'Community' lives on Yahoo

PASADENA, Calif. — Community, finally canceled by NBC after a fifth low-rated season, will make its triumphant return on March 17 with two episodes, followed by another each Tuesday.

Yahoo made the date official at the Television Critics Association, where creator Dan Harmon and stars Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs and Ken Jeong joined creator Dan Harmon. Some (though not all) of the original cast is returning. Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown are among those departing, but the gang at Greendale Community College will be joined by Keith David and Paget Brewster, though the cast change "doesn't seem weird to us," McHale says.

Harmon recounted the last-minute deal with Yahoo, following early talks with Hulu, that came hours before actors' contracts expired on June 30.

"It felt like the worst had happened; we finally got canceled by NBC, because we had cheated death so many times," Jacobs says. "It felt like we were an online show for awhile so it's good that we're actually online."

The show had to build new sets at a different studio, but don't look for potty-mouthed humor just because it's online: "There's stuff we can do that we couldn't have done on TV, but it would be very easy to completely corrupt the tone of the show," Harmon says, allowing that there's a "natural loosening of the corset."

Harmon says even if the hoped-for movie doesn't happen, he's not acting as if the sixth season will be the last. "We're definitely not writing it as if this is the end," he says. "My sixth-grade mentality about it is this show has lived by the sword of a very intimate relationship with fans. ... Only when people want to stop watching will I stop making the product. I would never feel comfortable walking away from any viewers. In my mind, I have to continue to write the show as if it lasts 20 seasons."

As for the TV-style weekly episode release, a departure from the all-at-once Netflix model? "Maybe old-school is best; it is for rap."