Community, the tv show

"labelled him"

"in the pilot"

da croupier OTMFM

And while I understand resistance to "psychoanalyzing" (though I don't think that's really what's happening) TV characters, in the abstract, sure, it would seem silly to delve into the layered backstory of whoever the fuck Sheen's character is on Douche And A Half Men; but I can't think of a recent sitcom character that lends himself so intriguingly to such questions as Abed does. A stop-motion animated Christmas episode is really the only logical step for his character.

but the moral of the christmas episode is to not psychoanalyze abed. it will turn you into a warlock

you don't know the meaning of at least five words in that sentence.

geez, now you are going to psychoanalyze me. why can't we leave my point the way it is

OK, watching the third time, Abed's character makes mores sense. He does actually seem a bit self-aware of what's going on, referring to the journey as one through the 'wonderland in [his] mind'.

the hugeness of jeffs head was the thing that made me lol the most. it was huge. (also made me think of turtle's theory of why vincest chase was famous (he has a big head) which made me lol even more.)

This season is really lacking a clear narrative arc, and whatever it does have is getting chopped up by one-off episodes (FUNNY one-off episodes, but one-offs nonetheless)

What's amazing about Community is that these are only one-off episodes stylistically. If you think about it, there's lots of character and plot development going on underneath the jokes - paintball had Jeff and Britta finally hooking up (the kind of thing most sitcoms would make an entire episode ABOUT), we learned a LOT about Abed's background in this Xmas episode. While I think the show could get "Finch dreams the cast of Just Shoot Me are Wizard Of Oz characters" quickly, they've done a phenomenal job tying together wildly disparate styles without reducing each character to mere shtick to do it. This Xmas episode had me lolling constantly and marveling at the way they kept two different planes of reality going at the same time, but also deepened several of characters' relationships to each other (Abed and Britta esp). I've been saying this is my favorite show since Arrested Development, but now I think it's my favorite show since The Simpsons.

― da croupier, Saturday, December 11, 2010 6:08 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

yeah they've done the one-offs beautifully imo and part of if it is that when shows wait til like season 6 to do this kind of thing, it feels like the writers are just bored and trying to shake things up, here it feels like Community is just raising the stakes and broadening the parameters of what their show can do very early on, whether it's just because they don't know how long they'll be on the air or if they think things like this will help them gain an audience or if they just don't give a fuck and are having fun, it's exciting.

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldbdp3zTgk1qezigeo1_r3_500.gif

loved teddypierce

chevy chase has always been great at falling

There was something about Chevy's delivery on this episode that made him seem more...I dunno...compassionate than in most other episodes. Even if he was only along for the cookies.

teddypierce <3

I think after 30 years of him acting like a smug wiseass on TV and in movies, your brain interprets anything coming out of his mouth that way. When he is in bear form, his humanity is revealed.

sounds plausible enough

agreed

Ditto.

I didn't pay attention to Community for the first half of last season because of Chase's involvement. And I don't know if he's unknowingly playing himself as an asshole -- like Jerry Lewis in The King Of Comedy, or Alan Alda in Crimes & Misdemeanors, or Jack Black in the Community episode he was in -- but it works.

What were the notches on the train controller between 'Aloof' and 'Bjork'?

"Aloof-Detached-Distant-Bjork"

poor episode, feel let down by this show, which has got self-indulgent (and emo) very fast

only this ep wasn't fast, it was at half-speed

For a show that is "emo" there is a lack of lovey dovey stuff going on compared to Friends or whatever and nothing apallingly emo going on so I disagree with the "emo" label

idk i think the show has always had a sappiness/emo element to it, i seem to remember complaining on this very thread about some of the "moral of the story is" endings of S1 episodes. i'm used to it at this point, it doesn't detract from the other 9/10ths of the show that's mostly dark humor.

The emo label is only used to describe bad things. I prefer Mordy's robotic usage of the word "affecting" in this case

robotic!?

(interrobang!?)

idk i think the show has always had a sappiness/emo element to it, i seem to remember complaining on this very thread about some of the "moral of the story is" endings of S1 episodes.

For serious! What show were you guys watching for the last season and a half?

Wait, Mordy's a robot?

That's interesting about what you said about me being a robot. Tell me more?

Because Mordy if you are a robot then this adds a whole new level to WDYLL. That front panel is coming OFF. :)

Aw man. I just IM'd Smarterchild for the first time in like six-seven years and apparently he's been retired!

they replaced him with Smordychild

Just finished this. The Lost joke was awesome, since it was:

1) funny

2) true to life (we all know what happened and can agree to the sentiment)

3) true to the character (Abed would think in these terms)

The 3rd bit is the most crucial, I think, b/c perhaps one of the greatest strengths about the show is that all the gags and jokes and pop-culture refs function as a way to reveal truth about the character. Even more than the Simpsons or South Park or (of course) Family Guy ever could do, all the pop culture refs serve as a means to both be funny but more importantly backstop the character. Having the former is meaningless without the latter, which I think Dan Harmon has mentioned at some point.

also: enjoyed the fact that claymation Pierce is still in his wheelchair

That's interesting about what you said about me being a robot. Tell me more?
― Mordy, Thursday, December 16, 2010 2:46 AM (2 hours ago)

It goes back to this post by you:

watching this again and it's actually better the second time. more affecting actually
― Mordy, Saturday, December 11, 2010 12:07 AM (5 days ago) (link to upthread)

(I prodded you about your word choice in that link - "CL: how can you tell it's affecting" - "Mordy: it affects me")

Anyways, the reason I found your word choice so funny and robotic is because
a.) I never heard anyone call a TV show affecting before
b.) Actually, I never hear people calling anything affecting (if not people then...)
c.) You used an incomplete sentence. Reminiscent of "Mission Accomplished. Robot use turn signal. Destroy"
d.) That incomplete sentence ended with a period. When someone ends short text messages with a period I often picture that person with a dead serious expression on their face (or disgruntled - depending on the context - whatever.)
e.) "affecting" and "it [a]ffects me" has to be the best way to avoid telling people how you feel about something
f.) Just now when I typed "affecting" into google to check the definition the first definition that popped up is:

affecting - present participle of af·fect (Verb)
1. Pretend to have or feel (something): "as usual I affected a supreme unconcern".
2...

oops, I'm missing the period at the end of Mordy's second quote which directly relates to point d.)

MISTRIAL!

merriam-webster says the definition of affecting is "evoking a strong emotional response," which is how i took mordy to mean it. it doesn't seem robotic to me, just another way of saying "it moved me."

Yeah, this. I mean, geez...look up movie reviews for any weepy drama from the past 20 years and you'll find "affecting" bandied about pretty frequently.

Bummed that Mordy's not a robot.

this show's always been as corny as modern fam

yeah but... this ep sucked. that's all there is really. it's kind of an 'interesting experiment', but would i want a live action 'family guy'? that's a no (except for mila kunis amirite guys). the delivery of lines was poor, and the animated figures were --hey, wordplay coming up -- less *animated* than their irl equivalents.

see i don't disagree with either of those criticisms, but i still really liked the episode. i could see maybe being let down after anticipating a more thorough rendering of the show -- the characters looking more precise, accommodating a faster pace of dialogue, etc. -- but this episode still had good joeks and character-building moments that felt real (humanizing pierce a little more, the annie/troy/abed friendship-via-capers that we saw in the lawyer episode). and part of it was just the "oh man they're having a chase scene on top of a train, this looks so awesome" factor.

"somewhere, tim burton just got a boner."

'it affects me' is a complete sentence!

d.) That incomplete sentence ended with a period. When someone ends short text messages with a period I often picture that person with a dead serious expression on their face (or disgruntled - depending on the context - whatever.)

lol we're really learning about the bizarre inner workings of lorax's mind more than mordy's or anyone else's

can we have a seperate community thread for all the drips who hate fun and love to harsh mellows and are desperate to be the first off the bus, pls?

it's the emo that's drippy, son

imo this show isn't at all over-the-line with PLEASE CARE ABOUT THIS LOVE TRIANGLE type Office/Parks & Recreation shit and has balanced the little bits of sentiment and emotion with the comedy really well.

history mayne should probably just stick to the safe, emo-free climes of adult swim

'it affects me' is a complete sentence!

― Mordy, Thursday, December 16, 2010 12:15 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah but not "more affecting actually."

how does the killfile work again

when writing conversationally, you are allowed to use sentence fragments. ffs