Community, the tv show

lol

this show is losing me a little bit, getting tired of every episode being about main dude trying to be all cool and withdrawn and then realizing at the end that he CARES about this lovable gang of misfits - this has happened like five times now, it's already old and it's going to get more annoying

abed as batman was great though, and ken jeong is nuts

yeah ken jeong kinda steals every scene he's in. and while i agree with you, by now jeff has done his cool-then-caring-thing with every cast member and i have confidence in this show mixing it up soon enough

i don't know about ken jeong - the whole LOL he's azn teaching spanish! angle already turned me off, the scene-stealing seems too obvious, too

still, i enjoyed this episode nonetheless

starting to catch up on the episodes, i thought ep 4 and 5 were pretty good. ken jeong is a big reason to watch the damn show and the british teacher is pretty funny

i'd much rather hear post-30 rock screwball dialogue than faux-doc monologues at this point

― da croupier, Saturday, October 31, 2009 8:20 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the jim style parks&rec guy looked at the camera and shrugged a couple weeks ago

troys eddie murphy costume was hilar in that it was also a joke abt how it was not a michael jackson costume

That is probably going to be my favorite Halloween costume this year.

tell me about the Beatles, Pierce

the whole LOL he's azn teaching spanish! angle already turned me off,

I dunno. I think they only went for this joke in his first episode, where it worked.

I enjoyed him in this ep, from his little interjections that put a point on the scenes(from the Urkel to the Loooooser as he zooms by). He's great when used sparingly, instead of needing to have him do onscreen breakdowns alla time.

As good as the show is already (IMO), I think we'll see a distinct uptick in quality as the writers figure out how to best utilize the fantastic ensemble they have at their disposal.

troy is too much. he's got one of those faces i just look at and laugh. very subtle comedic actor. he will be famous.

dude should already be famous from this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcx4_CszaDI

i really wanna like this show cuz i love mchale but this seems super contrived to me. like, the office is absurdist but it's still pretty grounded in believability whereas the characters in community and the premises of the episodes kind of seem to only be able to exist in minds of the writers. granted i've never been to community college so maybe i'm wrong but this is kinda boring imo.

― a goon boy (J0rdan S.), Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:53 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't see how this is any more contrived/less believable than 30 Rock

I'm liking the show and think it can get better, but I'm really hating the tendency to be filled with aspirational platitudes. So far every episode has these "you're ok, I'm ok" pep-talks.

I'm really hating the tendency to be filled with aspirational platitudes

Yeah, this. I like all the characters and I like watching their attempts to get to know each other, I just wish they wouldn't...talk...about it so much. I was fine with things like Abed's film making his dad cry, or Shirley talking about her husband leaving her, but when three or four characters are having these moments every episode, it starts to feel like an after-school special, and not in the good Strangers With Candy way.

Whatever though, I'm still enjoying it.

like, the office is absurdist but it's still pretty grounded in believability whereas the characters in community and the premises of the episodes kind of seem to only be able to exist in minds of the writers.

This strikes me as a pretty big misstep of a comparison. Community is more obviously stylized and less grounded in reality. I think the commitment to that voice strengthens the absurdity. Whereas The Office wants to have cake and also eat it, and so denies its own foundational reality far too often.

yeah i mean...some shows work hard to feel real and believable aside from being comedies, some just give you a vaguely realistic situation as a springboard for comedic stories and dialogue, this is very clearly the latter.

Have to agree w/Deric - I mean, the whole premise of the show is such a sitcom world, one step removed from the Seinfeld fake show/Butler premise. And yet, that blue study room is freakishly authentic to me - gives me chills!

omg batman <3 <3 <3

i never even saw beastmaster, i just wanted to be cool

"I'm kind of the Hawkeye around here."

Not a funny episode. A laugh or two maybe.

have you even ~seen~ beastmaster

xp I dunno. I laughed about as much as usual, but I just don't think it will ever be the kind of show that inspires riotous fits of laughter. And I keep finding new ways to compare it to Scrubs. If they start doing fantasy sequences regularly, watch out.

I did like the that every poster in Abed's room was from a movie from 1985 - 1988, and this fact was never ever remarked upon.

I mean, there was a poster for 'Vibes.' VIBES, people!

great episode, esp. vaughn getting garfunkel confused with garfield

yeah that bit was great, really think the show is coming into its own

when the black dude came out to rap about pierce i lost it

"In the last two days, I've spent a quarter."

that was definitely my favorite episode so far. it had the most going on. even chevy's prog keyboard solo was pretty inspired.

Great episode, I think they've finally moved on from introducing the characters and started using them as an ensemble.

"I'm kind of the Hawkeye around here."

^^^this and Annie's over-enthusiastic dice rolling were the biggest lols of the night

This show has been great and the cast as nearly flawless. The biggest problem I see with it, though, is that the Joel McHale character is, for a protagonist, really unlikable. This last episode the character was improving a bit and moving beyond aloof smartass so hopefully, like Ed said, they're going to start using the characters better and they're done setting them up. I worry that the show could have Arrested Development's problem in that, as funny as it is, the average viewer is turned off by all the eccentrics and the lack of normal, sympathetic characters.

And the "Do you like Dane Cook?" dig at the beginning of the inspirational class episode may have something to do with the fact that NBC was recently debating whether or not Joel or Dane should be given a major push by the network.

i just realized annie is also trudy campbell

The biggest problem I see with it, though, is that the Joel McHale character is, for a protagonist, really unlikable.

― Cunga, Saturday, November 7, 2009 11:54 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

all the more reason for troy to step to the fore

btw tiny nipples is rad in aggro mode

Why on earth was the guy that plays Troy relegated to the role of writer on 30 Rock? Everyone who owned an internet connection back in 2006-07 knew he was a funny actor, and that he belonged in front of the camera.

maybe it's just because these skinny jeans makes my ass look like a skinny pumpkin

baby pumpkin!

this show got good so fast

I really hope it doesn't get cancelled :/

Got a full season pickup. Not sure about the 2nd season yet.

And the "Do you like Dane Cook?" dig at the beginning of the inspirational class episode may have something to do with the fact that NBC was recently debating whether or not Joel or Dane should be given a major push by the network.

I don't understand what this means. Was Dane Cook going to have a show on the fall schedule at some point? I'm sure he was never considered for Community.

The biggest problem I see with it, though, is that the Joel McHale character is, for a protagonist, really unlikable. This last episode the character was improving a bit and moving beyond aloof smartass so hopefully, like Ed said, they're going to start using the characters better and they're done setting them up.

I understand this, but I disagree with it. I think it's kind of great how they've set up this dynamic where the main character is someone who's always been slick and successful, but screwed up and now has to hang out with the uncool kids, and they keep dancing around the line between sympathetic and unsympathetic. It reminds me a little of the relationship between Sam Malone and the rest of the Cheers gang.

yeah and this was the first episode where they acknowledged that jeff is a loser too

I don't understand what this means. Was Dane Cook going to have a show on the fall schedule at some point? I'm sure he was never considered for Community.

I had a friend who was a summer intern and he told me one meeting of tv executives was essentially about whether Dane Cook or Joel McHale would get certain promotional resources. I know no more details other than that Joel McHale had more support (and one female executive, the one my friend was interning for, thought nothing of Joel McHale other than that he was mean and rather unfunny).

I understand this, but I disagree with it. I think it's kind of great how they've set up this dynamic where the main character is someone who's always been slick and successful, but screwed up and now has to hang out with the uncool kids, and they keep dancing around the line between sympathetic and unsympathetic. It reminds me a little of the relationship between Sam Malone and the rest of the Cheers gang.

I love that dynamic, too, but the very qualities some like about the show (its unapologetic meanness towards Community College, Joel McHale's aloof and sarcastic persona, the comic-pathetic characters) might be a turn-off to NBC's usual audience. But it's changing and McHale might prove more likable. I like it precisely because it doesn't have those usual sitcommish qualities but I just wonder if, like AD, its own unpopularity might come from the show being so different.

this show makes community college look 10x more fun than community college is, so I'm not sure it has 'unapologetic meanness'...

wait you're worried that audiences won't embrace an "aloof and sarcastic" sitcom character? jesus it's like the 90s never happened.

I probably am just being nit-picky, but dont' twist my words and be mistaken - I think the double-edged sword is that McHale's sarcasm and the show's tone is more biting than yr average sitcoms, and I'm just wondering out loud on here if that could pose a problem, or not.

iatee: mean in that it makes CC look like a circus of losers. Most other network television gets intentionally ambivalent but this show is content to not please everybody (and I like that about it).

Have they revealed the reason why Pierce is there? I remember him being a former CEO but have they gone into that backstory?