A darling of social TV has lost its battle to stave off extinction–NBC cancelled “Community” today after five seasons.
The screwball comedy centering around a bunch of community college students had developed a tradition for being on the “will it or won’t it be cancelled” block dating back to its third season, when we covered a fans’ event and social-media based uprising to save the show.
Back in 2012, fans came together on Twitter and Tumblr to organize “CommuniCon,” an fan event with the purpose of keeping the show on-air. The founder of the event, Gillian Morshedi, told us then:
I started CommuniCon because I really feel like I’ve become friends with other fans over Twitter, and we all feel a bit exhausted by what the show has been through the past few seasons, with low ratings, and multiple delays, and hiatuses.
More recently, fans like Morshedi rallied around hashtag #Sixseasonsandamovie in order to will their favorite show to a sixth season. Today, they’re reacting to the show’s cancellation.
Goodbye #Community and thanks for the memories. #Sixseasonsandamovie may never happen, but as recent events show us, Netflix will save you.
— Julian Marquez Durst (@JulianDurst) May 9, 2014
#Community might be finished… unless the fans rise up like a mighty army and seize our dreams!!! #sixseasonsandamovie make. It. Happen.
— Bryson Higbee-Wegner (@bhigbe) May 9, 2014
And a new hashtag has been born.
@joelmchale @danharmon This isn’t over dammit. #NetflixSaveCommunity
— J.W. Allen (@justWidle) May 9, 2014
#NetflixSaveCommunity I hope @Netflix and @danharmon can make #sixseasonsandamovie happen
— Stacy (@fantasmasolita) May 9, 2014