Dan Harmon Speaks on Community Firing: "Maybe I Am Just a Jerk"
Matt Richenthal at .Dan Harmon appeared yesterday on G4′s Attack of the Show and spoke out for the first time about his firing as the creator of Community.
Coming across as self-deprecating and reflective, with a mixture of stubborn bitterness thrown in, Harmom told Marc Maron:
“If 20 people call you a horse’s ass, you buy a saddle. "I feel like I’m a good person and a professional, a very able leader of men. I also feel like I’m 25... Maybe I am just a jerk. To people who work above me I am a liability that isn’t worth the benefit. It’s a low-rated show that’s not generating much revenue.”
Harmon also admitted that he became overly focused on critical acclaim, especially throughout Community Season 3.
“Television is a populist... medium," he said. "You’re supposed to make a hamburger that everyone wants in their mouth. But in the third season, you can see me start to go, ‘Never mind – just give me a good review in the Times!’”
While acknowledging he isn't finished with television, and that his next project may be a multi-camera sitcom (“just to prove that it’s not cancer, it doesn’t have to be. TV in all of its ugliness can be a beautiful thing.”), Harmon concluded that Community under his watch was a hit, just not as accounted for by advertisers.
“We were a cross-platform triumph. The problem is that the Nielsen [ratings] system isn’t designed to measure that yet.”
Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.