Rick And Morty Was Dan Harmon's 'Safety Net' For A Community Cancellation
"Community" fans haven't forgotten the constant threat of cancelation that the show was under. The series was marketed in the beginning as a typical situational comedy, with the trailer featuring Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), a disgraced fake lawyer hitting on an attractive co-ed named Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) at a community college. What the show actually was is an absurdist, meta, and extremely weird combo of personalities that form a major bond in a study group at a college where paintball tournaments and pillow forts are a regular occurrence.
Not everyone understood the series for what it was, and the working conditions weren't always the best. Chevy Chase, who played the racist, sexist, rich, old Pierce Hawthorne, constantly feuded with creator Dan Harmon. Major cast and crew members left the show a number of times. There was admitted sexual harassment of one of the writers by Harmon, and an apology that followed. Even the final season of the series had to air on Yahoo! Screen rather than NBC, which had canceled it.
Harmon himself was fired as showrunner after season 3 and rehired for season 5. It's understandable that he was concerned about his employment, and to that end, he began working on the animated series "Rick and Morty" with Justin Roiland, who is dealing with his own ousting from the animated series, among other projects.
In a 2014 interview with That Shelf, Harmon spoke about knowing "Community" could be gone at any moment, and the animated series became his "safety net" if "Community" was canceled.
'If they have the power to kill this show, they have the power to kill my career'
In 2014, That Shelf asked Dan Harmon about where "Rick and Morty" sits within his current schedule. Harmon said:
"That was always my safety net. That was my emotional catch-all. I realized through how much I loved 'Community' that around season 3, I realized, 'If they have the power to kill this show, they have the power to kill my career.' I remember when 'Heat Vision and Jack' [Harmon's 1999 pilot that was never ordered to series] didn't get picked up, I didn't leave my apartment for a month. It affected me for years, and I didn't want to be that kid again. I'm not that talented anymore, so why should I be that sensitive?
"I became obsessed with having an exit strategy from 'Community;' having something that when people threatened to cancel 'Community' I could just walk away from it. 'If you're going to cancel it and you don't like it do it. Don't have this conversation with me. I'm not going to kiss your ass. I've got other s*** to do.'"
TV is a dicey business. Anything can be pulled at any time, whether it's because of ratings, what a show is scheduled against, business decisions from on high, problems with the cast, budget, or any of a number of other reasons. Having another show in the works makes total sense for Harmon, especially as he had just been let go from "Community."
'It really was like taking a nosedive off of a cliff'
Dan Harmon joked to Total Shelf that "I'm a f***ing genius" for creating the animated series and said, "That show really worked overtime in that regard. It really was like taking a nosedive off of a cliff or a trapeze into this net that I had built for myself that I didn't know if it was sturdy or not. But it kept me from cracking my skull, and I'm eternally grateful that I landed in it."
The interviewer said that the series "doesn't even have its own safety net," and Harmon laughed that this was why he was pitching a number of projects at the same time. "Oh, God! There's no safety net under the safety net! If they cut 'Rick and Morty' off, I'm gonna die!" he laughed. He continued:
"'Community' is bigger than me now. It's its own thing. It punches me in the face and wishes I was dead. I can't go on Reddit because 'Community' might be in a conversation about me and talking s*** about me. But 'Rick and Morty' is like a game of peek-a-boo that says 'I'm alive! Look at me! I'm hilarious!' I need them both in my life."
He does have them both — at least for now — with "Rick and Morty" continuing (now without Roiland) and the upcoming "Community" movie.
"Community" is currently streaming on Netflix and Hulu, and "Rick and Morty" is available on HBO Max.