Many "Community" fans certainly thought the show could go on without Pierce Hawthorne and Chevy Chase, the actor who played Pierce, finally did leave the NBC comedy in the middle of Season 4 this past November. But did he leave "Community" in a lurch?
"Chevy had a really great year here creatively, and the show's gonna miss him," David Guarascio, one half of the new "Community" showrunner team, told TV Guide. "The show, while being very out there sometimes, also has this grounded sensibility of what happens in life can happen in the show. And people move on and do other things, so I think the show could go on brilliantly without him."
Chase, who appeared on the first three seasons of "Community" and most of the fourth, had a very tumultuous relationship with the show. The actor told us at HuffPost TV that he had "creative issues with this show," before comparing elements of "Community" to "being relegated to hell and watching 'Howdy Doody' for the rest of your life."
Chase then made headlines thanks to his long-standing public feud with "Community's" creator and former showrunner Dan Harmon and also gained media attention for using the N-word on set in response to bigoted Pierce's dialogue that he found offensive. After that story broke, HuffPost TV created a list of reasons "Community" would be better off without Chase. Seemingly, Guarascio would agree, but maybe Chase's former co-star Alison Brie would not.
Last week, Brie sat down with David Letterman on the "Late Show" that Chase's departure is "a shame." "I had a lot of fun with Chevy," she added.
"Community" Season 4 premieres on Thursday, February 7 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.