Community is a terrible facsimile of what it once was. I don’t want it to come back. I want it to be canceled because knowing it’s out there going through the paces makes me sad.

The common retort I hear is that I don’t have to watch it. This is true. But, for one, I am a big enough fan that, even though I’ve decided it’s not the same show, I probably will keep watching it and I probably will keep getting sadder and sadder.

But this is beside the point. Who cares if I watch it or not? I think, internally, the show should care about itself. I think shows should have enough respect for their own settings and characters to pull the plug when it’s no longer working.

This is about people in creative positions having the sense to move onto a new project. Creativity is by nature meant to be fun and exciting. If you’re repeating ideas and things are getting stale, you should move on for the sake of the project. Otherwise you get the unfortunate situation The Simpsons is in where ideas have run so dry that characters are now routinely completely betraying the things that once defined them (for example, Mr. Burns became a superhero in an episode this season). It’s offensive to fans, but, more than that, it’s offensive to the show when it was at its best.

Barring some kind of miracle (Jim Rash as showrunner, maybe?) I suspect seeing Zombie Community on TV is always going to make me sad. But, ultimately, for me, this isn’t about how a lesser Community is a disservice to the fans. It’s about how it’s a disservice to itself.