Monsters of Television

“Everyone’s playing.”

I wanted Community to start finding something new to say or new ways to say it. However, the last few episodes, including tonight’s “Modern Warfare,” have pushed the show in a direction it danced with, but never fully committed to until recently: pop culture homages. Yes, the show has done extended references and tips of the hat prior to the last few episodes, but those episodes will still ultimately defined by the “We’re a family” message that the show was starting to wear to the bone.

I wouldn’t say that the message has gone away — it really hasn’t — but that it’s no longer the driving force behind episodes any longer. Instead the show plays pop culture roulette, a dangerous little game that can backfire if not done properly. Thankfully, Community is streets ahead of any other sitcom on television, and “Modern Warfare” proves that. Read more »

“I once met Sting at a Cracker Barrel.”

I often worry about running out things to say about Community. I can only say so many nice things every week about this show, and at some point I think I’m going to get repetitive. I almost want a bad episode to happen so I can lament it, say “Oh, I knew it when…” for a nice change of pace. I doubt this will happen.

“The Art of Discourse” is a very fine episode, with plenty of nice laughs but also some good structural elements in play, even if the the one element I wanted to pay off, the conflict between Jeff and Britta with the jerk-ass high schoolers, didn’t really reach the conclusion I wanted.

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“If God were edible, not that I’m Catholic, but if it were cool to eat God, He’d be a chicken finger.”

I really don’t like Goodfellas. Yes, that’s right. I don’t like Goodfellas. I know this amounts to sacrilege for a large number of people, so I apologize in advance for not swooning over Community‘s extended homage to what many consider the greatest gangster movie ever made (for the record, I don’t really like the gangster genre overall).

However, unlike How I Met Your Mother‘s painfully exclusionary baseball episode, Community provides an episode that can work without knowledge of the film that they’re relying on to frame the episode. The reason for this is that Community has established a universe where something like this feels organic and fun. And that’s precisely what this episode is: fun. (I doubt that the chicken fingers were organic.) Read more »

“It’s lame that he cares.”

The fact that “Beginner Pottery” aired out of order is probably a good thing. Last week I expressed concerns that the show was relying too heavily on the “friends as family” theme, and I saw the same concern expressed elsewhere (which is always reassuring). I asked for a variation on the theme or just a new theme all together. This week’s episode does neither. It doesn’t abandon the theme all together, but it doesn’t rely on it for the episode’s moral. Instead “Beginner Pottery” feels like a very smart gag delivery system that doesn’t let up for 22 minutes while still imparting a lesson about success in relation to the individual and the group. Read more »

“This isn’t going to stop until Pictionary bans the word ‘windmill.'”

The big laughs this week build, as do the show’s sweet and tender character moments. Community isn’t structuring itself like Seinfeld, where the plots converge into one final freeze-frame joke, and nor should they (unless they intend to do a Seinfeld-parody episode, something I’d be all for them attempting), but the show nicely lays the groundwork for jokes across an episode, even if the episode overall isn’t spectacular.

First and foremost, an East Asian rabbi is, by definition, funny. Funnier than an East Asian teaching Spanish (“This is who I am!”). That the joke of the two Changs in occupations you wouldn’t necessarily find them in isn’t overplayed, and instead allows Pierce’s latent Nazism to express itself by drawing a Swastika in place of a windmill during the Pictionary tournament. There’s enough of a gap between seeing Rabbi Chang and the tournament that you forget that Rabbi Chang is around, creating another punchline. That it results in an off-screen fight that is bad enough to summon the police is simply icing on the cake.

Second is Britta and Troy. A good comedic combo already, Britta’s white liberal guilt leads her to get a switch after she feels she’s disrespected Troy’s grandmother. It’s an amusing idea, though that Britta has no idea what a switch is, and that she doubts Troy’s grandmother will use it seems a bit weird, but I was willing to roll with it after the pay off of Britta being spanked, Troy watching while cry talking, only to have Jeff and Amber (Pierce’s swindling ex-stepdaughter) stumble in while making out added another sexual element to a scene that was already uncomfortably sexual anyway.

Story-wise, the show continues to drive home the of the study group as family, as Pierce and Jeff finally acknowledge that they are the same person, but at different stages in their lives. That Jeff still indulges in jackassery by sleeping with Amber (albeit only once; he wanted to do it twice) but feels bad about isn’t a step backwards, but a consistent character trait. Pierce’s confession that he probably would’ve done the same absolves Jeff of the guilt, and provides acceptance. It’s a nice moment, but one I feel that the show has firmly established at this point. I’m ready for it to move onto another thematic concern, or provide more variation on it (somehow).

Finally, if Jeff Winger doesn’t see the appeal of Glee, I don’t know why anyone else should.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• The Human Being with a tinier, female version of itself: creepy. (And until you know that it’s Family Day, it’s REALLY creepy.)
• The episode did suffer a bit from a lack of Annie. I guess her family doesn’t care about her after that time in rehab.
• Cry talking is the show’s tradmark gag, and Don Glover is a master at it (McHale isn’t bad either).
• Line of the episode: “Disappointing you is like choking the Little Mermaid with a bike chain.”

“Instead of Alzheimer’s, Abed has … someone who likes him.”

With all due apologies to 30 Rock, but I’m afraid that Dan Harmon and his crackerjack cast may be usurping your place as my favorite comedy on NBC. (Don’t worry, Tina! You’re still funnier than Mercy! In different ways though.)

Community, as I’ve said, has been growing leaps and bounds since “Introduction to Statistics” (and if that episode didn’t do it for you, then try “Debate 109” or “Comparative Religion”), culminating in the past three episodes as the show as found itself in terms of format (i.e., the study table moment at the halfway point), characters, and tone. The show’s done this to enough of an extent that I found myself had pressed to take many notes because I laughing so much (a hard feat to do when you’re watching the episode on Hulu by yourself in a library group study room).

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“I’m a tenured professor sitting in a bean bag chair!”

Community continues to impress me with its maturation and its wise use of its ensemble. “Interpretive Dance” proved that the show was perfectly able to start stretching its ensemble outside of typical pairings or stories, and this episode is no different. Instead of a Jeff/Britta pairing being about their ever-complicating relationship, it deals with them emphasizing how they’ve assumed a parental role (Pierce is probably the “funny uncle” who isn’t really an uncle) of the rest of the study group, specifically now that Annie has started dating Vaughn. And that Alison Brie manages to make this seem like a perfectly natural evolution of her character just shows how smart this cast is.

As the parents, Jeff and Britta decide that Annie isn’t ready to date Vaughn, with Jeff identifying him as “gateway douche” (terrific phrase that I’m going to start using) to larger, sleezier douches. It’s a testament to the show’s devotion to its characters that Jeff hasn’t reverted to his loathing of the group yet, but instead with each week, he becomes closer and closer to them (and them to him). Even Britta and Jeff’s “manipulation” of Troy to get him to try and hook up with Annie (bringing back Annie’s high school crush on Troy) reeks of parental planning and meddling.

The ending to the episode’s main plot is a little too overly sweet, but the show balances that sweetness with perhaps the best study table scene the show’s provided as they come to a realization that the group is very much like a family, but a family wherein every one is a potential sexual partner. It leads some incredibly smart facial comedy as everyone looks around, sizing up the table’s potential. Pierce’s looks get rejected; Troy seems to calculate each woman’s hotness; Annie and Jeff share a look that implies attraction that will never be acted upon; and Abed’s come hither looks to random members are simply priceless. The sequence plays off the show’s limited history in organic ways but also in ways that wouldn’t totally alienate viewers coming in for the first time.

The B-plot is another no one wants to be around Pierce story. While this is getting a bit tired, it’s still funny enough that it still works well enough. Abed and Troy throw MST3K parties of bad movies (Kickpuncher – “A cyborg cop whose punches have the power of kicks.”), and invite Shirley along (and Senor Chang!). Pierce feels out of place since he can’t keep up with the zingers (it can be tricky) so he goes to the Greendale improv troupe. Two things about this: 1) Pierce’s interactions with the improv troupe were great and 2) I want more of the improv group. When he rattles off his pre-made sets of jokes, it’s a great bit of delivery on Chase’s part. Plus, you know, then there’s a pratfall, and the Chase pratfall is textbook.

What the B-plot does, and what I like to see B-plots always do, is compliment the main plot’s theme (or, in the case of recent episodes, what the show is ultimately about) is that these people ultimately like hanging out together and care about each other (even if they don’t always let Pierce know in so many words). The show is ironic but sweet, and in all the right ways.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Someone screwed up the announced list of episodes. I was expecting “Beginner Pottery.” This was nice, though.
• I think I must’ve been the only one who thought the show looked different. The cinematography and lighting seemed different for the show, especially in the cafeteria.
• That Vaughn thinks the study group is “evil” is probably my favorite non-cast regular moment of the night. Sometimes I wish for a Rosencrantz & Guildernstern Are Dead-esque episode on shows, but on Community, I like these limited bits of business that contribute to world building in ways that aren’t as obvious as the R&G approach.

It was a pretty low-key night for the ONLY REASONS TO WATCH NBC night, unless you were one of those outraged by the clip show episode of The Office, to which I offer condolences, but I don’t watch The Office. I do, however, watch Community and 30 Rock. I don’t have a great deal to say about either show this week, so I’m combining both into one post. Hope you don’t mind.

Community

“I am spending a lot of money on break-away clothing.”

This week’s episode wasn’t hilarious like “Introduction to Statistics” and “Debate 109” or engaged in the type of sharp meta-commentary from last week’s “Investigative Journalism” did. It, instead, went for something much quieter, more character-driven which, after last week’s episode, felt like a natural progression.

I was happy to see Donald Glover and Gillian Jacobs get some time together for a plot. Their interplay (“I know it’s tempting to sneak a peek, but I’m going to need you to keep your eyes up here.”) was spot on, and didn’t feel forced for two characters that haven’t spent a great deal of time together.  The fact that it didn’t feel forced actually speaks to how well the show’s ensemble works together as both a group and as individuals. And now that the show is finding its way to consistent tones for everyone (and for itself), I can only hope that NBC gives it a chance to find an audience.

In addition to the dance as a secret plot with Britta and Troy (which, really, is that something to be embarrassed about still?), we get the secret relationship of Jeff and Professor Slater (from “Introduction to Statistics”) coming back. While I was happy to see a return to this plot, the humor never really took off for me. That Greendale ranks its students and teachers on a hotness scale, and has forms if students and teachers get involved is a comedy goldmine that I don’t think was fully exploited, albeit for a reason.

That reason is to give time to Britta’s realization that she kind of has a thing for Jeff. The dance recital is a bizarre thing no matter what show it airs on, and Community is no different with a teapot watering flowers. But it also motivated character development for Britta in realizing that she has feelings for Jeff upon seeing him holding hands with Professor Slater, and for Troy jumping to Britta’s aid when she freezes in the recital. Additionally, it showed Jeff continuing to break out of his cynical shell by giving Britta a bouquet of flowers at the end of the recital. Big moves for all these characters.

The introduction of a love triangle is never my favorite thing to see, but the show’s won me over enough that I hope they play it out in a fun and different way.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Greendale has the widest variety of courses I’ve ever seen. Seriously. I’m starting to think that Dean Pelton is trying to get accreditation as a 4-year college. (They have a boating class, for pete’s sake!)
• I think that there’s nothing Danny Pudi can’t do. His tap at the end of the episode was nice. Plus his delivery of “Sounds like a porno with Kate Winslet!” was the perfect mixof brilliant fanboy idea and answering a game show question.
• The fact that reruns of the much maligned (at least on this blog) The Big Bang Theory beat Community (as well as Parks and Recreations) in the ratings last night is appalling. While I don’t particularly care for Parks and Recreations, it is better than the Othering humor of The Big Bang Theory. I just don’t get it.

30 Rock after the jump! Read more »

“When you’ve earned it.”

I did the first two years of my undergraduate at a private, residential, 2-year liberal arts Methodist-affiliated college in the mountains. It was a great experience, but after I finished my Associate’s, I had to leave. I transferred to a public, urban, major research university in the middle of a city. In my previous institution, it was 600 students living on campus and everyone knew everyone (more or less). In the second one, it was over 20,000 undergrads, almost all of whom commuted to the campus. It was hard to make friends that lasted longer than the semester you were in class with them. I didn’t manage to make any until, ironically, my last semester of undergrad.

I’ve told you all of that because this episode of Community, while certainly not their funniest, was easily the one I related to most, and felt the most like my college experience (both undergraduate and graduate).  More importantly though, I think it feels like a fairly universal experience, not only in college, but in any situation where you’re tossed into a place that you don’t feel like you really fit in, but desperately want to. Read more »