Is Dan Harmon coming back to ‘Community?’

NBC

Christ, there’s more drama happening behind the scenes than on the screen. Here’s the latest.

A brief timeline of Community‘s many problems, in case you haven’t been keeping up: The show premieres in 2009, the ratings kind of stink but it gets a rabid fan following who keep it on the air. Fights between star Chevy Chase and show creator Dan Harmon go public during the third season, which leads to Chase quitting the show and Harmon being fired from his own creation. The fourth season is produced under the supervision of two dummies who made Aliens In America and generally regarded to be an inferior imitation of what has gone before, causing the ratings to sink even lower as now even the rabid fan following is gone. And now… a ray of light through the clouds?

During a taping of his Harmontown podcast, the show’s creator let it slip that NBC had asked him back to the show to run Season 5. He then asked that they edit it out of the recording, but according to TVLine followed that up with “Ah, f–k it. I don’t care who knows.” Obviously, this should be taken with a grain of salt – especially as Harmon later joked that he’d only come back if Chevy Chase came back too – but it’s an interesting possibility.

We all know how NBC is floundering in the comedy field – the network announced that it was only going to make shows for a “broader audience” this last season, only to see all of those shows cancelled because they were awful (Animal Practice? Guys With Kids? You forgot about them already). With The Office and 30 Rock gone, they’re sort of forced to dance with whoever will have them, and that means Community and Parks and Rec – neither of which have that much time left either. What do you think? Will Dan Harmon coming back save Community or just put the final nail in its coffin?