Community
I am so late to this party. I only checked it out because of all the fuss about Community being bumped from NBC's spring schedule, and the possible cancellation talk. When people were wailing and comparing this sitcom to Firefly and Arrested Development, I figured I might give it a try. Thank you, whingers.
I can see why it doesn't appeal to everybody. The characters can be unlikeable. Sometimes the jokes rely on race, gender, and sexual orientation too much for my taste (religion too, though I don't mind that personally). It's in-joke-y, self-aware, and can come off as pretentious.
HOWEVER. It is the perfect show for the geeks, for the pop culture junkies, for the rapid-fire referential, for now. I love the little things - the purposeful mispronunciations, the background characters, the attention paid to costumes and set dressing, while never being *too* perfect. I love the big things - episodes that are zombie movies, The Perfect Storm, and The Right Stuff. The troll-y teases at relationships, without committing to a ship and bringing the whole show down with it (YMMV). And the characters, of course. Some more than others, but overall, the ensemble cast plus the excellent writing is what makes this show. Though they stem from their premature cancellations, the Firefly and Arrested Development comparisons are apt - no, you may not enjoy it as much as either of those two shows, but a similar sense of humor and appreciation for different genres is needed for all three. If you enjoyed Firefly and AD, I'd be surprised if you didn't love Community.
Under the cut are ten of my favorite things about Community, with loads of spoilers. I'd say don't go any further if you haven't watched the show already... but if you're on the fence and this might get you to try it out, please read on.
10) Beetlejuice
I'd heard about this before I started watching, but honestly. A show that builds a joke over three years, with the expectation of minimal payoff to all but the craziest, hawk-eyed fans (who will then blog about it and post it to YouTube)? Ace.
9) Inspector Spacetime
When Abed's favorite show, Cougartown, gets moved to midseason, Britta steps in to help him find a replacement. First, they try the British show Cougartown was based on, Cougarton Abbey (I thought this joke could have been done better, but appreciated it anyway). But given its authentically British short run, a new stand-in is needed almost immediately. Enter Inspector Spacetime, a British Sci-Fi show that's run since the 60s. You all know where this is going, and the parody itself is lol-able, but what makes it even more wonderful to me is how Community fandom has latched on to the idea, like this tumblr, and this wonderful poster...
(For a sitcom, Community has epic fan art.) The show has also mentioned Firefly, but the fact that this is big enough to warrant its own faux show and online fandom fills me with glee - of the non-musical variety.
8) Abed's Adventure
An entire storyline happens in the background of an episode, and is only referenced in Abed's un-mention at the end. I did catch this the first time through, though the full story only became apparent after reading others' thoughts on a few blog posts. And then it became even funnier, and I had to go back and watch again.
7) The Tags
Otherwise known as anything Troy and Abed do. Often as funny as/funnier than the episode that preceeded it, which is saying something.
6) Glee
Much like Annie, Britta, Shirley, and Abed in the Mean Girls episode, this show can be bitchy. And I usually love what it chooses to get bitchy about. I enjoy Glee despite it being a hot mess in terms of plot and character development. But when this show dumps on Glee, I can't help but revel in it. From shoutouts in Modern Warfare, to a full-on parody for this year's Christmas episode, it's delightful. As much as I love musicals, I can't sing or dance AT ALL, so Britta's song at the end has me LOLing at the bitchy truth - my own "heart's song" would be painfully akin to this, rather than anything coming out of Lea Michele's mouth.
5) Stop-Motion Christmas Episode
Musical episodes? Yes, we have them. Genre parodies? In abundance. And they're all brilliant, but did you read the title of this section? THERE IS A STOP-MOTION CHRISTMAS EPISODE. With a magical journey! And songs! And a LOST joke! The fact that the actual tone of the episode is pretty dark makes it funnier. (This may just be me associating the stop-motion Rudolph movie with other things to make it more sinister than it really is, but even as a child, I could tell that Christmas special was not all happy bunnies. The Island of Misfit Toys/The Velveteen Rabbit made me never want to get rid of anything, ever, because toys had feelings too, and the snow monster in Rudolph somehow merged with the Wampa in ESB to give me nightmares.) Also, much like the Buffy musical episode, the fact that there is an in-universe, resolution-needing explanation for why everything is suddenly animated makes it even cleverer.
4) Dungeons and Dragons
It starts with a Lord of the Rings parody, and continues on strong from there. However, there are no special effects, no CGI, no stunning scenery and costume design (except for Chang's offensively lolzy "dark elf" getup). As in the game it follows, this is an episode about a bunch of people sitting around a table, rolling a die. And yet, it manages to be hilarious (the "sex scene", lol-ing forever) and heart-felt in an uncloying way. Again, a problem is solved without our characters actually learning anything from it.
3) Paintball
I'm not going to put up a clip for this one, as they all gave too much away. And the less you know going in, the better this episode is.
I'm not even that into action movies or zombie movies, but from the flawless 28 Days Later parody in the first few minutes, I knew this was going to be fun. The structure of this episode is formulaic perfection, and you just feel like everyone involved, from the writers to the actors*, had SO MUCH FUN making it. There are loads of nods to different movies (some of which I understood, some of which I didn't but enjoyed anyway) but mostly, I came out of this wishing RL paintball was this fun, rather than a "sport" in which you have to wear safety equipment to avoid losing an eye. :/
*Though possibly not so much the cleaning people, which gets a nod in the season two "sequel". That two-parter is one of my favorites too, but as far as genre parodies go, 'Modern Warfare' tops pretty much everything.
2) The Existence of Multiple Timelines
They create six other timelines, including an alternate, dark one. By playing Yahtzee. And clearly, the natural thing to do to differentiate the darkest timeline from the others is to wear fake moustache/goatee combos. This is why we need more episodes, right here.
1) Somewhere Out There
They're playing my song! I know the intersection between pop culture and personal experience differs for everyone, but this makes the list because it was the moment I knew I loved this show. 4-EVA.
There are things about the show that I'm "meh" about too, some episodes that don't really excite me, and things I know go right over my head. But overall, when Community returns, I want as many people watching it as possible. I mean, come on... it's a show about community college. How can it not be given a fourth year?
I can see why it doesn't appeal to everybody. The characters can be unlikeable. Sometimes the jokes rely on race, gender, and sexual orientation too much for my taste (religion too, though I don't mind that personally). It's in-joke-y, self-aware, and can come off as pretentious.
HOWEVER. It is the perfect show for the geeks, for the pop culture junkies, for the rapid-fire referential, for now. I love the little things - the purposeful mispronunciations, the background characters, the attention paid to costumes and set dressing, while never being *too* perfect. I love the big things - episodes that are zombie movies, The Perfect Storm, and The Right Stuff. The troll-y teases at relationships, without committing to a ship and bringing the whole show down with it (YMMV). And the characters, of course. Some more than others, but overall, the ensemble cast plus the excellent writing is what makes this show. Though they stem from their premature cancellations, the Firefly and Arrested Development comparisons are apt - no, you may not enjoy it as much as either of those two shows, but a similar sense of humor and appreciation for different genres is needed for all three. If you enjoyed Firefly and AD, I'd be surprised if you didn't love Community.
Under the cut are ten of my favorite things about Community, with loads of spoilers. I'd say don't go any further if you haven't watched the show already... but if you're on the fence and this might get you to try it out, please read on.
10) Beetlejuice
Click to viewI'd heard about this before I started watching, but honestly. A show that builds a joke over three years, with the expectation of minimal payoff to all but the craziest, hawk-eyed fans (who will then blog about it and post it to YouTube)? Ace.
9) Inspector Spacetime
When Abed's favorite show, Cougartown, gets moved to midseason, Britta steps in to help him find a replacement. First, they try the British show Cougartown was based on, Cougarton Abbey (I thought this joke could have been done better, but appreciated it anyway). But given its authentically British short run, a new stand-in is needed almost immediately. Enter Inspector Spacetime, a British Sci-Fi show that's run since the 60s. You all know where this is going, and the parody itself is lol-able, but what makes it even more wonderful to me is how Community fandom has latched on to the idea, like this tumblr, and this wonderful poster...
(For a sitcom, Community has epic fan art.) The show has also mentioned Firefly, but the fact that this is big enough to warrant its own faux show and online fandom fills me with glee - of the non-musical variety.
8) Abed's Adventure
An entire storyline happens in the background of an episode, and is only referenced in Abed's un-mention at the end. I did catch this the first time through, though the full story only became apparent after reading others' thoughts on a few blog posts. And then it became even funnier, and I had to go back and watch again.
7) The Tags
Otherwise known as anything Troy and Abed do. Often as funny as/funnier than the episode that preceeded it, which is saying something.
6) Glee
Much like Annie, Britta, Shirley, and Abed in the Mean Girls episode, this show can be bitchy. And I usually love what it chooses to get bitchy about. I enjoy Glee despite it being a hot mess in terms of plot and character development. But when this show dumps on Glee, I can't help but revel in it. From shoutouts in Modern Warfare, to a full-on parody for this year's Christmas episode, it's delightful. As much as I love musicals, I can't sing or dance AT ALL, so Britta's song at the end has me LOLing at the bitchy truth - my own "heart's song" would be painfully akin to this, rather than anything coming out of Lea Michele's mouth.
5) Stop-Motion Christmas Episode
Musical episodes? Yes, we have them. Genre parodies? In abundance. And they're all brilliant, but did you read the title of this section? THERE IS A STOP-MOTION CHRISTMAS EPISODE. With a magical journey! And songs! And a LOST joke! The fact that the actual tone of the episode is pretty dark makes it funnier. (This may just be me associating the stop-motion Rudolph movie with other things to make it more sinister than it really is, but even as a child, I could tell that Christmas special was not all happy bunnies. The Island of Misfit Toys/The Velveteen Rabbit made me never want to get rid of anything, ever, because toys had feelings too, and the snow monster in Rudolph somehow merged with the Wampa in ESB to give me nightmares.) Also, much like the Buffy musical episode, the fact that there is an in-universe, resolution-needing explanation for why everything is suddenly animated makes it even cleverer.
4) Dungeons and Dragons
It starts with a Lord of the Rings parody, and continues on strong from there. However, there are no special effects, no CGI, no stunning scenery and costume design (except for Chang's offensively lolzy "dark elf" getup). As in the game it follows, this is an episode about a bunch of people sitting around a table, rolling a die. And yet, it manages to be hilarious (the "sex scene", lol-ing forever) and heart-felt in an uncloying way. Again, a problem is solved without our characters actually learning anything from it.
3) Paintball
I'm not going to put up a clip for this one, as they all gave too much away. And the less you know going in, the better this episode is.
I'm not even that into action movies or zombie movies, but from the flawless 28 Days Later parody in the first few minutes, I knew this was going to be fun. The structure of this episode is formulaic perfection, and you just feel like everyone involved, from the writers to the actors*, had SO MUCH FUN making it. There are loads of nods to different movies (some of which I understood, some of which I didn't but enjoyed anyway) but mostly, I came out of this wishing RL paintball was this fun, rather than a "sport" in which you have to wear safety equipment to avoid losing an eye. :/
*Though possibly not so much the cleaning people, which gets a nod in the season two "sequel". That two-parter is one of my favorites too, but as far as genre parodies go, 'Modern Warfare' tops pretty much everything.
2) The Existence of Multiple Timelines
They create six other timelines, including an alternate, dark one. By playing Yahtzee. And clearly, the natural thing to do to differentiate the darkest timeline from the others is to wear fake moustache/goatee combos. This is why we need more episodes, right here.
1) Somewhere Out There
They're playing my song! I know the intersection between pop culture and personal experience differs for everyone, but this makes the list because it was the moment I knew I loved this show. 4-EVA.
There are things about the show that I'm "meh" about too, some episodes that don't really excite me, and things I know go right over my head. But overall, when Community returns, I want as many people watching it as possible. I mean, come on... it's a show about community college. How can it not be given a fourth year?