[TV] Community is Streets Ahead!

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:41 pm

I liked it. Wasn't great, and "Abed TV" felt a little forced by the 3rd time... but it felt like Community. No need for panic just yet. I did really like:

- Opening scene, wondering how things might be different, hoping the rumors aren't true... and then cue the cheesy sitcom lines and laugh track... then it's all just in Abeds head. Nicely done.
- "Hacking" the registration system meant someone broke into a supply closet and made fake invitations.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:55 pm

Wasn't a disaster but it felt a little off just the same. Still, the jokes were occasionally funny. The dean's comment about smelling like a theater floor made me laugh.

dedewhale · Post by **dedewhale** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:23 am

It just didn't really flow...the Abed TV scenes just seemed crammed and forced. It was weak but I also always thought of Community as a "Rob Deer"show. Out of 5 at bats....3 times at-bad it was a strikeout, one time it was deep fly to the warning track but an out and that 5th time it was a massive home-run that you had to see to believe. I will hope it continues this pattern.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:48 am

So I caved and ended up watching it, horrific forewarning from the NYT article notwithstanding (and it was automatically recorded on my DVR, so...)

Not as bad as I expected, but definitely not one of the better ones. Previous comment is spot on about it's not like there hasn't ever been a bad episode, even with Harmon at the wheel.

If they can pull off even one episode this season that approaches the glory of either the zombie apocalypse episode, or the paintball episode, I will be happy.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:12 am

My litmus test would be the Pillows and Blankets episode. That's what I consider one of the top 20 sitcom episodes of all time...hell, maybe even top 10.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:38 am

hepcat wrote:My litmus test would be the Pillows and Blankets episode. That's what I consider one of the top 20 sitcom episodes of all time...hell, maybe even top 10.

Goodness. I need to go find that episode and re-watch if you're going to go there.

I vaguely remember it, but maybe I was snoozing whilst watching.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:53 am

When Pierce showed up with his plans for the Doomsday Device I just about choked to death laughing. Make sure you pause the show when the blue prints for the device are displayed. There are numerous Pierce-centric jokes embedded in it...in other words, hilariously juvenile.

Everything about that episode is just perfect. Framing it as a Ken Burns style documentary just elevated it to classic status.

WPD · Post by **WPD** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:57 am

hepcat wrote:My litmus test would be the Pillows and Blankets episode. That's what I consider one of the top 20 sitcom episodes of all time...hell, maybe even top 10.

WPD likes this.

McBa1n · Post by **McBa1n** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:31 pm

Dang, what a great start to the season. I really enjoyed the first episode. It felt like Community, which is what I was worried about.
So many good one liners - and I can't remember any. Stupid brain.
GAY BALLS! NAILED IT!

Also, glad they worked Leonard into the ep. Love that character.

cheeba · Post by **cheeba** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 12:26 am

Maybe I'm grumpy or something, but I thought it was pretty bad. I don't think I laughed once. It just wasn't funny.

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:24 am

I felt like it was one of those filler episodes. I'm surprised it's how they chose to start out the season.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 10:02 am

It was okay. Not great, not terrible.

Jaymon · Post by **Jaymon** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 12:50 am

I think Leanord's last line was best line of the episode.

Have been talking to my friends about what would happen with Chevy Chase, and I think the Abed TV nailed it perfectly in the meta humour department.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:35 am

I would be perfectly fine with Fred Willard becoming the permanent replacement for Chase. Either as Pierce or as a new character.

Dramatist · Post by **Dramatist** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 11:53 am

I thought last night's episode was excellent. I especially loved the little coda at the end.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:39 pm

I thought it was pretty bad. Much of it seemed way too forced; it's like they're distilling the characters into one niche and then playing up that part as much as possible. Parks & Rec, on the other hand, was (and consistently is) hilarious.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 1:20 pm

I think I figured out what is missing for me.

When Harmon was in control of the show, I would often rewind numerous times during the show to catch the littlest of things. Small easter eggs that he would embed in scenes as nods to fans and nerds alike.

Last night would've been a constant rewind fest had Harmon been involved. But I rewound only once because I thought I saw something...and it turned out to be nothing.

The attention to detail is what's missing in my opinion. It's gone from being a show that you really have to pay attention to, to a show that you can just listen to most of the time.

Also, the romance subplots feel REALLY forced and out of place...as if the scripts were being passed through a focus group as ironically shown in last night's episode.

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 4:49 pm

I'll take the lack of comments on last weeks "Halloween" episode as a sign no one liked it. I hated it, and that's saying a lot for a Community Halloween episode

Annie's take on "ring girl" was the only thing that made me laugh. Last night was better, but not by much. It did get points for Britta prancing around in her underwear though.

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 4:52 pm

Daveman wrote:I'll take the lack of comments on last weeks "Halloween" episode as a sign no one liked it. I hated it, and that's saying a lot for a Community Halloween episode Annie's take on "ring girl" was the only thing that made me laugh. Last night was better, but not by much. It did get points for Britta prancing around in her underwear though.

That was a Halloween episode? Are they not even trying to sync up dates anymore?

It was a weird episode. Last night was better at least.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 4:56 pm

Gavin wrote:
Daveman wrote:I'll take the lack of comments on last weeks "Halloween" episode as a sign no one liked it. I hated it, and that's saying a lot for a Community Halloween episode Annie's take on "ring girl" was the only thing that made me laugh. Last night was better, but not by much. It did get points for Britta prancing around in her underwear though.
That was a Halloween episode? Are they not even trying to sync up dates anymore?

It was a weird episode. Last night was better at least.

Well, originally NBC was supposed to start this season of Community in October but decided to delay it to February. So, yes, that was supposed to have been the Halloween episode

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 5:06 pm

IceBear wrote:Well, originally NBC was supposed to start this season of Community in October but decided to delay it to February. So, yes, that was supposed to have been the Halloween episode

Damn, I was hoping it was just a random costume party. The last few Halloween ones have been epic. Major let down.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:23 pm

To be fair, the bar was set ridiculously high with the previous Halloween episodes.

Not a TapAtalk Sig

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:16 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote:To be fair, the bar was set ridiculously high with the previous Halloween episodes.

Not a TapAtalk Sig

Which is a nice way of saying the show's going downhill now.

Koz · Post by **Koz** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:41 pm

I liked the episode, and I've actually enjoyed all of them this season. It does seem like they're trying too hard to be funny instead of having it come naturally, but I still laugh. It's hard for me to say it's going downhill because there were some pretty bad to mediocre episodes in seasons 1-3, but there will need to be an epic episode or two this season for it compare on the whole. And even if there isn't, I still think it's better than 95% of the stuff on TV.

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:39 am

Carpet_pissr wrote:To be fair, the bar was set ridiculously high with the previous Halloween episodes.

Not a TapAtalk Sig

The same ballpark would have been nice. Hell, it's like they weren't even playing the same game.

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:37 am

I thought last night was a good episode, although I didn't care for the replacement for Nick Kroll and wished they did more with Malcolm McDowell. I liked that they showed the History of Ice Cream class, and showing the scenes from past episodes where students wanted to use the study room was a nice touch.

Are we only getting a half season because they're blowing their budget on guest stars?

dedewhale · Post by **dedewhale** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:22 am

Daveman wrote:I thought last night was a good episode, although I didn't care for the replacement for Nick Kroll and wished they did more with Malcolm McDowell. I liked that they showed the History of Ice Cream class, and showing the scenes from past episodes where students wanted to use the study room was a nice touch.

Are we only getting a half season because they're blowing their budget on guest stars?

I thought there were moments which brought smiles (as you mentioned) but thought the whole Nazi story line was unoriginal , tired and actually not very well done...it felt like they wanted to be edgy but not offend anyone. Similar to Seth McFarlaines Oscar performance.

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:25 am

Was there any writer turnover between seasons? I find that some of the best writers in the business only stick around for a couple seasons. If some significant turnover happened then you may want to keep an eye on where they went.

It's actually a good idea to figure out who your favorite show writers are.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:41 am

Well, the creator of the show was let go, and I am pretty sure it was decided that this was going to be the last season (even if it wasn't, NBC put it on Friday nights which pretty much guaranteed that it will fail the ratings cut). So, it is a show on life support and my expectations are low

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:54 am

IceBear wrote:Well, the creator of the show was let go, and I am pretty sure it was decided that this was going to be the last season (even if it wasn't, NBC put it on Friday nights which pretty much guaranteed that it will fail the ratings cut). So, it is a show on life support and my expectations are low

Ah, that's a shame but it could definitely explain the cut in quality.

Hmm, it's Dan Harmon. He hasn't really done anything else I've enjoyed yet. Maybe it's a bright future but I'm not going to put him on my favorites list right now. I wonder if there's also an additional writer that moved on but had contributed their own flair or if it was him.

I like finding quirky writers though. One of my favorites is Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me, Pushing Daisies (a personal favorite), a couple Star Trek seasons that were meh (Voyager and Deep Space 9), and some more).

I hope that DVRs will largely do away with the timing of the show having anything to do with reception. I mean, I don't watch live TV anymore. I even watched the Super Bowl via DVR.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 11:05 am

Yeah not sure how ratings are impacted by dvrs. I am under the impression that it is only considering live viewing, but like you I rarely watch live TV, so they need to change the rating system if it is live only

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 11:40 am

IceBear wrote:Yeah not sure how ratings are impacted by dvrs. I am under the impression that it is only considering live viewing, but like you I rarely watch live TV, so they need to change the rating system if it is live only

Apparently we're part of a problem: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2009/1 ... ter/36917/" target="_blank

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 3:21 pm

it was probably the strongest episode of the new season in my opinion. Not exactly glowing praise though.

Doomboy · Post by **Doomboy** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 4:21 pm

I thought the Inspector Space/Time episode was the best so far. Had me laughing as much as any of the older episodes.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 5:19 pm

That was the one I felt they tried the least with this season.

Jaymon · Post by **Jaymon** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 8:06 am

it doesn't seem to me like the actors are enjoying the show as much as they used to. And the quality of writing is suffering, they really are using a lot more words than previously, it doesn't zing like it used to.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 10:35 am

Jaymon wrote:they really are using a lot more words than previously

Heh. Reminds me of the scene from the film "Amadeus" when "Wolfie" is raging about the king or Duke or whoever has currently commissioned an opera from him, and he (Mozart) considers it to be a masterpiece (which it is), but after hearing it, the king/pope/duke simply says "it's ok, but....it has too many notes." (or something like that)

paulbaxter · Post by **paulbaxter** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:11 pm

Just for my own opinion, the show seems to be at about 80-90% of how good it was the previous two seasons, which still places it pretty high.

I liked the episode we saw tonight (Advanced Documentary Filmmaking). Seeing "Rent Memento" on Chang's arm pretty much made the whole episode for me.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:00 am

I will admit that last week's episode was actually pretty good. It gave me a little hope.

I also am beginning to see why Chase was complaining about his character. Peirce has gone from racist curmudgeon with a heart who just doesn't know any better, to just racist, senile old man. He's so one dimensional compared to what he used to be that I'm surprised every time he doesn't disappear from view when he turns sideways.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:49 am

paulbaxter wrote:Just for my own opinion, the show seems to be at about 80-90% of how good it was the previous two seasons, which still places it pretty high.

I liked the episode we saw tonight (Advanced Documentary Filmmaking). Seeing "Rent Memento" on Chang's arm pretty much made the whole episode for me.

Yup...I thought it was a great episode, and easily on par with what we had under Harmon.