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The COMMUNITY Thread


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come the fuck on. it's the exact same show.

 

Premiers are never the best indicator, and it's always taken Community especially a few episodes to settle into a groove. But this episode was just trying too hard to say "we're still the genre-experimenting, referential show you love" by throwing every "parody" they could think of into a blender. Hunger Games. Laugh track. Animation.

 

I don't really have a doubt they'll settle into their groove from here. But what makes Community parodies special to me is that they really commit to one thing and pay it deference and do it right. This was just dabbling into everything without being great at any.

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Todd VanDerWerff basically echoed my sentiment in his review of the episode, except way more thoughtfully than I ever could have.

 

There’s a popular misconception about Community, both in the
media and among some of its fans. The idea goes that the reason the show
is popular is because it does wild, crazy, loud things. It makes fun of
genres and dissects pop culture as well as any show in television
history, and it does so through an endlessly creative lens that finds
both the emotional core of said genres and the tropes the show
wishes to skewer. Put another way, the première spends a lot of time
making fun of a particular television show type tonight, but it does so
in a way where the gag basically boils down to, “This exists.” It’s not
particularly nuanced, nor does it have anything to say that will
challenge the audience. It’s an empty reference, for the sake of doing a
genre-bending thing, because that’s what the series is known for. This
is only enhanced in a later gag that does the same thing, only to a far
greater degree, then in the third episode, which takes a minor joke that
took on a life of its own and blows it far, far out of proportion to
its humor value.

 

--

 

On my 2nd viewing I was able to pay attention to more of the jokes and less to the details surrounding the show. The jokes were solid (not up there with any of the show's best eps). But I fear, and this is also something Todd pointed out, that the characters are becoming a little too reliant on their established roles. It's exactly the thing that turned me off from Modern Family in season 3 because everyone was just a caricature of themselves at that point.

 

And I'm sounding super negative about this whole thing, but that's only because I hold Community in such high regard I don't compare it to other shows. Even at its worst I like it more than just about everything else out there. So I enjoyed the episode overall, but I'm also seeing some things that make me think we'll never recapture the season 2 magic, which is my favorite season of TV out there.

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Dude, it's one fucking episode.  There have been several episodes of Community that weren't up to par (and I say that as a huge fan). Also I don't think this episode falls into that category.

 

And as far as the "particular television show type" references go, they were spot on.  It goes beyond the corny jokes and laugh track.  Just look at the lighting and the sets that could be one sided.  It nailed multi-camera sitcoms to a T.  They did their fucking homework.  Like they always do.

 

What would've worried me is if the whole episode was based around the Hunger Games premise.  But it wasn't.  I miss Harmon as much as the next guy.  He's a genius, but he wasn't the only genius working on the show.  If you were looking to be disappointed by this episode, then I'm sure you found what you were looking for, but you were looking for the wrong thing.

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I'll be the first to own up to past episodes that weren't that great (Digital Estate Planning comes to mind) so I'm not acting like the show was completely flawless before. I guess there's a disconnect in our sensibilities about the show. Like, you said you were glad they didn't do a full-on Hunger Games parody. I don't know if it would have been good or bad, but I'm guessing I would have liked it more if they did because they would have the entire episode to establish the idea. Just imagine if they only half committed to Modern Warfare, Epidemiology or Advanced D&D and you'll see what I'm getting at.

 

Or even if they did an entire multi-cam ep, kind of how Scrubs did one very well. Obviously you guys don't feel like this was the case, which is fine. Apparently the other episode NBC sent out for screeners is not even as good as this one, so it's sounding more like growing pangs than a single-episode thing.

 

Maybe I'm just getting annoyed with the fact that they're increasingly focusing and catering to Abed, a problem that was pretty pervasive last season, too. He's not one of my favorite characters and the fact that so much of the show is filtered through his eyes now (in tonight's case literally) isn't the direction I hoped the show would take.

 

I mean, I don't love being the one killing the vibe. I could recite jokes and moments that I liked a lot because there were plenty. I feel like it would be ignoring some of the concerns I have (apparently I'm the only one) if I did that.

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OH MY GOD I HATE YOU AND YOU OVER ANALYZING A COMEDY TV SHOW IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE WHO GIVES A SHIT IF ITS DIFFERENT IF IT STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH I DONT WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU THINK YOU DONT LAUGH ANYMORE BECAUSE I DONT GIVE A SHIT HOLY HELL SHUT THE FUCK UP END PERIOD

 

 

lol there is that. And while I even agree with you to some extent, Community is my favorite show because it lends itself to over-analyzing the way not many other shows (definitely very few sitcoms) do. But it's cool if VC isn't really the place to talk about it like that. There's other places on the internet for that sort of thing.

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Anyone that knows me knows I'm obsessed with community. 

 

I enjoyed the premier and expect it will be different with Dan, it's community though so ill still enjoy the fuck out of it. 

 

The whole episode was basically making fun of the worries that the show will change, it kept it's trademark weirdness with the same characters but has a different voice now. I'm okay with that. Seriously. 

 

POP-POP!

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it just seems crazy to me that people could even pretend to see a difference in the show without harmon.

aside from the characters, there's absolutely nothing consistent about the show from one episode to the next. 

 

last night's episode got me thinking about the alternate universes. the theme seems to have rolled right on through and burst into the new season with a full head of steam.

makes me wonder if they have any plans of some sort of reveal involving the whole thing once it's time to wrap it up.

 

did anyone catch the AMA with the writers?

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it just seems crazy to me that people could even pretend to see a difference in the show without harmon.

aside from the characters, there's absolutely nothing consistent about the show from one episode to the next. 

 

last night's episode got me thinking about the alternate universes. the theme seems to have rolled right on through and burst into the new season with a full head of steam.

makes me wonder if they have any plans of some sort of reveal involving the whole thing once it's time to wrap it up.

 

did anyone catch the AMA with the writers?

 

 

i feel like we could see a "Dallas" type ending to this show..

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where the entire series was a journey through 200 different universes.

 

although, it could have been an intentional move by the writers just to derp up the laugh track scenario some more. because remember, they are that good.

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