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On the same day NBC’s Community posted a series low, its co-star Ken Jeong was cast in ABC’s comedy pilot Spy. The casting of course is in second position to Community, but ABC is clearly betting that the cult comedy won’t come back next season. Based on the UK series, Spy centers on Tim (Rob Corddry), a well intentioned father of a highly intelligent and verbal son (Mason Cook), who also happens to be his complete opposite, who inadvertently takes a job at the Secret Service in order to prove himself a worthy father. Jeong will play the lithe and mischievous Examiner. The role is played by Robert Lindsay in the original series.
Jeong is the first Community cast member to book a pilot. After an encouraging start to its fourth season earlier this month, Community dropped off precipitously, posting a series-low 1.1 18-49 rating for its episode last night. With co-star Chevy Chase already gone and the series undergoing a showrunner change this season, it is unclear whether NBC would keep the off-beat series for another season at these ratings levels, even with two of its other workplace comedies, The Office and 30 Rock, making an exit.
Jeong started off as guest star on Community but his scene-stealing performance as Señor Ben Chang quickly earned him a promotion to a regular. While on the show, Jeong also blew up on the big screen with The Hangover franchise.
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Ken didn’t start as a guest star on Community. He wasn’t in the pilot but when the show went to series he was cast as a regular right from the start.
It’s been pretty evident that they have run out of ideas for his character. He’s very talented, but he’s spinning his wheels on Community. I think both parties would be better moving on.
Seriously, pitting Community against the Big Bang Theory and American Idol wouldn’t help its ratings. Community is so close to the 100-episode benchmark, and if they come back next season, I think it’d be prudent to slot them where Parks and Rec is, and move Parks and Rec into The Office’s vacant slot.
Also, I favor season 1 Senor Chang over the maniac caricature he has become.
Really?I loved Chang in season 2 and his sub plot with Shirley. Season 3 Chang was hilarious in the episode were he went up against Britta who still wanted to rage against the machine.
Also so far I think the cast for this show is awesome. It is a remake of Spy not a ripoff. So it should be different, otherwise there would be not point to this show.
somewhere, out there, Dan Harmon is laughing his buttocks off at the implosion of his creative genius in the hands of vastly inferior show runners.
Harmon WAS “Community”. May the rats fleeing the “Community” ship that be sinking commence…
The word “genius” is so over used.
Spot on No Chance – Season 1 Chang was fun, but in season 2 showed that too much Chang is a bad thing. Seeing Jeong in any show every episode is no good.
Someone call in forensics because Community has been MURDERED.
The prime suspects are studio executives who didn’t understand the show and all had their own motives for seeing it fail. Whether it be their own shows they were trying to nurture and put on the schedule, or a dislike for Dan Harmon, the show’s stance on product placement and its general commercially unfriendly tone… The list could go on.
Honestly, I’d LOVE for the Deadline team to do an investigative breakdown with all the participants after the show is fully dead and gone. It would be fascinating to hear the real story behind the demise of Community, which we are now watching occur in real-time as it sputters and dies.
Why would they do that? The show was never a hit.
The show never had the chance to become a hit, dumped at 8pm after 3 episodes and then having to face the number 1 shows on CBS, Fox and The CW. The last show to be treated this badly was Family Guy, which was dumped opposite Friends and Frasier, and even FG had its post-Super Bowl premiere and a Sunday run.
The fact it lasted as long as it did is a miracle in itself. Watch 8pm Thursday become an NBC death slot once Community is cancelled.
Seriously, the only reason NBC manages even the shitty 8pm Thurs ratings they do is because of 30 Rock and Community that have their own (small) fan bases. Good luck trying to launch something new there!
Definitely – S1 Chang was streets ahead of S2 Chang, and don’t even get me started on S3 Chang. Ugh, he was THE WORST! (Well, who knows, S4 Chang could be even more terrible).
Having watched the British series SPY, I think they are casting all the wrong people from the ABC remake.
I disagree! I love the British version and am very happy with their choices. They are great Americanized versions of their UK counterparts. While I’m obsessed with the UK version, you have to agree that their cast would not work over here.
I haven’t seen Rob Corddry except on Community (so I’m not sure about him) but seeing Ken Jeong in another boss/authority figure-type role? I feel it’s too similar to S3 Chang. We’ll see though…
I think Rob Corddry is a fine choice as Tim, however Ken Jeong is just an awful choice for The Examiner. The Examiner has been with MI5 for years, built a reputation for being odd, but knowing what he is doing to get the job done. He is the best part of the show. I just don’t see Ken Jeong as being intimidating yet likeable, insane yet capable. I could maybe, sort of see a glimmer of what he would be like as The Examiner in S1 Chang, but no…it’s a just a bad choice.
When I first heard he was cast, I thought it was as that underling who is always sucking up The Examiner and hating Tim. That I could see.
Not a positive sign for Community’s future but, honestly, Community could easily continue without him (and save on his large salary). Will be interesting to see if the core cast of McHale/Jacobs/Brie/Brown/Pudi go out for pilots.
That said, part of me hopes they put the show out of its misery, because the show is a shadow of what it once was.
A shame, but Sony and NBC pretty much went out of their way to kill it. NBC execs clearly hate the show and don’t understand why no-one wants to watch their unfunny “broader” clones in Goon and Animal Practice. Sony sealed its fate by axing Harmon, which hit it creatively, negatively impacted its ratings and precluded any chance of a Netflix pickup. It’s no real surprise that both companies are floundering.
Its really funny to watch you people change directions. Last year you all said “Harmon” is the problem. Now you’re all saying “Getting rid of Harmon is the problem.” For the record, the ratings were not high when he was there so connecting the ratings of episode 2 of this season to his absence is unfair.
I’ve never liked Community, but I understand why some do. It is a smart show (probably too smart for its own good). That said, NBC really did assasinate it, with a series of stupid decisions (maybe beginning with Ben Silverman’s insistence that Harmon hire Chevy Chase!). NBC’s slogan, when it comes to Community, seems to have been, ‘Do More Harm! The fact that it is still on opposite TBBT is frankly mystifying. If they had figured out what Community was (rather than trying to screw with the formula, and make it what they wanted it to be) and what exactly to do with it, early on, NBC may well have had a small-scale hit on its hands, and something that would make a fortune in syndication. It’s a sad story, indeed, not least because the cast – McHale, Brie and Glover in particular – are extraordinarily likable, durable and talented performers.
First of all, I’d say Community is broader than Go On. Second of all, the casting for this is kinda weird. Tim is supposed to be a slightly dumb, but handsome type. With Rob Corddry he’ll just be dumb. Shoulda gone with Scott Foley. Jeong will be decent as the Examiner , but it’s better suited to a guy like Rob Huebel or Christian Slater. While I would have chosen Judy Greer for Judith (or Erica in this version) Paget Brewster is just as good.
Should round out with Jon Heder as Chris, Jonathan Slavin as Philip (and that gives guaranteed chemistry with Brewster), and Christine Taylor as Caitlin.
Your idea of Hedrr for Chris is brilliant!
All snark aside, I cannot figure out for the life of me how NBC execs do their alleged “job(s)”….. First the “Community” bungling, which pretty much killed a show that with properly handling could have been nurtured into a critically acclaimed piece for NBC’s Must-See TV. Another debacle? NBC getting rid of “Southland” — a show widely regarded as the BEST written cop show since “The Wire”. I mean is there one current drama on NBC that is as well written as “Southland”? Nope. I think NBC has been hijacked by a Lowest Common Denominator credo/mentality in which they go for cheap big bang hits such as “Heroes” or “Revolution”, both of which were short on creative legs but may have delivered instant gratification, ratings wise, for NBC bean counters. Don’t NBC execs realize that not even Seinfeld, today a critical and comedy-ratings juggernaut, was flopping big time before hitting its super strut? Brandon Tartikoff would be so embarrassed by what NBC, his darling network, has become….
I love Southland, but the show is barely pulling a million viewers on TNT and before you say well it’s TNT, keep in mind Rizzoli and Isles does well over 6 million.
Community was my favorite comedy around season 2. This season, though, there’s been an obvious dip in quality and it’s probably for the best if they just let it go. For NBC to renew a show that’s getting a 1.1 is to admit they’ve sunk to CW/ION level ratings.
The show is now a “Community-like Product.” the timing is off and the look is different.
Between Ken and Rob and Paget, Spy is shaping up to be my most anticipated show of Fall 2013. I hope it gets picked up to series.
Sadly, Community has been flat-out awful this season. Jeong is a funny dude – hope his next show is great.
It didn’t help that Community opened the season a few weeks ago with a Halloween episode. Huh?
And hasn’t it only aired a couple episodes? Why is everyone saying “it’s been awful this season?”
Because this is the Deadline comments section! All positive comments are filtered out by bitter robots!
Ken is a good guy with bad reps. He should be a movie-star by now, not second casting on a tv pilot that probably wont get picked up.
I really loved Community’s first three seasons.
However, I think the reason for the big drop-off, ratings-wise, is this:
Their first episode back was REALLY off-tone. It had all the elements of a Dan Harmon episode, just really poorly handled.
I think that scared off a lot of bandwagon jumpers. Personally, I had to force myself to watch the second episode of the season.
Fortunately, the Inspector Spacetime episode was better and a good way to win a longtime Doctor Who fan back.
But, honestly, my enthusiasm for the show is down. Even with Inspector Spacetime featured prominently, the show just lacks that Dan Harmon-inspired chemistry.
Plus, Pierce is barely on and it has the feel of “getting revenge on the show for what’s going on in real life.” Which, say what you will about Dan Harmon, he never did that I can recall.
So the show has lost it’s magic with Harmon’s departure and while I’ll watch it out of loyalty, I think ending the show after this season is probably a pretty good idea.
Bout time an Asian guy gets noticed. Go Ken!
Just NEVER do anything with martial arts in it, that only encourages the ignorant producers to create MORE of that crap whether on TV or in movies. Plus your career will be over!
Peace, chicken grease!