The ghost of bps21 said:
LOL no. No one does the hours this show keeps unless they have to. A lot of the commentaries on the DVD are people talking about how "oh yeah...this was at 3 in the morning after I started the day at 10 AM because we were still getting pages during the shoot." The new one has a documentary that shows the writers room trying to finish a script that they are watching a feed of the actors filming on set on the TV.
As for Shirley leaving...I'll try to put this delicately...but...meh. She's the worst character. I get needing all kinds of characters...but when Pierce left her role to counterbalance him was gone and she just floated in and out of episodes without purpose.
Though if they ever do make a movie and can get everyone back for a scene or two...that'd be cool.
Yeah, Shirley is pretty much the least essential character. I mean, it sucks that she won't be there and IRL sucks that she has this personal shit to deal with, but it's not going to kill the show. They can even make a running gag out of members of "the gang" slowly dropping away. I thought for sure Donald Glover would show up again, but no, for all we know he's still out there on a boat with the dude from Reading Rainbow, lol
This season is a Webisode bonus for fans basically, and might actually be more profitable than being on NBC. Whatever they do is cool with me as long as they're having fun doing it