Talk about Community here

xRECKONERx · Post Post #10 (isolation #0) » Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:12 am

I've ranted about this show for like two years now so I won't rape this thread.

But I've watched the whole series front to back like three times now and it gets funnier with each watch. Anyone notice Abed's secret storyline in the background of one of the episodes?

xRECKONERx · Post Post #12 (isolation #1) » Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:16 am

In S2, there's an episode where Abed isn't seen the whole time. However, if you pay attention to the background movement in the scenes, you see Abed have his own storyline playing out where he's doing couples counseling between a married couple then ends up delivering their baby in the back of a van. It took me like three watch throughs to catch all of it.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #13 (isolation #2) » Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:17 am

Also -- just like the Cougar Town people appeared in the S2 finale, Abed appeared in the Cougar Town finale, creating some kind of weird metaverse where Cougar Town, Scrubs, and Community all exist in the same reality.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #16 (isolation #3) » Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:30 am

Abed is a known fan of the show Cougar Town. He tells a story in "Critical Film Studies" about being an extra on Cougar Town and seeing all the actors and coming up with a story for his character (Chad) and the story ends with him pooping his pants and running off-screen.

Then, in the Cougar Town finale, we see Abed in the background of one of the shots, going through the exact same existential crisis he described in that episode, and in the end he poops his pants and runs off. This means that, essentially, the characters in "Community" and the real-life actors on "Cougar Town" exist in the same universe. Abed = Courtney Cox, essentially. However, to make things weirder...

Ted from Scrubs showed up in a recent episode of Cougar Town, playing his same character from "Scrubs". So now, when you think about it, Abed watches a TV show starring Courtney Cox, and that guy from Scrubs came on during an episode to reprise his role as Ted. So our reality is watching the Community reality, who is watching the Cougar Town reality. Of course, we can also watch the Cougar Town reality. When I say "reality" I mean that the characters are "real" and not just actors.

Things get really weird, though, when you take into account the fact that the actors from Cougar Town showed up in the Community finale... just standing there at Greendale watching the end of the paintball game. They don't say anything, they just stand and cheer for the winning team. Which means they are the characters themselves, going to Greendale (a real place).

Abed has the potential to be a very bizarrely meta character. If we could get one of the other less meta characters on the show actually interact with Cougar Town or Scrubs in some way, we could get a better feel for the situation... but how it appears now is this:

People in real life (me, you) watch/can watch Cougar Town, but understand they are actors and not real characters.
Abed watches Cougar Town and actually goes as far to be an extra on the show.
Therefore, Abed exists in the same reality as us... BUT... we also watch Abed on TV, knowing that he is not a real character, meaning he's actually not beneath us.

Sam Lloyd appears on Cougar Town playing Ted Buckland from Scrubs. We, as well as Abed, see this as "Sam Lloyd appearing on Cougar Town as Ted Buckland". The Cougar Town characters see it as "Ted Buckland appearing in their lives".

That puts the hierarchy like:
Real Life (all characters below this are fictional)
Community (characters are real; Cougar Town & Scrubs are fictional)
Cougar Town & Scrubs (characters are real; no fictional people)

Really really bizarre. I can't wait to see if any other shows get pulled into this thing.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #21 (isolation #4) » Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:13 am

JDodge wrote:
xRECKONERx wrote:Abed is a known fan of the show Cougar Town. He tells a story in "Critical Film Studies" about being an extra on Cougar Town and seeing all the actors and coming up with a story for his character (Chad) and the story ends with him pooping his pants and running off-screen.

Then, in the Cougar Town finale, we see Abed in the background of one of the shots, going through the exact same existential crisis he described in that episode, and in the end he poops his pants and runs off. This means that, essentially, the characters in "Community" and the real-life actors on "Cougar Town" exist in the same universe. Abed = Courtney Cox, essentially. However, to make things weirder...

Ted from Scrubs showed up in a recent episode of Cougar Town, playing his same character from "Scrubs". So now, when you think about it, Abed watches a TV show starring Courtney Cox, and that guy from Scrubs came on during an episode to reprise his role as Ted. So our reality is watching the Community reality, who is watching the Cougar Town reality. Of course, we can also watch the Cougar Town reality. When I say "reality" I mean that the characters are "real" and not just actors.

Things get really weird, though, when you take into account the fact that the actors from Cougar Town showed up in the Community finale... just standing there at Greendale watching the end of the paintball game. They don't say anything, they just stand and cheer for the winning team. Which means they are the characters themselves, going to Greendale (a real place).

Abed has the potential to be a very bizarrely meta character. If we could get one of the other less meta characters on the show actually interact with Cougar Town or Scrubs in some way, we could get a better feel for the situation... but how it appears now is this:

People in real life (me, you) watch/can watch Cougar Town, but understand they are actors and not real characters.
Abed watches Cougar Town and actually goes as far to be an extra on the show.
Therefore, Abed exists in the same reality as us... BUT... we also watch Abed on TV, knowing that he is not a real character, meaning he's actually not beneath us.

Sam Lloyd appears on Cougar Town playing Ted Buckland from Scrubs. We, as well as Abed, see this as "Sam Lloyd appearing on Cougar Town as Ted Buckland". The Cougar Town characters see it as "Ted Buckland appearing in their lives".

That puts the hierarchy like:
Real Life (all characters below this are fictional)
Community (characters are real; Cougar Town & Scrubs are fictional)
Cougar Town & Scrubs (characters are real; no fictional people)

Really really bizarre. I can't wait to see if any other shows get pulled into this thing.

this seems more unnecessarily uncomplicated than most shows with
actual
multiple realities

Oh quite so
Not nearly as confusing as the Tommy Westphal Universe spawned from the St Elsewhere finale.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #22 (isolation #5) » Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:16 am

Just a few films/TV shows that are now a part of that universe:

Lost
Alias
The Office (UK)
Veronica Mars
all the Star Treks
etc

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html

A better explanation but dear god what a mindfuck

xRECKONERx · Post Post #25 (isolation #6) » Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:34 am

There ya go.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #30 (isolation #7) » Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:55 am

Yeah, he was WAY too over-the-top. The study group played the "straight man" in that comedic pairing, and that's saying

a lot

.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #35 (isolation #8) » Sun Aug 14, 2011 6:37 am

Best part about next year is JOHN FUCKING GOODMAN JOINING THE SHOW

xRECKONERx · Post Post #38 (isolation #9) » Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:36 am

I was super mad when I saw DY claimed community, because I was already halfway done with a setup.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #47 (isolation #10) » Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:13 am

Modern Family S1 was great, but S2 didn't evolve at all and kinda plateaued.

Californication was good for the first couple of seasons but has hit a downward spiral

xRECKONERx · Post Post #65 (isolation #11) » Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:29 am

I watched it and had conflicting views on everything that happened.

First off, it felt like they were trying to pack WAY TOO MUCH into one episode. In this one episode, they setup Dr. Kane as the hard-ass Bio teacher, Layborne versus Pelton, Jeff and Pierce's whole dynamic, Abed's need for a new show, Britta's transition into declaring a major, and it all felt like these things should've been their own A-plots. I could see an entire episode with nothing but Abed becoming obsessed with Inspector Spacetime and pretending to be a time cop, Dr. Kane versus Jeff could've held an entire episode by itself, and Layborne versus Pelton wasn't QUITE enough -- we need Layborne to interact with more than just Dean Pelton, because while he's main cast now, he's not a strong enough character to carry a plot by himself.

The opening musical number was hysterical, but it just felt forced. It was all a dream. I would've preferred an entire musical episode as one giant rip on Glee or something (though I guess they blew that in the flashback episode last season, with the Glee club dying in a plane crash).

I get why they made up Inspector Spacetime and Cougarton Abbey. They couldn't show footage from those shows, and they clearly needed to in order to carry the Abed plot... but I also feel like they might've spent too much time showing us clips from those shows. Abed's Cougar Town obsession was never a heavy plot point, it was just something he rambled about. Something similar for Inspector Spacetime would've worked.

They also focused heavily on the drama aspect of things rather than the comedy aspect of things. I get why they did it -- they wanted to establish plot threads they could pick up and expand on at any point during the season. But Community is a comedy first and a drama second (if ever), and it felt a little out of place.

I'm incredibly hopeful for the rest of the season, though. John Goodman was fantastic in what little screentime he had, and so was Michael K. Williams. I want to see more of them this year. Chang was hilarious, but maybe a bit too over the top in an episode that tried to be more grounded.

I also thought the whole meta-theme of the episode was that they're receiving pressure from NBC to be more accessible. They certainly hit on that note a lot -- "We're gonna have more fun and be less weird than the first two years combined!", "That's exactly the type of National Lampoonery that's coming to an end this year", and even "Oh, interesting. So this is the year we all die," felt like stabs at the show itself maybe heading towards cancellation. Dean Pelton coming in at the end and announcing that this year would be exactly the same as last year, just with less money, kinda drove that point home.

Here's to an interesting setup for the rest of the season. I also didn't catch a promo for next week's episode, though I know it's called "Geography of Human Conflict", but if anyone has a preview clip I'd like to see it.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #67 (isolation #12) » Fri Sep 23, 2011 4:14 pm

He was yeah

xRECKONERx · Post Post #69 (isolation #13) » Sat Sep 24, 2011 12:20 am

I don't know... Abed has always been weird as shit, and he didn't want to live with Troy for [insert movie/TV reference here]. He probably changed the movie/TV show they were emulating and wham they can live together. And, from what I hear, they do some cool stuff with that storyline based on some critics who got to take a set visit during one of the Troy/Abed A-plot episodes.

Also yeah, the Jeff/Annie thing of "We're gonna sleep together" coupled with them being all over each other during the whole dance sequence really read like a romance, but it could just be them teasing the fangirls out there, like they did last year with Jeff/Britta fucking secretly

xRECKONERx · Post Post #72 (isolation #14) » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:34 pm

OH FUCK COMMUNITY.
I NEED TORRENTZ.

PLEASE TELL ME TONIGHT'S EPISODE WAS BETTER THAN LAST WEEK'S (no spoilers)

xRECKONERx · Post Post #75 (isolation #15) » Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:49 pm

Okay, that was definitely a step up.

Britta's sideplot was redeemed only by Chang. And I am very hesitant to pride Chang on anything.

Though, they kinda dropped the big storylines setup last week. No Dr. Kane, no Dean Laybourne...

xRECKONERx · Post Post #82 (isolation #16) » Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:24 am

In post 78, zoraster wrote:1. Garret is great. You have no leg to stand on. Of course he's whiney!

He was the funniest part of this episode.

@Korts: It felt like a complete rehash. It also felt like twenty steps backwards after having her declare a major last week.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #96 (isolation #17) » Fri Oct 07, 2011 8:18 am

Alright -- last night's episode was good. Probably the best they've done this season, but nowhere near the level of quality I've come to expect from Community.

Problems with this season:

#1) The characters have become too much like caricatures. They were

already

caricatures, but now they're caricatures of caricatures. It's the same problem It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ran into during the middle seasons. For example, Abed has always been weird, so he can get away with most things, but I thought his shrill shriek when Cougarton Abbey ended during the first episode was a bit too over the top. Same goes for Annie's temper tantrum on the table from the Model UN episode. Same goes for Britta's "protest" storyline last week, and same goes for this week with Todd's bizarre rant on the group and Britta jumping on the table and setting the ballots on fire this week. Troy, Shirley, and Pierce all seem to be fine. I can even accept Abed being a little over-the-top. But Jeff's weird "kiddo" thing with Annie, and all the aforementioned problems, have created a serious issue on the show.

#2) I don't feel like the writers are prioritizing storylines well enough. Week 1, we got a proverbial clusterfuck of B-plots packed into an episode without any really strong A-plot, and not enough time was given to each. Last week, the Chang/Britta pairing was a little too hokey and one-note (after the second time the Lionel Richie song played, I was already shaking my head...that joke had nowhere else to go). This week, giving Chang his own film noir-type storyline while the rest of the group (plus Todd) were packed into yet another THE GROUP HAS A QUARREL! plot just seemed off. The best episodes, in my opinion, are the ones that utilize the characters' differences well and play them off of each other. I also feel the whole "WE'RE A GROUP THAT FIGHTS THAT GETS BACK TOGETHER BECAUSE WE'RE A LOVING FAMILY" bit has been done as much as it can -- the Annie's Pen episode from S2 kinda put the nail in that coffin, as did "Paradigms of Human Memory".

#3) Jim Rash is main cast now. Use him. I think most of my laughs this week came from Dean Pelton. But for someone who has been bumped up to "main cast", he's not getting enough screentime, especially in comparison to Ken Jeong, who isn't main cast AFAIK (or maybe he is and I missed him getting the bump), and Ken Jeong is one of those "a little bit goes a long way" types.

#4) Being "less weird than the first two years combined"

isn't fucking working

. Looking back at Community, you know what episodes stand out the most? The ones with themes/gimmicks. Paintball 1, 2, and 3... the chicken fingers episode... Halloween zombie apocalypse... Dungeons & Dragons... Paradigms of Human Memory... those are the ones I remember the most. Part of Community's brilliance is the ability to shove these characters into outlandish situations and navigate it with a calm, cool pop culture lacquer coated on top. Granted, I don't want more, "Oh hey! Nerds like this, let's make a reference to it!" episodes, but three episodes into season three and I'm already begging for the next themed episode.

So while this week was an improvement and I had several laughs, I also feel like they're mis-stepping quite a bit. Tone down the characters, ratchet the zany episodes up a notch, and for the love of god, keep Ken Jeong's screentime limited. His character is

fucking retarded

and he can't carry an entire episode by himself.

/rant

xRECKONERx · Post Post #98 (isolation #18) » Fri Oct 07, 2011 8:50 am

How can you not like Abed stealing Jeff's power?

And that final chat between Abed & Jeff about needing to connect with people was great.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #118 (isolation #19) » Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:00 pm

THAT

WAS

AMAZING

Finally, finally, finally, finally. This episode restored all faith lost in the series.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #119 (isolation #20) » Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:12 pm

http://www.avclub.com/articles/remedial ... ory,63144/

Please read the whole review. It's amazingly accurate.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #120 (isolation #21) » Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:28 pm

BUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

two weeks break from Community

Though the next episode is the Halloween episode

xRECKONERx · Post Post #125 (isolation #22) » Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:14 am

I woke up today and watched it again immediately. It's that good.

I want to rewatch it again and this time pay attention to

exactly

what dynamic is removed from the group when certain people leave. We already know what Jeff's is -- when the one that says "no" isn't there, the group actually gets along well. I would say Troy is probably the father figure of the group. When he leaves, Pierce gets shot, Britta sets the apartment on fire, etc. I would need to think about the rest.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #127 (isolation #23) » Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:31 am

We might... Megan Ganz said something about how this episode, by the end of the season, will be the one we look back at and go, "HOLY SHIT!". She called this a "pr-easter egg". So, some things from this episode will bleed into future ones, I'm just not sure WHAT. The weird feeling Abed got at the end when it flashed back to the primary reality kinda gave me the feeling the Evil Study Group might come after them.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #130 (isolation #24) » Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:34 am

Pierce died.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #134 (isolation #25) » Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:33 am

Holy shit.

Last week and this week were supposed to air in reverse order.

Last week, Shirley mentions Britta's marijuana lighter. She only found out about that in the reality where abed goes and gets the pizza...the one where everyone was fighting.

The show is taking place in that reality, not the happy one where Jeff gets the pizza.

Mind = blown.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #139 (isolation #26) » Sat Oct 15, 2011 10:48 am

xRECKONERx · Post Post #140 (isolation #27) » Sat Oct 15, 2011 10:49 am

[quote="In post 137, bv310"][/quote]
god I love Dan Harmon

xRECKONERx · Post Post #141 (isolation #28) » Sat Oct 15, 2011 10:49 am

xRECKONERx · Post Post #144 (isolation #29) » Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:18 am

Paradigms was great. If I'm not counting the paintball episodes, I'd agree that Remedial Chaos Theory was the best they've done since the clipshow.

Welcome to the forums.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #149 (isolation #30) » Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:58 am

In post 147, zoraster wrote:I wonder if they did ADR with the door where Annie and Britta say "did they say 304?" "no, they said 303. I wrote it down." Since the door number is supposed to refer to the episode number which was supposed to be 303 but ended up being 304.

Yeah, I caught that too... it's too blatant not to be a reference.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #152 (isolation #31) » Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:02 am

It had to be done ADR seeing as how the switch was pretty last-minute.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #155 (isolation #32) » Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:34 pm

xRECKONERx · Post Post #164 (isolation #33) » Thu Oct 27, 2011 6:40 pm

SO GOOD

xRECKONERx · Post Post #166 (isolation #34) » Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:29 am

It didn't shock me either... if any of them were going to be sane, it would be Abed.

Though, did you see who the most insane was? Pierce, followed closely behind by Shirley.

I loved the callback to last year - "military taco meat" or whatever it was Troy said.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #170 (isolation #35) » Sat Oct 29, 2011 5:51 am

Abed is a good storyteller when he's able to run wild with the imagination... this was a matter of them all plugging each other into a cookie-cutter scenario.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #174 (isolation #36) » Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:04 pm

I think if the episodes had aired in the original order we wouldn't think the two episodes were so similar in structure.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #178 (isolation #37) » Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:34 am

Okay... that was fucking hilarious.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #180 (isolation #38) » Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:41 am

I personally loved the over-the-top aspect of the Pierce part, though I do think they kind of blew their wad on a "meh" storyline. It would've been so much easier to use the gay thing as a more prominent storyline in another episode. The episode got SO dark after Jeff caused Pierce's father to croak... and like I said, that seemed rushed and like it needed to be fleshed out in a different, more prominent episode.

Troy's stuff with Dean Laybourne was the best part of the episode. I fucking love John Goodman.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #181 (isolation #39) » Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:53 am

http://www.nbc.com/community/video/pock ... es/1365903
Possibly the most unexpected, outrageous thing to open to episode. I laughed so hard.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #193 (isolation #40) » Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:22 am

I'm actually fine with Britta this season. She's actually been right about most things, but she's always wrong in one TINY little way that makes it the most annoying thing ever.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #196 (isolation #41) » Fri Nov 04, 2011 11:47 am

Hey, it beat out CW and ABC. There's no chance of anyone toppling BBT, and Fox is pretty dominant too... so for NBC to finish above ABC in that timeslot, they're doing fine. ABC and FOX both destroy them in all other slots.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #203 (isolation #42) » Sat Nov 05, 2011 7:55 am

relevant 62 thread

xRECKONERx · Post Post #216 (isolation #43) » Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:07 am

Last night's episode was fantastic. Jeff & Dean at the mall was pitch-perfect... Britta and Shirley's back and forth with the hitchhiker was just as agnostic as I've expected the show to become (not to mention, Yvette Nicole Brown has been hitting it out of the park with her timings and reactions recently)... and I even liked the drama between Troy/Abed/Annie. The only borderline weak part was Pierce's getting high off of paint fumes, but the cut to that during the Kiss from a Rose sequence was even forgivable.

Also: best Winger signoff tag ever.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #217 (isolation #44) » Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:07 am

oh yeah and NO CHANG WOOP WOOP

xRECKONERx · Post Post #222 (isolation #45) » Sun Nov 13, 2011 5:34 am

I'm hoping they have a direction they're going with the Shirley thing; like last season, when Pierce got more and more dickish, and we all realized it was due to the painkillers, then they ended up addressing it directly at the end of the season.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #225 (isolation #46) » Sun Nov 13, 2011 11:42 pm

I'm hoping the therapist thing becomes a plotline for an episode this season.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #234 (isolation #47) » Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:46 pm

WHAT THE FUCK

ARE YOU SHITTING ME

xRECKONERx · Post Post #240 (isolation #48) » Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:45 pm

In post 239, Oman wrote:Community is being benched for 30 Rock? Man you run them sequentially and you've got the best TV for that period. Who works at these stations?

People who want Whitney to stay on the air.

Then again, these are also the people who kept Chuck around well past its prime simply because they knew they could count on a small but loyal fanbase to support the show. Perhaps we'll get the same treatment for Community.

It also helps that Community is produced by Sony, and Sony has jumped through hoops in the past to keep their shows on the air just to hit that magic episode #88 for syndication.

I think Community is safe... after thinking about it, this actually probably means we'll get a Spring season with a new episode every week without any reruns or skipped weeks.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #242 (isolation #49) » Mon Nov 14, 2011 2:06 pm

The number of episodes generally required for a show to be eligible for syndication. It used to be 100, but it has recently gone down to 88 episodes. Most times, if a show is on the bubble but within one season of hitting that number, the production company will offer the show for lowering licensing prices in order to get to the syndication number.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #254 (isolation #50) » Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:32 pm

This was a really, really weird episode. I need to digest it for awhile to figure out how I feel about it.

Unfortunately, probably not the best episode for ratings when they're struggling already.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #257 (isolation #51) » Fri Nov 18, 2011 11:09 am

https://www.facebook.com/bluemoon?sk=wall

So Blue Moon is sponsoring Community this week on Facebook. If you have FB, go there, like their page, and comment on their wall about their product/Community. This is how Chuck got saved (Chuck fans started eating Subway and saying they're eating there because of Chuck) and it worked.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #259 (isolation #52) » Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:37 pm

Actually, it

is

how Chuck got saved.

Subway brokered a deal with NBC to put HEAVY product placement in the following seasons (including writing in a character to work at Subway and have Big Mike eat Subway in damn near every scene), and in exchange they'd pay for advertising which put Chuck above the line and made it worth it to buy another season. This happened in between S3/S4, when Chuck was WAY WAY WAY far off from having syndication numbers (they were at a total of 53 episodes out of 88 needed). Another season wouldn't have gotten them there, either. The Subway promotion is solely what saved them.

Then S4 tanked and they were like "Oh fuck it let's go one more season to get to syndication", and thus S5/final season. Should probably look up your facts next time before you say I'm wrong.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #264 (isolation #53) » Sat Nov 19, 2011 9:05 am

In post 263, CooLDoG wrote:Reck, I was talking about Chuck getting renewed this season. Fan petitions have little sway over a shows potential renewal or cancel.

Where the fuck did I say anything about a fan petition?

xRECKONERx · Post Post #266 (isolation #54) » Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:17 am

I'm actually thinking I'll prefer the wait so we can get a bunch of episodes in a row. We just had a break before Halloween, and next week is another break.

The next episode is "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism"... Jeff/Shirley get a plot where they become big time foosball players, while Annie accidentally breaks Abed's limited edition Dark Knight DVD but says someone broke into the apartment and did it. Should be good -- I like the Annie/Abed/Troy grouping, and hopefully it'll be nice to see Shirley get some more screentime in a big plot rather than shoving her into niche gag roles.

The Christmas episode should be great this year... Glee club can't make it to their holiday competition, so the study group has to fill in. Some guy from SNL is playing the Glee club teacher. I thought they might've buried the Glee club episode idea during their flashback episodes last year, but apparently not. Pretty excited about that one.

Then we have an indefinite break.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #268 (isolation #55) » Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:57 am

Ages aren't really ever specified... Abed is somewhere in his early 20's. I'd expect he's younger than Jeff & Britta & Shirley & Pierce.

We know Annie is the youngest, and Troy is the second youngest.

So it goes something like Annie < Troy < Abed < Jeff = Britta < Shirley < Pierce. But we know Shirley has stated she isn't THAT much older than Jeff & Britta... which would put those two in their early 30's, Shirley in her mid-30's, Abed in mid/early-20's, Troy at 21, and Annie at either 19/20.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #289 (isolation #56) » Thu Mar 08, 2012 2:21 pm

Speaking of Community, did you guys see the animated webisodes they've been doing?

and dammit, bv, I had planned on doing the AND WE'RE BACK gag

xRECKONERx · Post Post #306 (isolation #57) » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:43 am

TONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT

xRECKONERx · Post Post #307 (isolation #58) » Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:22 pm

30 MINUTES.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #316 (isolation #59) » Fri Mar 16, 2012 7:10 am

I could see Community making the jump to CC if NBC pulls the plug. At most they'd lose Chevy and have to write him out between S3 and S4.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #319 (isolation #60) » Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:18 am

Community was the #1 show of the night among adults 18-34.

FUCK YES

xRECKONERx · Post Post #331 (isolation #61) » Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:33 am

Guys, the person who is dying is going to be

Starburns. Dino has even said he would rather not be that character anymore, plus if you look at the dramatic trailer they released, it shows Pierce standing at a podium with a star pasted on the front and the letters RIP across the top of the star.

Dan Harmon even compared the death of this character to the death of What's-His-Face-The-Clown from the Mary Tyler Moore show, which means it'll be a beloved character that is actually a little pathetic and everyone can laugh at him, no matter even if he dies. The only one who fits that bill is

Starburns

.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #335 (isolation #62) » Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:40 pm

That's not a spoiler, that's common knowledge.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #341 (isolation #63) » Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:01 am

xRECKONERx · Post Post #372 (isolation #64) » Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:54 pm

I honestly think it was a weak episode... but then again, it was a 2-pt episode. Can't judge it completely yet.

Also saw an awesome idea today that S3 is building up to the "dark timeline" taking over the timeline we see. Notice the amount o' goatees popping up in recent episodes?

xRECKONERx · Post Post #374 (isolation #65) » Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:06 pm

Yeah, he also is probably not coming back next season.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #384 (isolation #66) » Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:13 am

In post 381, AniX wrote:"There are many times when this doesn't seem like a community college at all. Particularly this year ... I think we've gone way south. And way north. It doesn't even appear to have anything to do with college. It's got its own secrets that reside in the creator of the show [Dan Harmon]. What does it mean, really? I think you could just as well take these people and put them in a bar every week, and have nothing to do with academics or anything else, and we'd still have the same basic interactions. The community college thing sort of went down the drain this year."

Chevy Chase pretty much sums up my problems with Community as of late.

Chevy does make some good points, there. S2 was kind of this perfect mix of college and not-college. I liked the wedding episode and the Kim/Subway storylines in the recent episode because they dealt with things specifically on campus and got us back into Greendale's atmosphere. I want more episodes like D&D, or the Annie's Pen episodes -- heartfelt, hilarious episodes that don't need dramatic setpieces to do well, just good characters.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #396 (isolation #67) » Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:22 pm

In post 395, DarthYoshi wrote:Hulu's "A Day in the Life" installment on Joel McHale offers a sneak peek at some details of one of the closing scenes of the season finale.

It is a courtroom scene, set in a classroom, with Dean Pelton dressed up as a traditional British judge, powdered wig and all. Rob Corddry's character is present and is sitting at the opposite counsel's table as Joel.

That must be the big Law & Order episode I've heard a lot about.

I wasn't a huge fan of the last episode. It was an interesting storytelling technique, but the episode lacked the "punch" it needed to be amazing. That being said, I laughed for about a minute straight at "Leonard likes this post!"

xRECKONERx · Post Post #398 (isolation #68) » Thu Apr 12, 2012 4:41 pm

I laughed my ass off. Great episode

xRECKONERx · Post Post #400 (isolation #69) » Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:23 am

xRECKONERx · Post Post #402 (isolation #70) » Fri Apr 13, 2012 8:29 am

Whaaaa?

I thought this was one of the stronger episodes this season. Chang/Pierce were exactly where they should have been, and "I need help reacting to something" is the hardest I've laughed all season.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #406 (isolation #71) » Fri Apr 13, 2012 11:27 am

What Poro said.

They've drifted away from the core of the show, and episodes like last night and the wedding episode remind me why I love it. Those episodes have heart, laughs, and depth. I don't think the pillow fort episodes had much of that.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #411 (isolation #72) » Fri Apr 13, 2012 1:41 pm

In post 410, Bub Bidderskins wrote:I agree with glowball. I think it seemed weaker than it was, though, because it came directly after the Ken Burns pillow fort episode which was fantastic.

I absolutely hated the Ken Burns episode. It was them trying to do something stylistic and quirky rather than put any substance into the show.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #427 (isolation #73) » Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:38 am

holy fucking shit, I don't know what I just watched

I need to watch that about TEN more times before I figure out what the hell it was and whether or not I liked it

initial reaction is yes I loved it very much

xRECKONERx · Post Post #429 (isolation #74) » Fri Apr 20, 2012 1:38 am

xRECKONERx · Post Post #439 (isolation #75) » Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:32 pm

Yeah it did. Sort of. I think the point of abed in that episode was developing his empathy. His personal space being invaded doesn't affect his empathy

xRECKONERx · Post Post #450 (isolation #76) » Sat Apr 21, 2012 4:05 pm

how do you not like remedial chaos theory

xRECKONERx · Post Post #455 (isolation #77) » Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:02 pm

In post 454, Pine wrote:You're not correct

I hate saying matter of opinion can be correct or false, but damn, I loved everything about that episode.

It also might make a difference for those of us who have watched since the start and saw that episode as a breath of fresh air. Not sure how watching it back-to-back might affect one's enjoyment, but it was really superb writing.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #462 (isolation #78) » Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:03 am

In post 457, BBmolla wrote:So I found out who dies.

SPOILER ALERT

Not that we're surprised.

I wonder if it's a gimmick though. I could see him faking it.

Yessss, my retarded hypothesizing was right

xRECKONERx · Post Post #505 (isolation #79) » Thu May 10, 2012 1:10 pm

:'(

This makes me really really sad

xRECKONERx · Post Post #508 (isolation #80) » Thu May 10, 2012 2:37 pm

In post 507, bv310 wrote:So turns out the real story is Community, Parks & Rec, and 30 Rock for 13-ep seasons, but ONLY 30 ROCK'S is the end of the series. Likely result is that if one of the other half-season runs they have on bombs, or if Community gets decent ratings, then it gets 30 Rock's spot when that finishes.

yeah i saw that too

fingers crossed

xRECKONERx · Post Post #521 (isolation #81) » Sat May 12, 2012 2:17 pm

not as good as paradigms

xRECKONERx · Post Post #546 (isolation #82) » Thu May 17, 2012 9:26 pm

Those were three FANTASTIC episodes of Community. I wish the whole season had been this good.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #547 (isolation #83) » Thu May 17, 2012 9:27 pm

But I agree that the video game episode was the weakest.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #548 (isolation #84) » Thu May 17, 2012 9:28 pm

Goddamn. What will they do for season 4?

xRECKONERx · Post Post #568 (isolation #85) » Sat May 19, 2012 8:29 am

Yeah this wont be S4 of Community. Chris McKenna was the last of the original writers still on board and he announced he's leaving as well. Fuck that noise.

As far as I'm concerned, I just watched the series finale.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #570 (isolation #86) » Sat May 19, 2012 8:50 am

They pretty much wrapped up every major plotline... except for Annie & Shirley.

Jeff realized that having friends and the people around him is more important than being a lawyer and having his old life back.

Abed learned to let people in and realized he has a problem.

Pierce stopped being selfish and bigoted and learned how to show love.

Britta was finally able to help someone after years of faux-helping and feel accomplished in her purpose in wanting to be a psychologist.

Troy sacrificed for his friends, then stopped the craziness and stood up to be a man (which felt like a big payoff from the arc started during his birthday episode).

Annie was background noise most episodes. Shirley I

guess

you could say had a payoff in the fact that she was finally able to open her own business and start providing for her family, but she was more the catalyst for Pierce/Jeff's change.

It's not a perfect little package with a ribbon on top, but it's damn close, and I'll take it.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #574 (isolation #87) » Sat May 19, 2012 9:53 am

In post 572, bv310 wrote:they still have Megan Ganz

not with her vague tweet recently that can be construed as her leaving the show due to Harmon loyalty

xRECKONERx · Post Post #584 (isolation #88) » Sun May 20, 2012 8:19 am

man, Dino went the fuck OFF on his Twitter about Dan's firing

xRECKONERx · Post Post #595 (isolation #89) » Mon Jun 04, 2012 4:25 pm

In post 592, glowball wrote:Donald Glover has been fueling rumors that he's been trying to get out of his contracts with nbc and not finish filming season 4. Honestly, if he's gone I will have little to no reason to watch. I like the group as a whole I don't want anyone gone and if Chevy and Donald leave then it'll just feel unbalanced.

source?

Because I have not seen ANYTHING of the sort

xRECKONERx · Post Post #602 (isolation #90) » Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:57 am

mehhhhhhhh

xRECKONERx · Post Post #604 (isolation #91) » Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:09 am

They also worked on Just Shoot Me.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #621 (isolation #92) » Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:21 pm

they're doing a Hunger Games sendoff for S4E1

-_-

xRECKONERx · Post Post #625 (isolation #93) » Mon Sep 17, 2012 8:36 am

Yeah, you're not

wrong

about Chang, though I did find him pretty funny in S1.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #635 (isolation #94) » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:20 am

I agree with noraaa

xRECKONERx · Post Post #647 (isolation #95) » Thu Sep 27, 2012 9:53 am

In post 644, N wrote:the season 3 one's pretty crap too

are you fucking mental

xRECKONERx · Post Post #665 (isolation #96) » Wed Oct 10, 2012 8:55 am

xRECKONERx · Post Post #678 (isolation #97) » Fri Oct 19, 2012 8:16 am

oh my god that was awesome

xRECKONERx · Post Post #681 (isolation #98) » Tue Oct 30, 2012 12:16 pm

Back to Thursday. Nice.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #712 (isolation #99) » Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:23 pm

Good riddance.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #714 (isolation #100) » Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:18 am

I'm sure you have all seen the idea by now, but getting a new actor to play Pierce and having only Abed notice would be brilliant.

xRECKONERx · Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:32 am

Plus it's Bill fucking Murray

xRECKONERx · Wed Nov 28, 2012 12:34 pm

It'd be even better if Bill Murray replaced him and Abed tried to convince everyone, so they're like "Abed what are you talking about" and flash back to classic Pierce scenes with Bill Murray playing him in each one and Abed's brain starts to melt and then Bill Murray walks up to him one on one and whispers "Nobody will ever believe you" then walks away.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #727 (isolation #103) » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:04 am

ONE WEEK.

xRECKONERx · Fri Feb 01, 2013 11:33 am

In post 729, killerjester wrote:
Spoiler: huge image

go crazy

are you trying to kill us

xRECKONERx · Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:44 pm

In post 733, ZONEACE wrote:hated it. The absence of Harmon was apparent. it very broad and "try too hard"

This was my first thought too. It went very broad and just missed on all accounts. Everything fell flat and shallow. Jeff's sudden character change was bullshit. Pierce was even more useless than last season. Britta/Troy was bad, I was literally cringing during their fountain fight. And the whole "we broke Abed we must save him from his fantasy world" plotline has been done before and in much better ways. And Shirley/Annie were...yeah...that was horrible. Every character just spun around and did nothing.

Please get better. Please.

Even in the reddit AMA, Megan Ganz said she was disappointed by the finale and by the Christmas episode. If MEGAN GANZ, who has always been the show's biggest cheerleader, has been disappointed by this season...well...I don't have much hope.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #759 (isolation #106) » Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:57 pm

In post 757, BBmolla wrote:Oh, also there was a point in the episode where I realized that I thought what Abed TV study group was doing was WAY more interesting than the actual study group. I thought that was a bad sign.

Agreed. And the baby stuff was awkward as fuck.

xRECKONERx · Fri Feb 15, 2013 10:30 am

This episode was amazing.

xRECKONERx · Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:45 am

Finally watched it... honestly, at this point, an episode that gets a few laughs out of me is considered a winner in my book. The storyline was fairly typical shit... the new showrunners clearly don't know what to do with Pierce & Shirley being so much older than the group, and they obviously just want to focus on the hip young couples + weird quirky Abed to anchor the show. I see why Chevy left, now... the writing for his character, specifically, has been atrocious.

The whole thing with Jeff pretending to be the villain guy so that girl would talk to him was stupid as fuck. Annie's "Mrs. Winger" sideplot was unfunny borderlining on creepy. I did thoroughly enjoy the Toby/Abed/Troy/Britta stuff, even though none of it was

actually

funny. I think Britta being in this new setting is good for her character, but it's almost happening too quick and I don't feel like I even know the character anymore.

Most laugh out loud moments of the night for me:

Abed: "You're really pushing me here."

Shirley: "This is why I don't hang out with you guys on the weekend."

Abed: "I hate you."

But even those were mild chuckles at best. Meh. At least it wasn't abysmal.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #807 (isolation #109) » Sun Feb 24, 2013 2:26 pm

yeah i loved that opening, esp abed's "I really like donuts" bit

xRECKONERx · Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:26 am

In post 867, UberNinja wrote:shit.

is it something you can just watch 3 seasons of and then walk away?

or am i gonna be roped into watching 2-3 more seasons of shit from the new show runner

honestly the s3 finale feels like a series finale (and the writers/old showrunner designed it that way) so yes just watch S1-S3 and stop

xRECKONERx · Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:30 am

That was seriously a great episode, wow.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #892 (isolation #112) » Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:51 pm

Where the fuck is Pierce?

xRECKONERx · Sat Apr 13, 2013 11:07 am

So I wonder if that's just how they write him out.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #936 (isolation #114) » Tue May 07, 2013 1:46 am

In post 925, AniX wrote:This is all part of the Dean's plan.

1. Spend 3.5 years crafting a decent story.
2. A half-year before you release your plot, have Harmon fired.
3. Watch as the rest of the staff struggles to keep up and fail.
4. Release your story.
5. Be praised.
6. Get creative control.
7. DEAN/JEFF SLASH FICTION FOREVER.

Loved the Freaky Friday episode.

Couldn't stand the origin story episode. Way too scatterbrained and literally zero funny jokes. Neat idea, I guess.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #974 (isolation #115) » Sat May 11, 2013 5:45 am

Dan please

xRECKONERx · Post Post #977 (isolation #116) » Tue May 14, 2013 6:07 pm

this is no longer a show that’s capable of much beyond repeating elements it thinks the audience will like over and over again. It’s become a jukebox musical version of itself, endlessly spinning its greatest hits to a crowd that grows smaller and smaller until it finally disappears. Even yesterday, I would have been sad at a cancellation, thanks to all of the good times I’ve had with this show over the years and even in this season. But not anymore. It might be time to be done. The earth, it has been salted.

xRECKONERx · Post Post #978 (isolation #117) » Sun May 26, 2013 6:23 am

DAN HARMON CAMEO IN ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT WHEEEEEEEEEEEE

xRECKONERx · Post Post #980 (isolation #118) » Mon May 27, 2013 5:20 am

http://www.hollywookiee.com/2013/05/26/ ... community/

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

xRECKONERx · Post Post #985 (isolation #119) » Sat Jun 01, 2013 8:27 pm

Oh my god yes

xRECKONERx · Post Post #992 (isolation #120) » Tue Jun 11, 2013 5:25 am

His eyes are like mine with perma bags under them from drinking all the time

xRECKONERx · Post Post #998 (isolation #121) » Mon Jul 22, 2013 2:10 am

Saw an interview... Dan confirmed that Troy will be in only five episodes, and those five episodes will be back-to-back and Troy's

departure from the show

will be an actual storyline, not just something that happens. They're actually writing him out, not just "scaling back".

xRECKONERx · Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:24 am

Glover's decision was also made before Harmon was confirmed as returning. I think that might've changed his decision.

xRECKONERx · Tue Dec 10, 2013 6:37 am

At first, I was upset that they were bringing Jeff back as a teacher because

that's exactly what they said they wouldn't do

. But I guess Dan was kinda fucked with how the previous guys ended last season, so what else could he do?

xRECKONERx · Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:58 am

chang always has been terrible. Ken Jeong is just obnoxious most of the time in his roles, I don't find it funny, I find it cringe-worthy. Occasionally I'll maybe not feel a pit of my stomach "oh god why" feeling when he says a "joke" but overall Chang is pretty bad. I'd be fine if they just kept him as a cameo appearance mostly, like first season.

xRECKONERx · Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:25 am

In post 1018, bv310 wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-3kFjFbSSE

The meta-Troy line. So good.

yeah okay I'm on board again

CHOO CHOO HARMONTRAIN LEAVIN THE STATION

xRECKONERx · Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:37 pm

HAPPY OCTOBER 14

xRECKONERx · Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:42 pm

Early reviews are in:

Community Is Back. And So Is Dan Harmon. (Oh, Yeah, the Show's Good Again.)
AS THE POSTER TO LETHAL WEAPON 2 FORETOLD, THE MAGIC IS BACK.

Season five premiere stream here: clicky. They've got a countdown clock with Daybreak playing on repeat until then. :3

xRECKONERx · Thu Jan 02, 2014 6:00 pm

YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES.

Community is back, guys.

xRECKONERx · Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:00 pm

I'll bet they deal with Pierce's death at some point and Troy has a meltdown... only because I've heard that Troy & Pierce are still linked in the storyline for this season.

xRECKONERx · Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:18 pm

It was a really heavy move to fucking KILL Pierce. But I think it'll pay off dividends.

xRECKONERx · Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:26 pm

Wait, did they kill Pierce? I just assumed they did, but like, they never say what happened other than he has a contractual obligation to never step foot on Greendale's campus again.

xRECKONERx · Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:07 am

In post 1034, ChannelDelibird wrote:Neither is going to go down as a classic but there were enough laughs while they spent the two episodes setting everything up. I expect it'll pick up from now as there were more than enough signs that the show is back on track creatively. Nice touch with the cameo, too.

Yeah they're not Chaos Theory levels or anything, but they felt so right. And so effortless -- I didn't feel like the show was trying too hard to be funny or quirky or cool, it just was what it was and it was great.

xRECKONERx · Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:18 pm

They actually apparently shot that one fifth?

It was pretty good, I think. Kind of a subdued return for Duncan, which I liked.

xRECKONERx · Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:10 am

I usually ignore the tags as part of the episode. But the rest of the episode was fucking fantastic.

xRECKONERx · Sat Mar 01, 2014 12:50 pm

Plz don't let this be a return to too much Chang

Also Hickey is fucking perfect

xRECKONERx · Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:19 am

For me, this season is probably on par with season one (maybe a hair below it).

xRECKONERx · Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:24 am

2>1=5>3>4

xRECKONERx · Sat Mar 15, 2014 8:07 am

I do it by consistency, aka how many episodes would I skip or tune out if I was watching the season again. 1 took awhile to get off its feet, 3 had quite a few stinkers, but 2 was pretty perfect.

xRECKONERx · Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:52 am

Yeah I couldn't stop laughing after the rap. Had to pause the episode.

I also think they're handling Troy's departure pretty well with some excellent forward development for Annie and Abed.

xRECKONERx · Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:53 am

Also, Hickey is already 100x better than Pierce ever was.

This past episode has the perfect amount of Chang.

I didn't realize that was Vince fucking Gilligan until like the ending tag on the episode.

I want more Professor Ian Duncan, though, he adds so much to the show.

xRECKONERx · Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:23 am

Yeah, I kind of wish we got to know more about his class. I keep forgetting he's a teacher.

xRECKONERx · Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:53 am

what the fucking shitballs was that finale

xRECKONERx · Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:54 am

I hope Community gets another year just so that isn't how we end the fucking show. Seriously,

what the FUCK WERE THEY DOING

?

xRECKONERx · Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:58 am

JESUS CHRIST.

The best thing the show could possibly fucking do is have Season 6 start with Jeff introducing his new wife to the group. Kill the Annie/Jeff/Britta triangle and never even think about resurrecting it. That shit has been dead for YEARS and it's the most egregious narrative crutch for the writers. Also, Abed needs to be grounded again, he was way too fucking meta this season. And why the fuck is Shirley not a real person anymore? She is more of a supporting character than Duncan, Pelton, Chang, or Hickey and she was one of the original six. Jesus Christ. Also, very doubtful Duncan/Hickey will be back next year if they get a sixth season (thanks to John Oliver's HBO show and the Better Call Saul spinoff). Wonder how they'll handle it.

xRECKONERx · Fri May 09, 2014 8:53 am

Wow.

I'm pretty speechless right now. I thought it was a sure thing... I mean, Parks got renewed and we beat Parks & Rec in the ratings most of the year. I'm utterly shocked and I have a lot of weird emotions.

Browsing through the cast's Twitter pages is giving me all the feels :'(

"Twitter isn't big enough to hold my condolences and more importantly my gratitude to the best fans, cast and crew in TV history. Excelsior." @danharmon

"#darkesttimeline" @joelmchale
"Thanks Community fans for being the greatest that have ever walked the earth & Thanks @danharmon for letting me be on the coolest show ever." @joelmchale

"Thank you for the love, best fans in the world. Thank you @danharmon for the best job of my life. #ePluribusAnus" @GillianJacobs

"Welp, the time has come. #Community has been cancelled. Still, FIVE seasons for a bubble show is MIRACULOUS! Much love to you all!

xoxo" @YNB
"You guys are so awesome! Thanks for all the kind tweets. See, we're okay guys! We all still have each other! #HumanBeingsForLife!

" @YNB

"A most heartfelt THANK YOU to all the Community fans. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. My life is so blessed because you're all in it. Chang The World." @kenjeong
"Thank you @DanHarmon" @kenjeong
"Thank you @JoelMcHale @GillianJacobs @YNB @DannyPudi @RashisTVUgly @AlisonBrie @DonaldGlover @ChevyChaseToGo #JonathanBanks" @kenjeong

xRECKONERx · Fri May 09, 2014 10:38 am

Looking back on this season, I really think it had some great episodes. It never reached season two levels of quality, but I thought "Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality", "Cooperative Polygraphy", and "Repilot" were all fantastic episodes.

xRECKONERx · Sat May 10, 2014 7:05 am

Even then, Parks is slipping big time and B99 has a lot to prove before I can call it a great show.

xRECKONERx · Sun May 11, 2014 5:28 am

In post 1136, zoraster wrote:i don't think P&R has slipped big time at all.

BUT ZOR, EVERYTHING LESLIE HAS ACCOMPLISHED UP UNTIL NOW IS ALL IN SERVICE OF HER BEING A MOTHER, HER ONE TRU CALLIN' YO

xRECKONERx · Mon Jun 30, 2014 2:55 pm

yes yes yes ye yesssssssssss

xRECKONERx · Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:44 am

LESS THAN A MONTH, GUYS!

Some exciting tidbits:

Jordanna Brewster & Keith David are joining the cast.

Today, there was a tweet by guest star Matt Berry that said: "Getting into the Community spirit. It's all about the thrill of the Chase." This may imply that Chevy will be back for an episode? Hard to do when he's dead and all, but it wouldn't surprise me for Pierce Hawthorne to fake his own death.

Also: Donald Glover did an interview with The Daily Beast where he played coy about returning to Community and it seemed to imply that he might be coming back for an episode or two.

The cast has remained tight-lipped about any guest stars or surprise episodes, so it seems to me we're probably in store for a great season. Joel McHale said, in an interview w/ People Magazine, that these are the best scripts he's ever read for the show and that he thinks the switch to Yahoo improved the quality of the writing beyond what we've seen.

I'm so excited, guys.

xRECKONERx · Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:59 pm

I'll be YNB will be back at some point, too. She left to take care of her father, who I believe passed... regardless, if CHEVY and DONALD are coming back, I can't see her not popping back in.

xRECKONERx · Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:02 pm

Yeah I'm not sure she had much purpose sitting around there anymore.

xRECKONERx · Tue Mar 03, 2015 9:39 am

really hoping that Season 6 trailer is just select scenes from the "out there" episodes to build hype

xRECKONERx · Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:13 am

Yeah that was the vibe I got

xRECKONERx · Tue Mar 17, 2015 7:42 am

IT'S HERE IT'S HERE

xRECKONERx · Sun Mar 22, 2015 9:17 am

I actually really loved those two episodes! Maybe it's because some people set my expectations low, but I thought they were great, especially considering they were both setup episodes to add the new guys to the study group.

The first one was, yeah, a little bumpy I think. I thought the Speakeasy thing was a bit overplayed, and at some point I felt like OKAY WE GET THE MONTAGE GAG and it went on for too long and just felt like padding... but really the group dynamic being weird and mixed up and having Abed be the only one to accept the new addition to the group was a sweet touch. I loved the tag with Shirley at the end. I think Paget Brewster fits in really well with the group. Her coming in with cops in dumb uniforms was Community levels of whacky, but without the Season 5 style of THIS IS NOT ONLY OVER THE TOP BUT WE'RE TAKING IT SUPER SERIOUSLY. It was just the right mix... it kept it grounded. "Hey, this is how ridiculous you're being, do you see these cops and also a carrot?" is just the right dynamic to take and it's right in the sweet spot.

The second one, man, I loved it. Britta's parents were great. I love that they're giving characters some backstory. I love the slow burn reveal that Britta's friends have been BFFs with her parents all these years. I totally bought her reaction to it, because I've had the same conversation with people about my parents. "oh man your mom and dad seem so nice" "WELL YOU WEREN'T FUCKING THERE FOR THE BULLSHIT YEARS" is typically how it goes. And while it wasn't much character

growth

since the arc was self-contained in the episode, I felt like it was a really good touch. "Jimmy Fallon Syndrome" made me spit out my drink. Oh, and all of the scenes with the Dean in the VR thing were fucking great. Jim Rash is so good at the physical comedy and he just nailed it with his dramatic mime motions and ridiculous VR getup. A little more lukewarm on Keith David since we didn't get to know him that well, but he seems like a brand new character altogether that we haven't seen before, so I'm interested to see where he fits into the study group's dynamics.

I loved both episodes, though. They felt like a return to form.

xRECKONERx · Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:17 pm

no you're wrong

xRECKONERx · Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:23 pm

counterpoint: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=61135

xRECKONERx · Tue Mar 31, 2015 6:17 am

Oh yeah forgot to say I laughed my ass off at Episode 3

xRECKONERx · Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:42 pm

Holy shit. Episode 4 was fucking INCREDIBLE. It wasn't a high concept episode or anything, which means people may overlook it, but it's the strongest character episode in a very, very long time. The pairings were perfect. Chang was perfect. Elroy & Abed's dynamic was perfect. It had emotion (I actually teared up a bit when

Abed buried the dead birds

). It had actual character growth. It had a really interesting, intricate, intellectual plotline for Pelton.

Wow. Fantastic fucking episode.

xRECKONERx · Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:43 pm

Not quite a classic, but the first one this season that shows that the ceiling for S6 is just as high as the ceiling for any other Harmon-lead season.

xRECKONERx · Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:00 pm

Meh, I think the point of the Dean's storyline was that they DIDN'T explain it. The humor came from how undefined it was. The absurdity of the situation was that he was having to come out as gay, despite only being "2/7ths gay" and "5/7ths whatever the hell else". "I'm curious... intellectually." The Dean's moments were spot on, and actually touching. He didn't want to do it until he saw he was having a positive impact on the gay student body... and it all lead to him killing a baby bird. It interwove the Dean's storyline with Abed/Elroy's storyline.

Regarding the last scene: I think they've finally nailed Abed's character down a little bit. He's just METAMETAMETA MOVIE REFERENCE BOT 3000 anymore. He's a character. He's childlike. Protecting the birds is so stupid... but to Abed, it's incredibly important. It speaks to Elroy's character that he was willing to go along with it, and it speaks to the group's dynamic with Abed that they all rallied around him for the silliness because they knew it was important to him. I mean, for fuck's sake, the bird freeing was "absolutely ridiculous" but this is the show that does over-the-top concept episodes and crazy shit like a Nazi Gardener With A Hidden Trampoline, but a cool, poignant character beat is "absolutely ridiculous"?

Annie/Chang felt disconnected from it all, but it's the first time I've seen Chang's character used in a proper way, in a non obnoxious way, in a way that makes him feel like a character and not a caricature. He had real desires, motivations, and wants in this episode, and we could sympathize. Annie was a bit weaker, with her jealousy and such, but that was my only complaint from the episode.

This episode was a lot heavier than anything else I've seen on Community. It was even darker/heavier than the "Pierce Died" episode, or the camping episode where they all reveal crazy dark secrets. But I still found myself touched, and laughing. God, Jason Mantzoukas as the Whiplash-esque drama coach had me rolling. The "soul-shaped hole" insult was one of the best lines I've ever heard. The meanness wasn't anything new -- look at how the group treated Todd.

I think it's still finding its feet, and I think the first three episodes were a lot of "okay where the fuck are we now" setup. I think, in its own right, this episode shows that this season can hit higher notes. They can do grounded, straightforward episodes. We've had four in a row, and this one, IMO, is exactly how a grounded, Greendale-centric episode should be done. The fucking Gay Dean / Jolene song had me in stitches... and then, it played in the background as my eyes welled up a bit.

I dunno. This isn't the show I used to watch. It's not S1-S3 anymore. But I think on the whole, this season is way better than S4/S5... and I think this episode gave me a glimpse that it could reach S3 levels easily.

xRECKONERx · Wed Apr 08, 2015 10:37 am

Man, Episode 5 was pretty good, but their budget restrictions (?) are starting to show. I dunno it just looks "cheap" compared to the older episodes? Could just be the new set. But like, it used to be that there was hustle & bustle in the background of shots and it made Greendale feel alive. Or the cafeteria would be buzzing. It feels more "dead" now.

I loved the episode, though. Felt a lot like an old episode... Jeff focused, Abed B-Story, Britta learning a lesson. Annie was killer this episode. Elroy is fucking awesome, btw, I'm glad he is shirking the expected stereotypes. And the opening scene was hilarious. "Before you came along, they had TWO! Two... to.... constantly stop themselves..."

xRECKONERx · Thu Apr 30, 2015 2:46 am

i liked the episode? It was a little too bizarrely paced

xRECKONERx · Tue May 19, 2015 1:40 pm

this paintball episode was very worth

xRECKONERx · Tue May 19, 2015 1:52 pm

yeah it hasn't been s1-s2 levels but id say it's as good as s5

xRECKONERx · Wed May 20, 2015 1:47 pm

They were all Batman references.

xRECKONERx · Sun Jun 14, 2020 11:56 am

We're also working our way through it. I felt like S1/S2 are still perfect seasons. Season 3 got a little up its own ass at times, and the ending felt rushed because Harmon figured he was getting canned. For a few episodes of Season 4, I was like, "Huh, this was nowhere near as bad as I remember". But the more it went on, there's these little moments where it's obvious the new showrunners didn't get the characters. Like, the entire puppet episode can fuck right off. Or the way that they just reduced Abed to "I make meta references so now my entire character is being meta

about

meta". Paranormal Parentage was actually a decent episode, so was Conventions of Space and Time. But the German episode, Shirley's Thanksgiving episode, the one with the rich stoner dude, the puppet episode, the Christmas party episode, all were just supremely mediocre. There were a few that skirted the line -- I both hate and love the Freaky Friday episode because the premise is so fucking stupid and Troy/Abed act so out of character, but the reveal later on as to why they're acting out of character actually lands in a good emotional spot. But the final two episodes? Where they retcon character history to have them all be "bound together by destiny" and then spend the entire finale in a fake reality in Jeff's mind so they can do more hamfisted "Darkest Timeline" stuff? No.

It's by far the weakest season. There are some good spots, but there are enough episodes here you could argue for being the worst of the entire show.

Immediately after starting Season 5, it just becomes so obvious how much better Harmon & McKenna are at navigating these characters. Everyone feels like their old selves, Abed's meta humor is used sparingly, and it's a nice little reset for the show. Then we get Hickey, who I actually like. Ass Crack Bandit... I hated it on the first go around, but this time, I liked it a lot more. And the polygraph episode made me laugh out loud enough times that I'm shocked it wasn't in my top 10 of the show previously.

1. Remedial Chaos Theory (S3)
2. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (S2)
3. Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas (S2)
4. Cooperative Calligraphy (S2)
5. Paradigms of Human Memory (S2)
6. Contemporary American Poultry (S1)
7. Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design (S2)
8. Cooperative Polygraphy (S5)
9. Digital Estate Planning (S3)
10. Romantic Expressionism (S1)