About three weeks ago Spenser asked me to write you an open letter on behalf of the podcast and the Community fandom in general. I’m hardly the person to take on this task, I can barely speak for the few of us involved with this podcast, let alone the fandom at large. So I’m not going to. Instead I’m going to attempt to put some words on a screen in an attempt to convey my own personal feelings and maybe some others will agree.

Thank you.

There are far too many reasons I want to thank you, too many for one blog post, but let’s hit the key points.

• Firstly, thank you for Community. Simple as that. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the past two and a half years of my life have been better with your show in it. It’s far from perfect, but honestly it doesn’t need to be. I love it for what it is, the scrappy kid that loves pop culture like I do. That interprets life through years of what they’ve seen on screen. That celebrates how weird everyone is and how wonderful it is and that it’s ok and normal and beautiful and hilarious. It makes me want to write poorly structured run on sentences and it makes me happy. 
• Secondly -I know that’s probably not a word but I’m gonna go with it- thank you for Britta. I know the boys in this podcast and a majority of Community fan’s jump to Abed when they talk about the character they relate to, but God do I just get Britta. She’s awkward and tries so hard to be so much cooler than she is and is just the worst and has the best intentions and ruins everything and she cares but she’s guarded and here I go with the run-on sentences again but man, is that my life. On top of all that she’s the most realistic feminist character on television and though I strive to be a Knope, it’s reassuring each week to see that’s its still okay to be a Britta trying to figure everything out. 
• Thridly, thank you for understanding our weird love. The internet is a beautiful thing and it’s nice to see that someone in your position knows that as well. I will always remember the Hollywood Reporter showrunner roundtable when Bill Prady (Who I’m sure is a lovely man, I’ve never met the guy) dismissed his show’s internet fanbase as if they were just a bunch of fat geeks with too much time on their hands. It was disturbing to see someone whose show supposedly celebrates those very geeks act as if they were a bunch of insignificant creeps. At the same time you were celebrating fangirls, shippers, and nerds alike. It’s reassuring to see that you know what it is to love something so much that it makes you want to create art. For you it’s references and homages on your network sitcom, and for the fans it’s drawings of their favorite characters as Batman villains or editing a Friends style opening. They both come from the same place, so thank you for seeing the validity in their work.
• Fourthly and finally, thank you for putting yourself out there. Your tumblr posts are as depressing those from any misunderstood teenager with an internet connection and I love them. I tweeted once that you fascinate me and terrify me and that’s still true. You give us a rare insight into the mind of a showrunner of a mildly successful sitcom and it’s ugly. In a good way. So when you say on Twitter that you’re not worried about the future of the show, I believe you. 

Of course this all doesn’t just apply to you. Thank you to each and every writer that has passed through that room. Thank you to the massively talented cast. Thank you to the crew that helps get the show made. Thank you to everyone involved with the show. I don’t really know how to end this so I’m going to leave it at that.

- Mal