Community, the tv show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayIJan54KrY

You know, now that community actual had a great ratings night, I'd rather this show get huge, bloated and weak through six seasons and a movie, than just have its door shut after three underappreciated seasons. We already have an Arrested Development. I'm actually kind of curious what lengths would be taken to keep these folks together after four years of community college.

i never knew bbt wasn't on. makes sense they went with that episode and i'm happy to see a big ratings boost.

ditto

also i was fine with the episode. i actually want to see more shirley episodes! malcolm jamal warner was great!

Loved the marriage proposal dance/song etc

My two fave deliveries last night were "That's me!" and "Walk away, man."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/syndication-community-comedy-central-the-middle-hallmark-300123

Comedy Central has good news for Greendale fans.

The cable network has picked up syndication rights to NBC's Dan Harmon cult comedy Community, the network announced Wednesday, inking a multiyear deal with the studio behind the Joel McHale-starrer, Sony Pictures Television.

The series, which returns Thursday to NBC after being left off its midseason schedule, will launch repeats of the first three seasons of the series beginning in the fall of 2013.

Livin the dream

not as good as proper syndication but maybe it will get there.

Really good episode last night. I really liked "Shirley's sexy voice", Abed + groom interactions, ice cream cone finale and the Linbergh Lean.

Chang is gonna die in one of the first two episodes (since this was supposed to be the third one and he wasn't there).

My two fave deliveries last night were "That's me!" and "Walk away, man."

"I'll allow it."

MJW flawlessly falling in step with the singing trio in between portions of his speech was classique

^^^

This thread became really depressing. Thanks, Lamp.

does lamp ruin everything?

I don't know, I think lamp really tie room together.

god the problem here is that people actually listen to dan harmon when he talks. he's a stupid person who is apparently obsessed with character development and themes and circle formulas, and he never stops talking about them so everyone comes to expect those areas of the show to be strong points, and they aren't. the show fails there, but it doesn't matter because the show itself does not care about those things, it cares about funny jokes and clever concepts and "worldbuilding", and that's all it needs to be good at. because it's a sitcom! todd vanderwerff can write way too many words about how brilliant the writers are with each character's growth, but everyone knows that that shit doesn't actually resonate and it's not why the show succeeds.

i am completely behind this. not a single moment of his show has "resonated emotionally" for me, i could give a shit about character growth etc. just bring the outlandish humor and i'm cool.

it's like ambitious creators of sitcoms suffer through this inferiority complex and have to prove that their shows are Great Drama in addition to being funny.

NB: it is hard to be funny. if you do it really well, that is an accomplishment.

also the highlight of this episode was troy's double take at seeing the monkey, at the very end.

people should strive to do more imo

like, Louie is really funny, but it's the emotional resonance that gives me the feeling of watching a great episode. I think Community can hit the mark emotionally on occasion, but not all the time. I like being blindsided by something genuinely affecting though.

"more"

"...Jim Rash, who plays the bent Dean Pelton on the show. "

Um what

― kinder, Tuesday, March 13, 2012 1:48 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

um what um what

― some dude, Thursday, 15 March 2012 18:56 (Yesterday) Bookmark

"Bent" is derogatory slang for "gay" fyi

xp ya rly, community does plenty to justify the love it gets. it doesn't need to expend all its energy on hardcore character development and thematic consistency when most dramas can't even get that stuff right.

it's very easy to make me weep but i don't think community has ever once hit me emotionally. it's too far up its own universe and the characters and dialogue are too detached from the way anything works in real life. episode-specific plot points can be effective but never macro-level stuff. the show just doesn't excel on that level (and it doesn't have to). louie does things differently, but can you really compare any other sitcom to louie?

it just seems like people (including dan harmon) don't know what they've got and want it to be something else. i mean sure there are sitcoms that are very touching at times--i'm a huge TAXI fan for example. but shows like that wear it lightly. community often seems to stop dead for a "metafictional" moment where the characters assess their relationships to one another and i find that incredibly tedious.

i dunno would you want, say, a film by buster keaton to have more psychology and character development? no, because those things have nothing to do with why keaton is so great.

although to be honest this is big reason why i watch this show:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CReZH07_8uo/TiCZfjQ7M8I/AAAAAAAAZAA/rBYfgbo2_CQ/s1600/Alison%2BBrie11.jpg

what a cutie.

cue somebody saying "two big reasons"

i think arrested development is a good comparison, assuming no one here hates the show/its cult. AD was occasionally touching, maybe for half a second at a time, but it was never intended to be emotionally affecting on the whole. the writers knew what the show was and they didn't shoot for that other level. and thinking back on it, it was sort of unwittingly touching in its own way, but that wouldn't have happened if they were sweating it like harmon does.

I didn't get that emotional touching vibe from Arrested Development at all. Those moments never felt genuine because there was (brace yourself) no real growth that came out of it. They were almost always immediately undercut by someone acting horrid and selfish.

If you don't think the emotional stuff on Community works than you know, ymmv, but I think they pull it off reasonably well (ok, the development better than the emotional).

e.g. troy coming home from the bar on his birthday.

yeah, that's probably my favourite of the character development stuff.

In general I don't think Harmon forces it as much as amateurist makes out, but that's a ymmv thing. For the most part I think the actions of the characters make sense as they progress, and I think that's what he finds most important. He has little interest in a total reset.

Finally watched the last episode. Not the one I'd put on if trying to PROVE the glory of the show but still funny and full of great moments. Favorite might have been Troy and Abed's interactions with MJW.

Yeah this was not out of the top drawer but still very funny. Pierce's security device, "http colon forward slash forward slash", the fact that Shirley's husband clearly hates the study group, most of the Jeff and Britta stuff. Thought the Troy and Abed material missed the mark (except ivory wig in the Dreamatorium) but otherwise but otherwise I laughed most of the way through.

chevy chase was really good

welcome back community! i promise not to argue about you on the internet like you were something of greater import than a situation comedy on the television

Dear some of the people in this thread: might I recommend The Big Bang Theory, a sitcom which CBS airs in the same time slot as Community? You might find it more to your liking, as you're sure to find even more to complain about.

The trouble with this episode is that I don't really care about Shirley's marriage.

It's also 100% unbelievable, like OK this guy that goes out of his way to propose marriage and even accepts doing it in an effing community college study room, he suddenly switches to misogynist about to cancel the whole deal when she's late for the rehearsal. It reminded me of late-series Seinfelds where one character would just suddenly turn really angry at another for no real reason. Except there it was for Lols.

The resolution felt a little unearned too. He changed his attitude but there didn't seem to be enough to explain why/how. Some good laughs but not a great Community episode.

i cant tell if this show has gotten steadily worse all season or if i'm just tired of it... last night didnt really do it for me :(

I didn't get that emotional touching vibe from Arrested Development at all. Those moments never felt genuine because there was (brace yourself) no real growth that came out of it. They were almost always immediately undercut by someone acting horrid and selfish.

yes, because i'm not talking about forced emotional moments or anything, i'm talking about a very general sense of it. it didn't aim for emotional payoff moments because it knew what it was, but it still succeeded in having a sort of warm vibe, in retrospect, because it was still about a family sticking together etc etc. lord, if the characters ever tried to "grow" on that show it would've been awful. i'm trying to say that these values aren't prerequisites for good comedy and they shouldn't be seen as such because then we get delusional showrunners trying to force then into shows where they don't fit. i'd rather have sitcoms like these have things like character development and emotional moments be the subtle consequences of the action/humor rather than consciously sticking them into episodes where they come off unnatural and forced. with community it's never like ~~swelling music starts to play~~ but like, the annie+troy scene at the end of mixology certification just made me go "where tf did this come from and why is it even here" rather than OMG SO BRILLIANT like everyone else apparently.

then = them

the great thing about AD is how they undermined any sense of character growth at every turn, wilfully and joyfully

cosigned

I'm one of the Steppenwolf wives

lol

i'm not in the show for the drama either, but is anyone still watching at this point and completely uninvested in troy and abed's friendship, annie's growth/relationship with jeff, shirley rebuilding her marriage, etc. the core theme of everyone being a washout in life and redeeming themselves IS a core theme of the show

core theme core theme

Nope

pick a number, dick, it's not like it's up to me anyway

Let's just everybody chill, and groove on some Haggins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXvuUp-KY5g

chuckled when annie walked into the room humming that