Community, the tv show

So what you're saying is Community is a situation comedy

If all situational comedies share the aforementioned tropes, then yes.

Or in other words, no.

"supporting cast of people defined by singular weird traits"

and there was that one time when there was a misunderstanding about a thing that caused an unlikely situation

and that episode where they were in a room together and didn't leave the room

You've got your inspirational speech making de-facto leader guy: Cliff Huxtable
Your (budding) firebrand anarchist: Denise
your black sporty guy that hides a nerdy side: Theo
Your rotund, impossibly kind person with a not so hidden dark side: Rudy's friend, forget the kid's name
Your diabolical snitch that wants to be a part of the gang: Rudy
Your supporting cast of people defined by singular weird traits: Cliff's parents, Cockroach, Sondra, Elvin, Tito Puente, Art Blakey.

Jeez why are some people so unnecessarily defensive of this show? I'm not knocking it at all, I was (I thought) clearly trolling when I compared it unfavourably with a Sunday morning Disney cartoon (albeit a very good one). Regardless, the similarities are more than incidental.

Had no idea that The Cosby Show was set in a school.

Oh man if you think this thread is bad for being defensive about this show, you better stay away from The A/V Club.

what kind of pussy trolls and then whines over ppl's reaction their trolling? jesus

Haha "why so standoffish I was clearly trolling"

Xpost

Had no idea that The Cosby Show was set in a school.

A character learned something in every episode. Sounds like a school to me.

wtf? I mean I maintain a pretty loose definition of what trolling is "Being facetious/tongue in cheek" would probably have illustrated that better, but I missed the part where trolling was defined as some kind of internet lifestyle choice that demands dedication and commitment.

A character learned something in every episode. Sounds like a school to me.

good for you.

The problem wasn't that you were trolling, it's that you were trolling really, really poorly

lol

and trolling is one of the most pointless things in the world, so you failed at one of the most pointless things in the world. we aren't angry at your trolling. we're angry that we have to pity you.

Oh please, could you be more precious? If trolling is something that requires any amount of effort then the chances are I probably wasn't. It was a quaint observation that occurred to me because Recess had an episode called "The Ratings Game" that played out in a very similar fashion to "App Development and Condiments".

and it's not like I'm the first person to notice this.
http://0.media.collegehumor.cvcdn.com/55/40/917016309d819712fdde60ae88317d96.jpg

Surely failing at one of the most pointless things in the world would be immaterial, yet you feel compelled to pity somebody and on top of that feel angry about it? I ain't the one with a problem here.

you totally britta-ed that trolling

mehh. Guess I haven't built up enough goodwill here to merit the botd, even if I genuinely meant no harm.

did anyone else feel like the Hurwitz and Gilligan cameos were almost like a gratuitous acknowledgment of this season's celebration of the return of the show's showrunner/auteur

shut up we need to make more posts about recess

It is peculiar that two big dude showrunners have cameo'd recently but considering their bits were great and unrelated to their day jobs I can't see holding it against the show.

tsrobodo, the only person who seems to be angry here is you. you have a weirdly pass/agg approach to ilxing, maybe its not for you?

As long as its only distracting for the nerdiest of TV nerds I'm fine if next week has David milch as a custodian in a rainbow wig.

Funny that the only person that's even intimated at anger here is you. Oh and I'm doing fine, thanks for your concern though.

did anyone else feel like the Hurwitz and Gilligan cameos were almost like a gratuitous acknowledgment of this season's celebration of the return of the show's showrunner/auteur

Harmon's appearance in Arrested Development was obviously symbolising his being cast out from the NBC and Sony families, as he was in the desert. And further, representing the Harmontown documentary, as it showed him having found an ersatz support group/cult that would pay to be abused, and give him a place to do pointless "work".

i don't actually think anyone here is really angry or really pitying you, we just don't seem to be responding to your thing about the cartoon show the way you wanted us to? but i mean that's cool - i mean, i'm not american so i have no idea what that cartoon show is. i'm just confused about whether you are trolling or not, and how we should be responding to your trolling? but its really no big deal, and apologies if i seemed like a dick above.

how we should be responding to your trolling?

Ignoring trolling is usually the way to go, but hey, you guys seem to be having fun w it.

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have taken that so literally. And I guess I'd figured the comparison might not mean all that much to most. Recess first aired in 97 when I was 6 and ilx generally trends a fair bit older than that.

To clarify, it wasn't my intention to troll the thread, genuinely thought that nobody would think I was seriously calling Community sub-par in comparison to Sunday morning Disney.

But you're right its nbd. Apologies for any misunderstanding.

no hard feelings, and glad to quash the beef!
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4p3ar8wle1rx19c0o1_500.gif

yeah definitely
http://www.geekosystem.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/fistbumpdone.gif

As long as its only distracting for the nerdiest of TV nerds.

by which of course you mean this shows' audience

crickets huh

didn't think this was great. honestly should've been a 2-parter it all felt so rushed and felt like half of it was missing anyway, didn't really do anything for hickey's character. felt sorta halfassed tbh.

cross felt miscast to me

Awful episode. One or two eps of Season 4 were actually better than this. I don't give enough of a crap about Hickey for him to be bringing in one-episode tertiary characters in his orbit as an excuse to re-hash a much better earlier episode, and the writing didn't make it sound as if the established main characters did either. And I love love love David Cross, but, uh, two characters being dicks to each other is sometimes just two characters being dicks to each other even if you give them a backstory. I mean, Fat Neil was less established but the interactions were far more natural, well-paced and the game was a lot funnier.

I thought it was pretty funny, but it also seemed like a misstep and a pointless rehash. In his interview with Sepinwall, Harmon also says as much. Which gives me hopes for season six.

Interesting - I kind of hated the first one and thought this was a lot funnier. Iirc the first one was where they first turned up the meanness dial on chevy's character and kind of ruined him.

yeah i thought it was totally better than the first. jim rash definitely episode MVP.

Honestly I was just happy to see Jim Rash get a load of screen time this episode. This season has been great but the Dean has been criminally underused given he steals every scene he's in.

I would rather he be used sparingly but creatively than for him to be wearing a dress and saying "dean the dean dean dean" in every episode again

Yeah, it was great to see Rash given more to do, and the sword/hug thing was genius. But overall, it felt like they were trying to shoehorn Banks and Cross into a world that they hadn't really grown into yet.

The Dean writing those letters was the best part of a pretty middling episode.

the letters were all time

not as poignant as the first D&D episode but still pretty entertaining

it was ok, kinda meh for me

I feel like I should be excited about this, but I'm actually kind of dreading it:
http://www.avclub.com/article/heres-what-communitys-gi-joe-episode-looks-and-now-202517
http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5039/15/16x9/640.jpg

i love the look already. my only request: they do some kind of parody of the absurd movie theme song

they've already done The Professional EVERYONNNNNNNE three times this season, so I don't think it's far out of reach

totally agree that this felt underbaked and missing a third act - doubly bummed because the first D&D episode is probably my favourite half hour of community, and I think the format is smart enough to be revisited, just not as it was this time around (though, on rescreening the first D&D episode the other day, yes, it's the episode where Pierce is broken so he cannot be fixed).

I enjoyed this ep. My gf had never seen the first, so we watched that one before this, and I really did think that one was a great example of using genre jokes as a way to highlight character interaction.

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/s640x640/1488686_10152301645868184_1921312675_n.jpg