May 212012
I learned today that former Community showrunner Dan Harmon identifies as someone with an autism spectrum disorder. It may be that his atypical brain wiring contributed to his recent firing, which would be a shame. Harmon and his fellow writers have done a superb job of making Abed a deeply nuanced character coping with a similarly configured brain; I hope that doesn’t change in Harmon’s absence. Lesser writers could be tempted to turn Abed into a caricature of himself, making him a source of cheap laughs. The rest of the show’s writers and cast probably won’t let that happen, but I’m still going to miss Harmon’s influence on what has become one of the most adventurous scripted shows on television.
