NBC’s ‘Community’ to parody ‘Apollo 13′

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/07/community-to-parody-apollo-13.html

No Emmy love? Not to worry.

The entire "Community" cast came out to a packed ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront on Saturday and many of them were overwhelmed, including Gillian Jacobs who confessed that she cried after seeing the number of people who showed up to support the series.


Co-star Yvette Nicole Brown shared the same sentiment, saying after the audience applauded for over one minute, "This is amazing. We have never seen this much humanity in one place honoring our show. Thank you so much." Makes you want to go "aww."

With Betty White joining the cast as a new professor in the Season 2 premiere, which airs Sept. 23, and the episode "Modern Warfare" catapulting the comedy to new heights, they made all the right moves. Until CBS rained on their parade by moving "The Big Bang Theory" to the same timeslot.

So when the panelists were asked to say in five words or less why someone should tune into "Community," the funniest response came from Chevy Chase: "I'm really gay." Donald Glover's was a close second: "Troy, Abed, love triangle!" Creator Dan Harmon used it as an opportunity to tease an upcoming episode: "Episode for 'Apollo 13' homage."

"We've got to send them to space, which makes you think, 'Come on, you can't do it,' but there's a way," Harmon later added.

The finale kiss between Jeff and Annie may have shocked some viewers, but the seeds were planted in "Debate 109." Interestingly, Harmon and the writers didn't plan the Jeff-Annie finale moment from the season's inception. Arcs are planned in six-episode chunks in the writers' room.

There was also another player that helped steer the series creatively. "We've nudged the show in certain directions based on what's being said on the Internet," one of the exec producers said. Alison Brie, who plays Annie, confessed that she read Jeff-Annie fan fic on the web.

The idea for "Modern Warfare," which saw the Greendale Community College student body in a paintball war over priority registration was a product of Harmon's love of "Die Hard" and TV. "I like the popcorn, visceral stuff. I also love television and working in it, so I wanted to get to my strong corner fast before we got canceled," Harmon said, clearly joking about that last part.

Shooting the episode took eight days to get 23 minutes of aired footage. "I pulled a muscle in my back. Donald lost teeth. Danny [Pudi], we broke him in half," Joel McHale joked. "Thankfully I'm flexible so I can be put back into place," Pudi added, half-seriously.

The afternoon was ripe with witty banter between castmates and special renditions by Glover and Pudi, who performed "La Biblioteca" and "Somewhere Out There."

In one of many funny moments, Glover and McHale reenacted one of Glover's many on-set personas: a homeless man obsessed with McHale.

Harmon also took the time to plug the DVD set and the audience saw the cover of the "Kickpuncher" ("a puncher with kicks!") comic book. Harmon treated the crowd to "deleted" scenes from an episode that aired that was "watered down" from his original concept, which included a lot of farting.