#sixseasonsandamovie - The History Of Community (And What Makes It Streets Ahead)

(I never really got into Community until recently. In fact, I got into the show after doing a marathon of the episodes through Netflix. Boy did I miss out.  I'm a huge fan of sitcoms like The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Seinfeld, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and the list goes on. I never watched Community originally because I was so invested into The Office and How I Met Your Mother, both of which have ended in consecutive years. So, I decided on watching Community after seeing it have really good reviews and a pretty strong following. So here is my article on one of my new favorite shows.)

The History (so far) at Greendale
Whats incredible about Community is that it is, in one word, Unique. The show has the inevitable cliches that come with making a sitcom, but what makes it so good is its self aware behavior. Whether its Abed Nadir proclaiming pop culture reference after reference, or the shows homage to a classic film or TV series, the show is really aware of what its doing. And that's why its so good. For those who have never watched an episode of the show, here's a brief recap of the story so far:

Jeff Winger (The Soup's Joel McHale) is a former lawyer who has to retake his education after his degree is found to be fraudulent. He enrolls in Greendale Community College in hopes of getting a degree a little faster with the help of one the teachers, Dr. Ian Duncan (Daily Show and Last Week Tonight's John Oliver). A former client of his, Jeff tries to persuade Duncan in helping him fast track his time there, which he is unsuccessful in doing so. In the meanwhile, Jeff sees the very guarded and beautiful Britta (Gillian Jacobs) whom he has Spanish 101 with. With the help of Abed's (Danny Pudi) knowledge about her, he tries to persuade her into dating him. This leads him to lying that he is a tutor who can help out in Spanish. After thinking he was going to be doing a 1-on-1 tutoring session with Britta, he is surprised to see Abed a long with Pierce (SNL Legend Chevy Chase), Annie (Mad Men's Alison Brie), Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), and Troy (Donald Glover). After some misunderstandings and Breakfast Club references, the group begins to form a strong bond with each other. Thus leading into crazy adventures and hi jinks that have taken place over the past 5 seasons.

Now that is just a recap of the overall story, but in fact the show offers so much more. It's very rare to find a show nowadays that has memorable and pretty interesting supporting/background characters. Characters such as Duncan, Senor Ben Chang (The Hangover Trilogy's Ken Jeong), and Dean Pelton (Oscar Winner Jim Rash) are supporting characters who aren't just scene fillers. They steal scenes (sometimes entire episodes) on the show. It could be said that this show is probably one of the true and best ensemble cast on air currently. Not only do the main characters get scope, but the other characters on the show have great dialogue and stories in the episodes as well.

To go a long with the incredible characters, the stories told in episodes are pretty quirky and hilariously different. It's very hard to find a show that would divulge an entire episode on who took a pen (Yeah, there was an entire episode that involved that one story line, which I would put as one of the shows best episodes so far). In fact it's rare to see shows that are live action dedicate an entire episode to claymation or animation. One of the best episodes in the series was an episode that took place in an 8 bit video game. To add to interesting episodes there were episodes dedicated to all out paintball matches within the school, a pillow war, a school wide blanket fort, multiple timelines about housewarming party being played out, a zombie episode, and a couple of dungeons and dragons episodes.

It's very rare to find those types of things being put into a sitcom about adults in college, and that's what makes the show pretty awesome. It takes stuff that seem unorthodox or weird, and mashes it up to form some very interesting and highly intriguing television. The show does follow a format in a majority of the episodes, but some tend to break free and try to be different. Like some of the episodes already listed, there have been episodes that have been made in the format of a documentary (one episode parodying the famous documentary Hearts Of Darkness and one made in the style of a Ken Burns documentary), a blatant Law & Order styled episode (with the case being about a tampered yam(s)), and an episode made in the style of David Fincher films.

Community is a show that doesn't really play by the book. Usually shows tend to fall in the mold of many other famous shows so that new viewers would be able to join in. Community has been a show that literally sticks to it's own rules. Its unique in the prospect that it doesn't fall victim to imitation of other successful series's. When compared to other long running current shows, Community is a stand out. Which is why it's incredible that the show has a long running fate of being on the brink of cancellation. Ever since the end of season 1, the show has always had a very wary fate of returning. The shows strong fan base has made the show survive on numerous occasions. It is one of the most talked about and heralded shows on the internet, with #sixseasonsandamovie being a trending topic whenever it seems the show is in talk of cancellation. Many shows have seen there renewals being made thanks to fan support, but the type of support Community gets is incredible.

It could be said that it all came to a boiling point in the 2011-2012 season. The show had been hit with a hiatus that was strange to see. NBC had replaced it on the mid-season schedule with the hit show 30 Rock. Fans of Community began to take notice, and formed an incredible showing of solidarity and voice when it came to saving Greendale. It was unprecedented to see the type of support that it did. For a show that wasn't a huge viewers juggernaut, it did have an incredible amount of support. Flash mobs were outside the NBC building, fans were singing Christmas Troy (a song that Troy, Abed, and Jeff create in a first season Christmas episode) whilst wearing the Darkest Timeline goatees. In fact here's just a sample of the mob:

Online support for the show was extravagant. Hashtags that referenced Community were usually highly trending on twitter. Collegehumor created a "Save Greendale" PSA styled ad which featured the characters of Community (which you can find above). Joel McHale's The Soup would feature cast member(s) from Community almost every week during the hiatus to talk about the show being off air. Support kept poring in, leading to NBC eventually bringing back the show in March of 2012. But it wasn't the end of the problems dealing with the show's always questionable fate.

The next few seasons of Community had featured less episodes than usual, with both seasons 4 and 5 having 13 episodes each, pretty much half of the amount that seasons 1-3 had. It was a sad state for the show, coupled with tensions with the shows creator Dan Harmon and execs along with star Chevy Chase. Season 4 marked a change in the show. Dan Harmon was replaced as the show runner, and Chevy Chase's role was cut down a bit. Critics ratings and viewership went down a little, though the show was still looked as good, many considered the 4th season as not to the quality of the previous 3.

Season 5 marked the return of Dan Harmon and the show critical acclaim had gone up to the type of ratings that the first 3 seasons had. Sadly, the problems that had happened with Chevy Chase and the execs lead to the demise of his character, whom was written off the season entirely (only making a holographic appearance in the season 5 premiere). It also saw the departure of Donald Glover's character of Troy, whom only appeared in the first 5 episodes and then left as well. This was due to Glover's booming music career as Childish Gambino, and the busy schedule that was going to be a result of the crossover. Though two of the main characters were gone, the show was able to maintain a good standing with critics and fans, with many agreeing the show evolved a bit and showed that could still be funny even without Pierce's antics and the Abed/Troy dynamic.

After season 5 had finished, the show was unfortunately cancelled by NBC. It sent many fans into outrage and sadness, with the actors of the show tweeting with the hashtag "#darkesttimeline." The main reason to the cancellation was simple, the show wasn't getting the viewership that NBC had hoped. Many other contemporary shows that were on air during Community time on NBC had significantly larger audiences. Shows such as The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, and The Office all had more viewership and had a higher average viewing audience than Community. Along with that, sadly Community has never been a big award winner as well. When it comes to the Emmys, the only Emmy won was for the claymation work on the Abed Christmas special. In fact the show has a total of 2 Emmy nominations in its entire run so far.

That means:
0 nominations in acting - That means no nominations for any of the actors, whom are probably amongst the best comedy actors in entertainment today!
0 nominations in direction - The show features some of the best direction in comedy today, with many episodes considered as highly imaginative and ground breaking.
1 nomination in writing - Chris McKenna is the only writer to have an Emmy nomination for his Remidial Chaos Theory episode script. Creator Dan Harmon, amongst the other writers, have no Emmy recognition.
AND FINALLY THE SHOW HAS NEVER BEEN NOMINATED FOR BEST COMEDY! (Glee for god sakes has been nominated for Best Comedy, no offense to that show but COME ON!)

But thankfully, in today's day and age, the internet streaming business has become so strong that many shows have thrived through such sites as Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Luckily for Community, the show was saved in the last minute by Yahoo Screen, thus giving the chance for the show to fulfill its destiny of #sixseasonsandamovie. With Community being a constantly popular show on the streaming websites (the main reason as to why I started watching the show as it was shown as "Popular On Netflix" suggestion), it was a heavily sought out show after the cancellation. In fact, Hulu was about to get the rights to Community but talks dissolved at the end, thus leading to Yahoo's purchase.

So far Yahoo has talked highly positive about the future of the show, already saying a movie is in discussion and that they would like to see more than six seasons if it is possible. For Community, the internet was always its kingdom when it came to showing its true popularity. And now with it continuing on Yahoo, more viewers, and possibly new viewers, can join in on the Greendale 7.

Dynamics and what makes the show so..cool...coolcoolcool

The acting on Community is simply really good. Many of the characters interactions with each other have created simple story lines into very intriguing and hilarious episodes. And like many great TV shows, it has some really nice romantic pairings. Jeff and Annie, though not officially a couple, are probably one of the most adorable and great pairings on TV today (IMO I want Jeff and Annie to end up together). It's the classic opposites attract, and what makes the show so unique is that, unlike many show creators that seem to want to have a blind eye on pairings, the shows creator has taken notice to fans admiration of specific pairings. Many episodes have featured a little wink-hint of Jeff/Annie and some have been a little more open about the pairing. Originally the show was to have Jeff pair up with Britta, but the focus was diverted to the above pairing with it considered having a more positive response from fans. Also, the shows probably breakout and most popular pairing of Troy and Abed has led to many episodes and scenes that feature the two during random and silly things.

Infact many of the shows endtags have been featured specifically on the antics of the two characters, with such tropes as Troy and Abed in the morning being created. One of the most popular scenes in the shows history was a spanish rap that the two perform in the end tag to Spanish 101, with the lyrics that are in the picture below.

The individual performances by all the actors also is one of the reasons why the show is able to stand out from the rest. Whether its Chevy Chase's racist and grumpy portrayal or Ken Jeong's evil conniving Senor Ben Chang, the show offers a diverse type characters that some shows tend to fray away or not show on screen. One such character is Jim Rash's Dean Pelton. Though the Dean is technically not come out of the closet (right now he can be considered as bi-sexual), his character is one that we have not really seen on primetime sitcoms. His dressing up in men and women costumes is something we rarely see in prominent characters on shows. The character is unique and is one of the reasons why the show is "streets ahead" of other shows.

In fact, the show is pretty interesting when it comes to things like religion as well. All the characters belong to different religions such as: Christianity, Atheism, Judaism, Muslim, Agnostic, and Jehovah's Witness (and if including Pierce's Cult that he believes is Buddhism). This gives the show a pretty different and diverse aspect, as it gives it an interesting look when it comes to celebrating certain days, including Troy's birthday (even though he is a Jehovah's Witness). The first christmas episode also does a pretty good job at showing how everyone celebrates the day and what it means to each person.

 Episodes that make the show, "streets ahead"

As stated before in this article, there have been episodes dealing with paintball competitions within the school, but that is just the tip of the ice berg when it comes to stuff done on the show. What makes Community unique is the fact that episodes are done in ways you probably won't think of at first thought. Take in for instance the faux clipshow, "Paradigms of Human Memory." Usually, sitcoms dedicate an episode to replaying famous scenes from past episodes as sort of a "break episode," or an episode that takes a break from the overall story. However in this particular episode, all the scenes that supposed to be clips, are actually brand new scenes that were shot specifically for the show. Even the scene that involves the past halloween episode was one that was not in the original episode, and the set had to be re created just for the specific episode. All the "clips" happened to be new material, unlike the usual clip show format. What also makes the episode memorable is it's parody of fan made tribute videos, or "shipping videos." The episode makes for an incredibly smart parody of the two things, making it a memorable episode.

The Law & Order and David Fincher spoof episodes (Basic Lupine Urology and Basic Intergluteal Numismatics) both shine as prime examples of the brilliance of the shows writing and filming techniques. Both episodes are shot and made in an extensive way that almost imitates both primary subjects. Basic Lupine Urology is shot in brilliant fashion by creating the well known Law & Order atmosphere. Using the famous title sequence and making the investigation scenes in similar fashion to the show, the episode makes for one of the best homage based episodes in the entire series. All the lines and acting mimic the shows serious tone and language, also creating the great tension and crime feel in amazing satire. 

  

Basic Intergluteal Numismatics dives into the crime genre again, however this time in a more darker satire that is blatantly parodying David Fincher films along with shows like The Bridge, The Killing, and Hannibal. What makes the episode amazing is the filming aspect. The colour tone and visual aspect mimics Fincher's films superbly, giving it a grim and dark feel. What also makes the episode amazing is that it centers around the"Ass Crack Bandit." A character referenced from season 2, the bandit attacks unsuspecting victims by dropping a quarter in to their ass crack whilst bent over. The episode does a good job in leaving the bandit's identity very hard to tell, with the episode ending with a end tag stating that the bandit is still on the loose, similar to David Fincher's Zodiac films end tag. What's even more interesting is how open ended the episode is left in dealing with whom the Ass Crack Bandit might be. If you want to interest your self in some of the theories on which character(s) might be the Bandit, you can go to Reddit and check some theories out.

The paintball episodes, are what I believe, the episodes that helped put the show on the map for its creativity. What makes these episodes awesome is that it's just done very well. The pace is fast, it's pretty high octane action for a TV sitcom episode, and the story lines for the episodes are pretty hilarious. In the first paintball episode, Modern Warfare, the episode is actually a brilliant smashup of many famous action film tropes. In the other episode dealing with paint-balling, the two part episode "A Fistful of Paintballs/For a few Paintballs More," the story is a mix-up of a spaghetti western and a Star Wars parody dealing with an all out paintball war with Greendale and rivals City College. All three of the episodes are excellent ways that show that sitcoms can be real fun and action packed if they wanted to (and also prove that paintball is pretty fricking awesome!)

I could go on and on about the episodes I like, but to save time and avoid having my hands cramp from all this typing here are a bunch of my favorite episodes in random order (There are so much more episodes I like, but if you are new to the show, I suggest these episodes to watch to get a feel of what Community is all about):

Basic Intergluteal Numismatics

A Fistful of Paintballs/For a few Paintballs More

Modern Warfare

Basic Lupine Urology

Pascal's Triangle Revisited

Introduction to Statistics

Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design

Pillows and Blankets

Digital Estate Planning

Geothermal Escapism

What Lies Ahead

I believe that with the show entering the streaming world, Community will finally get its due as a popular show. Its very hard to explain what type of show it is. I rarely can say I have been impressed by a show as much I did with Community. I really like sitcoms, as most of my favorite shows are comedies, so to watch a show that seems to take those tropes and flip them upside down, its really cool. The show is what I could say ahead of its time. In a day and age where many people complain about stuff being rehashed and the same old ideas being made, Community breathes fresh air into the TV world as it does all those things, but in the most original and interesting ways. Hopefully, with the sixth season on Yahoo premiering in 2014 fall, the show will get the high viewership and fame that it deserves. Its a show that has seen and been through so much, yet refuses to go away. And that's what makes the shows legacy even more endearing.