Community's Joel McHale Returning To Network Comedy With Fox Sitcom Animal Control
It's 2009 all over again.
After a string of guest star appearances and hosting opportunities, Joel McHale of "Community" is finally coming back to network television. Despite being well received, "Community" fought low ratings and behind-the-scenes drama, staggering across a sixth-season finish line in 2015, jumping from NBC to the now-defunct streaming platform Yahoo! Screen. Its legacy as one of TV's most creative sitcoms still holds strong, and the series will soon get its long-prophesied film treatment — finally accomplishing what "The Cape" never could.
Formerly the host of E!'s "The Soup," the comedian-slash-actor joined Dan Harmon's cult classic as a former lawyer who finds himself trapped at Greendale Community College when the state bar finds out he never got a real college degree. McHale seems to have a penchant for playing men who are forced into uneasy situations after losing their jobs — as seen in Fox's upcoming series, "Animal Control."
Jeff Winger, but with raccoons this time
As Variety reports, Joel McHale will lead and executive produce the new Fox comedy "Animal Control" — the first original comedy series owned entirely by the network. Per their findings, the series will explore the world of animal control workers who find wrangling animals simpler than understanding the complicated people around them. McHale will play Frank, a former police officer fired from the force after attempting to uncover corruption within his own department. Michael Thorn, president of entertainment at Fox, told Variety, "[The creative team] had envisioned Joel as the lead of 'Animal Control' from the very moment we began development, and we are all ecstatic to have him on board... [his] acerbic wit and ability to bring a comedic lens to everything he's involved with make him the perfect person to bring Frank to life."
McHale's last foray into network television didn't go too well. A year after "Community" would finish its run, the comedian would star in the CBS workplace sitcom "The Great Indoors." The show followed a boots-on-the-ground adventure reporter (played by McHale) who is forced to put his field days behind him when the magazine he works for goes digital. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, McHale described the show as a generational comedy exploring how vastly different age groups interact while combatting stereotypes about millennials. The series joined CBS alongside "Man with a Plan," "Bull," "Kevin Can Wait," and "MacGyver," but was the only freshman series not to receive a second season (via Deadline).