"Now I’m willing to believe that Sony needed to replace Harmon as the showrunner for a number of reasons. Sony’s goal is to accumulate episodes, as the more they get, the more likely they can sell them all into syndication, and that’s where profit is made for television production companies. I’m sure in negotiating with NBC to get another 13 episodes for a fourth season, they lowered their license fee, and thus cannot face the budget overruns that a sloppy showrunner causes. Weinman suggests that Sony might be trying to make the show more conventional by ousting Harmon, but I think more than anything, they’re probably just aiming for efficiency and consistency to smooth the path to more episodes being ordered and being able to afford those that have already been scheduled for next season. So unlike most fans on Twitter and comment sections, I’m fine with Sony saying that they need different leadership – but the way both Sony and NBC handled it was a complete mess."
— Community and Dan Harmon’s Imploding Author Function « Just TV
