Dan Harmon Shows and Production Companies
Dan Harmon is the co-creator of the NBC sitcom Community and the co-creator of the adult animated series Rick and Morty. Community ran for six seasons on NBC from 2009 to 2015, with a revival season on Yahoo! Screen in 2015. Rick and Morty, produced by Justin Roiland's Solo Vanity Card Productions and Harmon's Starburns Industries, has aired multiple seasons on Adult Swim. Community is frequently cited in rankings of influential TV comedies by outlets such as Forbes and industry databases.
Harmon's production companies include Starburns Industries and the now-defunct Harmonious Claptrap. Starburns Industries has produced Rick and Morty and other projects for networks and streaming platforms. The company operates within the broader television production ecosystem that includes studios such as Sony Pictures Television, which handles distribution and syndication for many network and cable series.
Story Structure and the Story Circle
Harmon popularized a simplified version of Joseph Campbell's monomyth, often called the story circle, as a writing framework for TV episodes. The structure divides a narrative into eight steps: a character enters a zone of comfort, desires something, enters an unfamiliar situation, adapts, obtains the goal, pays a price, and returns changed. This framework is taught in screenwriting courses and referenced in industry guides on narrative structure.
Writers for Community and Rick and Morty have applied the story circle to both half-hour comedies and serialized storytelling. The method is documented in Harmon's publicly shared writing materials and discussed in industry coverage by sources such as the Writers Guild of America and educational platforms linked from production company resources.
Dan Harmon Shows: Rankings, Platforms, and Industry Data
Community has appeared on multiple critics' lists of the best TV comedies of the 2010s, including rankings published by outlets such as Rolling Stone and Metacritic aggregated scores. Rick and Morty has become one of Adult Swim's highest-rated original programs, with later seasons drawing large streaming viewership numbers on platforms such as Max and Netflix, according to public reporting from Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix top-10 data.
Harmon's career includes work on the NBC sitcom Scrubs and the Fox animated series The Great North. He has also been involved in podcast and digital media projects, including Harmontown, which documented the production of Community and later Rick and Morty. Public filings and industry databases track the corporate entities behind these shows, including SEC filings for publicly traded parent companies such as NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Key Dan Harmon Shows at a Glance
Community
Community is a sitcom created by Dan Harmon that aired on NBC from 2009 to 2015. The show follows a study group at a community college and is known for its meta-humor and references to TV tropes. The series was revived for a sixth season on Yahoo! Screen in 2015 and is distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution.
Rick and Morty
Rick and Morty is an adult animated series co-created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland. The show airs on Adult Swim and follows the interdimensional adventures of Rick Sanchez and his grandson Morty Smith. Later seasons are available on streaming services including Max and Netflix, with viewership data reported by Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix public rankings.
Production and Distribution
Harmon's shows are produced by companies including Starburns Industries and Solo Vanity Card Productions, with distribution handled by NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery depending on the platform. Industry data on viewership and rankings is tracked by Nielsen, Metacritic, and public streaming reports from the respective platforms.