'Community' Fans Rejoice: Yahoo Is Resurrecting the Axed NBC ComedyYes, a sixth season of 'Community' is really happening -- and it could give Yahoo a leg up in the video programming game.
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Fear not,Communitydiehards. Greendale Community College is making a comeback after all. Yahoo is giving new life to the cancelled NBC cult comedy.
The Sunnyvale, Calif. tech giant-come-content-whisperer has partnered with Sony Pictures Television to bring back Dan Harmon's clever ensemble satire for a sixth season this fall. Thirteen all-new episodes will be available for streaming exclusively onYahoo Screen, the company's ad-supported free streaming video platform.
Yahoo scooped up the show after cable, Hulu and Netflix didn't bite.
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The 11th-hour move -- which came down yesterday, the day the show's cast contracts were set to expire -- is all part of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's battle to lure back users and revive ad revenues with decenton-demand video programming.
— Ken Jeong (@kenjeong)July 1, 2014
NBC canned the meta-humor hit (hit with fans, not so much in prime-time ratings) last month. Community devotees successfully waged a campaign to saveCommunitya year ago and their efforts have paid off again. Disappointed fans took to social media to protest, organizing petitions onChange.organd retweet-storming the rally cry hashtag #sixthseasonandamovie on Twitter. (Sorry, no deal yet on a movie. Six new episodes will have to do for now.)
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"#SixSeasonsAndaMovie is real," Community star Joe McHale said in Yahoo's officialannouncement. "Thank you Sony. Thank you Yahoo. Thank you Dan Harmon. And thank you to the greatest f%$#ing fans in the history of the human race. It's the Internet. We can swear now."
So, yes, as Ken Jeong (who plays evil genius Ben Chang onCommunity)tweetedyesterday, "the band's getting back together." Class is almost in session again in Greendale and the wait won't be long. Yahoo chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt toldThe Hollywood ReporterthatCommunitywill debut on Yahoo "before the end of the year."
Sixth season.#CommunitySixthSeason
— Joel McHale (@joelmchale)June 30, 2014
Communityisn't the only comedy offering up Yahoo's sleeve. The company said it will premieretwo original programming comedies, Paul Feig'sOther Spaceand Mike Tollin'sSin City Saints, some time in the first quarter of next year.
