COMMUNITY: Pillow Forts, New Showrunners, and More

For a show that might owe its fans six seasons and a movie, Community knows how to rise from the ashes of near cancellation and bring out scores of dedicated fans for a Friday morning panel in Ballroom 20 at Comic Con. In a room that was filled with a few thousand Firefly fans as well, the panel bridged the gap between providing an insight into Community‘s new creative team (who are fans of the show just like many others in the room) and a cast that is equally appreciative of the hard work from the fans.

Looking back at season three, it was clear that there are many different relationships that can be further explored–Jeff and Shirley being one. The episode in which Jeff and Shirley bond over foosball will get sequel treatment this season, with Nick Kroll reprising his role as the head of the Germans.

The growing relationship between Britta and Troy will also developed (to the excitement of Gillian Jacobs in the panel). It might be at the expense of the friendship between Abed and Troy, however. That rift might break things up, but after three seasons, there should be room to see where people might go when their friendships change.

As many fans might expect, the panel had the ability to run off topic, but always with the best of intentions, as it’s clear that the cast has just as much fun creating the show as the audience has watching the show.

They were also ever mindful of the panels after them, including the reunion celebrating the 10th anniversary of the beloved series [easyazon-link asin=”B0000AQS0F”]Firefly[/easyazon-link]. Although maybe the fans of Firefly will find something in Community to enjoy and watch this season. If anyone was unaware of “[easyazon-link asin=”B007RV5Y8S”]Pillows and Blankets[/easyazon-link]” before the panel, just hearing more about how to create a rift between Abed and Tory with pillows and blankets would have been enough to get me interested. Really, a pillow fort and a blanket fort? How awesome are those?

Just to whet the appetites of some other spoilers, the show will make a trip to an “Inspector Spacetime” convention, which hopefully will look like Gallifrey One. Also we’ll see more of chez Pierce, with his water bed and scary statues. There might also be more in store for Dean Pelton and Jeff.

Community returns with new episodes and a new timeslot on Friday, February 7 at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.