Chase is leaving the show immediately. They still have a few more episodes to shoot to complete their series order of thirteen. Since they’re filming them out of order and already completed the last episode it remains to be seen whether they will take him out of that one, explain his absence from shows he’s not it, or (my vote) ignore it. He just isn’t there some weeks. Three viewers will miss him.
I don’t know any of the particulars on why the abrupt exit but remember last year Chevy blamed all of his issues on creator/showrunner Dan Harmon? Well, now Harmon’s gone. So I guess the new regime was no better.
Or… maybe, just maybe...Chevy was the problem all along.
It’s one thing if you have drama and turmoil but the star is amazing. That’s Jackie Gleason. Chevy Chase wasn’t even that good on COMMUNITY.
For all concerned this was addition by subtraction. I guess for the staff and cast of COMMUNITY it’s not such a Black Friday after all.
Could you share any stories you know of Jackie Gleason off-stage? Did you ever cross paths personally?
ReplyDeleteI loved Community when it first came on, but it started sliding at the end of the first season
ReplyDeleteThe last time Chevy Chase left a TV show, it survived him by 36-1/2 years... and counting.
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of Dan Savage's response to anyone who writes him to say that their exes were all awful and crazy and demanding and, dear god, what was wrong with them?
ReplyDelete"The only thing your exes have in common is you."
Seeya Chevy! Good luck with your next project.
We quit watching it just when the critics started liking it.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't blame Chase, he deserves a lot better than this (and Dick Erdman too, apparently).
ReplyDeleteI mean serious, I have NO idea what this show is even supposed to be about! Here recently, my dad and I were in a hotel with only like a ten-channel satellite setup, so we just glanced at an episode of this show, and when they went to commercials, we looked at each other and asked what did we just watch? There's nothing funny about this show. I know Chevy Chase has a bit of a temper at times, but I agree with his rant back in the spring, he HAS been on better shows than this, and has been making people laugh a lot longer than we may realize.
I like the show and am sorry to see him go. What I don't get is his lack of gratitude. This is the first project he's been involved in for about twenty years that's actually funny and critically approved.
ReplyDelete@chris, Haha! That's a brilliant way of putting it. I'm always very wary of girls (or anyone, I guess) who have nothing but bad things to say about all their ex's. It's a very bad sign that they blame everyone else for their own failings.
ReplyDeleteRe: Chase, I guess Harmon is having a rather good day today! I wonder if it's possible that he could return to the show.
Joseph Scarbrough: You've "glanced at" part of one episode of a show that has been on for three seasons now, and yet feel qualified to completely dismiss the entire project? That's like saying you watched one flashback segment on LOST. Yeah, you've seen part of the show, but what you saw was relatively nothing compared to the overall thing.
ReplyDeleteThere are many episodes of COMMUNITY that completely broke away from its original premise to do something different and experimental: the show frequently would do crazy things like tell stories in a non-linear format, base the entire episode as a computer game, or other things like that.
The show built up a crazy cast of characters and inside jokes over time as well, and also started to get even more and more surrealistic during its run. By the end of season three it had definitely expanded from its original format, and you really just never knew what you were going to get each week. So, just "glancing" at one episode, it's very possible that you happened to get one of the weirder ones. Even if not, though, I don't see how you could so easily dismiss something like that.
Personally, I'm sad to see Chevy go. Yeah, Pierce was the weak link, but he had some good lines and stories, and he did a good job with his role as the jerk of the group. It's sad that Chevy's jerkiness in real life had to get in the way.
I've not heard one person on either coast, and possibly internationally if I were to query, who has had a positive thing to say about working with Chevy Chase. He is by unanimous polling a stupendous asshole.
ReplyDeleteCommunity is better off without him. Too bad this didn't happen earlier in Community's run.
The only other show that I'm aware of that he was a regular on (besides his own, abortive talk show) was SNL, and that only for the first season, and the show improved immensely after he left and was replaced by Bill Murray. (Maybe that's why Chase picked a fight with Murray when he came back to guest host.) In fact, it's quite likely that, even including that first SNL season, Community as a whole is better than everything that Chase has done, put together. (Yes, including Caddyshack.) Whether he has any better prospects, though, it seems pretty clear that Chase has always been a dick.
ReplyDeleteWow, I go away on vacation and I miss everything. This is crazy. Now I just wish Dan Harmon was still on board. I guess I shouldn't say that before I see what the new regime has done.
ReplyDelete