COMMUNITY
Its genius will bite your face off!
Community is one of those shows that come around every so often that has so much potential, that it’s bound to be cancelled. It’s also one of those rare ensemble comedies where the sum is truly greater than its parts, but its parts are pretty damned good too. It’s hard to write a review where no one particular aspect shines, gives me very little to talk about.
In case you’re not familiar, Community centres around Jeff (Joel McHale), a charismatic and self-centred disbarred lawyer who is forced to go back to community college to get a real degree. He meets Britta (Gillian Jacobs), the aloof feminist politically aware girl of his dreams. He makes up a Spanish study group in order to get closer to her, but all these other people rock up, and hijinks more than ensue.
You also have an old man trying to be hip while being hampered by his condescending racism (Chevy Chase), a slightly autistic guy with a penchant for pop-culture (Danny Pudi), an ultra-nice but shy mother (Yvette Nicole Brown), a sweet gal with doe eyes (Alison Brie), and an ex-high school jock (Donald Glover). It’s an eclectic mix, to be sure.
The amazing thing is how it all seems to actually work. With outstanding appearances from Ken Jeong as ‘El Tigre’ and Jim Rash as the ultra-PC ultra-neurotic dean, it’s hard not to compare this show to an early Scrubs.
Whereas Community doesn’t try to land the emotional punch Scrubs did back in its heyday, the quirky and off beat tone is sure to win fans looking for a new quirky-rush. The interplay between characters is great not only because of some great charisma from the leading players but because of some great writing.
With premises ranging from a Godfather riff centering around chicken cutlets, a sailing class that takes place in a parking lot and a truly awesome-o-saurus paintball episode, the writers know a ridiculous premise when they see one and they run with it.
In case you’re not familiar, Community centres around Jeff (Joel McHale), a charismatic and self-centred disbarred lawyer who is forced to go back to community college to get a real degree. He meets Britta (Gillian Jacobs), the aloof feminist politically aware girl of his dreams. He makes up a Spanish study group in order to get closer to her, but all these other people rock up, and hijinks more than ensue.
You also have an old man trying to be hip while being hampered by his condescending racism (Chevy Chase), a slightly autistic guy with a penchant for pop-culture (Danny Pudi), an ultra-nice but shy mother (Yvette Nicole Brown), a sweet gal with doe eyes (Alison Brie), and an ex-high school jock (Donald Glover). It’s an eclectic mix, to be sure.
The amazing thing is how it all seems to actually work. With outstanding appearances from Ken Jeong as ‘El Tigre’ and Jim Rash as the ultra-PC ultra-neurotic dean, it’s hard not to compare this show to an early Scrubs.
Whereas Community doesn’t try to land the emotional punch Scrubs did back in its heyday, the quirky and off beat tone is sure to win fans looking for a new quirky-rush. The interplay between characters is great not only because of some great charisma from the leading players but because of some great writing.
With premises ranging from a Godfather riff centering around chicken cutlets, a sailing class that takes place in a parking lot and a truly awesome-o-saurus paintball episode, the writers know a ridiculous premise when they see one and they run with it.
Don't let the promo shot discourage you...
This is enhanced by the fact that the ensemble cast is just fantastic. Joel McHale manages to be both snarky, good looking and hilarious which quite frankly just isn’t fair. Chevy Chase is absolutely reborn as a bigoted old man trying to look cool and some of the interplay (usually during the closing credits) between Pudi and Glover is just genius. It’s a shame though that there are things holding this program back.
In the first instance, it feels as if the show is overproduced. Difficult concept, but let me try to explain. You see, you know when you hear an album and everything sounds ridiculously perfect, with twelve layers of audio coming from the same voice? You know how that can actually detract from the listening experience? It’s the same here. The production values and clean backgrounds make you feel as if this isn’t happening spontaneously. It seems like a harsh criticism, but thinking back to the great TV comedies like Seinfeld and Arrested Development, they seemed a lot more organic. Therefore, the humour was able to be more organic, rather than heavily scripted.
One gets the feeling that improvisation is frowned upon by the writers and producers of Community.
The other thing getting in its way is itself. In a few instances during the season, the show goes for an emotional punch and it just doesn’t work. The show works best on a flashy, superficial level and it should really stay there. The final episode in particular, just borders on the ridiculous with its melodramatic ending, but not on a good way. That being said, it’s a first year show and the writers and producers are still trying to find its voice.
This show, in short, is really promising. It has moments of pure genius, and if you’re after light-viewing which will tickle your funny bone but not engage your brain bone (wait...) then you can certainly do worse than Community. I recommend checking out the first season, and the good news is that it’s been picked up for a second.
Watch this space...
- James McGrath
In the first instance, it feels as if the show is overproduced. Difficult concept, but let me try to explain. You see, you know when you hear an album and everything sounds ridiculously perfect, with twelve layers of audio coming from the same voice? You know how that can actually detract from the listening experience? It’s the same here. The production values and clean backgrounds make you feel as if this isn’t happening spontaneously. It seems like a harsh criticism, but thinking back to the great TV comedies like Seinfeld and Arrested Development, they seemed a lot more organic. Therefore, the humour was able to be more organic, rather than heavily scripted.
One gets the feeling that improvisation is frowned upon by the writers and producers of Community.
The other thing getting in its way is itself. In a few instances during the season, the show goes for an emotional punch and it just doesn’t work. The show works best on a flashy, superficial level and it should really stay there. The final episode in particular, just borders on the ridiculous with its melodramatic ending, but not on a good way. That being said, it’s a first year show and the writers and producers are still trying to find its voice.
This show, in short, is really promising. It has moments of pure genius, and if you’re after light-viewing which will tickle your funny bone but not engage your brain bone (wait...) then you can certainly do worse than Community. I recommend checking out the first season, and the good news is that it’s been picked up for a second.
Watch this space...
- James McGrath
Comments
(4 hours ago) name said:
(4 hours ago)
(8 hours ago)
(12 hours ago)
(17 hours ago)
(22 hours ago)
(1 day ago)
(1 day ago)
(1 day ago)
(2 days ago)
comment feed(showing 1 to 10) next>
