Welcome back to Greendale Community College, the (alphabetically) fifth ranked community college in Colorado. Although we are able to return to Greendale, the TV series Community will never return to the heights it once achieved. This is a show that has fought cancellation for the majority of its existence, and is returning following its cancellation by NBC.
Creator Dan Harmon is back in charge after his absence on season four and eventual return on season five. Yahoo! Screen is the current home of Community, with new episodes debuting on Tuesdays.
Much of the returning cast of the new Community is familiar. Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) returns as a scotch swirling teacher; Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) is homeless and is, as always, the worst; Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi) is still determining where his fictitious world ends and reality begins. Annie Edison (Alison Brie) is a crisis manager whose position is threatened by new character Frankie (Paget Brewster), a rapid goal accomplisher who is hellbent on improving Greendale, even if it means forcing Abed to face reality.
In Frankie’s first episode, she completes her multitude of tasks so quickly that it makes Annie’s efforts seem well intentioned, but ultimately useless. It also points out that maybe the ridiculousness common in so many episodes has run its course, and it may be time for someone to step up and fix Community.
After three episodes, a major emphasis has been placed on the fact that there are problems with Greendale. Plot holes, absent characters and late ‘90s virtual reality machines haunt the show. The acknowledgment of the problems on air is an attempt by Abed to hurriedly brush them away, but instead he brings attention to the larger question. Is the return of Community entirely necessary?
Fan demand was so great after the show’s cancellation, with the #SixSeasonsAndAMovie campaign that Yahoo! Screen decided to take a chance in resurrecting the cult favorite show. The problem is that television may have finally met its match with the Internet.
If a show fails on TV, will the new standard be to move the show online, like Arrested Development did when it was picked up by Netflix? This model is starting to show a trend of keeping shows past their prime alive, in order to please fans with quantity, rather than quality levels of content.

That’s the Greendale effect. Our school’s motto is: Lower Your Standards.#CommunityLivesOn
— Community (@CommunityTV) November 12, 2014

While the Greendale effect may work on the show, there is a difference between fiction and reality, as the show has been so eager to point out this season. Changnesia will only last for so long before viewers stop tuning in.
This is not the Darkest Timeline, but it sure feels like we’re quickly headed in that direction, not only for Community, but possibly for television as a whole.