Community (TV series)

In addition to the regular episodes, NBC produced a series of webisodes. Some focus on the daily life of Dean Pelton and others include a Spanish project, study breaks, and Abed copying his friends' lives and turning them into student films. These webisodes are featured on the front page of the Greendale Community College website on the AV Department page.[11]

On March 2, 2012, it was announced that three animated webisodes would air exclusively on Hulu in lead up to the return of the series on March 15, 2012. Titled Abed's Master Key, the shorts were written by Dave Seger and Tom Kauffman of Channel 101 and animated by Animax Entertainment. In the webisodes, Abed becomes Dean Pelton's assistant and is given a master key to Greendale.[12]

Danny Pudi, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie and Joel McHale at San Diego Comic-Con 2012

Dan Harmon emphasized the importance of the cast to making the premise of the comedy work. "Casting was 95 percent of putting the show together," he said in an interview.[13] He had worked with several of the cast members previously. Actor Chevy Chase had long been a favorite of Harmon. Though initially not partial to sitcoms, Chase was persuaded by the quality of the show's writing to take the job.[13] Harmon saw similarities between Chase and the character he plays on the show. Though Chase has often been ridiculed for his career choices, Harmon believed this role could be redeeming: "What makes Chevy and Pierce heroic is this refusal to stop."[14] Harmon had to warn Chase against playing a "wise-ass" the way he often does in his roles, since the character of Pierce is a rather pathetic figure who is normally the butt of the joke himself.[14]

McHale, known from the E! comedy talk show The Soup, was also (like Chase) impressed by Harmon's writing. He commented that "Dan's script was so head and shoulders above everything else that I was reading."[15] McHale appealed to Harmon because of his likable quality, which allowed the character to possess certain unsympathetic traits without turning the viewer against him.[14] For the role of Annie, Harmon wanted someone who would resemble Tracy Flick, Reese Witherspoon's character from the 1999 movie Election. Originally the producers were looking for a Latina or Asian Tracy Flick, but could not find any. Instead they ended up casting Alison Brie, known for her role as Trudy Campbell on Mad Men.[14]

Series creator Dan Harmon

Harmon based the premise of Community on his own real-life experiences. In an attempt to save his relationship with his then-girlfriend, he enrolled in Glendale Community College northeast of Los Angeles, where they would take Spanish together.[13] Harmon got involved in a study group and, somewhat against his own instincts, became close friends to the group of people with whom he had very little in common. "I was in this group with these knuckleheads and I started really liking them," he explained, "even though they had nothing to do with the film industry and I had nothing to gain from them and nothing to offer them."[14] With this as the background, Harmon wrote the show with a main character largely based on himself. He had, like Jeff, been arrogant and emotionally distant to the extreme before he realized the value of understanding other people.[14]

About the creative process behind the writing, Harmon said that he had to write the show as if it were a movie, not a sitcom. Essentially, the process was no different from the earlier works he had done, except for the length and the target demographic.[14]

Each episode of Community is written in accordance with Dan Harmon's template of "story circles" that he developed while at Channel 101.[16] Harmon rewrote every episode of the show (except while not working on the show during its fourth season), which helped lend the show his particular voice.[17] Members of the Community writing staff have included Liz Cackowski, Dino Stamatopoulos, Chris McKenna, Megan Ganz, Andy Bobrow, Alex Rubens, Tim Saccardo and Matt Warburton. Additionally, cast member Jim Rash, who won an Academy Award in 2011 for co-writing the film The Descendants, wrote a season four episode.

The show is well known for its frequent use of thematic episodes every season, which use clichés and television tropes as single episode concepts that play with suspension of disbelief while maintaining continuity of the plot.[18][19] An example of a notable thematic episode is Season 3's "Remedial Chaos Theory", in which the cast explore seven different parallel realities of the same night, with one key variation being a roll of a single six-sided die in a game of Yahtzee that Jeff uses to dismiss a member of the group to go get a pizza (the seventh variant being that the die was not allowed to roll at all).[20] Frequent episode themes are school-year holidays (Halloween and Christmas being the most frequent), paintball,[21] and various forms of animation.[22][23][24]

Filming the show involved a lot of improvisation, particularly from Chevy Chase. About Chase, Harmon said that he "tends to come up with lines that you can actually end scenes with sometimes".[25] He also mentioned Joel McHale and Donald Glover, the actors who portray Jeff and Troy respectively, as adept improvisers.[15] Apart from a few exterior scenes shot at Los Angeles City College, the show was filmed at the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood, California, during seasons one through five. For season six, the series moved to the CBS Studio Center, and featured exterior scenes from Los Angeles City College for the first time since season two.[26] The series used the single-camera technique, where each shot is filmed individually, using the same camera.[27]

The series was renewed for a third season on March 17, 2011.[28] Filming for the season began on July 25, 2011.[29] Jim Rash, who portrays Dean Pelton, was promoted to a series regular after having a recurring role throughout the first two seasons.[30] Michael K. Williams was cast as the study group's new biology professor, who is described as a deeply intense character.[31] John Goodman appears as a recurring character throughout the season as Vice Dean Laybourne, the head of Greendale's air conditioning repair school, and is a foe for Dean Pelton.[32]

Community premiered its third season on September 22, 2011. On November 14, 2011, NBC announced that they were removing Community from their mid-season schedule, replacing it with the returning series 30 Rock.[33] Fans of the series began a campaign to get the show back on the air using Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook, making hashtags such as #SaveCommunity, #SixSeasonsAndAMovie, and #OccupyNBC trending topics.[34] NBC responded to the backlash by announcing that the network was still planning to film and air the remainder of the 22 planned episodes after the undetermined hiatus, and that the fate of the series would be determined after the planned episodes air.[33]

On December 7, 2011, CollegeHumor released a video titled "Save Greendale (with the cast of Community)" using the cast of Community in-character to promote the series and the school in a PSA-styled video.[35] On December 22, 2011, fans of the series created a flash mob outside of NBC's Rockefeller Center headquarters in New York City to Occupy NBC. The flash mob dressed in Christmas gear, wearing "darkest timeline" goatees, and singing "O' Christmas Troy" from the first season's episode "Comparative Religion" and chanting "Go Greendale, go Greendale, go".[36] On January 6, 2012, NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt announced that Community was not canceled, though he did not mention a return date.[37]

On February 21, 2012, creator Dan Harmon announced via Twitter that the third season would resume on March 15, 2012, in its regular timeslot of Thursdays at 8:00 pm.[38]

Season 4 showrunners David Guarascio (left) and Moses Port (right) at a San Diego Comic-Con panel for Community in July 2012.

Series creator and executive producer Dan Harmon was replaced as showrunner for the series in the fourth season, as writers David Guarascio and Moses Port (co-creators of the short-lived Aliens in America) took over as showrunners and executive producers. Sony Pictures Television, which produces the series with Universal Television, initially said that Harmon would serve as a consulting producer, but Harmon asserted that he was not informed of the deal and would not return in a position without any executive prerogatives.[39] The end of the third season also marked several other departures including executive producers Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan, writer/producer Chris McKenna and actor/writer Dino Stamatopoulos. Frequent episode directors and executive producers Anthony and Joe Russo also left the show in order to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier.[40][41]

In early October 2012, NBC delayed the premiere of the fourth season, which had been scheduled for October 19, 2012, without announcing a new date.[42] On October 30, 2012, NBC announced that the fourth season would premiere on February 7, 2013, returning to its original time slot of Thursdays at 8:00 pm.[43]

On November 21, 2012, it was announced that Chevy Chase left the show by mutual agreement between the actor and network. As a result of timing and the agreement made, Chase's character Pierce is absent for two episodes—he did not appear in the tenth episode (produced as ninth), "Intro to Knots", and the twelfth episode, "Heroic Origins".[44][45] He also appeared in a voice-only role in the episode "Intro to Felt Surrogacy", which was the final episode produced for the season, and as part of his agreement to leave the show, Chase was required to record all audio for the scenes where his character, alongside the other characters, appeared as a puppet.[46] The season finale, which was filmed out-of-sequence, as it was the eleventh episode produced, marked the final on-screen appearance of Chase as a regular cast member.[47] Chase appeared in a cameo in the premiere of season 5.[48]

Chris McKenna on a Community panel at WonderCon 2012

On May 10, 2013, the series was renewed for a fifth season.[9] On June 1, 2013, Dan Harmon announced he would return as showrunner for season five, replacing season four showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio, with former writer Chris McKenna returning as executive producer.[49] On June 10, Sony Television officially confirmed the return of Harmon and McKenna for the fifth season.[50] Dino Stamatopoulos, Rob Schrab and the Russo brothers all returned as well.

However, cast member Donald Glover decided to not return as a full-time cast member for the fifth season, only appearing in the first five of the thirteen episodes.[51] To make up for the absence of Glover and Chase, Jonathan Banks was cast in the fifth season in August 2013 and appeared in 11 of the season's 13 episodes, portraying Buzz Hickey, a criminology professor.[52] Additionally, John Oliver, who played Professor Duncan throughout the first two seasons, reprised his role in season 5 for multiple episodes.[53]

On May 9, 2014, NBC announced that it had canceled Community.[54] For several years prior to its cancellation, fans adopted the slogan "six seasons and a movie", a line from the episode "Paradigms of Human Memory" regarding Abed's hopeful legacy of NBC's short-lived series The Cape.[55][56][57] Bids to continue the series were turned down by popular streaming providers like Netflix[58] and Hulu.[59]

On June 30, the day the cast's contracts were due to expire, Yahoo! announced it had ordered a 13-episode sixth season to stream on Yahoo! Screen, including the main cast along with executive producers Dan Harmon, Chris McKenna, Russ Krasnoff, and Gary Foster. Harmon said, "I am very pleased that Community will be returning for its predestined sixth season on Yahoo ... I look forward to bringing our beloved NBC sitcom to a larger audience by moving it online."[10] However, Yvette Nicole Brown dropped out to care for her ailing father, although she made guest appearances in "Ladders" and "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television".[60] Paget Brewster was cast as consultant Francesca "Frankie" Dart and Keith David was cast as inventor Elroy Patashnik.[61] Filming began for season six on November 17, 2014, and on December 8, 2014, the series celebrated the milestone of 100 episodes.[62] Filming ended on March 27, 2015.[63]

In a June 3, 2015 interview with TV Insider, Dan Harmon explained why season six would likely be the last of the series:

We've exploded into these successful shrapnel. Dr. Ken is now Dr. Ken. Alison has probably got her eye on movies. Gillian is working on a Netflix show. If there was some magical way of guaranteeing that everyone could come back all at once, let's do it. But it would be a lot easier to put together a movie project and get them all on board than to say, "Let's give it one more season!"[64]

Despite the show's "six seasons and a movie" mantra, Yahoo never formally marketed season six as its final season. On July 30, 2015, Joel McHale stated that Yahoo! "wanted to [make more seasons of Community], but all of [the actors'] contracts were up after six years."[65] McHale later clarified his statement via Twitter, saying "Community is not canceled."[66] Yahoo released a statement: "We've seen tremendous value in our partnership with Sony and are continuing to discuss future opportunities for Community."[67] Harmon said he "could have said yes immediately" to season seven, but "given the actors' velocity and trajectory" decided in favor of "getting [the cast] back together for an awesome movie."[68] On January 4, 2016, Yahoo announced it had shut down its Yahoo Screen service, after a $42 million write-down, with its original programming being moved to Yahoo TV for continued public viewing.[69]

In a June 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zack Van Amburg of Sony Pictures Television confirmed that a Community film was in the early stages of development. Asked if Sony had plans beyond the sixth season, Amburg said:

There's no way we're not making the movie now! I think once we make the movie, let's look up and decide how much more Community the world wants. I'd be lying if I told you that we have not had some very early and preliminary conversations that are very exciting about what a potential movie could be and who might direct it.[70]

One year later, after the sixth season wrapped, Dan Harmon commented that he was not ready to produce a movie at the end of the season:

I told Yahoo, 'I can't think about writing a movie until I miss Community,' ... They wanted to turn around and do a movie immediately, and Yahoo can get it done. They're like the NSA.[71]

In July 2016, during an interview with Larry King Now, Harmon assured that a Community movie "will happen", while expressing uncertainty on how to begin its production.[72] In July 2017, in an interview with Time, Harmon stated regarding a Community movie, "I recently had a conversation with a director that's the kind of guy whose weight in the industry could make that happen. For the first time in a long time, I'm actually putting thought into that again."[73] In November 2017, Harmon told The Wrap that both he and Justin Lin are working to make the movie happen.[74]

In January 2018, series co-star Danny Pudi stated that the cast were still excited about the prospect of a film, stating, "We have a little text chain, so we're always like, 'We're ready! We're ready!'"[75] On March 23, 2018, Joel McHale mentioned that he was still hopeful about the movie, while noting that he felt bringing back former castmate Donald Glover would be vital to make the film a success, though he was unsure if this would be feasible. McHale elaborated: "It would be great to do, I'd do it in a New York minute."[76]

When asked in an interview in June 2019 about doing a Community movie, Alison Brie said, "Yeah, I think I would." She later added, "I mean, look, it's like, are we going to do the movie? I feel like if the Community movie ever gets made, it should just be made for Netflix, and it would be fun to do, but, I think it would be best if we could get everyone to do it, so I feel like that might be difficult."[77] In a February 2020 Reddit "Ask Me Anything" thread, Brie stated that she "actually got an interesting call about it this week" when questioned about a Community movie and said to "stay tuned".[78]

As the show debuted on Netflix in April 2020, public exposure and interest picked up significantly. That same month during an interview with Collider, Joe Russo was asked if he and his brother Anthony would come back to do the movie. He stated, "We'd certainly be willing to do it. We love our Community family. That cast, we're all still very close to all of them. It'd be schedule-depending for us. But I believe there will be a Community movie, especially now that it's doing well on streaming. Someone like Netflix could step up and make the movie."[79]

In May 2020, the original cast (excluding Chase) and Harmon announced that they would reunite via a livestream video for a benefit to raise money for the COVID-19 pandemic with a table read of "Cooperative Polygraphy". Pedro Pascal filled in for Walton Goggins, who was unavailable.[80] In a Q&A session following the table read, the cast, including Glover, expressed interest in a movie.[81][82]

The show's first season received mostly positive reviews, scoring 69 out of 100 based on 23 critics on Metacritic.[84] Season 1 scored 90% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's critical consensus reading: "Snarky and fast-paced with a surprisingly tender undercurrent and an engaging cast, Community is one of the best new comedies of the season".[83] David Bushman (Curator, Television) of the Paley Center for Media called Community the best new show of the fall season.[95] Jonah Krakow of IGN gave the first season an 8.5 saying that "Community eventually ramped up and delivered some amazing stories in the second half of the season."[96]

The second season received high critical acclaim, scoring 86 out of 100 based on 4 critics on Metacritic.[86] Rotten Tomatoes gave the season a 100%, with a critical consensus that reads: "Community unfurls into a marvel of meta-madness in its sophomore season, artfully deconstructing sitcom tropes while repeatedly knocking its own emotional beats out of the park".[85] Emily Nussbaum of New York Magazine and Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com rated Community as the best show of 2010.[97][98] In The A.V. Club's list of the 25 best television series of 2010, Community ranked second, stating that the best episodes were "Modern Warfare", "Cooperative Calligraphy", and "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas".[99] IGN named Community the best comedy series in both 2010 and 2011.[100][101]

Danny Pudi has received critical acclaim for his performance.

Acclaim for the show continued in the third season, scoring 82 out of 100 based on 4 critics on Metacritic.[88] It also topped the Metacritic User Poll in the category 'Best Television Show of 2011', receiving 3,478 points.[102] Rotten Tomatoes gave season 3 a 91% with a critical consensus that reads: "The Greendale study group take some of their boldest swings – though not all connect – in this freewheeling third season that nevertheless continues Community's streak as the gold standard for fiendishly clever television".[87] Community placed on several critics top television lists; including ranked second by Paste,[103] fifth by both HitFix[104] and The Huffington Post,[105] first by Hulu[106] and third on TV.com's Top 100 Everything of 2011.[107]

In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed the show at #15 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years," with high praise: "The series' affinity for ambitious, high-concept story lines (e.g. few shows are willing to turn over an entire episode to stop-motion animation), meta humor, and constant pop culture allusions has helped it earn the kind of fervent fan following some of its higher-rated comedic competitors must envy."[108] A user poll on Splitsider named "Remedial Chaos Theory" as the best sitcom episode of all time, beating out The Simpsons episode "Marge vs. the Monorail".[109]

Reviews for the fourth season were generally positive, but less enthusiastic than the reception of the first three seasons. It scored 69 out of 100 based on 18 critics on Metacritic.[90] The season 4 rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 65%, and the critical consensus reads: "Despite some behind-the-scenes drama, the fourth season of Community manages to retain the playful energy, potent humor, and kooky stories the show is famous for".[89] Verne Gay of Newsday stated the show was "still defiantly Community, still good and still uninterested in adding new viewers."[110] On the other hand, Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall wrote, "It feels like [Moses] Port, [David] Guarascio and the other writers decided to reverse-engineer the [Dan] Harmon version of Community, but couldn't quite manage without the missing ingredient of Harmon himself."[111] Mike Hale of The New York Times has stated that the series "has been dumbed down, its humor broadened past recognition, and the two episodes provided for review...have fewer laughs between them than a single good scene from the old Community."[112]

The fifth season received critical acclaim, scoring an 80 out of 100 based on 15 reviews on Metacritic.[92] Rotten Tomatoes gave the season a 93%, with the critical consensus reading: "With Dan Harmon back as its show runner, Community returns with a familiar new energy and more fun, exciting adventures for the Greendale gang".[91] Many critics cited the return of series creator Dan Harmon as a strength. Verne Gay from Newsday said of the season that it was "about as good a Community restart as anyone could have possibly hoped for."[113]

The sixth season continued to receive positive reviews, scoring a 78 out of 100 based on 12 reviews on Metacritic,[94] and scoring an 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus being, "Despite cast and broadcast changes, Community manages to remain at the top of its quirky class."[93] Amy Amatangelo of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Everything fans loved about Community remains [...] the show has seamlessly transferred to an online venue."[114] The Los Angeles Times' Robert Lloyd considered "something special" about the season, commenting that it "lives in consciousness of its own construction in a kind of existential but also dramatically meaningful way."[115] The New York Times's Mike Hale felt Harmon responsible "for turning countercultural whimsicality into affecting, fast-paced comedy" in the season.[116] Time's James Poniewozik felt it the same show in humor and quality, though he noted an absent "sense of mission regarding the characters. [...] Maybe it’s enough for Community, free of the ratings pressures of NBC, to live its second life free to be weird and playful and experimental."[117]

Since its final episode, Community has appeared on a number of lists determining the greatest television shows of all-time. In TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time, critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz ranked Community 54th in their combined top 100 list, placing them in the section titled "Groundbreakers and Workhorses."[118] In 2017, IGN placed it 51st in its top 100 ranking of TV shows, with writer Jonathon Dornbush describing it "as a meta love letter to the films and shows that inspired it and its creator, Dan Harmon."[119]

In 2009, the series received a nomination for Favorite New TV Comedy at the 36th People's Choice Awards.[120]

In 2010, at the 41st NAACP Image Awards, Justin Lin received a nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for "Introduction to Statistics".[121] At the 2010 Teen Choice Awards, the series received a nomination for Breakout Show and Ken Jeong was nominated for Breakout Star Male.[122] For Entertainment Weekly's 3rd Ewwy Awards, it was nominated for Best Comedy Series,[123] Joel McHale was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy[124] and Danny Pudi was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy.[125]

In 2011, Betty White received a nomination for Favorite TV Guest Star at the 37th People's Choice Awards.[126] Yvette Nicole Brown won the 2011 Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.[127] The series received a nomination for Best Directing for a Comedy Series at The Comedy Awards.[128] The episode "Modern Warfare" won the 2010 Gold Derby TV Award for Comedy Episode of the Year.[129] For the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards, it was nominated for Best Comedy Series, while Joel McHale and Danny Pudi were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in Comedy Series, respectively.[130] The episode "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" won a 2011 Creative Arts Emmy Award for Individual Achievement in Animation.[131] At the 42nd NAACP Image Awards, Justin Lin was nominated for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for the episode "Modern Warfare".[132] At the 27th TCA Awards, Community was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy and Danny Pudi was nominated for Individual Achievement in Comedy.[133] The series received four nominations for the 2011 Satellite Awards, for Best Comedy or Musical Series, Joel McHale for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series, and Donald Glover for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or TV Movie; while it won Best Television Release for the season two DVD set.[134]

In 2012, Community was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the episode "Remedial Chaos Theory", written by Chris McKenna.[135] Also that year, the show won the awards for Favorite Comedy and Favorite Ensemble in the 2012 TV Guide Magazine Fan Favorites Awards.[136] "Remedial Chaos Theory" was nominated for a Hugo Award in 2012 for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.[137] Community also won the Hulu "Best in Show" award for 2012, beating 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, New Girl and Modern Family in the first four rounds, and The Walking Dead in the final round by 11,000 votes.[138] It won Hulu's "Best in Show" award again in 2013, beating out Game of Thrones in the final round with 60% of the votes.[139][140]

At the 2nd Critics' Choice Television Awards, Community received the most nominations and won Best Comedy Series.[141] Joel McHale was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, Jim Rash and Danny Pudi were nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and Alison Brie and Gillian Jacobs were nominated Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.[142] Community was also nominated for TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy at the 2012 TCA Awards.[143]

While sitcoms are often underrepresented in the academic study of television,[144] Community is an exception. More specifically, television critics and scholars often reference Community when discussing semiotics, the study of signs, in television and film. Television itself does not convey meaning, but rather viewers construct meaning based on recognizable signs and references,[145] so a complex show like Community is rich with potential semiotic analysis.

Some critics have even claimed that the show itself is about semiotics. Mordicai Knode of Tor.com suggests the show is "about the tropes of every single genre, it is about the cinematic language and the shared culture we all bring piecemeal to the table when we sit down as audiences."[146]

Dan Harmon fills each episode with signs and references in order for the audience to deconstruct and construct their own meaning, even going so far as to break the fourth wall to give viewers a wink and a nod to the show's complexity. Fans of Community require a "certain level of rhetorical and interpretive skills"[147] to pick up on these semiotic layers of the series:

"The most important knowledge a viewer brings to the viewing of Community is the subconscious recognition of indicators for other formal systems (meaning other genres or specific texts) with help from subconscious hypotheses and charts that are built on previous experiences with similar works."[145]

Premiering in the 9:30 pm ET spot on September 17, 2009, the pilot episode had a viewership of 7.680 million. In the 18–49 audience, it had a rating of 3.7. As such, it held 93% of this audience from The Office, which had been in the previous time slot. The show was called the "bright spot for the night" for NBC, seeing how The Office was down 18% from the previous year's premiere, while Parks and Recreation, in the preceding time slot, was down 30%.[148] However, the show, like many other NBC comedies at the time (including The Office, Parks and Recreation, and 30 Rock), would later struggle in the ratings despite critical acclaim,[149] though the show did tend to improve after factoring in DVR ratings.[150] Some commentators noted that the show's uniqueness and ambition prevented it from achieving the broad appeal of other sitcoms.[149][151]

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Community:
     Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

The series has been available to stream through Netflix and Hulu in the U.S., Amazon Prime Video and Netflix in Canada, Amazon Prime Video in the United Kingdom, Lightbox in New Zealand, Netflix in Ireland, Australia and Latin America and All 4 in the United Kingdom.

On April 1, 2020, the series became available to stream on Netflix worldwide.[172] Since Community's addition to Netflix, the show began to reach a wider audience and entered into Netflix's top 10 most popular shows in April 2020.[173] Season 6 is still available to view on Yahoo!'s website and app, including exclusive Communitary commentary from cast, writers, and producers.

On June 26, 2020, Netflix and Hulu removed the season 2 episode "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" from their platforms due to controversial scenes with Chang playing a dark elf by wearing black make-up and a white wig, which was perceived as blackface. Several other live-action comedies had episodes featuring blackface removed as well.[174] Harmon did not comment on the episode's removal.[175]

The first season was released in region 1 on September 21, 2010 in a four-disc set. The set includes all 25 episodes plus bonus features, including commentary on every episode by cast and crew members; extended versions of the "Pilot" and "Communication Studies" episodes; outtakes; "Season One Cast Evaluations" featurette; "Season One Highlight Reel" featurette; "Creative Compromises" featurette; "Advanced Criminal Law" alternative scenes; and three mini episodes.[176]

The second season was released in region 1 on September 6, 2011. It features commentary on every episode by cast and crew members; outtakes; animatics for "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" and making-of featurettes covering that episode as well as "A Fistful of Paintballs" and "For a Few Paintballs More".[177]

The third season was released in region 1 on August 14, 2012. It features commentary on every episode by cast and crew members; gag reel; deleted scenes; "This is War: Pillows vs. Blankets mockumentary" featurette; and "A Glee-ful Community Christmas" featurette.[178]

The fourth season was released in region 1 on August 6, 2013. It features commentary on every episode by cast and crew members; gag reel; deleted scenes; "Inspector Spacetime: Inspection" featurette, and Adventures in Advanced Puppetry featurette.[179]

The fifth season was released in region 1 on August 5, 2014. It features commentary on every episode by cast and crew members; gag reel; and two featurettes, "Re-Animating the '80s" and "Advanced Television Production: 5 Days, 2 Scripts, No Sleep".[180]

The sixth season was released on DVD in region 1 on March 8, 2016. Special features include deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the finale, trivia with the cast and crew, and a gag reel.[181]

The complete series was released on DVD in region 1 on November 15, 2016. Special features include all the features from the first six seasons.[182]

On June 6, 2018, it was announced that Community: The Complete Series would be released by Mill Creek Entertainment on high-definition Blu-ray on October 23, 2018.[183]

In the United States, the complete series is available on Hulu and Netflix. The first three seasons are available on Netflix throughout Latin America with Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese subtitles.[184] All six seasons are available via the iTunes Store. The series was available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video UK until February 1, 2015, when seasons one through five also became available on Netflix in the UK and Ireland until 2017.[185] In Australia, the entire series is available on Stan.[186] In 2018, all six seasons were made available on All 4, the streaming service of Channel 4, in the United Kingdom.[187]

Songs featured on the show that were not released on the soundtrack are available on composer Ludwig Göransson's official website.[190]

Throughout the series, Michael Haggins' song "Daybreak" can be heard. On several occasions the characters are humming the tune and sometimes it can be heard playing on the radio in the background.[191]