The fifth season of the television comedy series ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

'' premiered on January 2, 2014, and concluded on April 17, 2014. The season consists of 13 episodes and aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

on Thursdays at 8:00 pm ET as part of the network's "

Comedy Night Done Right Must See TV was an American advertising slogan that was used by NBC to brand its primetime blocks during the 1990s, and most often applied to the network's Thursday night lineup, which featured some of its most popular sitcoms and drama series o ...

". The season features the return of series creator

Dan Harmon Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV series), Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast ' ...

as showrunner, as well as the exit of cast members

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...

and

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...

from the series.

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British and American comedian who hosts ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' on HBO. He started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom and came to wider attention for his work ...

returned as Ian Duncan after a two-year hiatus.

Jonathan Banks Jonathan Ray Banks (born January 31, 1947) is an American actor. He played FBI Special Agent Frank McPike in the television series '' Wiseguy'' (1987–1990). For his role, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supportin ...

made his introduction to the series as Buzz Hickey, a criminology professor. NBC announced the series' cancellation in May 2014, but in June 2014,

Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...

announced it had commissioned the show's sixth and final season to be streamed online on

Yahoo! Screen The company Yahoo! ran several similar video services. Yahoo! Video, a video hosting service, was established in 2006. Later, the ability to upload videos was removed, changing it to a more pure video on demand service; the website became a port ...

Cast

Starring

Joel McHale Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and television presenter. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger, Jeffrey "Jeff" Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV seri ...

as Professor Jeff Winger *

Gillian Jacobs Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for playing Britta Perry in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), Mickey Dobbs in the Netflix romantic comedy series '' Love'' (2016–2018), and Mar ...

Britta Perry ''Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon that ran for 110 episodes. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit study group. In the pilot, the main cast ...

Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor and director. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supp ...

Abed Nadir Abed Gubi Nadir is a fictional character on the NBC/Yahoo! Screen sitcom series ''Community'', created by Dan Harmon and portrayed by Danny Pudi. Abed is a student at Greendale Community College and one of the first members of the show's centr ...

Yvette Nicole Brown Yvette Nicole Brown (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress. She starred as Shirley Bennett on the NBC sitcom ''Community'', as Dani in the 2015 reboot of '' The Odd Couple'' on CBS, and as Dina Rose on the ABC sitcom '' The Mayor''. Br ...

Shirley Bennett ''Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon that ran for 110 episodes. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit study group. In the pilot, the main cast ...

Alison Brie Alison Brie Schermerhorn (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress, writer, and producer. She earned recognition for playing Trudy Campbell in the drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), and had her Breakthrough role, breakthrough starring ...

Annie Edison ''Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon that ran for 110 episodes. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit study group. In the pilot, the main cast ...

as Troy Barnes *

Jim Rash James Rash (born July 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He played Dean Craig Pelton on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best ...

Dean Craig Pelton ''Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon that ran for 110 episodes. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit study group. In the pilot, the main ca ...

Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong ( ; ; born July 13, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' ...

as Professor Ben Chang

Recurring

as Professor Buzz Hickey *

as Dr. Ian Duncan *

Richard Erdman John Richard Erdman (June 1, 1925 – March 16, 2019) was an American character actor and occasional film and television director. He appeared in more than 160 films and television productions between 1944 and 2017, mostly in supporting roles ...

as Leonard Briggs *

Charley Koontz Charley Koontz (born August 10, 1987) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his recurring role as the student nicknamed 'Fat' Neil on ''Community''. Early life, family and education Koontz was raised in the San Francis ...

as Neil *

Erik Charles Nielsen Erik Charles Nielsen (born May 8, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. Early life Nielsen was born in West Sayville, New York. He is of Danish descent. Nielsen graduated from Palm Bay High School in 1999. While attending Boston University, ...

as Garrett Lambert *

Dino Stamatopoulos Konstantinos Pollux Alexandros "Dino" Stamatopoulos (born December 14, 1964) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He has worked on TV programs such as '' Mr. Show'', '' TV Funhouse'', ''Mad TV'', '' The Dana Carvey Show'', ''Late Show wi ...

as Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne *Danielle Kaplowitz as Vicki Jenkins *

Brie Larson Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress. She played supporting roles in comedies as a teenager, and has since expanded to leading roles in independent films and Blockbuste ...

as Rachel *

Luke Youngblood Luke Youngblood (born 12 June 1986) is a British actor. He is known for playing Ben in ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'', young Simba in '' The Lion King'' at several London venues, Lee Jordan in the ''Harry Potter'' film series, and Magnitude ...

as Magnitude *Brady Novak as Richie Countee *Jeremy Scott Johnson as Carl Bladt * James Michael Connor as the Subway Representative *Leslie Simms as Rhonda

Guest stars

Episodes

Production

On May 10, 2013, NBC announced it had renewed the series for a fifth season, to consist of 13 episodes. The season does not feature original cast member

in a regular role, as he left the series near the end of the fourth season by mutual agreement between the actor and network. Chase does appear in a guest role during the first episode of the season, and the character's exit from the show is finalized in "Cooperative Polygraphy."

, who portrays Troy Barnes, only appears in five of the thirteen episodes.

appears in eleven of the season's thirteen episodes as criminology professor Buzz Hickey.

, who played Ian Duncan throughout the first two seasons, reprises his role in season five for seven episodes.

Rob Corddry Robert William Corddry (born February 4, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a correspondent on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' (2002–2006) and for his starring role in the film ''Hot Tub Time Machine''. He ...

reprises his role as lawyer Alan Connor in the season premiere.

Walton Goggins Walton Sanders Goggins Jr. (born November 10, 1971) is an American actor. He has starred in various television series, including ''The Shield'' (2002–2008), ''Justified (TV series), Justified'' (2010–2015), ''Vice Principals'' (2016–2017), ...

guest stars in "Cooperative Polygraphy" as a mysterious man named Mr. Stone, "with a dangerous accusation, a tantalizing offer and a devious plan that will change the group forever." Other guest stars in the season include

Vince Gilligan George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American screenwriter and filmmaker. He is best known as the creator, primary writer, executive producer, and occasional director of the AMC (TV channel), AMC crime drama series ''Brea ...

Mitchell Hurwitz Mitchell Donald "Mitch" Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' as well as the co-creator of '' The Ellen Show''. He is ...

Tim Heidecker Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. As an actor, Heidecker's filmography includes roles in ' ...

Eric Wareheim Eric Alexander Wareheim (; born April 7, 1976) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, and musician. He is best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, alongside Tim Heidecker. He also had a recurring role on the Netflix series ...

Nathan Fillion Nathan Christopher Fillion (born March 27, 1971) is a Canadian and American actor. He played the leading roles of Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds on ''Firefly'' and its film continuation '' Serenity'', and Richard Castle on ''Castle''. , he sta ...

Robert Patrick Robert Hammond Patrick (born November 5, 1958) is an American actor. Known for portraying villains and authority figures, Patrick is a Saturn Award winner with four other nominations. Patrick dropped out of college when drama class sparked his ...

Paget Brewster Paget Valerie Brewster ( ; born March 10, 1969) is an American actress. She first received recognition for her recurring role as Kathy on the fourth season of ''Friends''. She gained wider recognition as FBI Supervisory Special Agent Emily Pre ...

Kumail Nanjiani Kumail Ali Nanjiani (; ; Urdu: کمیل علی نانجیانی; born May 2, 1978) is a Pakistani-American stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019) and for co-writi ...

Katie Leclerc Katie Leclerc is an American actress and producer. She has appeared on several television series, including ''Veronica Mars'', ''Fashion House, Community'' and ''The Big Bang Theory''. In 2011, she was cast in the television show '' Switched at ...

, and

Ben Folds Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After playing in several small independent bands throughout the late 80s and into the early 90s, Folds came to prominence as the f ...

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and director. Cross is best known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show with Bob and David'' (1995–1998), his role as Ian Hawk ...

guest stars in an episode that serves as a sequel to season 2's "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons", playing Hank Hickey, the estranged son of Professor Hickey. B. J. Novak has a cameo in the second part of the two-part season finale. Season 5 began shooting on August 19, 2013. The fifth season marked the return of series creator

as showrunner and executive producer after he was fired from the show after the end of the third season. Former writer-producer Chris McKenna also returned as an executive producer. Season 4 showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio did not return for season 5, as their contracts were for one year. The only other returning writers are Andy Bobrow and

Tim Saccardo Tim Saccardo is an American TV and film comedy writer best known for working on the NBC series ''Community'' for four out of its six seasons. His other credits include the HBO series '' Vice Principals'', the Fox/ TBS series ''American Dad!'', an ...

. Meanwhile, Annie Mebane, Steve Basilone,

Maggie Bandur Maggie Bandur (born February 8, 1974) is an American television writer and television producer. Biography In 1992, as a student at El Camino Real High School in Los Angeles, Bandur took part in the United States Academic Decathlon. El Camino Re ...

, and Ben Wexler all departed to join ''

The Michael J. Fox Show ''The Michael J. Fox Show'' is an American television sitcom starring Michael J. Fox, that aired on NBC from September 26, 2013, to January 23, 2014. Fox made his regular return to television for the first time since he was on ABC's ''Spin City' ...

'', while

Megan Ganz Megan Ann Ganz (born June 1, 1984) is an American comedy writer, podcaster, and former associate editor of ''The Onion''. She has been a writer and executive producer on the FXX series ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' since 2017. She previou ...

joined ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American television sitcom, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, that aired on ABC for 11 seasons from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. The series follows the lives of three diverse but interrelated fa ...

''. Writers who joined for the fifth season include Parker Deay and Jordan Blum (''

American Dad! ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker (producer), Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the r ...

''),

Alex Rubens Alex Rubens (born March 25, 1978) is an American writer. He is best known for his work on ''Key & Peele'', ''Community (TV series), Community'', and ''Rick and Morty''. Life and career Rubens attended Yale University, where he was a member of the ...

(''

Key & Peele ''Key & Peele'' (abbreviated to ''K&P'') is an American sketch comedy television series that ran from 2012 to 2015. It was created by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele for Comedy Central; each had previously worked on ''Mad TV.'' Each episod ...

''), Ryan Ridley (''

Rick and Morty ''Rick and Morty'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated science fiction Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadvent ...

''),

Dan Guterman Dan Guterman (born February 23, 1978) is a Brazilian-born television writer and producer who has lived in Canada and the United States. He was a writer for the satirical website ''The Onion'' between 1999 and 2010. He has also worked on ''The Col ...

(''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...

''), and Matt Roller (

Funny or Die Funny or Die, Inc. is a comedy video website and production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a regular staf ...

). Other writers include Carol Kolb, Briggs Hatton, Clay Lapari, Erik Sommers, Monica Padrick and Donald Diego.

Reception

The fifth season received strongly positive reception from television critics and is considered an improvement over the previous season. The season received a

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

score of 80 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, signifying "generally favorable" reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the season has an approval rating of 93% with an average score of 8.5 out of 10 based on 42 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "With Dan Harmon back as its show runner, ''Community'' returns with a familiar new energy and more fun, exciting adventures for the Greendale gang." Verne Gay of ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' gave the back-to-back episodes an "A" grade, remarking that the first of the two (" Repilot") was funny, while the latter (" Introduction to Teaching") was "simply hilarious."

Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He ...

, writing for

HitFix HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...

, remarked that the show "is back, and back to being itself."

DVD release

The fifth season was released on DVD in region 1 on and in region 2 on .

References

External links

* {{Community (TV series) Community (TV series) seasons 2014 American television seasons