Yidio Focus: 'Community' Producer Provides Splattery Spoilers on the Action-Packed Season Finale
by Richard Sharp
Fans of “Community” have grown to love the way the show shifts its style and visual aesthetic nearly every week – one week filming a George Romero-style zombie episode, moving to stop-motion animation another week for a Christmas episode, then moving to an ‘Office’-like episode using handheld cameras.
Well the genre-smashing experimentation is about to reach its apex in the climax of season two, as the series will venture into a new realm with a familiar subject matter in an action-packed grand finale this May.
Executive Producer/Director Joe Russo and a panel of “Community” crew members visited NAB this week to talk about the latest season of the show and what it takes technically and creatively to put out a series that changes drastically nearly every episode.
“The show, especially into season two, has blossomed into a whole new creative paradigm than where we started with it. I think a lot of that has to do with the input from fans and Dan (show creator Dan Harmon) wanting to push the show in new directions,” said Russo.
Getting the go-ahead from fans, both through ratings and great online feedback, the “Community” creators felt like they had received the golden ticket that most TV producers only dream about – the license from their audience to play.
“After the success of the paintball episode at the end of season one, where we brought in a great action director Justin Lin, we knew that we could do some really interesting things with the show. In season two, we’ve expanded creatively – we’ve really pushed the borders of the show and the language of the show and people seem to be willing to go on the ride with us. So season two gave us a much bigger mandate to experiment, and we’ve attacked every genre we could think of this season.”
The show, entitled “Modern Warfare” helped drive critical acclaim and sold ratings for the show, as well as a post-season nomination for a People’s Choice Awards. The growing buzz around the show has helped embolden the creators to continue to have fun with new styles.
“My brother (Anthony Russo) and Dan and I, we’re all like chemists. We like to experiment with tone and genre, and we all have very eclectic tastes and interest in pop culture that we can bring into the show,” said Russo.
SPOILER ALERT
For the two-part grand finale of the show, airing on NBC on May 5th and 12th, the show will return to the paintball battlefield, taking a "Shoot-out at the O.K. Corral" style approach to filming the finale. “Lost” star Josh Holloway is also reported to appear in a guest-starring role for the episode as a "mysterious figure who shows up on campus during another game of paintball."
"The new paintball episode is an hour long finale airing in two parts, and we're playing with two different genres in that one, and there's an interesting way that we transition from one to the other," says Russo.
"The first genre that we played with is Sergio Leone, which is why I got into the business in the first place. I used to watch "Once Upon a Time in the West" as a kid and just rewind it over and over again. So we created a paintball episode that was an homage to Leone's spaghetti westerns."
According to Russo, shooting the episode was a real challenge.
"It was arduous. You have to shoot people in the chest with real paintballs. You have smoke machines, so people are coughing all the time. You miss somebody and you didn't shoot them in the right spot, so you have to shoot them again. So it's endless."
While the series itself may not be endless, it is guaranteed to stick around for next year. NBC renewed "Community" for a third season last month.
Watch Behind the Scenes Video from the First "Community" Paintball Episode: