to get blood from rocks.

P-C,

Have not watched "Happy Endings."

I like Happy Endings, but I don't want Community to become more like Happy Endings.

as I understand it, Sony likes to get blood from rocks

I'm still not understanding...they won't get 100 episodes from this move, so what does this move have to do with 100 episodes?

I'm reading a comical amount of people saying "What were they thinking?? Why are they messing with the proven formula?"

Didn't they notice the part where the ratings are for shit, and NBC doesn't seem to like the show? Why would anyone in charge be tied to the status quo?