"Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" is the series finale of the sitcom Community, serving as the thirteenth episode of its sixth season.

The episode received critical acclaim, with many calling it a sincere and satisfying end to the show's run, and praising the emotional weight along with the conclusion of the story.

Chang (Ken Jeong) creates Ice Cube Head (Justin Roiland), who eats phones and zaps people with his powers.

Jeff (Joel McHale) is about to leave in anger when Annie (Alison Brie) arrives with news of an FBI internship in Washington, D.C., and doubt over her return.

Jeff imagines himself stuck around a table with secondary characters arguing: Vicki (Danielle Kaplowitz), Garrett (Erik Charles Nielsen), Leonard (Richard Erdman), Todd (David Neher), Dave (Darsan Solomon) and the new tech billionaire Scrunch (Seth Green).

Now keen to join the conversation, Jeff suggests the seventh season shows Annie as an FBI agent investigating the murder of Britta's parents.

"Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" was written by showrunner and series creator Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna, and was directed by Rob Schrab.

[3] This episode features the only uses of TV-MA language in the series, spoken once by Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) and once by Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs).

[9] The episode features Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Ken Jeong, Jim Rash, and Alison Brie as Jeff Winger, Britta Perry, Abed Nadir, Ben Chang, Dean Pelton, and Annie Edison respectively.

[13] The episode features a cameo by former series regular Yvette Nicole Brown,[14] who had left the show following the end of season five to take care of a sick family member.

[19][4][18] The episode's structure mirrors "Remedial Chaos Theory" (2011) through the use of multiple timelines that explore characterization, here through each character pitching a seventh season.

[4] The song "Ends of the Earth" by Lord Huron plays during the final moments of the episode as Jeff drops Abed and Annie off at the airport and drinks with the rest of the group.

The phrase was first used by Abed in "Paradigms of Human Memory" (2011), in reference to the short-lived program The Cape (2010–2011), and became a fan slogan to protest the show's cancellations and hiatuses.

[11][28] Additionally, the narration includes reference to the "secretive obselete" Nielsen rating system used by television channels to measure viewership; he comments that "it turns out tens of millions were watching the whole time".

[11][29] Similar commentary can be found in the opening moments, where the Dean notes that a long list of groups—including his father and the health inspector—did not think the college would survive the year.

[31] Writing for Time, James Poniewozik relished the episode's concept for its imaginative meta humor and breaking the fourth wall using the individual characters' identities.

He felt that while "Basic Story" was "obnoxiously smug" in its meta plot, "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" was far more self-critical and acknowledging of Community's faults.

[34] Slant Magazine's Chris Barsanti rated it the tenth-best episode, praising Abed's comparison of relationships to television and the end tag.

[28] Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly called it "laugh-out-loud funny", described it to be a perfect finale for Community, and praised the end tag.

"[30] Writing for The Daily Beast, Chancellor Agard said that like the strongest episodes of the show, "the self-referential and gratuitously meta humor is strung together by an emotional thread focusing on what these wacky friendships mean to each person", but did not find it "as brilliant" as "Remedial Chaos Theory".

Welch praised the pitches as funny and revealing of the characters' psychology, the cameos, and the "emotionally carthatic" moment of Jeff standing alone at the study group table.