Of all the long-lasting comedy television legacies out there, for whatever reason, Community finally stood out to me as the one to watch. It probably also helped that it originally started airing in 2009 and that it was all available on Netflix, but who’s counting? Anyway, I’m glad I made the foray into this show, because it is truly hilarious!
Community centers on a group of misfits who all come together in a Spanish study group and then the chaos from there just takes off! In our band of misfits, the assumed leader has to be Jeff Winger, a recently disbarred lawyer who attends Greendale Community College to actually earn a bachelor’s degree, instead of faking it. There’s also Britta, who Jeff has a major crush on, but she’s definitely a feminist who isn’t falling for Jeff’s come-ons. Then there is Annie, a younger student who’s trying to prove herself after overcoming an Adderall addiction, and Shirley, a single mother and devout Christian who wants to start her own brownie business. Abed and Troy become best friends over the course of the season despite seeming very different at first. Abed struggles to connect with people in normal ways, so he often references film and television for comparisons, while Troy lands at the college after deliberately sabotaging his chance at collegiate football stardom. Rounding out the group is oldest member Pierce, who is a billionaire fighting boredom by joining community college. He is almost never politically correct and a little abrasive, but he has his moments which means the rest of the group tolerates him.
This show aired back in a time where 25 episodes was the standard series order, so if I were to try and detail everything that went on, you’d be reading forever. There were plenty of plotlines that weaved throughout the show, like the inevitable returning of feelings that Britta has for Jeff, and some family members showing up here and there, but the Dean and Spanish Professor perhaps had the biggest recurring involvement in the show. Senor Chang was an awful professor who always picked on the study group and tried to make their lives somewhat miserable. He gets his in the end though, when it’s revealed he never went to college to become a professor, so by the end of the series he enrolls at Greendale. The Dean showed up less frequently, but he was always funny when flirting with Jeff.
Perhaps my favorite episode of the season was “Physical Education,” where Jeff has to overcome his fear of not being cool by playing pool in booty shorts. The show took a creative turn with “Modern Warfare,” where the campus looks like a barren wasteland as students fight to survive a paintball fight that earns one of them “priority registration” for next semester. I’d also be remise to leave out the very entertaining finale, and thank goodness it’s got more seasons, because some decisions were made! Another thing that really made the show unique were little fifteen second clips at the end of each episode, mainly showing Abed and Troy doing something ridiculous. My favorite one of those bits is when Jeff tries to school Abed and Troy on what “krumping” is. I don’t know if I’ve laughed harder at something this year. All in all, this is another solid comedy I’m glad I started watching, and can’t wait to get to the rest of the season!