Community, the tv show

The dance episode, and the Physical Education Education episode are both good, you can probably skip the rest.

The only thing that didn't really work with me about the last one was Abed thinking the lava was real. Kinda hoping we were done with 'Abed has weird visions' (and maybe we are now).

not sure abed really thinks the lava is real so much as abed is willing to suspend his disbelief somewhat profoundly

Just watched the first four episodes. Didn't much like the ass crack bandit one, other than that a total return to form. The gag density is almost of a peak era Simpsons level.

I prefer the gag density of the first two episodes to the conceptualnessness of the last three - the last one was fun and noisy but there weren't a lot of actual jokes. Overall back on second season form though (i liked the first season best).

Abed's Nic Cage freakout was the funniest thing I've seen for ages.

sexy cat otm

"taking kickbacks from Big Buzzkill" is my new favorite line.

This show has it all: Roxy Music, two Labyrinth references, and the return of Brie Larson.

i was so happy about that! it's like they answer my internet whining prayer above.

also, if they can keep Chang at this level for the rest of the season, I can almost forgive him for the last few years, he's tearing it up

Haha, yeah, when I saw her the first thing I thought was "Nhex will be so happy!"

otm re: Chang. I was a tiny bit worried when he started crying about the bear down bit, thinking he was hatching another scheme, but it worked out pretty brilliantly.

Season's killing it.

Didn't really get the last bit with Duncan though.

IT'S A BEAR DAAAAAANCE!

Real nerds don't go to the school dance and sit in an opened doorway reading a book.

this episode was pretty wonky in ways (i can now sympathize with people who weren't sure what was being parodied in the buttcheek coin-dropper ep), but I loved so many individual bits. My dream for this show was that it would just be left to its own devices on Fridays instead of being prepped for major crossover by a desperate network, and while season 3 & 4 obv suffered from issues with the latter, it seems like its finally being allowed to just be this endearingly weird novelty with no worries about emmys, ratings or cancellation.

thursday now being an even more pathetic night for nbc than friday

i really liked the feel of this episode, had some seriousness around the edges without a lot of shrill arguing like some episodes, and the characters were grouped together in ways that you don't usually see and some of them (Annie and Chang in particular) got out of their usual niches, and Abed was still Abed in a good way without Troy. i was mildly dreading an instant turn into "Abed misses Troy" plots.

kinda weirded out by the lukewarm reaction i've seen to this episode, loved this episode and thought it was the first one this season that felt like it was doing something fresh instead of revisiting something that had worked in a better episode a previous season. sepinwall bitched that they didn't do anything w/ the guest stars or whatever (though man paget brewster and brie larson, these motherfuckers are reading my mind) but i thought the episode in general had a ton of hilarious lines. they did a good job of fat dogging for midterms imo.

also, again, and i'm probably gonna say this every week but jonathan banks is just killing it.

yeah it was our first glimpse of the post-troy/pierce show and that novelty was exciting and promising but i'm not shocked people aren't BEST YET over an episode with a "more than this" montage of unclear ironic distance.

oh and yeah SO GLAD this episode wasn't about troy at all - Suburgatory spent the first three episodes of this (Godawful so far) season having half the cast talk about how much they miss the guy who's on Enlisted now.

balls otm re: Banks. No weird adjustment period, dude just slotted right in.

I read some accusations of stunt casting wrt Nanjiani and Fillion, but they were both perfect, and didn't strike me as the least bit stunty.

"Daughter soccer. Got it."

i mean, it is "stuntcasting" in the sense that a bunch of recognizable actors with varying degrees of nerdlove zipped past us in the episode, but it's not like there wasn't an amusing plot w/ good dialogue they were taking part in.

kept thinking about tv shows within tv shows: an ocd thread for jaymc and nabisco because Nathan Fillion showed up in character a mere week after Chang yelled out the actor's name as his same sex celebrity crush.

suburgatory :(

i'm actually quite impressed Banks is doing so well on this show, never would've thought him to be a good fit

don't forget Paget Brewster lol

my hopes weren't exactly high after omar never really paid off

yeah, exactly

Great episode, this season is killing it for sure.

I can also see how the whole internet culture around this show can get clowned though, I mean fretting over "stunt casting" as if there were millions of Americans waiting to check out this Community show to quench their thirst for a Kumail Nanjiani guest appearance.

the only one of these massive guest stars I recognised was Robert Patrick, I thought he was funny, I also thought the other people I didn't recognise were funny.

i've only seen it talked about in the AVClub review - but yeah, very silly hang up

I am basically hate-reading AVClub at this point

speaking of meta, weird that both Parks and Rec and Community both had main plots about chains of political favors. less so for P&R, but...

kept thinking about tv shows within tv shows: an ocd thread for jaymc and nabisco because Nathan Fillion showed up in character a mere week after Chang yelled out the actor's name as his same sex celebrity crush.

― some dude, Friday, January 31, 2014 6:25 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Firefly is also been a big thing for Abed and Troy and where 6 seasons and a movie comes from.

Pretty sure that was from "The Cape":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXqLCM0d0Os

it was definitely The Cape

lol I don't remember the context of that episode at all, but as a standalone scene it's brilliant.

Ok surely firefly fans going crazy was pre-cape?

Firefly fans going crazy definitely predated The Cape by 8 or 9 years, but I don't remember "six seasons and a movie" ever being tied to Firefly. The show was shuffled around the schedule seemingly at random (and nearly week-to-week), episodes were aired out of order, and then of course it got cancelled. It barely lasted a full season, but Serenity still somehow managed to get made.

six seasons and a movie was a tag i heard quite a bit post-cancellation/pre-serenity. (i was a big whedon nerd at the time.)

oh ok i guess it was never said on tv until abed from a small amount of googling.

I am basically hate-reading AVClub at this point

I can't even hate-read it anymore.

my hopes weren't exactly high after omar never really paid off

Worth it for this scene alone:

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

idiot youtube uploader missed the 's' in 'Legos'.

I am basically hate-reading AVClub at this point

is it my imagination or is Todd VanDerWerff much much worse than he used to be? Of course he was never good but I feel he used to do a reasonable job for someone who had to have thoughts about things with no time for reflection, but now, eesh.

sooooo did anyone else catch the news ticker at the end of the latest episode?

I think he's just rushing out the reviews so that people can read them within an hour of the show airing. Which seems weird to me, as I have no problem waiting until the next day to see how wrong and sloppy he is.

xp

I did not catch the news ticker at the end of the latest episode

Levar Burton and non-celebrity companion captured by pirates in the gulf of mexico

wut

omg