The Fanbase Vs. "Some People On The Internet"

The internet bubble is a very real thing, but I disagree (slightly) about your point on Community. As a percentage of the (notably small) total viewership, people are more aware of Harmon than they are of other showrunners. He has a prominent "created by" credit on the opening sequence of the show and he features heavily on the DVDs with both commentaries and special features. He put himself out there. 

Obviously I, and the (let's be generous and say) thousands of online Community fans won't make a direct drop in the ratings, but Community is going to lose ambassadors. Those movie-guys in office that spread awareness of movies before release? That was me for Community. And now I'm not going to do it. And I (and likely more people like me) won't be posting on facebook and twitter and encouraging my friends to watch it or to discuss it. And that could have a ripple effect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe T 

But a couple of million people watch "Community" every week. How many of them can name the original showrunner? How many of them will recognize Mr. Harmon's name? How many of them know anything about showrunners? Not many. Like other broadcast network shows, the bulk of "Community"'s viewership does not know and does not care about Dan Harmon. Many will see the move to Fridays and think, oh, I won't bother. The vocal internet voices who claim they won't watch this show without Harmon? A vocal, but tiny, portion of this show's audience.

 

Community is a tricky example because the answer to all of these questions is "maybe not many, but a greater portion than for any other show."  Part of the reason why this is such a terrible move is that Harmon has always been especially plugged in and responsive to the shows fans via the internet than about any other showrunner, meaning that the fanbase was going to react more strongly than it might for other shows.  But even if the uproar is a tempest in the proverbial teapot, there is the fact that Community's audience has always fit in a relatively small teapot, and part of what made it just barely worth keeping around was the intensity of the love it generated.

It's likely that the switch will not produce a giant hit to the ratings due to straight-up boycotts (even the most irate fans will likely be tempted to tune in for a few to have their outrage validated), but as MikeI points out, this will hurt it in terms of proselytizing.  I for one will not be urging friends to give the show a try now, as I have with prior seasons.  This might not hurt ratings directly, but it nixes the best chance at growing the audience organically.  And the shit new timeslot and shortened episode order, and there's no way the "new" show will have time to develop its own momentum and increased ratings on its own, even if it's really damn good.

Because the other part is, it needs to grow the audience to justify any of this nonsense.  It was just barely picked up for that shortened episode order before Harmon got bounced, so it's not like the great Silent Majority of Community fandom is enough to keep the show afloat and comfortably profitable.  Of course, dumping the new episodes on Friday will make it impossible to judge exactly how big a dent the change made, as that will overshadow any internet hand-wringing when it comes to the inevitable ratings drop.

None of this negates your overall point about the Snakes On A Plane effect, where voices on the internet may appear louder than they are (to people on the internet).