VERY INTERESTING: COMMUNITY!

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Things You Might Not Know About Community!

Community began in 2009 as a smart sitcom about a community college study group. Pretty soon, the show evolved into a clever weekly deconstruction of television that also managed to keep viewers invested in the lives of its characters. The show was canceled by NBC despite critical acclaim due to underwhelming ratings, but a last-second deal is bringing the show to Yahoo! for, at the very least, a sixth season. And all of the Greendale Human Beings rejoiced.

1. THE SHOW WAS BASED ON DAN HARMON’S REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE AT COMMUNITY COLLEGE.

Harmon already had some success as a writer in his early 30s. At the time, he took a Spanish class with his then-girlfriend at his local community college. The girlfriend became an ex, but his positive experiences with his study group gave him an idea for NBC when they were open to hearing his pitches.

2. JEFF WINGER WAS NAMED AFTER JOHN WINGER, BILL MURRAY’S CHARACTER FROM STRIPES.

Harmon had always hoped that he could get Murray to play Jeff’s father on the show, but James Brolin got the role as Mr. Winger during a season four episode.

3. ANNIE EDISON WAS MODELED AFTER TRACY FLICK FROM ELECTION.

Harmon went so far as to call his creation a “rip-off” of Reese Witherspoon’s character, but Alison Brie’s acting made Annie distinct from Tracy.

4. DONALD GLOVER WAS A WRITER ON 30 ROCK FOR THREE YEARS BEFORE PLAYING TROY.

Glover initially said he based some of Troy Barnes on the cocky Friday Night Lights quarterback Smash Williams.

5. JIM RASH WAS CAST AFTER SHOOTING FOR THE PILOT BEGAN.

Rash would later become a series regular in season three and win an Oscar for co-writing The Descendants. He played Dean Pelton with a wedding ring on his finger in the first episode. The character never wore it again, and the reason wasn’t explained until season five’s “Basic Story”—it belonged to the Dean’s mother, and Pelton lost it during his first week.

6. ABED IS LOOSELY BASED ON AN ACTUAL PERSON NAMED ABED.

Abed Gheith auditioned to play Abed Nadir but lost to Danny Pudi. Gheith acted and wrote in 5-minute TV shows for Channel 101, a monthly film festival in Los Angeles created by Harmon and Rob Schrab. Gheith finds Nadir to be a “kid-like” version of himself, with less social awareness.

7. IT’S SET IN COLORADO.

For legal reasons, to avoid any rumored comparisons to actual influence of Glendale Community College in California, Greendale is located in Colorado.

8. THE WRITERS HAD AN ENTIRE STRANGE BACKSTORY FOR CHANG PLOTTED OUT.

In the eventually discarded storyline, Chang ate his twin sister in his mother’s uterus. Ken Jeong’s character’s “psychotic breaks” would have come in the form of his sister’s ghost telling him to be evil.

9. TROY AND PIERCE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE “TROY AND ABED” OF THE SHOW.

Harmon and the writers conceived of Glover and Chevy Chase as the “new Beavis and Butt-head” of the study group. After Glover and Danny Pudi became close friends in real life, Troy and Abed started to spend a lot more time together.

10. THERE WERE NO SCENES OFF THE GREENDALE CAMPUS IN THE FIRST SEASON.

Harmon restricted himself and the other writers from writing scenes outside of the college. Similarly, every scene of the first season of Cheers exclusively takes place inside the bar.