On Friday, not one but two of my friends texted me at almost the exact same time to tell me our beloved show had been canceled.
While I know it seems silly, I thought of the characters as my equals. They are the mascots for outsiders. I don't necessarily mean just the study group. Take Garrett, who is played by Erik Charles Nielsen. ECN and I are friends on Facebook. He's just as wonderfully awkward in real life as he is on Community. I love this about him.
Look at Dino Stamatopoulos. Try to tell me he fits in with a "normal" crowd.
Look at Abed. He turns to TV and movies for comfort. So do I.
Look at Chang. He's nuts!
These are my people.
I may LOOK like I fit in, but I feel uncomfortable almost everywhere. I can't stand the awkward "say goodbye to everyone" moment at parties and events, which is why I'm a big fan of the "Irish Goodbye" where you just duck out when no one is looking. I'm terrible at small talk. I like big talk. I don't know why we always have to ask each other how our weekends were. I barely care about my own weekend. Rest assured, I never want to hear about someone else's.
The Human Beings were my tribe, and I feel like their adventures are over and I know they're not real, but I also know that I have friends just like these people. Hell, I AM these people.
Look at Dan Harmon. Community is clearly his labor of love. He breathed life into Greendale and we all buddy breathed from the same Scuba tank.
Look at the Dean. He is a cross-dressing freak show and we adore him.
Shirley is kind of a bad mom sometimes. We're cool with that because it's authentic.
Jeff is the ringleader. There should always be someone who rounds up the misfits and keeps them in line (or at least in a controlled zigzag.)
Britta has no idea what she's doing, but her heart is almost always in the right place.
Annie just wants what's best for everyone and for her environment.
How about Troy and Abed? Those two taught me more about friendship than I ever thought possible.
Pierce? Well, Pierce was just Pierce. He was the lovable wacko. Every group has at least one.
And then a new friend walked into their lives, and he was weird and crazy, too, but they accepted him anyway, even though his name was Buzz and he based bills on beaks.
The list goes on and on...
I keep funny quotes from Community saved in my email Drafts folder for times when I need a laugh. They never let me down. One of my favorites is, "Abed, what did I tell you? You can't just mumble nonsense. No one's cutting away." - Jeff
Except this time, they did cut away, and it's my sincere hope that somewhere... in a million different timelines... in a million Greendales all over the world, there are a million Abeds mumbling nonsense and a million more people listening and laughing still.
I choose to believe that, in an alternate timeline, #sixseasonsandamovie happens, and it's glorious.
Here's to the outsiders... "We're all kind of crazy town banana pants."
