The ManDEANa effect

I am in an alternate universe. 

Last week, I posted the following on reddit’s Mandela Effect subforum, looking for others who may have slipped through with me:

I’ve been rewatching Community on Netflix. At some point in season 2 I realized I didn’t remember a lot of the episodes. They were good and I was entertained, so I just kept binging. I was mentally sort of waiting for Chevy Chase’s character to be written off, but I’m on season 3 now and he’s still on the show. I remember from the last time I watched the series (about 7-8 years ago), that Chase was fired after season 1 because of the Dan Harmon feud. I remember that season 2 began with Pierce Hawthorn’s (Chase’s char) dying. Professor Chang took on a much larger role.

The only episode I’ve definitely remembered from season 2 on was the blanket fort episode. I know that I watched the entire series in the past, including a Yahoo! Sponsored final season.

Just as a sanity check, I googled the Chevy Chase issue and found that he left the show after season 5. I can accept that I misremembered this bit of tv trivia. It’s not like I am a super fan or anything. It is REALLY weird, though, that I don’t remember these episodes. I’ve rewatched Friends, the Office, Parks & Rec, and other shows that predated or ran concurrently with Community. I have not experienced this kind of “amnesia” before. The whole point of rewatching the shows is for comfort value, for me.

Anyone else out there remember Chevy Chase departing the show after season 1?

BTW I actually think the show is way funnier than I remembered, so it’s not a complaint. Maybe Dan Harmon is a time traveler. (Would explain a lot, huh?)

I’m now into season 5 of the show (the first without Chevy Chase in *this* timeline). Not only is Community MUCH funnier in this timeline, but it also has a lot more depth. Sadly, the post-Chevy seasons are really sinking fast.

I have recalled at least one other episode: embarrassingly, the one about the Butt Crack Bandit. (What is my life?)

In my original timeline, John Oliver was barely in the show. He has a much larger role now.

It’s interesting to me, but not really life-changing. I have googled other misremembered details and found out that they still ran season 6 on Yahoo!. I was actually kind of hoping to find out there had never been a Yahoo! tv experiment, as well, because that would have confirmed that either I’m absolutely stark raving mad, or I have truly and unequivocally slipped into an alternate universe.

Dan Harmon, the creator of Community and Rick & Morty, writes a lot about alternate timelines and time travel. Almost *too* much.

Oddly, I really do NOT remember there being such a focus on alternate timelines the first time I watched Community. I’m going to watch Rick & Morty when I’m done with this rewatch.

Maybe being an alternate timeline/mandela effecting weirdo is just a Harmon thing? It is legally half of my last name.

We are in the Harmon timeline, then, I suppose?

I mean, life has felt pretty surreal since the 2016 election. I don’t know. I’m just a Sim.