Community, the tv show

I totally get that, and it's really not a deal breaker for me, but this was more than just making fun of documentaries. It was specifically making fun of Ken Burns's "The Civil War." Which makes it a parody in my p=book, and is perfectly cool, if that's your thing. I just get this feeling I've seen it made fun of a lot. Unlike, say, "My Dinner with Andre." In a lot of ways the pledge drive thing at the end sort of saved it for me, especially since this show (and its cast) has a history of making fun of PBS/NPR.

I didn't know it was a specific thing either. Still loved it.

http://www.twitvid.com/TPEJC

ken burns is a genre

remember how some people last year were criticizing that 30 Rock episode last year that parodied Bravo housewife shows TOO closely, making it unenjoyable? that's kind of the vibe i got from this, that the humor got watered down because they stuck to the Burns tone a little too much

still, some good laughs in this ep no doubt. keith david 4eva!

wait what that was the best 30 rock episode

HAM

Dan Harmon painted cameo

I would have been down with this ep going all in and only featuring still photos with panning and voiceovers.

I would too, for the most part. (Missing Pierce's secret weapon in action would be the dealbreaker.)

Would have lost the moment where the pillow fight dissolves to just Troy and Abed, though, and I wouldn't want to have gone without it.

Civil War is streaming on Netflix for anyone looking for extra comparison lols

Some of these 'very special' Community episodes do roughly what Wet Hot American Summer tried to do. It's not necessarily parody, and it's not necessarily 'spot the reference' pastiche. It's basically taking a thing that was barely a thing (like summer camp comedies or My Dinner With Andre) and treating it as if it were a genre, with all of the attendant tropes and signals and codes of an existing genre (except as derived from one or very few sources)...while at the same time wryly tweaking the non-genre in question? They're operating on a lotta layers, and I'm glad most Community viewers are savvy enough to appreciate the effort.

blank pastiche blah blah impending apocalypse blah blah 2012 blah blah capitalism

bad epi

You don't need to spot the exact reference to get that this was riffing off a particular kind of historical documentary, really.

This reminded me more of the Heart of Darkness episode than any of the other warfare eps actually.

Bears pointing out that the Dean is absolutely fucking hilarious when he's completely lost control of the school and doesn't know what to do.

"Jeffrey, find me!"

You don't need to spot the exact reference to get that this was riffing off a particular kind of historical documentary, really.

I think we all got that.

it was very specifically that ken burns doc that it was sending up, tho of course that's not like sui generis or whatevs.

i enjoyed this, i liked the parody, i didnt find it a partic funny episode tho.

i am unfamiliar with the ken burns thing and with larger traditions of american documentary-making, and as such i got not a whole lot out of this. ho hum

the larger traditions really helped me understand those jokes

"Jeffrey, find me!"

I remember when I had to go watch a decade's worth of British news programming so I could fully appreciate Monty Python.

if you're american you don't actually appreciate monty python, just saying

just saying nonsense

thomp, if one were to make an assessment based solely on your most recent posts itt, one might conclude that they suggest a general tendency towards opinions unworthy of consideration by others. Just sayin'.

you're a moron

Aaaand I rest my case.

you live with your mother

and you smell

It's really a shame that this particular thread has to keep devolving into such a toilet.

THREAD WARNING _ HIGHBROW HUMOUR IN THIS THREAD ONLY _ IN THIS THREAD, PLEASE ACT IN A WAY BEFITTING OUR OBJECT OF INQUIRY: THE TWiCE-NOMINATED FOR PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS TELEVISION COMMEDY COMUNITY

what's going on here

never change, this thread

Yes, never change. If we promise to keep the dark spirits bottled up in this thread, I promise to avoid it like the plague.

so basically, all non-USAers should stop watching Community because of the high-level 1992 PBS satire that only we (over the age of 30) can possibly understand.

non-usaers don't help its ratings so no one cares if they get it or not

just saying

i'm sure all the inspector spacetime stuff is aimed solely at US dr. who fans

hrm - that kind of intensely fannish relationship to it is actually more of a US thing, i think. here it's saturday afternoon family tv? i mean, there are devotees, but they're not the norm.

remember the good old days when this thread was just quotes and discussion re:Alison Brie's tittays?

'tittays'

dr. who worship is certainly the norm in the u.s. It's kind of like American Idol.

you can't read

itt unintelligent people believe community is an intelligent tv show

thomp sees through our intellectual pretensions.

I think I can read, prick. Dr. Who fanatics are pretty fucking sparse in America. probably the same where you hail from.

i come from uranus

dramatic music

more who fanatics there than here, i'd think

mainly butt

^ who is this putz?