The Question, Thursday 1/2/14: Will a Large Community Welcome Back Dan Harmon?

In fall 2013, NBC's attempt to create "broad" comedies blew up even more spectacularly than usual. While a couple of those shows live on out of scheduling necessity, tonight sees NBC give back another Thursday half-hour to one of the old "niche" comedies. Community is back for yet another season in the Thursday lead-off role, and once again it's accompanied by a much-publicized behind-the-scenes shakeup. Creator Dan Harmon is back in the saddle, and the reviews have been very positive. For a show that's developed a habit of premiering well and has an engaged fanbase, this could actually be a difference-maker. Will a large Community welcome back Dan Harmon? That's The Question for Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Community's Big Premieres

2.2 (spring premiere, 3/15/12)  1.41 (average rest of spring)  1.9 (premiere, 2/7/13) 1.18 (average rest of season)

The premiere in 2012 could've been written off as a fluke due to the competition; namely, it premiered on a night when there was no The Big Bang Theory. However, the show pulled off another improbably big return last winter even as Big Bang was hanging a whooping 6.2 in the half-hour. Does twice make a trend? I'm not 100% convinced. I'm not even sure that Dan Harmon's return is a bigger "event" than the new showrunners were at this time last year. But given this has happened twice now, I'll say it's more likely than not to attract that abnormally large premiere interest again.

Over/Under: 1.65.

(Will average the 8:00 and 8:30 episodes if counted separately.)

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