Welcome to a new Sitcom Tuesday! This week, I’m continuing my look at Community (2009-2014, NBC; 2015, Yahoo!), which is currently available on DVD/Blu-Ray and streaming!
Community stars JOEL McHALE as Jeff, GILLIAN JACOBS as Britta, DANNY PUDI as Abed, YVETTE NICOLE BROWN as Shirley, ALISON BRIE as Annie, DONALD GLOVER as Troy, KEN JEONG as Chang, and CHEVY CHASE as Pierce. With JIM RASH.
When NBC renewed Community for a 13-episode fourth season without the guiding hand of its creator Dan Harmon, it was setting the show up for failure. Not merely because it would miss his stewardship, but also because of the bad P.R. That is, in the Peak TV Decade, showrunners became brand ambassadors, and for Community, which was known for its clever media-about-media comedy, Harmon was synonymous with its brilliance. When the series continued to decline in quality — furthering trends we were already observing — this disappointment fueled the confirmation bias regarding his necessity, and to such an extent that it earned him his job back for Five. Was he necessary? Well, even if you weren’t aware of Harmon’s absence — or didn’t attribute the show’s excellence to him exclusively — you would look at this collection and notice greater erosion. It’s written more like a traditional sitcom now — with fewer of the high-concept set pieces that reinforced its smarts through a meta awareness of its own bounds as a piece of media in a world filled with media. As such, Community is less uniquely itself — less able to satisfy its own expectations. However, the main reason for this trouble was already apparent in Three — when the show was running out of new conceptual gimmicks and genres to spoof. As an idea-driven show built on the novelty of fresh notions, that’s a seminal strain. Additionally, while this year also struggles to instill character-specific stakes in both its higher concept and lower concept stories (Harmon would have helped there), the problem isn’t merely that gimmicks appear for gimmicks’ sake (see: the Muppet episode). It’s also that the characters, though decently well-defined, have never been poised to overcompensate. They’ve never been more important than the show’s storytelling or sense of humor. Thus, when it needs them, they can only do so much. (Never mind that the lead, Jeff, also fulfilled his primary emotional arc at the end of Three. Which means, okay, he can still meet his dad here and flirt some more with Annie, but by design, Community was bound to go into Four with less to offer for him, its most important character.) So, yes, Harmon’s absence made things worse, but as we’ll see upon his return, these trends were happening regardless. For this is the kind of sitcom he designed.
01) Episode 73: “Paranormal Parentage” (Aired: 02/14/13)
The group goes to Pierce’s mansion to unlock him from his panic room.
Written by Megan Ganz | Directed by Tristram Shapeero
Season Four’s Halloween entry has a few references to Scooby Doo in accordance with its haunted mansion motif. No, it’s not the full-out media-about-media parody that we would have expected from Community in its prior two seasons. However, there’s enough meta acknowledgment here to make the half hour feel like it’s within the series’ ethos. And with narrative continuity regarding Pierce’s inheritance from his late father, there’s also some character-rooted value that acquits this segment as being more reflective of the series and its particulars than most this year.
02) Episode 79: “Herstory Of Dance” (Aired: 04/04/13)
Abed juggles two dates at Britta’s Sophie B. Hawkins dance.
Written by Jack Kukoda | Directed by Tristram Shapeero
This installment is notable because it’s about Abed’s love life — and with a sincerity he’s seldom afforded. Indeed, there’s value simply from seeing Abed find somebody he likes, as he’s one of the only regulars who hasn’t yet been explored in this way. Also, I appreciate the meta self-awareness about the clichéd “two dates for the same night” story. It’s a familiar notion to the genre and therefore a perfect thing for Community to mock in reflection of its own situation — justified by Abed and his well-defined characterization. Similarly, this is also a good episode for Britta, who helps motivate the story. (Brie Larson and Sophie B. Hawkins guest.)
03) Episode 81: “Intro To Knots” (Aired: 04/18/13)
The study group holds a professor hostage at their Christmas party.
Written by Andy Bobrow | Directed by Tristram Shapeero
Apparently, this ensemble showing is partly a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, but it’s certainly not the committed parody that we would have expected under Dan Harmon’s watch. In that regard, it probably forsakes some laughs and conceptual media-about-media charm that would have reinforced its bona fides as a quintessential example of the series. However, it stands out for its design alone; like the theatrical Rope, it boasts a unity of time, place, and action, trapping the regulars (plus guest Malcolm McDowell) in one location, thereby forcing an emphasis on their interactions. That tends to set up success in the sitcom genre, and even though this entry is without Pierce (as Chevy Chase was already fired after a controversial on-set blowup — previewing what next season will be like without him), it’s a solid show for the ensemble.
04) Episode 82: “Basic Human Anatomy” (Aired: 04/25/13)
Troy and Abed claim to have switched bodies Freaky Friday style.
Written by Jim Rash | Directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller
My choice for this season’s Most Valuable Episode (MVE), “Basic Human Anatomy” is the only sample this year that actually looks like something we could have found in Three. Its script is credited to regular cast member Jim Rash, who reveals a strong understanding of the series and how it should regularly function: using bold and specific conceptual gimmicks — hinged on media-about-media parody — to explore the characters and their relationships in ways that are both illuminating and funny. This excursion starts right, with a good idea — a tribute to Freaky Friday that’s rooted in Abed’s (and Troy’s) nerdy cultural awareness. And then it has fun playing with the possibilities of a genuine body swap, indulging the kind of wacky big-laugh comedy that typifies Community at its best. That’s fully on display when Dean Pelton believes he’s switched places with Jeff and begins to act like him — it’s a chance for Rash to shine and for the show to reassert Jeff’s central depiction. Additionally, there are real stakes when Britta goes on a date with Abed, who’s supposedly now Troy, and they talk about “their” relationship — an important character beat that’s rendered totally unique by the conceptual gimmick along with the situation-defining meta it invites. So, this is the most Community half hour of Community here in Season Four, and from a collection where most fans felt like the show just wasn’t itself, that means it’s the most successful — the year’s best, better-than-baseline, ambassador.
05) Episode 83: “Heroic Origins” (Aired: 05/02/13)
Abed studies the group’s history and realizes their lives have always been intertwined.
Written by Steve Basilone & Annie Mebane & Maggie Bandur | Directed by Victor Nelli Jr.
In this offering, we see flashbacks of the characters’ lives before Greendale. It’s the kind of narrative gimmickry that many sitcoms like to deploy — not only the flashback construct, but the notion of intertwining destiny for the regulars. And yet, despite some inherent meta, the show doesn’t seem to be using the construct itself to parody the trope and therefore wink at the overarching sitcom genre. You know, the kind of meta Harmon would have emphasized in support of the show’s identity. But, because it’s simply concerned with adding to our understanding of the leads and their relationships (a noble focus), I highlight it here.
Other notable entries that merit mention include: “Cooperative Escapism In Familial Relations,” which combines big character moments (Jeff meeting his father) with a subplot that directly lampoons The Shawshank Redemption and thus sounds like ideal Community, even though it doesn’t quite have the big-laugh excellence or dramatic nuance to make it truly terrific. I’ll also take this space to cite the premiere, “History 101,” and the finale, “Advanced Introduction To Finality,” which both attempt to offer some media-about media parody in a way that’s meant to honor the series’ identity. (In the former, there are sketches that mock multi-cams; in the latter, there’s the reopening of the “Darkest Timeline.” It just all feels empty without more direct support from character and the ideological novelty that, frankly, the series just no longer has via its conceptual gimmicks.) Oh, and in case it wasn’t clear, no, I can’t highlight “Intro To Felt Surrogacy” — the puppet gag plays like a stunt for stunt’s sake; it’s not well-motivated by other elements of the series’ situation (nor comedically compensatory).
*** The MVE Award for the Best Episode from Season Four of Community goes to…
“Basic Human Anatomy”
Come back next week for Season Five! And stay tuned tomorrow for a new Wildcard!