The school world is an odd place the place folks from wildly totally different generations and walks of life can type quasi-familial teams earlier than going their separate methods, by no means to fulfill once more. It is solely with hindsight that you simply notice simply how uncommon the expertise is, no less than should you got here into it as an 18-year-old all of the sudden thrust into the swimming pool that’s maturity and determined to maintain your head above the water. Dan Harmon’s “Group” is not probably the most lifelike comedy present about school on the floor — actually, the additional alongside it went, the extra untethered and cartoonish it grew to become — but it surely is likely one of the most trustworthy ones. It is aware of what it feels wish to be in that world, and its potpourri of loving popular culture parodies, satirical jabs at group school politics, and earnest character work served to seize the expertise of aspiring to mature as an individual in an setting the place arrested growth abounds.
15 years after the present debuted on NBC on September 17, 2009, “Group” has carved out an enduring legacy for itself due to folks both revisiting it or checking it out for the primary time on syndication and streaming. Throughout its preliminary run, nonetheless, the sequence struggled mightily to stay afloat. It was continually on the cusp of being axed resulting from low rankings earlier than the Sword of Damocles fell for actual after season 5, just for Yahoo! Display screen (who? Don’t be concerned, we’ll get into that quickly sufficient) to revive the present for a sixth and ultimate outing. Therein lies the contradiction on the core of “Group”: The unbelievable specificity of its nerdy homages and observations of human nature lend the sequence a sure diploma of common enchantment, but its esoteric sensibilities (itself a mirrored image of Harmon, a celebrated but undeniably problematic author) additionally prevented it from reaching greater than cult success throughout its lifetime.
Briefly? “Group” was in the end canceled as a result of it now not made enterprise sense to maintain it going — because the present’s personal solid and crew would let you know.
Extra Group, extra issues
Wild because it sounds now, Chevy Chase was simply probably the most well-known title within the “Group” solid when the sequence premiered. By the point he left after season 4, although, his major costars had all develop into main gamers. Sidestepping the behind-the-scenes drama that led to the actor’s departure (which is a dialog unto itself), Chase’s absence, coupled with Harmon’s return as showrunner after being fired on the finish of season 3, truly proved to be a artistic boon to the present. Sadly, nonetheless, that was not the case when Chase’s fellow pupil Donald Glover additionally departed midway by means of season 5, nor when Yvette Nicole Brown graduated for actual on the finish of that season.
Nonetheless, with an ensemble that included Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Jim Rash, and Ken Jeong (plus new additions Keith David and Paget Brewster), “Group” had loads of star energy in season 6 … which was additionally the issue. Talking to Metro Weekly after the present led to 2015, McHale defined that it simply would not have been possible to maintain the antics at Greendale Group School going (one thing Harmon and his writers have been clearly conscious of — therefore the season 6 finale enjoying like a sequence finale):
“All of our contracts have been up after six years. All of the actors on the present, nearly with out exception — their inventory has risen considerably, and it is out of the pay fee that’s inexpensive to make the present. So you are not going to have the ability to get Alison Brie or Gillian Jacobs at a traditional tv wage anymore. There may be simply not sufficient cash to have the ability to pay for the present.”
Mix the ever-rising prices with the present’s cult fanbase and it is no shock that “Group” proved to be the downfall of Yahoo! Display screen reasonably than its savior. A lot as that media internet hosting service had ambitions of changing into the subsequent massive factor by producing “Group” season 6, it as a substitute wound up taking a whopping $42 million write-down on that and different tasks in 2015 (by way of Selection) earlier than dissolving altogether 4 years later. As for whether or not “Group” will ever fulfill its promise of “Six seasons and a film” (a rallying cry that originated with a one-off joke in season 2)? Unlikely comebacks are just about the Greendale examine group’s factor at this stage, they usually’re nearer than ever to creating one other one.
