Community has become one of my favorite new sitcoms. It took me a while to admit this. It's fairly standardly paced and at times it seems to be yearning for a laugh track. The more I watched it though, the more I enjoyed it. I guess I owe that to having seen Donald Glover (who plays Troy, the football jock) perform a couple of times at the UCB Theatre. He was so dang funny, I had to start paying closer attention to the show. And, boyohboy, amigladidid.
It's not always great, but when it's good, it's damn good. The show is a ridiculous comedy, not trying very hard to be anything other than funny. It's got a good dose of meta in it, and it's self-referencing is gosh darn hi-larious. Once critics started pointing out pure character stereotypes on the show, they embraced the eff out of them. Somewhere around midseason, this show started getting really good.
In a perfect world, Chevy Chase would have never been added to the cast, but oh wells. My favorite character is easily Señor Chang, played by Ken Jeong. This isn't a character you've never seen before. Many shows have featured the angrier-than-is-necessary-teacher character. But Ken's play on this old archetype is fantastic. Also, he very much reminds me of what I think my friend James would be like as a teacher of any sort. Is that racist? It's probably racist. Alright, time to stop using words like "archetype" and to start watching some dang clips!
Community is on Hulu. I think. Watch it if you'd like. Other than that, it's on NBC, Thursday nights, either right before or after 30 Rock.
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I was just thinking about this show and how much I love/hate it. There are so many really funny things, but when something doesn't work, it's so bad that it makes me cringe. Like the entire episode with Jack Black. Or the one where Chevy Chase joins that band. Ugh but then Chang and Abed and Troy are so funny that I can ignore how bad everything else is sometimes. Maybe I'm being harsh because I can't help but compare it to Parks and Rec which is one of my new favorite shows.
ReplyDeleteI used to hate so many things about the show, especially the Jeff/Britta thing. Well, I just didn't like Britta at all for a while. But yes: Chang, Abed and Troy are like a triumvirate of Soviet-Comedic power. I loves it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really want to start watching Parks and Rec. I think it's kind of odd that I haven't started it yet... I think I was just too worried it would be a little too Officey for me, and I really can not stand what's happened to that show.
I never watched the American Office, but I really liked the Ricky Gervais one. Parks and Recreation is super cute and funny, I think I like it even more than 30 Rock. Amy Poehler is adorable and Louis CK is in season two and he is probably my favorite part of ever episode he was is. But I prefer my humor to be cute like baby pandas sliding down a slide together and knocking into each other and bouncing. Some people don't like that.
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