Ousted Community creator Dan Harmon may have found a new home : at FOX.
The network that was home to Harmon's 1999 pilot Heat Vision and Jack is near a deal with Harmon for a comedy pilot, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
As first reported by TV Guide, the project would likely be a multicamera effort, a departure from Community's single-camera model. Details about the premise of the project are being kept under wraps.
Harmon, who was removed as showrunner on NBC's critical hit Community in May, is without a development deal at the moment and a deal for FOX's studio counterpart 20th Century Fox Television for untitled effort is in the works.
NBC Entertainment president Bob Greebblatt told reporters at the TCA's press tour that fans would get the series they know and love under new showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio. "Every so often it's time to make a change with a showrunner and you evaluate the creative and how the show is run and how writing staff works", he told reporters. "Sometimes you want to freshen a show and we just decided it was time (?!) to do that with Community". Indeed, Port and Guarascio reassured fans earlier this month at Comic-Con, vowing that they weren't "gonna screw it up".
For his part, Harmon also has an animated comedy pilot in development at [adult swim] titled Rick & Morty and revolving around a genius inventor and his less-than-genius grandson and their life journeys. In addition, Harmon, Dino "Starburns" Stamatopoulos, Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman are working on a stop-motion film titled Anomalisa.
In a recent interview, the former Community boss confessed that he was a "liability" : "if 20 people call you a horse's ass, you buy a saddle", Harmon told G4's Attack of the Show. "I feel like I am a good person and a professional, very able leader of men. I also feel like I'm 25. That slowly changed without me realizing it. Maybe I am just a jerk. To people who work above me, I am a liability that isn't worth the benefit. A low-rated show that's not generating much revenue".
Source : THR.
UPDATE :
I was curious about this Heat Vision and Jack pilot that Harmon has created for FOX 13 years ago. It turns out that he created it with Rob Scrab, with whom he went on to create Channel 101, Acceptable TV and The Sarah Silverman Program. They also co-wrote the animated film Monster House. Rob Schrab didn't work heavily on Community, these past couple of years he's worked on directing [adult swim]'s Childrens Hospital (he also wrote the Party Down reunion episode taking place on that show) but he did direct one episode : Basic Lupine Urology (episode 3.17), aka the Law & Order hommage.
Heat Vision and Jack was Dan Harmon's first job in TV according to IMDB, so why did FOX even commissioned a pilot ? Because this failed project was backed by powerful names : Ben Stiller was to executive produce the show and Jack Black & Owen Wilson were to star in it ! Well, Owen Wilson's voice, because his character is a bike. Ben Stiller appears as himself and as a DJ while Christine 'does not age' Taylor plays the Sheriff. They probably weren't going to be regulars on the show had it been greenlit, although an introduction by Ben Stiller on each episode would've been pretty cool.
I watched this 30-minute pilot entitled "Episode 14 - Eyes of the Paragon". I loved every second of it, so please, join in on the fun and watch it below. It's incredibly smart, funny and way too weird for network TV (reminding you of another show ?), no wonder it didn't get picked up :
WATCH PART TWO HERE.
TOO. MUCH. AWESOMENESS.
