The series revolves around a group of friends at Greendale Community College; the sixth season follows them as they create the "Save Greendale Committee" to improve their school. In "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television", the group imagines how their next year at Greendale might look. As he hears about his friends' plans, Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) grows concerned over what will happen to him as everyone else moves away. The episode includes many self-referential pitches for what a "season seven" of the show would look like. It also includes a cameo by former cast member Yvette Nicole Brown.
"Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" received critical acclaim, many calling it a sincere and satisfying end to the show's run, and praising the emotional weight along with the conclusion of the story. It has been ranked among the best episodes of the program.
Plot
As another school year ends, Frankie disbands the Save Greendale Committee, declaring the school "saved". While the group make summer plans, Elroy reveals that he was hired by LinkedIn and bids farewell, uncertain whether he will return.
At a bar, the characters imagine various "season seven" scenarios set in the study room. Abed illustrates their tropes but questions whether they will return for another year. Pelton, the college's dean, struggles to articulate his pitch with Shirley, Elroy and a third Black character. Chang imagines Ice Cube Head, who eats phones and zaps people with his powers. Jeff is about to leave in boredom when Annie arrives with news of an FBI internship in Washington, D.C., and doubt over her return. Jeff imagines himself stuck around a table with secondary characters arguing: Vicki, Garrett, Leonard, Todd, Dave, and the new tech billionaire Scrunch.
Now keen to join the conversation, Jeff suggests the seventh season shows Annie as an FBI agent investigating the murder of Britta's parents. Britta pitches a political storyline about war with the government, and Pelton is offended as Britta depicts him as a transgender woman. Abed compares television to friendship, saying its purpose is providing comfort. Jeff then suggests they all become teachers, with himself as the dean and Pelton as a trainee dean. The others agree until Abed announces he has secured a production assistant role on a television show in Los Angeles.
Jeff returns to the study room and imagines raising a child with Annie, who questions whether he really wants that. The real Annie enters and they share desires for each other's youth and maturity, sharing a kiss. The rest of the group arrive and they all hug, picturing their idyllic season seven. Jeff imagines himself with attractive women and emotional security. Later, he drops Annie and Abed at the airport and rejoins the others at the bar.
The screen fades to black with the hashtag #andamovie. The end tag features a commercial with a family playing the fictional Community board game, narrated by Dan Harmon. The son reveals a script for the commercial itself. The dad explains that they do not exist. The family sits in shocked silence as Harmon delivers a fourth wall-breaking monologue about the game, Community, and his own shortcomings.
"Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" was written by Dan Harmon, the showrunner and series creator, and Chris McKenna, an executive producer (EP) since season five. It was directed by Rob Schrab, EP for the sixth season.[2][3] The opening shots of the episode featuring the characters exiting the building were originally going to be used for an episode based around a fire drill.[4] The episode was released on the online streaming service Yahoo Screen on June 2, 2015, where Community had moved after being canceled by NBC.[5]
Chang makes a fart joke where he farts in relation to season four. The season had been referred to both in and out-of-universe as "the gas leak year", due to a perceived reduction in quality and inconsistent character behavior.[16][17] The song "Ends of the Earth" by Lord Huron plays during the final moments of the episode as Jeff drops Abed and Annie off at the airport and drinks with the rest of the group.[15][18] According to Jacobs in the DVD extraSix Seasons and a Finale, Abed's speech about television made Jeong cry.[19] In the episode, the word fuck is used twice, spoken once by Rash and once by Jacobs. This marks the first and only time the word was used in the series. Although network restrictions on profanity did not apply as the season was produced by Yahoo, Harmon did not change the language used in the series.[14][20] In an interview with TV Insider, Harmon why the profanity was included in the finale, stating it was "kind of unintentional. That one that Jim does is adlibbed. As soon as he said it, the entire cast started laughing, but I edited around it. As for Britta's I should have bleeped it... it's weird to have two 'fucks' on that one."[21]
Analysis
Most season finales of Community ended with uncertainty over the program's future, particularly season three's "Introduction to Finality". Elroy says over whether he will return: "I think so... Probably... Maybe." This also describes the possible return of the show and its continually changing main cast. Critics found that "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" had the greatest deal of closure of a season finale.[15][18][20]
The episode's structure mirrors "Remedial Chaos Theory" through the use of multiple timelines that explore characterization, here through each character pitching a seventh season.[18][20] It also uses a framing device similar to the third season episodes "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps" and "Virtual Systems Analysis", wherein various characters tell stories.[22] The episode makes a reference to "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics", which leaves ambiguous the identity of the Ass Crack Bandit, an unknown character who "cracks" people by putting a coin in their butt. In the finale, when the matter comes up in conversation, Annie is nervous and suggests that it "could've been anybody".[23]
During the episode, Jeff experiences anxiety as Elroy, Abed and Annie announce plans for the future. In "Intro to Recycled Cinema", he expressed vulnerability to Abed about being the last person left at Greendale. Jeff's pitches for season seven reflect his insecurity, a theme of the sixth season. This contrasts with the second part of season five's finale "Basic Sandwich", in which Abed and Annie seek to avoid change while Jeff embraces it. His misguided relationship with Britta in "Basic Sandwich" parallels his vision of having a family with Annie in "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television".[18] Annie is the one in the series finale to help him accept his position.[20] Jeff hugs Abed twice, indicating how much he values their friendship, and his final words are not audible over the music.[15][18]
Before the end tag, the episode cuts to a black screen reading "#andamovie", a shortening of the phrase "six seasons and a movie". The phrase was first used by Abed in "Paradigms of Human Memory", in reference to the short-lived program The Cape (2010–2011), and became a fan slogan to protest the show's cancellations and hiatuses.[24][25] Following the finale, there was speculation around a seventh season, but the actors' contracts had expired. Yahoo expressed interest in immediately producing a movie, to which Harmon responded that he needed to "miss Community" before writing it.[26][27][28] A film was commissioned by Peacock, a streaming service run by NBCUniversal, in 2022.[29]
The end tag features Harmon's voice in a fourth wall breaking monologue that references the series finale of St. Elsewhere (1982–1988).[7][30] The narration also includes reference to the Nielsen rating system used by television channels to measure viewership. Harmon labels the system as being "secretive" and "obsolete", and comments that "it turns out tens of millions were watching the whole time". According to Nielsen, Community season five averaged three million viewers an episode before being cancelled by NBC.[7] On his podcast Harmontown, Harmon stated that Yahoo, whose streaming service Yahoo Screen released season six,[5][7] was able to track viewership more effectively and gave him significantly higher viewer estimate, which he described as two or three times higher than he anticipated.[31] Similar commentary can be found in the opening moments, where the Dean notes that a long list of groups—including his father and the health inspector—did not think the college would survive the year. The groups may be an analogy for NBC and detractors of the show, and Community's future frequently being uncertain.[18]
Critical reception
"Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" received critical acclaim, critics praised the episode for its tone, feeling that it provided a perfect ending for the series.[15][22][32] Joshua Alston of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A" rating, praising it for its acting and emotion. He noted that the pitches worked well at showing off the characters' differences: "With each new version, we're reminded of how these characters are different, what perspective they bring to the Save Greendale Committee, as well as how they see the group and what they get out of belonging to it."[22]
Eric Goldman of IGN rated the episode a 9 out of 10, praising its character development and likening it to another well-received episode, season three's "Remedial Chaos Theory". He noted that despite the closing hashtag, it did not seem like Harmon and McKenna were particularly hopeful of a continuation of the series. Goldman then expressed his doubt on a movie, before adding that "if this ends up being the final time we see these characters, it was a really well done farewell, acknowledging the important time they've spent together".[14] Writing for Variety, Alex Stedman felt that the episode was a satisfying and emotional end to the series and opined that it was "unapologetically meta", due to its frequent use of self-referential humor in the episode.[33]Time'sJames Poniewozik relished the episode's concept for its imaginative meta humor and breaking the fourth wall using the individual characters' identities.[34] A review by the staff of Paste described the episode as a "fitting" conclusion to the series, though they questioned the characterization of the cast, particularly that of Jeff, and felt that the episode relied overly on cliches.[35]
In two separate reviews for Den of Geek, Mark Harrison and Joe Matar both praised the episode.[8][36] Mater praised the episode's meta plot, favorably comparing it to the first part of the season five finale, "Basic Story". In contrast to "Basic Story"'s use of a meta plot, which he described as "obnoxiously smug", Mater viewed "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" as more self-critical and acknowledging of Community's faults.[36] Harrison found the episode, along with the previous episodes "Modern Espionage" and "Wedding Videography", to be an incredible ending for the series. [8]Slant Magazine's Chris Barsanti ranked it Community's tenth-best episode, praising Abed's comparison of relationships to television and the end tag.[30] Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly called it "laugh-out-loud funny", described it to be a perfect finale for Community, and praised the end tag for its meta humor.[2] A retrospective ranking by Chancellor Agard for Entertainment Weekly of the show's top episodes placed "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" seventh, noting the "raw confessional quality" of the episode and calling it "one of the greatest series finales ever."[32] Writing for The Daily Beast, Chancellor Agard said that like the strongest episodes of the show, "the self-referential and gratuitously meta humor is strung together by an emotional thread focusing on what these wacky friendships mean to each person", but did not find it "as brilliant" as "Remedial Chaos Theory".[18]Uproxx's Alan Sepinwall described the finale as "tremendously satisfying" and fitting for the series.[20] Alex Welch of Screen Rant reviewed it as not the "best or funniest episode, but easily [the] most emotionally satisfying finale". Welch highlighted the pitches as funny and revealing of the characters' psychology, the cameos, and the "emotionally carthatic" moment of Jeff standing alone at the study group table.[15]
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