Community, the tv show

the eating twin thing is a real thing that i feel like has been used plenty of times in comedy before. also the heist was not weird at all, everyone instantly recognizes what's being parodied there.

No, not the mechanics of the heist. Just the pretense to have Jeff and Britta running around in goth guise, Shirley wearing a beard, Tory and Abed dressing up as repairmen, etc. Just a little too wacky, especially since it's all in service of deposing a despot dictator security guard (who is also the worst thing about the show) and freeing/restoring the utterly bizarre dean (who had been molesting a Jeff doll in captivity? Wasn't that implied?).

you've never seen a movie, have you?

No, not the mechanics of the heist. Just <proceeds to list the mechanics of the heist>

sighs. I get the parody, dude. But I didn't think something that hoary needed to be parodied again any more than, I don't know, the keytar.

Dean's thing for Jeff really has played out a Smithers/Mr. Burns arc pretty quickly, huh

Power dynamics are different though, as we saw in the karaoke episode, it's not like Jack and Jonathan in 30 Rock.

new regime will bring desired logic and precision

I fear new regime will bring more Chang.

This show is weird, but I think that aspect gets trotted out too much. It's a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it helps explain why 'normal people' aren't flocking to the show, and it boosts the ego of the fans for being clever enough to enjoy it. On the other hand, because it's sort of blown out of proportion, all that talk maybe scares away people who would otherwise enjoy it, and devalues the more pedestrian aspects of the show that should be viewed as strengths.

I think sometimes the show gets weird in the right (mainstream) way that completely bypasses pretension and hits a sweet spot where anyone who's seen a big budget movie or TV show in the past decade would enjoy it. For instance, the Heist episode. Yeah plotwise it's all very Madlib and convoluted and strange, but this show is in love with pop culture. Weirdly, perhaps, but it's still 100% pop, and there's the sweet spot it can continue to hit if it wants to gain popularity outside of fans that harp on about it's all so deep and experimental.

i'll maybe try one more here ("finale" was tivod) but i think the you/me/everyone general consensus that this isn't my thing is about right.

finale doesn't really have any value unless you're invested in the characters. I'd watch a different one if I were u.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Xm3zx2GA3o0/SdAcr2-TI3I/AAAAAAAAAUA/Tt7tHeyZqzg/s320/Joe+Estevez+and+Buttface+Dude.jpg

Don't watch the finale. The earlier suggestion of "Science of Illusion" from s1 is a good one.

forks, u should really watch the dungeons + dragons episode. srsly

that's a good suggestion, too

Yeah, that's a great way in. Nowhere near as weird or up its own ass, I mean, meta as it gets.

(Man, I hate the A/C school subplot)

they really wasted John Goodman so much...like the WHOLE season i was waiting for them to actually make his presence worthwhile, but it felt like a handful of mildly funny scenes over a strangely sporadic period of time where his character never got to build any momentum

used better than they did omar though

MKW is cool but i mean John Goodman is a giant (no fat joke), you don't bring him in for a multi-episode arc that flimsy

Goodman was at his best when interacting with Rash, and that only happened twice.

Cripes, no wonder that AVClub writer gives every episode of this a rave:

I don’t know about you, but I could listen to Chang play the keytar all day long. I hope the show has a full episode of him doing so next season.

Really, AVClub guy? Really>

lol

I wonder if there was initially meant to be more Goodman in the season and then he had other commitments. His death seemed really abrupt, like he'd been built up to be this big villain and then... he wasn't. Wish he'd interacted with the other characters as well, the aircon subplot was weird because it shunted Troy off to the side when he really needs other characters to bounce off. As it was we got loads of Goodman and Troy, a couple of great scenes with the Dean and maybe one with Abed.

i liked his pony tail.

xpost

Many eps in season 3 seemed rushed, like they had too many ideas and not enough room to fit them in.

OTM

not related to Community (I just posted it in the Mad Men thread), but there's interesting insights into the writer's room in this: http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201206/roundtable-discussion-matthew-weiner-vince-gilligan-david-milch?currentPage=1

the eating-twin-in-the-womb joke was done by dwight schrute years ago iirc

also i hate that family guy ruined the very concept of pop culture references for everyone. not that community does it perfectly, but it IS possible to incorporate them artfully + meaningfully

Has anyone rewatched this season all the way through yet? Because I found that my hardcore love for this show didn't really kick in until I'd watched seasons 1 and 2 straight through. So I'm inclined to think watching season 3 may be a slightly different experience outside of the weeklong online bitchfest cycle.

I've rewatched it straight through (and in order - with 'Contemporary Impressionists' before 'Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts' as produced and 'Digital Estate Planning' right after 'Advanced Gay', which just makes more sense.) and it works a lot better - especially the back half of the season, where the serialization is a constant build of story and funny without the breaking of the suspension of disbelief in between each week.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/leaked-memo-dan-harmon-community-studio-talking-points-nbc-328815

feel bad that the cast now has to play this game.

• Gillian Jacobs ‏@GillianJacobs

• Paul F. Tompkins ‏@PFTompkins

• Gillian Jacobs ‏@GillianJacobs

<3

can somebody translate that for me?

Jacobs posted that she missed a certain guy's American Idol recaps. Certain guy responds by asking if it's nice that he's alive, at least. She responds "eh".

Gillian says she misses Paul F. Tompkins' recaps of American Idol on The Vulture (because he no longer writes them. Paul says she should perhaps be appreciative that he's still alive, at least. Gillian shows ambivalence to that information.

I think what Gillian is saying there is that she wants to marry me.

Those are some pretty sizable lines you're reading between.

I thank your formatting for that.

ambivalence is when you're torn between opposing options. "eh" expresses disinterest, i think

You are right. Or wrong.

Fever also skipped one by Tompkins collaborator Ben Blacker, introducing the notion of death and mourning into the conversation, which has led to stiltedness and confusion here.

i have no fucking idea what you guys are talking about.

track the coverage and conversation and circle back if you feel the need to reshift our plan or messaging

That studio memo makes my flesh crawl. DON'T TELL ME HOW TO FEEL, YOU FUCKING SUIT!...would be my reaction, were I in a position to have received that memo.

i think that memo is probably pretty par for the course. it's just unusual that it got leaked.

It's gross that they pushed all the supportive cast tweets about Harmon under their PR umbrella-- "It was good that you got that shit out of the way early so now the dumbass fans can forget about it."