Community – TV Series Review #6SeasonsandaMovie

Hi!

The TV Show Community created by Dan Harmon in 2009, ran for 6 years on 2 networks and for a total of 110 episodes. It is a show that has developed a cult following since its final episode in 2015, it has had 2 separate stints on Netflix which have been beneficial for it to gather new support from fans. It is a show that is based around an ensemble cast in a local community college ‘Greendale’. Harmon wrote the show based on his own encounters in community college with each episode following his ‘story circle’ template. This is a method designed to create effective and structured stories. The show is universally loved by those who have watched it, the comedy is something that most shows aspire for, the cast is diverse and they bounce off each other well. Throughout the run of the show, there were some issues on occasion which had to be dealt with both on and off screen. Such as Dan Harmon leaving for a season due to being fired, Chevy Chase being written out, Donald Glover leaving, and the show being cancelled at the end of its 5th season, before Yahoo renewed for its 6th go around! But what are my opinions on the show;?

I personally loved Community, I have seen the whole series through only twice, once a couple of months back and the other time was probably 5ish years ago right when it was on Yahoo. I enjoyed the comedy, the characters, the story for what it was and getting to see the actors grow during their time on the show. But I have to say, conducting a review of a show without any objective criteria is basically impossible and I don’t think of any interest to readers, so lets get into a breakdown;

I have done reviews like this for a few other shows, so if you are interested or like the breakdown, be sure to check them out 🙂

Acting

Community has one of the largest ensemble casts that I can think of in terms of screen time and ‘star power’. Back when Friends was on tv, it was one of the larger ensemble shows with each actor having ‘star’ billing (6 of them). Community has a cast of 8 core members for the first 3/4 seasons, with an additional rotational member. As it lost cast members in the later seasons they were replaced, (with characters who were loved by fans, mainly after their stint on the show), but the show continued to have a rotation of up to 10 main actors and guest stars whose numbers could be between 6-10 more! Due to this, I am only going to look at some of the core study group for review / analysis.

The show employed a diverse range of actors from its inception, with starring roles being handed to Yvette Nicole Brown, Ken Jeong, Donald Glover and Danny Pudi . This was something that I am going to say looking back, was quite rare it was among one of the first shows to employ actors for their abilities rather than as token characters.

For the aforementioned actors, we see Browns ability to be serious and funny at the same time. She plays Shirley, who is a recently divorced Christian mother, who is trying to create a new life for herself as a single woman. She fits in as the mother of the study group and she shows her range of ability to flick emotions on and off with half second notices, which is important for a show which relies on its comedic cues and ability to demonstrate full feelings in a matter of seconds.

Pudi is left to play Abed, a bit of a socially awkward individual, who connects to others through pop culture and films. Throughout the shows run, Abed does grow, but I think most would say, at a slower rate than the other characters, with this being for one reason and one reason only. When they show was imagined, Harmon had played for Abed and Jeff (below) to become best friends, this can be seen from the shows first season, but thanks to the comedic genius of Donald Glover, this had to be adjusted and changed.

Glover plays Troy Barnes, a football player who injured himself meaning he lost his scholarship and attended community college as a result. Glover is the shining light of this show, I do not say that lightly. During both of my times watching this show, this is something that I did not know or notice while he was on my screen. But rather when Glover leaves the show, it does suffer, in a way that is unable to recover from, it instead needs to pivot, it does so, but not as successfully as I would like. Harmon and other writers have said that during their creation of scripts, they at times just wrote, ‘Donald to say something funny’, that is a lot of pressure to put on Glovers shoulders, but he handles it remarkably.

Joel McHale plays Jeff Winger who is a character that goes through plenty of growth during the shows run. When I go back and watch some of the earlier episodes after knowing how he ends up, it is a credit to McHale and his acting ability to portray Jeff at the level of douchey, that he manages to do in the beginning of the show and at times throughout. (Yes, I am assuming McHale is not a douce irl and that Jeff becomes more like him as the show continues). He is someone that I have not seen in many other films or tv shows prior or after his stint on Community, he has hosted some specials on Netflix and he was on The Soup for over 600 episodes, so I think that he is someone who is happier working as a comedian rather than actor per se, which is perhaps why Community suited his so well!

Alison Brie is Annie Eddison, someone who begins as the youngest character in the study group. (How do some people manage to look so much younger than their actual age?!) Brie was able to show various aspects of her acting ability on the show, with her comedic side shining through as the show continued. She showed her ability to be serious, fun, devoted and quite simply, likability. Her character is someone that the show points at repeatedly for being young and they ‘try not to sexualise her’. Which works mainly I would say due to Bries ability to portray multiple types of people in scenes that even follow each other on screen.

The last 2 core members of the study group are Gillian Jacobs and Chevy Chase. I loved Gillian Jacobs acting and felt that she sucked you into her role as Britta to the point that even when she was the butt of the joke in the show, you were agreeing with the other cast members and adding on the jokes in the comfort of your home! She did an amazing job and was someone who had to evolve as the show continued due to the changes to the original plan that happens when shows like this are running on air and the characters can outgrow your original plans for them. Chevy Chase was Pierce Hawthorne. For what his role was to be, Chase did what he could, but from comments that can be found online and how he has been portrayed in the media after he left the show, I can say that he is the only member of the study group that I can offhand say I think he could have been replaced with another actor and the show would not have lost any of its flare due to that happening.

Community & Pop Culture

Community is without a doubt, the most innovative sitcom I have watched on tv ever. Removing what the show is about, (When you ask someone – lawyer with no degree, in community college) the show covers aspects of pop culture to the largest level I have ever witnessed, such the pitfalls, positives and influence that shows you watch can have on you yourself. (Seen with Abed & Troy and Inspector Spacetime). Another way to think of Community is that rather than being a sitcom, it is instead a satire of sitcom. You are able to see how being too engrossed in certain aspects of mass media can affect your relationships with others. (While also laughing along the way).

Community is aware of the wider world of media, meaning it is not just self-centred, it knows that other films and tv shows exist. But how is this portrayed on screen? Through the one and only Abed Nadir, Abed is the walking representation of someone who rather than living their life, spent it watching tv and believes that everything they see on tv is a representation of real life situations. This puts the show on new comedic ground, which it covers excellently. We see this in the first episode when Abed says to Jeff ‘I thought you were like Bill Murray in any of his films, but you’re more like Michael Douglas in any of his films.’ This is something that you may just simply laugh at when you hear it, but it means more if you know some of the characters the above actors have played. To be able to see Murray as a wise-cracking hero and Douglas as a bit of a creep. But the way the show is done, if you know these things, it is also laughing at you in a way for knowing to much about media!

Criticisms

But of course, no show can be perfect, not even Community, so what are some of mine and others criticisms of the show?

Personally, I did not find Jim Rashs character of Dean Craig Pelton that funny. He was fun character to have around at times, but the portrayal just didn’t hit the right levels of funny for me. But as it is more of a personal thing, I don’t view it as a major critique of the show as we all have different things we find funny! But how about when you look online?

In the last couple of days, a universally loved episode of Advanced Dungeon and Dragons from Season 2 was removed from digital catalogues of the show due to blackface. This is something that simply happens as time passes, what was funny at one point in time, is not funny in another. But due to this the show has again had to deal with questions regarding potential racism from Chevy Chase towards Donald Glover. While this was not on the show itself, it did take some of the shine and it has been noted that Chase was not good to work with that is among the reasons he leaves upon Harmons return for Season 5.

Now Harmons return, Season 4 was abysmal, it was simply terrible. The creator was let go at the end of the 3rd season, (Due to comments he made regarding Chase at the wrap for season 3), but what else happened? Well the 4th season just seemed to be crawling towards a slow death and in recognising their mistake, NBC got Harmon to come back and Chase was killed off. The show never did get to the return to the highs of season 1 & 2, but a main reason for this I feel, was that Harmon did not get to use his full compliment of characters upon his return, Glover had already decided he was leaving but was convinced to stay for a few more episodes beforehand, but the show was never the same after season 3, it had some high points, but they were less consistent overall.

Ending

The last episode of Community on Yahoo was a classic. It gave fans an adequate finale while also leaving open the chance for the fabled #6SeasonsandaMovie. But in the most Community way possible, the shows final episode has the core group pitching their ideas for a potential 7th season of the show (We can see why it never got made!). But for something that sounds so boring and not the way for a sitcom to finish, why did it work so well?

It worked for a simple reason, relatability. Each character gave a spin-off idea that was tailored to what we have come to expect from each of them in turn. This made it feel more personally for us as we know the characters intimately at this point and for the actors themselves as they were able to say goodbye.

I enjoyed Community immensely and thought it was an amazing sitcom which thanks to the legion of new fans that the show has gained thanks to its recent addition back to Netflix, we are still in with a chance for a new season or film, but you know whose fault it is if we don’t? City College.

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Until next time 🙂