Community: Six Seasons and a Rewatch Rewatch
December 13, 2019 8:43 PM - All Seasons - Subscribe
Having listened recently to the Vulture Festival Community reunion panel, I'm rewatching the whole series. (Again.)
There are some rough spots for sure, but the best moments are just unbeatable. Any and all thoughts, favorite bits, and quotes welcome!
There are some rough spots for sure, but the best moments are just unbeatable. Any and all thoughts, favorite bits, and quotes welcome!
It's easily one of my favorite shows of all time. I also just rewatched it, and apart from a few stinkers, I think all 6 seasons have their own merits. Season 4 has more stinkers than the others, but still.
It's hard to pick a favorite episode, but The Glee Club episode, D&D 1, and Remedial Chaos theory all rank pretty highly for me.
posted by codacorolla at 9:09 AM on December 14, 2019 [3 favorites]
It's hard to pick a favorite episode, but The Glee Club episode, D&D 1, and Remedial Chaos theory all rank pretty highly for me.
posted by codacorolla at 9:09 AM on December 14, 2019 [3 favorites]
I loved this show when it first aired, and I love the memories I have of it, buuuuuuuut I am not sure a full series rewatch will hold up so well.
posted by Faintdreams at 11:27 AM on December 14, 2019
posted by Faintdreams at 11:27 AM on December 14, 2019
Community is one of my favorite shows ever, and I'm pretty much always in the middle of watching it all the way through again. I am 100% down for rewatching it via Fanfare.
Pop pop!
posted by heteronym at 12:14 PM on December 14, 2019 [5 favorites]
Pop pop!
posted by heteronym at 12:14 PM on December 14, 2019 [5 favorites]
So is the plan just to jaw about the show as a whole in this thread, or will there be posts for individual episodes or seasons? If we take the latter approach, I'll inevitably log in and ramble whenever the mood strikes me and/or after watching an episode anew.
Whatever the case, let's be fat dogs about this!
posted by heteronym at 4:52 PM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]
Whatever the case, let's be fat dogs about this!
posted by heteronym at 4:52 PM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]
I was thinking of a loosey-goosey catch-all thread here, rather than separate episode posts.
Interested folks could do episode-focused comments in here at whatever pace. At the time of this comment I'm already on s3e05, but I'd engage in discussion about episodes that I've passed.
And people who just want to shout out quotes or general impressions / memories / discussion points can do that, too.
This thread is your Dreamatorium!
posted by D.Billy at 7:30 PM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]
Interested folks could do episode-focused comments in here at whatever pace. At the time of this comment I'm already on s3e05, but I'd engage in discussion about episodes that I've passed.
And people who just want to shout out quotes or general impressions / memories / discussion points can do that, too.
This thread is your Dreamatorium!
posted by D.Billy at 7:30 PM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]
I shall have... a BIRTHDAY CAKE!
posted by reductiondesign at 8:56 PM on December 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by reductiondesign at 8:56 PM on December 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
This is no way to teach accounting!
posted by heteronym at 10:49 AM on December 16, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by heteronym at 10:49 AM on December 16, 2019 [4 favorites]
S3 E05 Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps
First appearance of Abed and Troy dressed as Inspector Spacetime and Constable Reggie, with no mention whatsoever of who they're supposed to be.
BRITTA: “I told you guys you didn't have to dress up.”
TROY: “Oh, we were wearing this when you called.”
ABED: “Yeah, when we dress up you'll know it.”
First appearance of that adult contemporary jazz instrumental, which Troy clearly enjoys a great deal here.
“Troy and Abed sewn to-ge-ther!”
posted by D.Billy at 12:45 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
First appearance of Abed and Troy dressed as Inspector Spacetime and Constable Reggie, with no mention whatsoever of who they're supposed to be.
BRITTA: “I told you guys you didn't have to dress up.”
TROY: “Oh, we were wearing this when you called.”
ABED: “Yeah, when we dress up you'll know it.”
First appearance of that adult contemporary jazz instrumental, which Troy clearly enjoys a great deal here.
“Troy and Abed sewn to-ge-ther!”
posted by D.Billy at 12:45 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
How NBC's 'Community' Is Helping One Jazz Musician Reach A New Fanbase
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:02 PM on December 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:02 PM on December 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
Episode nine of season two, "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design," is one of my favorites. I love episodes that give us a deeper look at Greendale as an institution, especially in the first few seasons when the study group was, well, a study group, and things weren't quite as bonkers.
Night school, as presented in this episode, is just fantastic. I love that Greendale has the whole AC repair school, but night school is just a hoax within a hoax designed to teach Jeff a lesson about blowoff classes. Or something. The way the series of reveals and double-crosses falls apart makes me think the writers knew they couldn't sustain so many interlinked conspiracy theories, and poked fun at the whole thing by showing how shambolic conspiratorial thinking is. (Ah, 2010, ye simpler time. Would that this desk were a time desk!) It's particularly hilarious watching Annie and the Dean lose their shit as things fall apart. "Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie!"
This is also the episode where the seeds of the pillow/blanket fort war are sown. I'm kinda meh about that storyline, but I liked the blanket fort as it was presented here, with its own neighborhoods and communities and weird spots. And it gave us Pavel's awesome line when Abed asks him how many blankets he has: "A buttload! I get wicked cold, bros. Mad sleepy!"
On a related note, the visual design of the room full of dot matrix printers churning out fake students and fake transcripts and fake classes is highly reminiscent of how I envisioned the Heteronym Headquarters for World Domination when I was younger, though said HQ was situated in a particular dilapidated building along the freeway north of where I lived. (Surprisingly, that building survived and was renovated, but whatever occupies it now is not nearly as cool as its previous tenant, the self-explanatory COMPUTER FIXER.)
posted by heteronym at 7:39 PM on December 16, 2019 [3 favorites]
Night school, as presented in this episode, is just fantastic. I love that Greendale has the whole AC repair school, but night school is just a hoax within a hoax designed to teach Jeff a lesson about blowoff classes. Or something. The way the series of reveals and double-crosses falls apart makes me think the writers knew they couldn't sustain so many interlinked conspiracy theories, and poked fun at the whole thing by showing how shambolic conspiratorial thinking is. (Ah, 2010, ye simpler time. Would that this desk were a time desk!) It's particularly hilarious watching Annie and the Dean lose their shit as things fall apart. "Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie!"
This is also the episode where the seeds of the pillow/blanket fort war are sown. I'm kinda meh about that storyline, but I liked the blanket fort as it was presented here, with its own neighborhoods and communities and weird spots. And it gave us Pavel's awesome line when Abed asks him how many blankets he has: "A buttload! I get wicked cold, bros. Mad sleepy!"
On a related note, the visual design of the room full of dot matrix printers churning out fake students and fake transcripts and fake classes is highly reminiscent of how I envisioned the Heteronym Headquarters for World Domination when I was younger, though said HQ was situated in a particular dilapidated building along the freeway north of where I lived. (Surprisingly, that building survived and was renovated, but whatever occupies it now is not nearly as cool as its previous tenant, the self-explanatory COMPUTER FIXER.)
posted by heteronym at 7:39 PM on December 16, 2019 [3 favorites]
S2 E09
“...Did you just mispronounce ‘et cetera’?”
(I definitely use Professorson / Woolley / Garrity's “ETS CHETTERAH!” on a regular basis IRL.)
posted by D.Billy at 7:45 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
“...Did you just mispronounce ‘et cetera’?”
(I definitely use Professorson / Woolley / Garrity's “ETS CHETTERAH!” on a regular basis IRL.)
posted by D.Billy at 7:45 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
Is this an ok place to mourn the fact that I don’t know what happened to my Troy and Abed in the Morning mug? It was huge. It was kitschy. I loved it.
posted by itesser at 11:00 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by itesser at 11:00 PM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
Is this an ok place to mourn the fact that I don’t know what happened to my Troy and Abed in the Morning mug?
Yes it is. I have one myself, and don't want to imagine life without it.
posted by heteronym at 7:20 AM on December 17, 2019
Yes it is. I have one myself, and don't want to imagine life without it.
posted by heteronym at 7:20 AM on December 17, 2019
I'm now in season 4, a.k.a. “the gas leak year.” There are some good bits, but it really does feel like a show that's doing a middling impression of Community.
Which makes a lot of sense when you know that the showrunners who replaced Dan Harmon for this season were the guys behind the unsuccessful attempt at remaking The IT Crowd for the U.S. with Joel McHale as Roy.
I think everyone tried their best, but save a few exceptional moments, season 4 is streets behind.
posted by D.Billy at 12:29 PM on December 23, 2019 [1 favorite]
Which makes a lot of sense when you know that the showrunners who replaced Dan Harmon for this season were the guys behind the unsuccessful attempt at remaking The IT Crowd for the U.S. with Joel McHale as Roy.
I think everyone tried their best, but save a few exceptional moments, season 4 is streets behind.
posted by D.Billy at 12:29 PM on December 23, 2019 [1 favorite]
S5 E08 App Development and Condiments
“You know what they say: Fives have lives, fours have chores, threes have fleas, twos have blues, and ones don't get a rhyme because they're garbage.”
“I'll keep your secret, new Beanz.”
Koogler!
posted by D.Billy at 7:44 PM on December 29, 2019
“You know what they say: Fives have lives, fours have chores, threes have fleas, twos have blues, and ones don't get a rhyme because they're garbage.”
“I'll keep your secret, new Beanz.”
Koogler!
posted by D.Billy at 7:44 PM on December 29, 2019
S5 E09 VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing
This episode contains, IMO, Jim Rash's finest moment(s) on this Earth to date. 🥜🎤
posted by D.Billy at 11:05 AM on December 30, 2019 [4 favorites]
This episode contains, IMO, Jim Rash's finest moment(s) on this Earth to date. 🥜🎤
posted by D.Billy at 11:05 AM on December 30, 2019 [4 favorites]
Damn, looks like the main page post about the table read didn't drag any new Beanz into the rewatch conversation. Would that this post were a time post!
posted by heteronym at 7:11 PM on May 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by heteronym at 7:11 PM on May 21, 2020 [5 favorites]
Well, having just concluded my rewatch, or rather as much of a rewatch as I could before Harmon using Britta as a punching bag because he couldn't punch his ex made me bail, I'm actually going to argue that season 4 is not notably worse than season 5 and a great deal better than season 6. In particular, losing Donald Glover *really* hurt because Abed's an asshole and without the buffer of Troy his plots became enraging half the time.
posted by tavella at 12:46 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 12:46 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
Seasons 4–6 are so uneven that I personally wouldn't characterize any one of them as wholly better or worse than another. But I do think that they contain a handful of fantastic episodes — I'm looking at you, App Development and Condiments — and some of the best singular moments of the series. I also enjoyed the characters of Buzz, Frankie, and Elroy, and appreciated how they each pushed back against the original group members' various forms of self-involvement.
posted by D.Billy at 7:24 PM on May 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by D.Billy at 7:24 PM on May 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
Just finished my own rewatch (the table read was a lovely surprise in the midst of my journey). I found season 6 less enjoyable than season 4 this time, which is not to say the fourth season grew in my estimation - the sixth shrank. Good supporting work from Keith David and Paget Brewster, but the funny just wasn't there with any consistency for me. The second half of season 1 through season 3 are incredible, though, and season 5 has some strong moments.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 11:38 PM on June 5, 2020
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 11:38 PM on June 5, 2020
I recently finished watching the series for the first, and well, only, time. I didn't enjoy it very much. My progress through the series dragged on for months with my having to push myself to watch an episode a night. I spent most of my watch counting how many episodes I had left, and in the last episode I was looking at the counter, thinking, "Just ten more minutes.... just five more minutes... only two more minutes left." Then I'd chase it down with an episode of The West Wing, which I am currently rewatching and revelling in. I kept asking myself why I was persisting with my Community watch when I didn't genuinely like it, but at the same time I never really considered stopping. Which I suppose is some sort of compliment to the show.
The show could be so ingeniously clever and meta and had some great, even lovely moments, but it was so shallow and silly and irritating. And I absolutely hated Pierce Hawthorne's bigoted, useless character and wanted him gone. I never could understand why the show's creators thought he added anything to the mix. It was a huge relief to me when I read that Chevy Chase had been fired from the show late in its run for making racist comments on set, and I found the show was much easier to take once Pierce had been written out.
posted by orange swan at 6:09 AM on February 22
The show could be so ingeniously clever and meta and had some great, even lovely moments, but it was so shallow and silly and irritating. And I absolutely hated Pierce Hawthorne's bigoted, useless character and wanted him gone. I never could understand why the show's creators thought he added anything to the mix. It was a huge relief to me when I read that Chevy Chase had been fired from the show late in its run for making racist comments on set, and I found the show was much easier to take once Pierce had been written out.
posted by orange swan at 6:09 AM on February 22
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posted by Halloween Jack at 9:28 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]