Community, the tv show

i think i am the only person that liked whitney

and even then i liked it for trying.

I will watch an episode next year if Jim Rash writes it again

(I will watch six if he writes six)

I'm happy to watch subpar Communitu rather than none at all. Still better than According to Jim or whatever other crap is out there.

This current incarnation of Community is much, much worse than The Big Bang Theory

Amazing how one mindbogglingly terrible episode can ruin a season

for some reason I didn't think this episode was too bad. It was certainly a conceptual mess but some of the other better episodes this season were too, I guess that's something I can overlook if it holds together in other ways (mainly being funny regularly enough), which I think this one did for the most part. Though that doesn't give me any idea why they'd want to continue with it, I'll still watch but I can't foresee anything but me coming ever more to resent that it still exists and still commands some of my attention.

holy shit NBC is so pathetic

It would be funny if they just keep making a new excuse every episode for why Pierce isn't present instead of properly writing him out.

Wow, I'm really disappointed that this is being renewed. Seriously, just allow it to salvage some dignity.

(╯︵╰,) this is the darkest timeline (╯︵╰,)

I've been moving to the pov that s1 was the strongest overall, after the pilot. I think I might get the most lols from it + I think it's the only season where every element in the show worked and worked together. Despite the brilliant ideas in s2, you could already see them straining with Chang's and Pierce's characters.

season 1 is the funniest overall, 2 had the big conceptual eps but there are definite seeds of the reddit/tumblr-baiting fanwank that really flourished in the third season. (and i mean if you're into that, that's cool, but that shit kinda grates. and the third season also somehow manages to waste both john goodman AND omar!)

i'm feeling pretty solid now about dropping out after s3.

i wonder if they've been keeping any cast loyalty by promising them more (better) work down the road, development deals. (not that many early-career actors would give up paying work just because it kind of sucked.) or if nbc is bringing it back just to prove themselves right.

Season 1 is virtually flawless I think, although S2 maybe has higher highs - the conspiracy thriller episode is probably my all-time favourite.

S1 > S2 >> first part of S3 >>> second part of S3 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> S4.

Gonna make a bold prediction and suggest that S5 will be funnier than the fourth.

One kinda sad thing was seeing the assorted tertiary characters all there for Jeff's graduation and realising the extent to which the Community universe has shrunk over the last couple of years.

community mostly got renewed cuz nbc wanted some of the new sony pilots and sony wants that guaranteed syndication $.

I figured it was probably related to syndication. Which is why you'll probably hear no complaints from any of the actors, syndication money is pretty good.

not that many early-career actors would give up paying work just because it kind of sucked

I'm sure the work experience itself is still decent, maybe even less stressful without Harmon.

Anyway, as is usual regarding this show, Matt DC is OTM here:

Season 1 is virtually flawless I think, although S2 maybe has higher highs - the conspiracy thriller episode is probably my all-time favourite.

S1 > S2 >> first part of S3 >>> second part of S3 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> S4.

The best conceptual episodes from S2 are my favourites: Christmas, D&D, conspiracy.

I can't really pick a favorite, I think I like about an equal amount of episodes from seasons 1-3. I'm going to start pretending the show ended then.

I'm sure the work experience itself is still decent, maybe even less stressful without Harmon.

Alison Brie came close to talking shit about Harmon on WTF this week: basically, the scripts were always late, "That's not how you run a tv show."

If she wants to argue that the end results were better when things ran more smoothly, more power to her.

Her other experience in television is Mad Men, Weiner seems like the sort who wouldn't (or wouldn't let any of his writers) turn in anything late. xp

Anyone else get the feeling that Chevy wasn't even in the same room as the others for most of this episode? Pierce was either the only person in the shot or filmed from behind. The exception being when he was sitting next to Troy in the study room and I'm pretty sure that was two images next to each other.

Hologram Pierce

heard that harmon was pretty checked out and awol during s3 - no doubt due in part to network note bullshit, but not shocked that he might have been less than profesh

i mean they don't fire you JUST because you're determined to blow minds

Harmon has admitted himself that he is 'hard to work with'. He has diagnosed himself with asbergers, and is a functional alcoholic. I mean, the show was amazing, but I can't be surprised that Sony didn't want to work with him. I think he would function better on cable, but he seems to want to try and create a broad hit, which just seems weird.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/05/community-is-coming-back-will-dan-harmon-return-too/

last season nbc was super psyched about their new sitcoms to the point where it looked like it might be the end of all their cult thursday shows. Now, everything is canceled except for two of the cult thursday shows. a+

xxxpost whoops I meant Gillian Jacobs, not Alison Brie

i britta-ed that one

He has diagnosed himself with asbergers

Unless he's been actually diagnosed this is probably bullshit.

my god that Deadline article is so dumb.

Unless he's been actually diagnosed this is probably bullshit.

I completely agree but I'm fairly sceptical of actual 'diagnoses' of things like this as well.

the extent of his self diagnosis was that people started telling him that Abed surely had Aspberger's and he thought, well a lot of Abed's quirks are based on my own, therefore I must also have it.

Well, no, he looked it up on the internet and took some tests and stuff. Which is still probably bullshit.

god do people not understand what doctors are for

It's possible that the people telling you about this on ILX are not registered doctors who are accurately reporting Harmon's actual words

heard that harmon was pretty checked out and awol during s3

The writers' room's tumblr was from S3 wasn't it? Or might have just been when I saw it.

Anyway, ppl who worked on S3 have said that 50-85% of another writer's script could be written by Harmon, and the immediate collapse of tone & pace in S4 indicates that he was still present in the editing bay right through S3.

i know he's famous for doing rewriting but I've heard some secondhand chat about him being less predictable and waaaaay behind schedule in s3. while obviously there's a big shift between s3 and s4, s3's patchiness/clumsiness compared to s2 indicates something too.

meant less reliable not predictable

looks like i'm not the only one to hear this

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/11/could-dan-harmon-return-to-community-for-season-5

There are definitely reasons to be skeptical about this, one being that Sony and NBC letting Harmon go was due to many factors, with his feud with Chase just one – one that was notable and got lots of press, but at the most was likely a straw that broke the camel’s aspect back more than the central issue, and even that may be an overstatement. In fact, long before the Chase issues, Harmon was said by many to have frequently gone over budget and both he and his writing staff have spoken openly in the time since he’s left about how he almost never had a completed script ready on schedule, making it very difficult for production on a basic level. On top of that, it’s well known (and acknowledged by Harmon) that he was prone to flat out ignoring studio and network notes, something that might make him a hero to fans, but is not desired by those in charge.

that doesn't mean "awol" though, it's more because he wouldn't let something go in order to get the whole thing done

Harmon was said by many to have frequently gone over budget

he's said this himself, and he used to put his own pay back into the production at times

After staying away from the series at first for fear of it being some horrific mess that would spoil my memories of what came before, I have to say that season 4 really didn't seem all that awful to me. Some missteps, sure, and it didn't have the same spark as before, but it wasn't unwatchable. And it sure as hell wasn't as bad as The Big Bang Theory.

i would have preferred it to be a horrific mess rather than bland and unfunny

This was still WAY better than Big Bang Theory

Y'all are high

Maybe you're low?

adam's right

i'm with the attitude that even a mediocre Community is better than most sitcoms and still enjoyable. also agree with the prediction that season 5 will be better than season 4, there were a lot of obvious transitional pains going on with this season, not to mention the horrific scheduling mishaps which were made worse when it seemed like half the episodes were holiday-based