Community

[Trumpet Thief]

Any fans of this show on here?

A quick summary for anyone who hasn't watched it: Jeff Winger (Joel Mchale) is forced to go back to community college after being disbarred, due to him having faked his degree. In order to get near a hot blonde chick in his Spanish Class named Britta (Gillian Jacobs), he pretends to be a Spanish tutor and makes up a study group. What starts off as a snarky and fun comedy explodes into an insane zombie epidemic naked pool match alternate dark timeline 8-bit claymation pillow fort flashback paintball explosion with a whole lot of heart.

Watch it!

[Agent Proto]

Troy and Abed in the mooooooorning.

[Rostum]

I love Community. My girlfriend and I just finished a marathon of it the other week. :) The show just gets crazier and crazier too, lol.

[Trumpet Thief]

About halfway through Season 3, I honestly did become a little bit frustrated. As much as I loved how 'far out' the show goes (and went), I really enjoyed the grounded, school-centric tone running through Season 1.

That said, I really felt that the final stretch of Season 3 did more than redeem it, and in retrospect, it felt like a really good season out of a really good show (although Season 2 will always be my favorite).

[blackmage_nuke]

Community is streets ahead

[Miriel]

Community started off meh, and then got good. And then became REALLY SMURFING AWESOME. And now I think it's kinda meh again.

[Rantz]

Community started off meh, and then got good. And then became REALLY SMURFING AWESOME. And now I think it's kinda meh again.

This is a pretty accurate summary.

[Jessweeee♪]

Community is probably my favorite show of all time. I've seen every episode like ten times and I'm not sick of any of them. It's hard to find a show that fits you that well, y'know?

[The Captain]

Really interested to see what direction the show takes without Dan Harmon who really is the inspired bit of crazy awesome the show has at its core.

Take care all.

[Del Murder]

Community started off meh, and then got good. And then became REALLY SMURFING AWESOME. And now I think it's kinda meh again.
Yep pretty much! I'm not sure what happened, either.

[Trumpet Thief]

Community started off meh, and then got good. And then became REALLY SMURFING AWESOME. And now I think it's kinda meh again.

If I may ask, would you be able to pinpoint when the show became 'smurfing awesome' and when it started to decline?

Because I think that the show teeters episode to episode, and I personally loved the final 3/4 episodes of season 3 despite not enjoying every episode that season.

And to The Captain, I'm very interested in where the show is going to go as well. I honestly think that Dan Harmon embodied both the best and the worst of the show. Most of his 'out-there' concepts were amazing, but I didn't enjoy how Season 3 destroyed any semblance of 'grounded-ness' that the show may have had. If Season 4 goes back to some sort of school-centric show that still loves concepts, then I'll be completely fine with it, despite rather having Dan back.

[Del Murder]

The start of Season 3 was the start of the decline. Smurfing awesome probably started at the first paintball episode.

[Trumpet Thief]

The start of Season 3 was the start of the decline. Smurfing awesome probably started at the first paintball episode.

I can agree with you there. The beginning of Season 3 felt like horrible fanfiction, to be completely honest.

I do think that the show redeemed itself in the later episodes, but Season 3 was definitely the weakest of the bunch in my eyes.

[Jinx]

Okay, guys, but the timelines episode was amazing.

[NorthernChaosGod]

Alison Brie, unf.

[Trumpet Thief]

I'm very excited about the comic-con panel this friday, with the new creators and most of the cast. Hopefully some secrets about Season 4 will be spilled!

[Jessweeee♪]

Yeah I am totally bummed about Dan Harmon leaving :<

[Trumpet Thief]

Yeah I am totally bummed about Dan Harmon leaving :<

As am I, but at least the cast and many of the great writers (who worked with Dan for many years) will be sticking around. :p

I do know that it will probably be very different, but the new creators stressed that they wanted to stay true to what Community has been, so at least that is a bit of a positive sign.

[McLovin']

It's like good episode, AWESOME EPISODE, bad episode, bad episode, good episode repeat.

Glee episode, paintball episode, Fussball episode, timelines episode, are what I consider awesome episodes. And I can't think of the bad episodes cas i deleted them from my DVR and my mind.

[Jinx]

ersonally thought the plant/Law and Order episodes were really funny. Only because my parents are obsessed with Law and Order, so I grew up on it, even though I hate it.

[Jessweeee♪]

Law and Order is one of those weird shows that you hate 'cause your mom and dad always watched it and then you end up watching it when nothing else is on even if they aren't around.

I have so many favorite episodes. Here are just a few awesome ones off the top of my head.
1. My Dinner with Andre Dinner with Abed
2. The Glee episode
3. Remedial Chaos Theory
4. First episode of Season 2
5. Paaaaaaaiiintbaaaaalll
6. Both of Abed's documentaries
7. All of Season 1
8. Troy's birthday (it's especially amusing to me because I live in the same zip code as Annie's alter ego)
9. Blanket fort/Conspiracy Theories
10. Blanket fort vs. Pillow fort

[The Captain]

Season 3 was clearly, as Harmon himself said, the screw it, let's just try anything season. Whole episodes based on doing homages, like the Ken Burns - Pillowfight episode, or Law and Order or Video Game episodes. It made for some very up and down story-lines to say the least.

Granted, Community has always had fun with that but in Seasons 1 and 2, the characters shined through more. In 3, they seemed more like pawns in a big game of random adventure. I'm not really complaining about it but should Season 4 see a return of sorts to the characters themselves being the heart of the show, I think it will be better off.

Take care all.

[Trumpet Thief]

Absolutely agree 'The Captain'. I loved every season (and I will be buying Season 3 on DVD :love:).

I was incredibly involved with all of the news concerning Community pre-season 3. Things like Harmon stating that it was going to be the 'darkest season' and that it was going to deal with 'morality' got me very excited. In the end, I think that it was an amazing season of television that was a sliiight drop off from the 'Season 1/2' quality.

My main problems were with inconsistency. I would go from saying 'meh' to an episode to absolutely fawning over another one. While people may point to Season 1's paintball as the all-time 'high moment' of Community, with a straight face I can tell you that I consider it as good as every episode in S1 (which is not an insult to paintball, mind you). With S3, there were many, many high points, but the episodes in between actually did feel like filler at times. The two episodes following hiatus, in particular, were dreadful in my opinion, and yet they bounced back with the 'Pillow Fort' two-parter.

To echo some of your sentiments, Captain, I don't want Community to be the 'parody show'. Despite enjoying various action film and 'Dinner with Andre' homages, they were always second to the character interaction in the show. I know that I might be taking the show a bit too seriously, but as an extremely avid fan, the whole 'Law and Order' parody fell flat to me, despite being hilarious, because it was the first time Community just felt like a giant parody.

That said, I think that Season 3 had to go in the very strange and inconsistent direction that it did in order to reach its very amazing conclusion. I may be in the minority here, but 'Introduction to Finality' is, for my money, the greatest Community episode. The stakes were surprisingly high, and that episode managed to rank up the tension from all of the loose plot ends scattered throughout Season 3. The shot of 'Evil Abed' holding a bone-saw while watching Jeff deliver his final speech was one of those 'smurfing iconic' scenes in television, and twenty years from now, I'm sure that it will be referenced over and over again as one of those boundary breaking moments.

I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this, but I agree with some of the earlier sentiments. Having 'the group' as the core of the show is what made the show great, and I wasn't the biggest fan of some of the creative decisions made in S3. At the same time though, that 'let's go balls out' mentality is what spawned Intro to Finality/Remedial Chaos Theory, so some good did come out of it. I do think (once again, to echo your sentiments Captain) that a return to form for Season 4 will be the best way for this show to go. Just lighthearted goodness. :)

[Del Murder]

Why the quotes? You don't think he's a real Captain?

[Trumpet Thief]

I have a problem with putting unnecessary quotes in everything I write. I 'think' that I have a problem.

Help 'me'. :(

[Del Murder]

chaos: I don't think you need help. At least, not more than the rest of us.

Albedo: What?! Of course he does! *laughs maniacally*

Trowa: *sits and stares and sits and stares*

[Trumpet Thief]

Why must you be so awesome, Del?