"It was like a 13-week family reunion."

January 2, 2014 7:43 AM

"Basically what Dan is doing is re-grounding the characters, who last year kind of got out of hand. I've said this about the series, that it's like an Edgar Wright movie in a way. All the characters in Shaun of the Dead were very grounded and normal, no one was a caricature of anything. But there's a zombie apocalypse happening outside. That's how I see Community — we have to deal with real stuff, like the loss of Pierce, in a bizarre world." Joel McHale discusses the fifth season of Community, which premieres tonight with creator and once-fired show runner Dan Harmon back in control.

Actor Donald Glover is out after the first five episodes, which is "sad news for Community’s true love story, the friendship of Troy and Abed." TV critic Alan Sepinwall likes the new season, saying the show "returns to its old self."

Community, previously.

posted by jbickers (182 comments total)

I have these hopes.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:52 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

"Actor Donald Glover is out after the first five episodes..."

I need help reacting to something.
posted by skycrashesdown at 7:53 AM on January 2, 2014 [17 favorites]

What this is only the fourth season!
posted by Mister_A at 7:55 AM on January 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

Hoda Kotb just described Community as NBC's hit comedy.

Well, I guess getting 2 out of 3 facts right isn't bad for the fourth hour of the Today show.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:16 AM on January 2, 2014 [6 favorites]

Actor Donald Glover is out after the first five episodes

Thank you for warning us that this is not a full season of Community. Why they'd order only 5 episodes I have no idea.

Seriously though, not to beanplate too much, but the Troy-Abed bromance was one of the absolute best and subversive things about Community. Two guys, totally in platonic love with each other, completely unafraid to be close and vulnerable and intimate. And unless my memory is completely fucked, never with a single 'no homo' moment. More of this kind of thing on mass-appeal television please.

Plus the two characters (and actors) are not nearly as funny/effective without the other. There's been doom and gloom before, but Glover leaving will be the death knell of the show (again). Chase leaving wasn't such a huge deal; the character was largely throwaway (funny, but disposable), and after a year or so it was blindingly obvious that he just didn't want to be acting on the show anymore. Losing Troy kills the group dynamic.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:16 AM on January 2, 2014 [20 favorites]

I was watching a Geordi/Date-heavy episode of Star Trek: TNG the other night and getting sad that there would only be five more episodes of Troy and Abed.

I was also thinking what a hoot it would have been if they could have gotten Bill Murray to come in and play Pierce for a season with no explanation.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:24 AM on January 2, 2014 [29 favorites]

I'll be interested to see how they explain Pierce's disappearance. I actually thought season 4 got it right when they just inexplicably replaced Chevy Chase with Fred Willard and called it a day.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 8:26 AM on January 2, 2014 [5 favorites]

Hah! Data & Geordi are Troy & Abed In The Morning In Space.

I was also thinking what a hoot it would have been if they could have gotten Bill Murray to come in and play Pierce for a season with no explanation.

That would have been fucking genius I tell you.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:26 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Community Season 5 Preview is Basically How We Are Inside
New Community Season 5 Trailer Promises Relief from our Despair
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:30 AM on January 2, 2014

JD and Turk got the bromance right, too. "Dude, we're a little married." "I know, I love it."
posted by jason_steakums at 8:31 AM on January 2, 2014 [9 favorites]

I'll be interested to see how they explain Pierce's disappearance. I actually thought season 4 got it right when they just inexplicably replaced Chevy Chase with Fred Willard and called it a day.

Fred Willard was perfect!

They're going to kill off Pierce.
posted by mochapickle at 8:32 AM on January 2, 2014

I need help reacting to something.

My emotions. My EMOTIONS.
posted by crashlanding at 8:33 AM on January 2, 2014 [6 favorites]

I was watching a Geordi/Date-heavy episode of Star Trek: TNG the other night and getting sad that there would only be five more episodes of Troy and Abed.

Hah! Data & Geordi are Troy & Abed In The Morning In Space.

Troy and Abed in Engineeeeering
posted by Peccable at 8:36 AM on January 2, 2014 [7 favorites]

I was going to waste an AskMe on this--but glorious spousal unit and I loved Loved LOVED seasons 1-3, and studiously avoided season 4, which by all accounts was not very good at all.

Is it worth getting Season 4 off of Netflix? Not as a prelude to Season 5 (which we'll watch on Netlfix next year or whenever), but in its own right? It just sounded downright bad, but I do love me some Troy and Abed.

Very glad Harmon's back.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:37 AM on January 2, 2014

Actually, considering how Dan felt about Chevy, here's how they play Pierce out:

The study group is arguing, again. They all discover that Pierce is to blame. Pierce fakes a heart attack for the umpteenth time. This time it's real. He stands, clutches his chest, staggers across the room, and trips over the couch with only his legs in view. They twitch once, twice. Annie and Shirley scream. Abed waits a beat, looks at Annie and Shirley, and screams flatly. Troy throws his head back and his scream is louder than everyone's. Jeff shrugs.

And then Pierce is still. For the whole season. They don't move him, and every episode has his be-jeaned legs sticking just out of the frame.
posted by mochapickle at 8:41 AM on January 2, 2014 [14 favorites]

JD and Turk got the bromance right, too. "Dude, we're a little married." "I know, I love it."

Yeah, but they wouldn't shut up about How Totally Gay it was that they were friends, which was a bit of a buzzkill if you think that straight men forming emotional connections is actually pretty normal.
posted by Now there are two. There are two _______. at 8:43 AM on January 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

Is it worth getting Season 4 off of Netflix?

If you love the characters and the setting, then I think so. It's essentially Community fan fiction.
posted by jbickers at 8:43 AM on January 2, 2014 [8 favorites]

Is it worth getting Season 4 off of Netflix? Not as a prelude to Season 5 (which we'll watch on Netlfix next year or whenever), but in its own right? It just sounded downright bad, but I do love me some Troy and Abed.

It's pretty sloppy, but if you just feel like hanging out with the characters, it's fine. It's only half a season, so it's not like a huge commitment. Personally, I feel like the sanctification of Community S 1 through 3 is a little overwrought, so I ignore the people who act like S4 was like watching the characters get murdered over and over again.
posted by Think_Long at 8:45 AM on January 2, 2014 [7 favorites]

And then Pierce is still. For the whole season. They don't move him, and every episode has his be-jeaned legs sticking just out of the frame.

Heh. I'm still on the Bill Murray idea though. Or just totally random actors playing Pierce for an episode or two at a time. Shortlist:

Bill Murray
Ian McKellen
Lindsay Lohan (no I am not joking how fucking hilarious would that be on metametameta levels)
A cardboard cutout made by Abed
WILLIAM GODDAMN SHATNER
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:46 AM on January 2, 2014 [25 favorites]

I am OK with Troy leaving if it means we get five episodes of John Goodman luring him away.
posted by mochapickle at 8:51 AM on January 2, 2014 [13 favorites]

Personally, I feel like the sanctification of Community S 1 through 3 is a little overwrought, so I ignore the people who act like S4 was like watching the characters get murdered over and over again.


I couldn't agree more. In my opinion, no show could be as good as many people online think Community was S1-3 or as bad as thought it was S4. I really, really like the show, but still feel like I'm missing something that other people see.

To answer the original question, it sounds like you'll be able to join Season 5 just fine and that the return of Harmon is going to do its most to ignore much of last season.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:52 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Season 4 wasn't THAT bad. I found some parts I genuinely liked as well from it. I would recommend seeing it, there's not that many episodes anyways.

I'm pretty excited to see what happens in the current season. I've been loving the Rick and Morty cartoon Dan Harmon created on Adult Swim, I just wish they'd show more than three episodes of it.
posted by inthe80s at 8:53 AM on January 2, 2014

The weird thing about Season 4 is that all the episodes start out really bad - like the writers had index cards that just said "Britta being Britta" and "Abed being Abed" and said "OK, we're setting up the episode. The gang gets together and something wacky happens. Britta does something very Britta-like. Then Abed does something Abed-like. Then Jeff does something Jeff-like. We have to set up all the characters in the most stilted, cartoonish, stereotypical way that a stuffy non-creative network exec might come up with and insist on because they think all viewers are just watching Community for the first time ever with this episode." After they get that out of their system, the episode warms up and is watchable. It's bizarre how precisely they kept to this pattern with every episode.
posted by bleep at 8:53 AM on January 2, 2014 [6 favorites]

Check out the cover of this Canadian organizational behaviour textbook.
posted by Dr-Baa at 8:56 AM on January 2, 2014 [14 favorites]

Well, I am absolutely in Dean-ial about the possibility of Troy leaving the show!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:07 AM on January 2, 2014 [19 favorites]

IS THIS TODAY?
YAY!
posted by Mezentian at 9:08 AM on January 2, 2014

Lindsay Lohan (no I am not joking how fucking hilarious would that be on metametameta levels)

I'm pretty sure Lindsay Lohan is the highest level Laser Lotus.
posted by Dr-Baa at 9:15 AM on January 2, 2014 [5 favorites]

I'll be interested to see how they explain Pierce's disappearance.

I'm hoping that one of the best things to happen to Season 5 is that S4 can't be retconned away. Dan Harmon is a mad genius in some ways and it's useful for geniuses to have some strictures to bounce off of instead of being allowed to hang themselves withan endless length of rope. So yeah, it kind of sucks that Jeff's dad was revealed to be James Brolin in such a lackluster way and that Troy and Britta's sexual tension turned into a dumb go-nowhere relationship, but that's part of the canon now. Likewise, Jeff graduated and the show has to bring him back (...and it looks from previews like it's been done in a plausible enough way, with him coming to teach).

So: Pierce declared at the end of S4 that he's graduated too. Easy. Done. Goodbye, Hawthorne.
posted by psoas at 9:15 AM on January 2, 2014

Likewise, Jeff graduated and the show has to bring him back (...and it looks from previews like it's been done in a plausible enough way, with him coming to teach).

Isn't that what they did on Glee?
I just don't understand the appeal at all
posted by Gordafarin at 9:18 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Inspector Spacetime has left the building, according to reports from reviewers who've seen the first four episodes of Season 5 on screeners. The AV Club's Rowan Kaiser tweets, there's "no fucking Inspector Spacetime" which "ought to be proof that lessons have been learned" from Season 4.

No doubt that with Donald Glover's departure, Tory and Abed's favorite programme has served its comic/dramatic purpose on Community—or at least that running gag has run out of gas.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:22 AM on January 2, 2014

After Troy leaves they should bring a new character. And whatever the gender, they should name the new character Rebecca Howe.
posted by doctornecessiter at 9:23 AM on January 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

I never laughed during Season 4. Not once. Even when I wasn't watching the show.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:25 AM on January 2, 2014 [35 favorites]

Isn't that what they did on Glee?

Glee! It's a feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
posted by brain_drain at 9:26 AM on January 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

I am totally confused by all the non-specific criticisms of Season 4, mainly because I don't pay attention to what falls where in a TV series, so I keep wondering if people dislike my favorite episodes ever or the ones I kind of watched out of inertia. I think maybe people are trying to say, "the characters get a bit stuck in type and that hinders their potential development," which is fair, but what I'm hearing is, "all this Darkest Timeline and air conditioner repair messiah business is too weird and meta and genre-defying, can we go back to being about a creepy sociopath trying to get in everyone's pants because that is my comfort zone," and those are fighting words.

I like Community because it gets weird, but it doesn't get high on its own continuity absurdism the way Arrested Development did, and because there are genuinely sweet, sad, touching moments. And because of TroyandAbed. But I'm also really curious to see what it can be post-TroyandAbed. It kind of satisfies the same part of me that loves The Venture Brothers. In that sense, the S5 trailer looks...very promising.

Onward, chairwalkers!
posted by byanyothername at 9:26 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

I enjoyed much of Season 4 even though Harmon's absence could be distinctly felt.

Am I the only fan of the show, though, who wishes Chang would disappear down a black hole and never reappear? It seems like the whole thing grinds to a halt whenever his character and his associated machinations appear. I enjoyed him during the first season but everything associated with him feels so highly contrived that it just doesn't seem funny to me at all.
posted by BrianJ at 9:36 AM on January 2, 2014 [14 favorites]

I enjoyed him during the first season but everything associated with him feels so highly contrived that it just doesn't seem funny to me at all.

Because during the first season he was just this absurdist spice that got thrown in from time to time. But he was hilarious, so they started using him a lot more. Basically it's the Spinoff Show problem, but contained within the same show. He needs to go back to just sort of popping up for five minutes here and there.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:39 AM on January 2, 2014 [10 favorites]

JD and Turk got the bromance right, too. "Dude, we're a little married." "I know, I love it."

Bill Lawrence is pretty good with bromance in general. See also Andy & Bobby on "Cougar Town".
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:47 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

What I don't understand is that with Alison Brie being in "Mad Men" as well, that there's been no meta mention of Trudy Campbell in Community.
posted by ShooBoo at 9:49 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

ShooBoo, there was a meta-meta mention; Abed does a Don Draper impression, showing her how to seduce someone.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:50 AM on January 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Yeah, a little Chang goes a long way.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:51 AM on January 2, 2014 [7 favorites]

Dan Harmon's promise to eliminate Britta's low IQ made me feel like maybe, just maybe, this show might go back to not sucking.

Season 3 was pretty bad, too, and even season 2 got kind of shitty towards the end. So I'm praying that Dan Harmon has learned how to fix his own problems too.
posted by Rory Marinich at 9:53 AM on January 2, 2014 [7 favorites]

Yeah, a little Chang goes a long way.

You could even call it satischangtory.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:58 AM on January 2, 2014 [6 favorites]

Awesome! Now can someone do this for Parks and Rec? This current season is like they hired an entirely different writing team and only gave them the worst bits of the first season for reference.
posted by rhiannonstone at 10:01 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Am I the only fan of the show, though, who wishes Chang would disappear down a black hole and never reappear?

No. I really, really do not like what they've done with Chang since the first season.

Or Britta, though I think her character can be salvaged.
posted by jeather at 10:01 AM on January 2, 2014

You could even call it satischangtory.

No. You couldn't.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:02 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Already did, bro. You've been Changed.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:03 AM on January 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Deanied.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:04 AM on January 2, 2014 [5 favorites]

Stalemate, sir.

Foosball at dawn.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:05 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

I wouldn't want Britta to go back to being the all-wise, all-seeing, all-knowing goddess figure destined to magically fix all Jeff's flaws that she came off as in the first few episodes, but even I'll admit the pendulum swung a bit too far in the other direction at times lately.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:09 AM on January 2, 2014

I've never seen it, but have considered starting. Alas, it doesn't seem to be on Netflix anymore?
posted by JHarris at 10:10 AM on January 2, 2014

Chang (especially post-season 1) is definitely my least-favorite part of Community. Everything he does is utterly cringeworthy, which can be a great part of comedy in small doses, but is just unpleasant and boring beyond that. I'd rather rewatch the non-Changy bits of season 4 over and over again than watch any Changcentric episodes from any other season.
posted by rhiannonstone at 10:12 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Community, like most shows with even nominal continuity from one episode to the next, is best watched in binges of 3-4 episodes I think.

Shame it's not on Netflix anymore though.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:12 AM on January 2, 2014

That shrieked POP POP in the trailer made me laugh like a loon. So very much looking forward to tonight.
posted by middleclasstool at 10:12 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Awesome! Now can someone do this for Parks and Rec? This current season is like they hired an entirely different writing team and only gave them the worst bits of the first season for reference.

The problem with Parks and Rec, though, is that it did the thing that everybody dissatisfied with every sitcom says they want, which is for a show whose characters evolve and whose plots all build off of each other. As a result, its single compelling will-they-or-won’t-they resolved within a season of its starting, its main character found love within the same season (and they dragged that out for way, way, way longer than they needed to), and now even its ancillary cast members are in committed relationships. Literally the only two people on the show who aren’t married off are Donna and Tom Haverford, and both of them are only funny in part because of their non-committed status (Tom because he’s awful and Donna because she’s awesome).

The only interesting new character the show’s had in three seasons is Jamm, and it took him a full season to not be teeth-gratingly insufferable. Now there’s pretty much no more ground for the show to stand on as a comedy. It could work as a heartwarming serial drama, maybe, but comedy is rooted in failure and misunderstanding and so on and Parks and Rec is so old now that when Leslie Knope fucks up it feels less endearing and more troubling, like the woman occasionally reverts to an adolescent mindset that her friends all just try really hard to ignore is happening.

In an ideal world, seasons 4 and 5 would have been a single season, and it would have been the last season, and we would have had a show with three perfect seasons. But Parks is going to run into the ground in exactly the way The Office did, because its showrunners are handling it the exact same way.
posted by Rory Marinich at 10:14 AM on January 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

Also one of my favorite/least favorite ironies of Community is that it started out as a sitcom determined to deconstruct and mock every single trope of sitcoms that make them suck, like the will-they-or-won't they, the one-note characters, the fan-pleasing catch phrases, and the plots that are superficially emotional but really just adhere to the same damn sequence over and over again, and then in its desire to tell deeper, season-driven stories, its individual episodes began doing exactly those things in order to get from plot point A to plot point B. By the end of season 3 you had a show that was all stereotypical sitcom tropes mixed with seemingly random pop references, with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 really stellar episodes, and then in season 4 the guys who made everything funny left the show and you were left with a sitcom that couldn't even pretend not to be as bad as it was.

From the reviews coming in, it sounds like Community might have gone back to its original mission of being a really funny show that doesn't pander to its audience and whose characters are compelling and human but still really funny. Might. I am so far beyond having faith in anybody involved in its creation to be all that overjoyed about this new season, but I'm cautiously hopeful just in case.

And Donald Glover's departure might help things out, IMHO — he went from being a very specific character to being an everyman blank-canvas sort of guy, and while Glover is funny enough to pull that kind of thing off, he's also seemingly given a lot of the rest of the cast to devolve into the cliches they've become. Maybe him being gone will force the writers to start doing non-shitty things to Abed again. Fingers crossed. Harmon's a smart guy when he doesn't get too far up his own asshole, and he's coming off as significantly less manic in these new interviews, so hmm. We'll see.
posted by Rory Marinich at 10:23 AM on January 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

Great point, Rory. I think P&R also does well when a character branches out into something new, such as Tom's businesses, or episodes that give additional dimension, such as Jerry's home life. There's still good material to be found in characters we think we know.

But one correction: Jamm remains so teeth-gratingly insufferable that I lose enamel every time he's on screen.
posted by mochapickle at 10:24 AM on January 2, 2014 [5 favorites]

I like Jamm now that he's become self-aware! It's fun to see him get on-screen and openly voice all of his cynical political aims as if nobody else can hear him doing what he's doing. I feel like the writers are starting to become comfortable with his awfulness, the way they kind of grew into writing Ron as a libertarian in season 2.
posted by Rory Marinich at 10:27 AM on January 2, 2014

The show is definitely available on Hulu Plus in all its seasons.

I really, really, want to watch the Alabama - Oklahoma game tonight. However, I shall be missing the first half hour because there is nothing short of apocalyptic that will prevent me from watching the first hour of Community back under Harmon's control.

Season 4 was like staring at a photo of someone you love who went away on a voyage for a year and then listening to voicemail they left on your phone over and over during the whole longing-filled staring sessions you have with that photo. It wasn't the real thing by far, but a crutch enough to get you to that super warm embrace and to listen to the undoubtedly awesome stories they always procure along their travels.

I do hope Britta gets to be brighter this season. Her original naivete and idealism slipped into outright ignorance and stupidity at times, which affected her character negatively. It's like she went from mispronouncing bagel to not knowing the name of a bagel and calling it fried chicken.

I expect Pierce's death will take up anywhere from two minutes to half an episode.

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Can't wait for tonight!
posted by Atreides at 10:29 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Chang peaked in season one. That first season he was a deeply crazy madman but they revealed actual character motivation behind the madness, with his failed marriage and Duncan tormenting him. After he danced with his ex-wife and punched Duncan, all that went out the window and he was just kept around as the stock crazy character. Which is fine and all, but then they went and used him constantly instead of keeping him around for flavor like Leonard. Admittedly, Ken Jeong is awesome enough that you don't want to hide the light under a bushel, but they didn't really justify the character's importance in the writing enough to make it work past season one. Contrast with the Dean who is utterly crazy as well, but actually a character, with a deep abiding love for Greendale and a constant struggle keeping the whole place from falling apart despite the fact that he's totally not equipped to do it that keeps him interesting and almost always justifies his inclusion.
posted by jason_steakums at 10:37 AM on January 2, 2014 [9 favorites]

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be Chang-ed.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:37 AM on January 2, 2014

Do you think NBC will ever consider that their (mis)management of the Thursday night comedy block might prompt a new approach to supporting and getting the best out of funny and talented people?
posted by zachlipton at 10:40 AM on January 2, 2014

No, I don't. That would require self-awareness.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:42 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Do you think NBC will ever consider that their (mis)management of the Thursday night comedy block might prompt a new approach to supporting and getting the best out of funny and talented people?

The problems at NBC are a little deeper than that. They moved Law & Order to LA and then cancelled it. Tina Fey even wrote commentary on that into an episode! NBC has been flailing for years.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:43 AM on January 2, 2014

It might, but it won't.
posted by bleep at 10:51 AM on January 2, 2014

It's a tent-pole!
posted by rosswald at 10:57 AM on January 2, 2014

It's a tent-pole!

No, I'm just happy Community is back. (rimshot)
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:10 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Is it worth getting Season 4 off of Netflix?

I agree with others, Season 4 isn't that bad, it just isn't the Community of Seasons 1-3. It wasn't as funny, and lacking the indefinable edge and darkness Harmon brought to the show, it was too sentimental. Paradoxically, that excess of sentiment made the fourth season feel less genuine than the others. Season 4 was a perfectly competent sitcom, it just wasn't as good or interesting as Seasons 1-3.

Also, once it was pointed out to me, I couldn't help but notice that the editing in Season 4 felt completely different. I really started to notice that Harmon must have had a heavy hand in the editing room, because the way the episodes were cut in Season 4 just did not feel right. Jokes didn't have quite the right amount of time to land, and something in the editing made the episodes feel rushed and half-baked.
posted by yasaman at 11:19 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Agreed. The ham-fisted editing was immediately apparent in season 4. One of the things about Community that stood out in the first few seasons was the meta nature of the editing and cinematography. If they were spoofing an action movie, it looked like an action movie.

In season 4, the editing was bad sitcom editing no matter what the content was of the actual bits being filmed. I remember the stupid American Gladiator spoof in one of the early episodes of season 4. It felt terribly forced and tacked on, not least because there was zero effort made to film and edit it in the style of American Gladiator.

The lighting used throughout the season was way worse too. Instead of a sort of realistic film aesthetic, it looked like a three-camera sitcom set, replete with artificial hairlights and invisible fourth walls.

I gave up on it after a handful of episodes. Looking forward to Harmon's return though.
posted by hamandcheese at 11:41 AM on January 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Wasn't there also stinger music after the last joke in a scene a bunch of times? I seem to remember that, but season 4 is kind of a haze.
posted by jason_steakums at 11:45 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

I only watched the first 2-3 episodes of season 4 and it was a nightmarish hellscape which I never wish to revisit.
posted by elizardbits at 11:51 AM on January 2, 2014

It's going to be a real challenge carrying on without Glover, but the show (even season 4) is still streets ahead of most network sitcoms. I mean, hell, they did a clip episode using all new material...
posted by uosuaq at 12:12 PM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Seasons 1-3 are marinated in sentimentality. It's just there's enough spice and bite and darkness to make it very palatable. But Harmon has always walked that line of being alllllmost too pat.
posted by Sebmojo at 12:23 PM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

In an ideal world, seasons 4 and 5 would have been a single season, and it would have been the last season, and we would have had a show with three perfect seasons. But Parks is going to run into the ground in exactly the way The Office did, because its showrunners are handling it the exact same way.

What I find odd about P&R now is that I used to think it was great because all the characters were really fundamentally decent people after season 1 but now the only way to conflict has been to make Leslie increasingly incompetent and the other characters increasingly cruel and it kind of feels like if they had kept Michael Scott on in The Office, had him evolve past his Ricky Gervais origins, and then had him revert again. It feels kinda icky.

Case in point: the whole Gary/Jerry/Larry gag, which is just really mean-spirited and not very funny at all.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:27 PM on January 2, 2014 [5 favorites]

FYI, Joel McHale is doing an AMA on reddit right now.
posted by nooneyouknow at 12:32 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's been really interesting to watch fans' reaction to the Jerry/Larry thing. The whole point of his character is that he is the completely inexplicable punching bag, but there is a line that was crossed at some point: not the first time they changed his name (from Gary to Jerry), but the second time (Jerry to Larry) was just too far for a lot of people.

Not saying I agree or disagree, necessarily, it's just interesting to see the response.
posted by Think_Long at 12:33 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

FYI, Joel McHale is doing an AMA on reddit right now.

Bah, he should be here! With us! Commenting!
posted by mochapickle at 12:33 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

By the way, if anybody's looking for unnecessary overanalysis of why Community is/was great and why it started to go downhill I wrote a whole essay about that a while ago on account of that's how I roll.
posted by Rory Marinich at 12:39 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

The problem with Parks and Rec, though, is that it did the thing that everybody dissatisfied with every sitcom says they want, which is for a show whose characters evolve and whose plots all build off of each other. As a result, its single compelling will-they-or-won’t-they resolved within a season of its starting, its main character found love within the same season (and they dragged that out for way, way, way longer than they needed to), and now even its ancillary cast members are in committed relationships. Literally the only two people on the show who aren’t married off are Donna and Tom Haverford, and both of them are only funny in part because of their non-committed status (Tom because he’s awful and Donna because she’s awesome).

Parks and Rec, The Office and King of the Hill all did his and then started meandering and flailing, I think it's a Greg Daniels thing - like maybe when he comes on the show he's got a few seasons really tightly mapped out and when that runs out and the reins are in someone else's hands because he's either out the door or has his time divided because of the next project that came down the line, it starts falling apart. I'd love to see a Daniels show set up from the start with a set number of seasons and definite ending.
posted by jason_steakums at 12:58 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

A definite ending (last season) would have made a huge amount of sense for Parks and Rec with their unnecessarily highly-stylized fake documentary style. I'm really sick of Amy Pohler's talking heads sequences where it just switches from front view to profile to front view to profile and it's just her smirking. I really love that Community didn't go down that road.
posted by bleep at 1:07 PM on January 2, 2014

The last funny thing I saw on Parks & Rec was the sex ed fiasco at the Senior Citizens' hall. I think it's had its run, time to call it a day.
posted by Mister_A at 1:09 PM on January 2, 2014

I think there are still a lot of little funny things in Parks just because it's an excellent ensemble cast who really does great, hilarious work, but the actual story stuff has been pretty flat for a while now. I liked seeing Ron and Tom and April/Andy growing up in the last couple seasons, but there was still a whole bunch of unnecessary stuff with characters who have already grown comprising the bulk of the story, just treading water. But it's not like it was necessary to see Ron/Tom/April/Andy finally grow, though. They could have ended it earlier and it would have been just fine, because the main characters have always been moving in the direction of growth and you always knew they would - it's not like anyone would ever think they'd find Tom living in the gutter years down the road after the show ended, the show's pretty much always been happy endings all around.
posted by jason_steakums at 1:23 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

They could totally save P&R by choosing to step away from constant storylines focusing on the personal lives of the major characters and instead choosing to write about their interactions with the townspeople. Less huge arcs and more small stories.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:28 PM on January 2, 2014 [7 favorites]

The last funny thing I saw on Parks & Rec was the sex ed fiasco at the Senior Citizens' hall. I think it's had its run, time to call it a day.

Cones of Dunshire.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:44 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Wherein I think I was having a very similar debate just a few weeks ago. I should really get out more.
posted by Think_Long at 3:35 PM on January 2, 2014

They had me at Jeff Winger, Hero-at-Law.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:15 PM on January 2, 2014

Season 4 gets better but the finale is the worst episode of the entire show by a long shot.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 5:19 PM on January 2, 2014

The bluntness with which they foreshadowed Troy's leaving and disposed of three seasons of bad Chang plots is making me enjoy this so far.
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:19 PM on January 2, 2014

YES THEY JUST MENTIONED HOW CARTOONISH THEY GOT

The dickweed critic in me is so happy
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:22 PM on January 2, 2014

MIKE!!!!!!!!
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:36 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Jonathan Banks is perfect, omg. As is Jeff being a teacher.

Is this what good Community feels like? I've forgotten so much.
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:39 PM on January 2, 2014

Imma just gonna go with the theory Jeff is actually sharing an office with Mike Ehrmantraut until provided evidence to the contrary. And then Jesse's gonna enroll in four episodes to replace Troy IT COULD TOTES HAPPEN.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:43 PM on January 2, 2014 [7 favorites]

Also, this is the first season in a while where the cinematography feels genuinely evocative. Seasons one and two had it, season three started getting kind of overly tweet and season four went way overboard. There's a lot of dark and gray in the palettes that feels unusual for comedy, and I'm really enjoying that effect.
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:44 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Aaaaaand now we have Danny Pudi doing Nic Cage. Oh my god where has this show been.
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:46 PM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

"She needs to be taken out...of your class." OH GOD HARMON!
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:47 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah this feels like before it started to suck in season three.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 5:49 PM on January 2, 2014

Well, not suck, but there was a mighty decline in quality.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 5:50 PM on January 2, 2014

ABC: Always Be Cageing!
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:50 PM on January 2, 2014

From February 2013: Community almost did a Nicolas Cage episode.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:53 PM on January 2, 2014

I love episode 2 so hard I want to cry.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:00 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Episode 2 was actual, legitimate Community. So good it makes the episodes I liked in season 3 seem worse by comparison.

Oh man, if the entire season is this quality I will be SO pleased.
posted by Rory Marinich at 6:03 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

"That's like me blaming owls for how much I suck at analogies."

"If I was in 70 movies over 30 years talking at random volumes, I might win an Oscar too."

"Think of something safe like Holly Hunter or Don Cheadle."


I still might not think last season was as bad as others do...or at least be able to identify what was so bad about it. But this was definitely better.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 6:05 PM on January 2, 2014

What I liked most is how all the characters got a piece of the action. Also very little Chang.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 6:06 PM on January 2, 2014

So happy right now. It's like an old friend that I never thought I'd see again has turned up. So happy.
posted by jbickers at 6:15 PM on January 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

I loved the Breaking Bad shoutout. Vince Gilligan is also supposed to do a cameo later in the season, so I'm guessing we'll get more BB refs.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:17 PM on January 2, 2014

Vince Gilligan has a cameo, as does Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz.
posted by Rory Marinich at 6:21 PM on January 2, 2014

Damn you, thread! I've spent all this time unable to get my hopes up for this season because season 3 showed that Harmon doesn't automatically equal great Community, and now reading this I'm all excited and can't wait to see this thing.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:23 PM on January 2, 2014

The Dean's internal '60s French pop monologue is genius.

Or should I say Dean-ius?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:24 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Damn my being on the West Coast and still having to wait a half hour for this!

On the other hand, my day was crap, going back to work was stressful as fuck, and I immediately went home and started raiding the chocolate wine. I NEED MY COMMUNITY NOW TO MAKE ONE THING IN THIS DAY NOT SUCK!
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:29 PM on January 2, 2014

There are ways to watch shows earlier on the West Coast....

I was completely surprised by Jonathan Banks joining the cast. So excited he's going to be around, playing a similar character to the one I loved on BB. The first episode was good, not great, but quickly set up the premise of the season, and episode two hit full stride immediately. Absolutely loved the black comedy of the final scene and the dark humor of the show in general. Can't wait until next week!
posted by Thoughtcrime at 7:42 PM on January 2, 2014

I actually shrieked "PROFESSOR PROFESSORSON!" out loud when Professor Garrity appeared. I really love Professor Professorson, okay? (Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design is my favorite episode of Community.)

I second jbickers, it's like an old friend I thought I wouldn't see again has showed up. I'm really just reduced to emoticoning: :D :D :D
posted by yasaman at 7:47 PM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

TEAM PROFESSOR PROFESSORSON
posted by Dr. Zira at 7:59 PM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Mayhaps this post needs an "ImASexyCat" tag.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:02 PM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

Gas leak year!
posted by jason_steakums at 8:37 PM on January 2, 2014

Also I kind of love that AV Club gave it an A-.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:39 PM on January 2, 2014 [7 favorites]

...I have the weirdest boner right now.

(seriously I'm so happy)
posted by palomar at 8:42 PM on January 2, 2014

OMG ABED HAVING AN ORGASM AS NICOLAS CAGE.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:45 PM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

POP POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:11 PM on January 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

That was soooo much fun!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:19 PM on January 2, 2014

I take back what I said upthread. I just watched the last few episodes of season four and then the new ones. Season four definitely improved throughout. Those last few episodes felt like a return to seasons two or three. But the new episodes feel like a return to season one, and that's niiiiice.
posted by hamandcheese at 1:15 AM on January 3, 2014

Finally saw it.
Hello Community, I MISSED YOU.
posted by Mezentian at 3:56 AM on January 3, 2014

I am enthusiastic about murdering stupid people.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:05 AM on January 3, 2014

I didn't laugh as much as I did watching the two new episodes since that gas leak last year. It was splendid! (The two episodes (not the gas leak))

It definitely met ever expectation, from the dialogue, the way the show was filmed and edited, and everyone running on all pistons.


I can only say it was excel-lent!
posted by Atreides at 7:15 AM on January 3, 2014

Just watched. It felt just like slipping your own shoes back on after bowling. Lovely!
posted by mochapickle at 8:12 AM on January 3, 2014

Season 4 may not have been perfect but it was generally better than those two episodes. Some good bits, but they were hanging off a lifeless body.
posted by Zed at 9:02 AM on January 3, 2014

Genuinely curious about your reaction, Zed. What wasn't ringing true for you?
posted by mochapickle at 9:04 AM on January 3, 2014

Oh my god, now this show is about my life. The group work and minus stuff is so true*, and now the secret is out. Guess I really have to create some curriculum now. Thanks, Harmon.

* Unfortunately, so is the part about the crappy pay and benefits.
posted by bibliowench at 9:06 AM on January 3, 2014

REALLY enjoying Buzz Hickey so far, too. That last scene with him on the phone while Troy and Abed are waiting to prank him - COMEDY GOLD.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:29 AM on January 3, 2014 [5 favorites]

Oh god the French pop bit made me laugh so hard. With the single tear running down his face!

Je suis seul car il ne veut pas apprendre Excel
Je meurt car il ne veut pas apprendre Excel
Comme les marins qui fument
Cigarettes sur le canal
Oh oh
Mais Excel ne sera pas apprise aujourd'hui
Mes pensées...
...Sont françaises.

This is the Community I remember before mid-S3 and all of S4: weird, funny, sentimental without being treacly, an off-beat "look", snappy editing...
posted by flibbertigibbet at 10:18 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Now that the major points have been hit, I feel free to get nitpicky: what the hell is up with McHale's makeup? I haven't seen spackling and painting like that since the last time I was at an open-casket funeral. It was kind of unnerving. Are they trying to make him look suddenly older and more haggard because of his new responsibilities?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:09 AM on January 3, 2014

Just watched. It felt just like slipping your own shoes back on after bowling. Lovely!

And that's how you make an analogy that's both fresh and repugnant. Well. Done.

what the hell is up with McHale's makeup? I haven't seen spackling and painting like that since the last time I was at an open-casket funeral.

The man is 42.* The character is vain. It's not great, but it's not surprising.

*Older, amusingly, that Dan Harmon.
posted by psoas at 11:16 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Also, if it's question time: How the hell did they convince Chevy Chase to come back for that holo-cameo?
posted by psoas at 11:20 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

And that's how you make an analogy that's both fresh and repugnant. Well. Done.

That's like me blaming owls for how much I suck at analogies.
posted by mochapickle at 11:30 AM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Owls don't give a hoot about your analogies.


How the hell did they convince Chevy Chase to come back for that holo-cameo?

I'm guessing it involved a piece of paper with numbers on it.
posted by Atreides at 12:10 PM on January 3, 2014 [3 favorites]

Or more surprisingly, apparently Harmon simply texted Chase. Here's the dish from IGN:

What the story needed was someone to turn [Jeff], and I did picture Pierce immediately because if he was still on the show, that’s exactly how we would use him, and it’s a greater fact that he was always at his best as this sort of hapless Obi-Wan or a cautionary tale or unintentional mentor – trying to be a mentor in one way, but actually inspiring in a different way. It just seemed like one of those big moments where it was like, “Man, I really miss having that Pierce character,” and I literally pictured him in my head like this Industrial Light & Magic ghost that would appear in front of Jeff and say, “Don’t do this. Go back.” Then I thought, “Okay, then how do we actually make that happen, logically?” The answer was, “Well, actually what you’re describing could just be a hologram, because it doesn’t need to be having a conversation with Jeff. He just needs to say something. He just needs to be a vision.” He can’t be a literal ghost, but he could be a hologram, because Pierce has money, and that seems like the kind of thing you associate with Pierce — that whole Baby Boomer/Sharper Image kind of technology for its own sake kind of thing. And actually, that would work perfectly, because it would allow Chevy to come back to the show without panicking Sony legal, because he wouldn’t be on the set.

I wasn’t there when Chevy departed, but I know he had a specific agreement with Sony in which the terms of his departure were contractual and there was an agreement on both sides. I don’t really know more details than that except to say that simply bringing him back would be a contractual issue. So I was able to say to the studio, “What if we weren’t bringing him back? What if we were shooting him on a separate stage with no other actors around. Would that be allowable?” And they said, “Yes.” So it became this idea. I knew Chevy would be on-board because he’s an arch character, but I know that at the end of it all he always loved doing the show and would be more than willing to come back. He’s very passionate about making people laugh. So I texted him, and he said, “Absolutely, I’ll do it.”

posted by Atreides at 12:14 PM on January 3, 2014 [6 favorites]

How can I be sick of Community behind the scenes drama and yet fascinated by it all at the same time? The idea that Sony legal is placated by the fact that Chevy would not cross paths with any other actors says so little but so much.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:33 PM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]

I could deal with a season of hologram Pierce. And I appreciate that Chang was kept to a potent minimum and is now reasonably sane. And that Dean has a little more depth.
posted by mochapickle at 12:49 PM on January 3, 2014

Episode 7 will be an all-hologram episode with Chevy and John Goodman fighting for the hologram-soul of Donald Glover.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:54 PM on January 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Genuinely curious about your reaction, Zed. What wasn't ringing true for you?

Well, let's see... neither episode felt like it hung together... it was just one damn thing after another.

One of the worst things about Season 4 was Jeff having completed (off-camera and thus unearnedly) his character arc from selfish and pushing the group away to selfless and accepting them as family. But that having happened, having him revert off-camera isn't an improvement. Having everyone else revert to square one was pretty annoying, too. Hell, I'd rather have seen Jeff step out of the shower and find out Season 4 was all just a dream than that.

The seeming feeling of obligation to replace Pierce at the table with another Old Guy was unnecessary and its execution felt clumsy. The Dean's delicate balance between creepy and winsome was mostly obliterated: he was creepy. Abed freaking out over a pop culture obsession was a painfully easy and obvious storyline.

And I just plain wasn't laughing much. Yeah, there were individual funny bits -- the Dean's French song, "blaming owls"... but the heart that made Community so great (when it was great) -- I just wasn't feeling it.
posted by Zed at 1:17 PM on January 3, 2014

The group work and minus stuff is so true

I am so tempted now to request a copy of my college transcripts so I can figure out which professors didn't like me.
posted by The Gooch at 2:14 PM on January 3, 2014

Having everyone else revert to square one was pretty annoying, too.

Yeah, I couldn't help thinking it might have been better to bring everybody back to the school as employees rather than students. I mean, it's not like I watch Community for the realism or anything, but even a show with a surreal element has a certain amount of internal credulity to maintain.

Shirley could have run the sandwich shop, Britta worked in the counselor's office, Abed run the computer lab, and Annie worked in the student health center. (Not sure about Troy, but they'd have to write something special for him, anyway. I'm assuming he's going to end up at the plumbing school?) It would have given them the same feeling of, "Oh, my God, Greendale did nothing to prepare us for the world outside of Greendale and we're stuck here" without making them do something silly and out of left field.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:03 PM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]

Yeah, I couldn't help thinking it might have been better to bring everybody back to the school as employees rather than students. I mean, it's not like I watch Community for the realism or anything, but even a show with a surreal element has a certain amount of internal credulity to maintain.

Shirley could have run the sandwich shop, Britta worked in the counselor's office, Abed run the computer lab, and Annie worked in the student health center. (Not sure about Troy, but they'd have to write something special for him, anyway. I'm assuming he's going to end up at the plumbing school?) It would have given them the same feeling of, "Oh, my God, Greendale did nothing to prepare us for the world outside of Greendale and we're stuck here" without making them do something silly and out of left field.

And then it turns out that Greendale always eats its own, you can never leave, most of the school employees are secretly former students and the bridge collapse guy and Luis Guzman are some of the few people who ever got out, and Star-Burns' entire reason for faking his death was escaping...
posted by jason_steakums at 10:36 PM on January 3, 2014 [4 favorites]

What's up with Joel McHale's face? Mr Corpse and I couldn't figure it out. Is it his haircut? Are his eyebrows too thin? Is it something to do with his upper lip, something bordering on duckface? He's still a handsome man, but he has a faint "had some work done" vibe now, especially in the first episode of this season.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:48 PM on January 4, 2014

Yeah there's something weird, uncanny-valley-ish about Joel's face now. His face looks like a talking skeleton.

The astounding grimness of these two episodes made me question whether or not this show was ever good or if I was just hoodwinked in some elaborate internet prank.
posted by bleep at 6:11 PM on January 4, 2014

Now that the major points have been hit, I feel free to get nitpicky: what the hell is up with McHale's makeup?

I've noticed a good number of TV shows starting this fall season all of a sudden have spackle makeup in a way they hadn't previously. I kind of wonder if there wasn't some sort of makeup conference or guru and now everyone is doing it. Or someone in charge of makeup *just* got HD TV. . . Of course, HD just makes it more apparent the makeup extra is there.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:23 PM on January 4, 2014

Which is another thing Community has in common with Parks and Rec.
posted by bleep at 2:51 PM on January 5, 2014

Ugh, Lesley's makeup KILLS me. I don't know why they give such a young character (she's mid-30s on the show) such a mature palette.
posted by mochapickle at 2:56 PM on January 5, 2014 [2 favorites]

"I believe that fusing brownies with the Internet is going to create the next Napster for brownies."
posted by tonycpsu at 7:29 AM on January 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

Oh my gosh Community/Hannibal mash-up. YESS
posted by likeatoaster at 6:37 PM on January 9, 2014

That was Deanius.
posted by Dr. Zira at 7:08 PM on January 9, 2014

My gosh, it's like the show has wit and soul.

And it isn't relying on Abed, so when it does that scene was amazing.
In an amazing episode.
posted by Mezentian at 12:12 AM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's crazy, everything is reverting back to the way it was.

I'm sure Dave has a lyric or song that perfectly describes this.

It seems like they're phasing out the Abed/Troy post ending clips with other clips.
posted by Atreides at 6:26 AM on January 10, 2014

Was that the first time Abed mentioned autism? I loved that scene.
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:31 AM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

I think it was. There's always been references to Abed having issues or problems, but no one has directly labeled it until that episode.

I also picked up elements of The Killing, if only for the excessive rain and dramatic jump from foregone conclusions of the bandit.

I'm also glad that Leonard realizes that he can do better.
posted by Atreides at 9:34 AM on January 10, 2014

So many out-loud laughs! (And I loved that they committed to the Dean snapping furiously at his assistant the entire time he was on the phone without her yielding a muscle twitch to help him.)
posted by psoas at 10:05 AM on January 10, 2014

I am heartbroken that Jeff likes Dave (Matthews).
posted by mochapickle at 11:15 AM on January 10, 2014

It was the 90s, he had two ears connected to a heart.
posted by Atreides at 1:21 PM on January 10, 2014 [3 favorites]

He should move to Portland.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:55 PM on January 10, 2014

> There's always been references to Abed having issues or problems, but no one has directly labeled it until that episode

Well, that character he was being in the drama was labeled as having autism. Abed is still unlabeled.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:38 PM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

I wish all the episodes were lit this way.
posted by bleep at 5:01 PM on January 11, 2014

I wish all the episodes had Radiohead.
posted by Dr. Zira at 9:26 PM on January 11, 2014

"my real mouth"
posted by neuromodulator at 11:26 AM on January 12, 2014

MetaFilter: Here's your sperm.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:18 PM on January 16, 2014 [2 favorites]

Nice touch that the lawyer pronounced "Abed" the same way Pierce did, and nobody corrected him.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:26 PM on January 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

When I said non Dan Harmon Community last season wasn't that different and implied that this season wasn't going to be noticeably better, I was totally wrong, so wrong I'm not even sure what I was thinking.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:16 PM on January 16, 2014 [7 favorites]

This episode I liked, and it was a great way to have a Pierce episode with no actual Pierce.
posted by Zed at 6:35 AM on January 18, 2014 [1 favorite]

Here’s All The ‘Community’ Continuity From ‘Cooperative Polygraphy’ In A Handy GIF Set
posted by tonycpsu at 6:17 PM on January 20, 2014

Yes, that was at once the most Pierce-iest and least Pierce-iest episode ever. Well played.
posted by mochapickle at 6:55 PM on January 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

"Cool...........Coolcoolcool."


"That was a lie."

I just saw last night's episode and I just keep getting blown over by the adrenaline level intensity Harmon must be using to create these shows.

I did feel like this was Harmon taking back the "episode where everyone admits to all the horrible things they do or think" that was kind of like Intro to Felt Surrogacy.
posted by Atreides at 7:12 AM on January 21, 2014 [3 favorites]

Survival episode! YAY!
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:07 PM on January 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

Stupid episode made me cry.
posted by Zed at 8:14 PM on January 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

I just saw the latest episode and it was amazing.

I think if I were the kind of person to cry, I would have been in tears.

Plus, they made ALIEN 3 references.

(And there's an amazing joke at the end which, not being American, I didn't get until they spelled it out in the coda.)

And there's some really, really amazing acting from Danny Pudi. Abed is awesome when he's subtle, not like the gas leak year. And so many subtle references.

I think they're really bringing it at all levels.
I remember why I feel in love with this show. I remember why I want to see six seasons and a movie.
I am afraid what they would do with a movie-sized budget.

I almost want to see Pudi turn up on Orphan Black playing clones, except I don't know if he has the range of Tatiana Maslany.
posted by Mezentian at 1:52 AM on January 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

Rate My Professors -- Greendale Community College.
posted by Mezentian at 1:57 AM on January 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Stupid episode made me cry.

Yes... and laugh: "Who's there, bitch? FLOOR!" pretty much deserves its own Allie Brosh rendering.

(Also, I don't know how they consistently manage to find my sweet spot, but the Aimee Mann cover of "Come Sail Away" at the end was a delight I didn't even know I needed.)
posted by psoas at 4:41 AM on January 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Adding Jonathan Banks to the cast has improved the enjoyment factor of any Community episode by at least 10%.
posted by The Gooch at 7:09 AM on January 24, 2014

For some reason, until last night's episode, I never really connected Greendale as being in Colorado.

Also, one thing (among others) that bothered me about last season was that they continually dressed Alison Brie in low cut outfits. This season, that wardrobe decision vanished.

It also definitely felt like a sincere farewell to Donald Glover, less so Abed, in the very last scene. Was I wrong when I thought they showed him leaving the set, rather than the college?
posted by Atreides at 7:15 AM on January 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Britta may have almost Britta'd her goodbye to Troy, but Gillian Jacobs nailed last night's episode from both a comedic and dramatic perspective.

As much as I enjoy Community, I really look forward to seeing the cast in the future.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:22 AM on January 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

I am bummed Donald Glover is leaving, especially so soon after getting the band back together. But damn, if you are going to have a send off, that was one hell of a send off. I both love and hate that losing a key cast member made for such a perfectly delivered story.

And I can't not love how quickly everything devolved, reminding us that the school is barely held together by boredom; and any semblance of civility lost the moment some excuse to be distracted from the daily grind. By now, we know that the school is capable of great depravity; it's the lack of hesitation or even a second thought that makes it feel like home.

(But geezus, the injuries!)

Britta was possibly my favorite of all. Both acutely aware of the ridiculousness of the situation and yet willing to play along to try and help her friends through what should be a difficult time. And even she gives in to the madness when logic fails.

. . .

Also, I really want to play "Hot Lava" again. When did that stop being a thing I did?
posted by [insert clever name here] at 11:50 PM on January 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Why hello, Nathan Fillion!
posted by mochapickle at 2:34 PM on January 31, 2014

Breaking news: LeVar Burton and his "non-celebrity companion" captured by pirates off the Gulf of Mexico.
posted by Atreides at 2:39 PM on January 31, 2014 [1 favorite]

I knew I should've paused and read that crawl...
posted by Zed at 4:46 PM on February 1, 2014

I didn't read the crawl either. I think I was distracted by all of the Sorkining.
posted by Dr. Zira at 2:42 AM on February 2, 2014

I missed the crawl completely.

I feel bad now.
posted by Mezentian at 2:57 AM on February 2, 2014