Community - History 101
It's so hard to watch, wondering what this would have been with Harmon, like nothing can be right because it's his baby and someone else is raising it. But I know that's unfair to the new guys who are trying so hard to do right by the fanbase and enter this universe. I'm really trying to shake that off and enter it fresh. But that's hard to do.
I did enjoy it at times. I just loved Greendale Babies. Referencing my favorite cartoon maybe even EVER, Muppet Babies (where the entire massage was never to stop using your IMAGINATION, something I always carry with me and think it's largely due to that show) won some major points. And the sitcom version of his world as Abed's happy place to get him through changes made sense.
But things still felt off. The pace was a bit too manic at times, as if they were trying to prove something. See? We know this show! Meta! Hijinks!
Todd VanDerWerff at AV Club actually explained that way better than I could (full review here):
There’s a popular misconception about Community, both in the media and among some of its fans. The idea goes that the reason the show is popular is because it does wild, crazy, loud things. It makes fun of genres and dissects pop culture as well as any show in television history, and it does so through an endlessly creative lens that finds both the emotional core of said genres and the tropes the show wishes to skewer. Put another way, the première spends a lot of time making fun of a particular television show type tonight, but it does so in a way where the gag basically boils down to, “This exists.” It’s not particularly nuanced, nor does it have anything to say that will challenge the audience. It’s an empty reference, for the sake of doing a genre-bending thing, because that’s what the series is known for...
Community only works because it can do the wild, crazy stuff, sure, but also because it can play the more muted notes, can find the character beats and emotional interactions that are true to its vision of a world that can feel harsh and exclusionary but also wants nothing more than to pull everybody into a big hug. That vision of life fit Harmon-who can be best described as a misanthrope who loves the shit out of people-to a T. It doesn’t really fit the new show, which knows how to yell and scream and play like it’s having a good time, but doesn’t yet know how to whisper.
So... word. Maybe this is just a case of the newbies trying too hard and I should give them some time. But this review doesn't address one thing that really, really rankled me on watching.
As I'm a Chevy Chase hater, this next complaint may surprise you: I hate how much this episode hated on Pierce. The fact is, as much as Harmon had issues with Chase, he never let it full-on bleed into how he treated the character. Yes, he did awful things and was terribly insensitive, but there was always this love underneath the portrayal, as if the world of the show understood that Pierce wasn't a truly bad character, just horribly misguided and really in need of friends to point him in the right direction. Having Abed's happy place replace him with Fred Willard (though I adore Willard to bits) and imagine the group as eager to be rid of him seemed so unlike Abed. I've often thought that Abed was the filter used to present the show and the lens we, the viewer, are supposed to see it through. For Abed and, by extension, the show to be so callous to Pierce or any member of the group didn't seem to be in the spirit of the show I knew.
I'm going to watch the next and see how things go. I love these characters, so quitting them is not much of an option at the moment. But I'm hoping the next episode or two settles some of my complaints as, Harmon or no, I care about these characters he gave us.
I did enjoy it at times. I just loved Greendale Babies. Referencing my favorite cartoon maybe even EVER, Muppet Babies (where the entire massage was never to stop using your IMAGINATION, something I always carry with me and think it's largely due to that show) won some major points. And the sitcom version of his world as Abed's happy place to get him through changes made sense.
But things still felt off. The pace was a bit too manic at times, as if they were trying to prove something. See? We know this show! Meta! Hijinks!
Todd VanDerWerff at AV Club actually explained that way better than I could (full review here):
There’s a popular misconception about Community, both in the media and among some of its fans. The idea goes that the reason the show is popular is because it does wild, crazy, loud things. It makes fun of genres and dissects pop culture as well as any show in television history, and it does so through an endlessly creative lens that finds both the emotional core of said genres and the tropes the show wishes to skewer. Put another way, the première spends a lot of time making fun of a particular television show type tonight, but it does so in a way where the gag basically boils down to, “This exists.” It’s not particularly nuanced, nor does it have anything to say that will challenge the audience. It’s an empty reference, for the sake of doing a genre-bending thing, because that’s what the series is known for...
Community only works because it can do the wild, crazy stuff, sure, but also because it can play the more muted notes, can find the character beats and emotional interactions that are true to its vision of a world that can feel harsh and exclusionary but also wants nothing more than to pull everybody into a big hug. That vision of life fit Harmon-who can be best described as a misanthrope who loves the shit out of people-to a T. It doesn’t really fit the new show, which knows how to yell and scream and play like it’s having a good time, but doesn’t yet know how to whisper.
So... word. Maybe this is just a case of the newbies trying too hard and I should give them some time. But this review doesn't address one thing that really, really rankled me on watching.
As I'm a Chevy Chase hater, this next complaint may surprise you: I hate how much this episode hated on Pierce. The fact is, as much as Harmon had issues with Chase, he never let it full-on bleed into how he treated the character. Yes, he did awful things and was terribly insensitive, but there was always this love underneath the portrayal, as if the world of the show understood that Pierce wasn't a truly bad character, just horribly misguided and really in need of friends to point him in the right direction. Having Abed's happy place replace him with Fred Willard (though I adore Willard to bits) and imagine the group as eager to be rid of him seemed so unlike Abed. I've often thought that Abed was the filter used to present the show and the lens we, the viewer, are supposed to see it through. For Abed and, by extension, the show to be so callous to Pierce or any member of the group didn't seem to be in the spirit of the show I knew.
I'm going to watch the next and see how things go. I love these characters, so quitting them is not much of an option at the moment. But I'm hoping the next episode or two settles some of my complaints as, Harmon or no, I care about these characters he gave us.