"There is a place that we will all see each other again, and that place is Denny's."
I wanted to post about the Community finale when it happened (or at least shortly thereafter), but life has been ugly the last couple of weeks and so I've been struggling just to keep afloat lately, let alone have any cohesive thoughts on a show I adore. So I will just say that I loved both parts of the finale and can't wait until the show comes back in September. If you want more, then I highly recommend this review at the AV Club, which is smart and sweet. Most notable is this non-spoilery bit which I feel sells Community better than I ever could:
Two seasons on, Community has evolved into not just one of my favorite shows on TV (I’m going to make it, Parks And Recreation, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad hold a rock-paper-scissors off at TCA) but a show that seems to incorporate virtually everything I love about television into one bright, shiny package. It’s a show about disparate people coming together to build something better. (Check.) It’s a show that tries many different types of things and has many different types of episodes. (Check.) It’s a show that isn’t afraid to try wild tonal shifts or get borderline depressing or set aside jokes for dramatic beats. (Check.) It’s a show based less around clear lead characters and more around the idea of an ensemble, one that keeps expanding to encompass more and more people. (Check.) In many ways, Community feels like it’s been pieced together from raw materials it dug out of my own brain.
That last sentence is one I could have written. I suspect my brain and Dan Harmon's would be comfortable in conversation. Except his would be funnier.
I also really liked this interview at NYMag with Dan Harmon. My two favorite parts:
If there was one thing you could change about how network shows are made, what would it be?
I would air all of the pilots. You know? Or put them on the web or something. At the risk of offending the people who are most in charge of whether I ever work again, it seems a little antiquated that in a world where everyone can watch anything all the time, we spend all this money making all of these shitty pilots and throwing them all at the wall and seeing which stick. It seems weird that we don't just make it part of the fun of network television, to have festivals or special website events, or even on-air marathons or something, where the audience [gets to see them]. They like to vote for their favorite singers, wouldn't they like to vote for their favorite show?
Is there a form of television or maybe a current trend that you wish would just go away?
It would be nice if the lack of ratings for Community stopped. This whole "I don't know what that show is" - I know it's fashionable, but let it go already. I think that the crassness of some reality programming [is a problem]. I do wish that there would come some sort of post-ironic humanitarian phase of reality programming like they have in the U.K., where there are shows about people who don't know how to clean up after themselves in which people really learn how to clean up after themselves. It's, like, considered a public service. There's an air of "You're a good person no matter what" to their reality programming that I wish we had. We take people who are famous for being mentally ill or addicted to drugs, we parade them around, and then we roll our eyes at them. I find that very carnival-esque, and it's really disrespectful to the customer. I wish that television would stop selling our hatred of ourselves, and start seducing us with our love of ourselves.
Which leads me into this rant, courtesy of this I saw on Tumblr earlier:
It’s summer time and we have no new episodes of Community, but we do have each other. I want to spread the love around and show my support for all of the ships on the show, and I am thinking that some people out there might do the same with this graphic meme.
This is a support ALL ships meme…meaning you can’t leave any of the main pairings out. These are ROMANTIC with a sprinkle of platonic support memes, so making a post saying “oh, but I only like them as friends” isn’t really participating. The goal here is to support and find the beauty in every ship on the show. To spread appreciation for even couples you aren’t 100% on board with. The main pairings are:
Jeff/Britta
Jeff/Annie
Abed/Britta
Britta/Troy
Troy/Jeff
Jeff/Abed
Abed/Troy
Abed/Annie
Britta/Annie
Annie/Troy
I kind of kept out Pierce and Shirley because of the age factor and the fact that they have never been flirtatious with the rest of the group. You can also feel free to add graphics featuring study group members and Vaugh, Slater, Rich, etc.
JUST BECAUSE PIERCE AND SHIRLEY ARE OLDER DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD LEAVE THEM OUT OF AN "ALL PAIRINGS LOVE MEME." PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS NOT AN ALL PAIRINGS MEME IF YOU DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE ALL THE PAIRINGS. JFC. Also, isn't Shirley the same age as Jeff?! Plus, never been flirtatious with the rest of the group? Have you WATCHED the show?
UGH.
I really have better things to do than get annoyed at this. AND YET. Ultimately it makes me want to read Jeff/Shirley fic where she teaches him a thing or two about sex and then leaves him puppydog-eyed because she wants an older, more mature man and he realizes how awesome she is.
Other things that annoy me, the rumor from the upcoming DC Comics reboot that they might bring Barbara back as Batgirl, sans wheelchair. DO NOT WANT. AT ALL.
I also am annoyed at all the Internet memes and reviews of Eddard Stark from Game of Thrones who keep making fun of his honor and how "dumb" he is. Let me tell you something, Internets, Ned Stark makes those "dumb" decisions because his honor means more to him than his life. It seems dumb to us, because we don't value honor in the same way he does, but that doesn't make him stupid. He KNOWS the price of the decisions he's making, but he makes them anyway because to him it's the right thing to do. He believes other people still value that as well, which makes him NAIVE, not dumb. The man loves his children and would not go out of his way to harm them, but he wants them to be like him and so he basically makes his whole life a teachable moment. I'm not saying he's perfect, but PLEASE STOP CALLING HIM STUPID.
IMO, Ned Stark is who Lee Adama should have been when he grew up. [Rant redacted about how that would have been a much more interesting character and character arc for BSG because, honestly, I've ranted enough for one post.]
In other news, I'm pretty sure I've lost my vidding mojo. I have ideas and enthusiasm but no time (which is why I spend my days on Tumblr and Facebook right now, because they require so little effort) and the rare occasions I can at least open FCP I just sit there unable to vid. It's awful. I've been poking at this HCL vid for weeks and can't move forward on it. I know there's a good vid in there, but my good vidder who could let it out is gone and she didn't leave a forwarding address.
In other other news, I didn't realize toddlers were walking plague bombs. I mean I knew? But I didn't know. NOW I do. I'm pretty sure someone in this house has been sick almost every week since January, and no matter who it is, it ends up making my life 1000% more difficult.
Okay, so, this is why I don't post anymore? To spare you guys *waves hands* all this.
This entry was cross-posted at my Dreamwidth account. Please comment here or there. (
comments at DW)
Two seasons on, Community has evolved into not just one of my favorite shows on TV (I’m going to make it, Parks And Recreation, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad hold a rock-paper-scissors off at TCA) but a show that seems to incorporate virtually everything I love about television into one bright, shiny package. It’s a show about disparate people coming together to build something better. (Check.) It’s a show that tries many different types of things and has many different types of episodes. (Check.) It’s a show that isn’t afraid to try wild tonal shifts or get borderline depressing or set aside jokes for dramatic beats. (Check.) It’s a show based less around clear lead characters and more around the idea of an ensemble, one that keeps expanding to encompass more and more people. (Check.) In many ways, Community feels like it’s been pieced together from raw materials it dug out of my own brain.
That last sentence is one I could have written. I suspect my brain and Dan Harmon's would be comfortable in conversation. Except his would be funnier.
I also really liked this interview at NYMag with Dan Harmon. My two favorite parts:
If there was one thing you could change about how network shows are made, what would it be?
I would air all of the pilots. You know? Or put them on the web or something. At the risk of offending the people who are most in charge of whether I ever work again, it seems a little antiquated that in a world where everyone can watch anything all the time, we spend all this money making all of these shitty pilots and throwing them all at the wall and seeing which stick. It seems weird that we don't just make it part of the fun of network television, to have festivals or special website events, or even on-air marathons or something, where the audience [gets to see them]. They like to vote for their favorite singers, wouldn't they like to vote for their favorite show?
Is there a form of television or maybe a current trend that you wish would just go away?
It would be nice if the lack of ratings for Community stopped. This whole "I don't know what that show is" - I know it's fashionable, but let it go already. I think that the crassness of some reality programming [is a problem]. I do wish that there would come some sort of post-ironic humanitarian phase of reality programming like they have in the U.K., where there are shows about people who don't know how to clean up after themselves in which people really learn how to clean up after themselves. It's, like, considered a public service. There's an air of "You're a good person no matter what" to their reality programming that I wish we had. We take people who are famous for being mentally ill or addicted to drugs, we parade them around, and then we roll our eyes at them. I find that very carnival-esque, and it's really disrespectful to the customer. I wish that television would stop selling our hatred of ourselves, and start seducing us with our love of ourselves.
Which leads me into this rant, courtesy of this I saw on Tumblr earlier:
It’s summer time and we have no new episodes of Community, but we do have each other. I want to spread the love around and show my support for all of the ships on the show, and I am thinking that some people out there might do the same with this graphic meme.
This is a support ALL ships meme…meaning you can’t leave any of the main pairings out. These are ROMANTIC with a sprinkle of platonic support memes, so making a post saying “oh, but I only like them as friends” isn’t really participating. The goal here is to support and find the beauty in every ship on the show. To spread appreciation for even couples you aren’t 100% on board with. The main pairings are:
Jeff/Britta
Jeff/Annie
Abed/Britta
Britta/Troy
Troy/Jeff
Jeff/Abed
Abed/Troy
Abed/Annie
Britta/Annie
Annie/Troy
I kind of kept out Pierce and Shirley because of the age factor and the fact that they have never been flirtatious with the rest of the group. You can also feel free to add graphics featuring study group members and Vaugh, Slater, Rich, etc.
JUST BECAUSE PIERCE AND SHIRLEY ARE OLDER DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD LEAVE THEM OUT OF AN "ALL PAIRINGS LOVE MEME." PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS NOT AN ALL PAIRINGS MEME IF YOU DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE ALL THE PAIRINGS. JFC. Also, isn't Shirley the same age as Jeff?! Plus, never been flirtatious with the rest of the group? Have you WATCHED the show?
UGH.
I really have better things to do than get annoyed at this. AND YET. Ultimately it makes me want to read Jeff/Shirley fic where she teaches him a thing or two about sex and then leaves him puppydog-eyed because she wants an older, more mature man and he realizes how awesome she is.
Other things that annoy me, the rumor from the upcoming DC Comics reboot that they might bring Barbara back as Batgirl, sans wheelchair. DO NOT WANT. AT ALL.
I also am annoyed at all the Internet memes and reviews of Eddard Stark from Game of Thrones who keep making fun of his honor and how "dumb" he is. Let me tell you something, Internets, Ned Stark makes those "dumb" decisions because his honor means more to him than his life. It seems dumb to us, because we don't value honor in the same way he does, but that doesn't make him stupid. He KNOWS the price of the decisions he's making, but he makes them anyway because to him it's the right thing to do. He believes other people still value that as well, which makes him NAIVE, not dumb. The man loves his children and would not go out of his way to harm them, but he wants them to be like him and so he basically makes his whole life a teachable moment. I'm not saying he's perfect, but PLEASE STOP CALLING HIM STUPID.
IMO, Ned Stark is who Lee Adama should have been when he grew up. [Rant redacted about how that would have been a much more interesting character and character arc for BSG because, honestly, I've ranted enough for one post.]
In other news, I'm pretty sure I've lost my vidding mojo. I have ideas and enthusiasm but no time (which is why I spend my days on Tumblr and Facebook right now, because they require so little effort) and the rare occasions I can at least open FCP I just sit there unable to vid. It's awful. I've been poking at this HCL vid for weeks and can't move forward on it. I know there's a good vid in there, but my good vidder who could let it out is gone and she didn't leave a forwarding address.
In other other news, I didn't realize toddlers were walking plague bombs. I mean I knew? But I didn't know. NOW I do. I'm pretty sure someone in this house has been sick almost every week since January, and no matter who it is, it ends up making my life 1000% more difficult.
Okay, so, this is why I don't post anymore? To spare you guys *waves hands* all this.
This entry was cross-posted at my Dreamwidth account. Please comment here or there. (
comments at DW)