TV: Community

 

Disgraced lawyer Jeff Winger (McHale) is forced to enroll in Greendale Community College to complete his bachelor's degree.  Greendale is filled with eccentric teachers and students, and ridiculous classes.  In order to pass sadistic Spanish teacher Ben Chang's (Jeong) class, Winger forms a study group.  The group includes hypocritical activist Britta Perry (Jacobs), TV and film savant Abed Nadir (Pudi), cloying single mom Shirley Bennett (Brown), overachiever Annie Edison (Brie), star athlete Troy Barnes (Glover), and 10+ year Greendale student Pierce Hawthorne (Chase).

Despite their differences, the group form a family.  But can they survive the quirks of life at Greendale long enough to get their degrees?

During it's 6 seasons, Community had a cult following.  It embraced meta humor and pop culture references (some obvious, some thinly-veiled).

The Good:

The main cast have good chemistry.  The supporting characters are memorable, without taking the focus from the leads or main storylines.  The writers also do not take the obvious or easy path with the storylines.  The most memorable episodes take simple plots to the extreme, such as the paintball episodes, floor is lava, etc.

They also have fun with world building and call-backs to prior seasons.

The Bad:

There are some iffy episodes.  Season 4, aka the "gas leak season," is not as good as the other seasons... but it is still entertaining.

Other Comments:

-Seasons 1-5 aired on NBC and then moved to Yahoo! Screen for season 6

-Creator Dan Harmon ran the show in seasons 1-3 and returned (along with writers Chris McKenna and Dino Stamatopoulos) in seasons 5-6.

-David Guarascio and Moses Port helmed the show in season 4.  Subsequently this season, which is different from the others, is called the "gas leak year" in the show,

-The majority of the cast appeared in all seasons of the show.  However, 3 characters left early: Chevy Chase at the end of season 4, Donald Glover during season 5, and Yvette Nicole Brown at the end of  season 5

-My favorite episode is Season 3 episode 17 "Basic Lupine Urology", which is a smart "Law and Order" parody

-The show, and fans, touted the hashtag "Six Seasons and a Movie", which will soon come true: Peacock has ordered the film.  Dan Harmon and the majority of the cast will return for the film.

Community (2009-2015)

Creator: Dan Harmon

Joel McHale as Jeff Winger

Gillian Jacobs as Britta Perry

Danny Pudi as Abed Nadir

Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley Bennett

Alison Brie as Annie Edison

Donald Glover as Troy Barnes

Chevy Chase as Pierce Hawthorne

Ken Jeong as Ben Chang

Jim Rash as Dean Pelton

Dino Stamatopoulos as Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne

John Oliver as Professor Ian Duncan

Richard Erdman as Leonard

Luke Youngblood as Magnitude

Erik Charles Nielsen as Garrett