Community, the tv show

The first half of Mad Men season four was just holiday episodes. And it was awesome!

30 rock had a holiday episode themed season which was awesome.

so uh Dan Harmon was apparently offered his job back?

What?

lol

couple folks were talking about it on twitter, apparently he brought it up at one of his Harmontown things

http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/05/dan-harmon-says-hes-been-asked-to-return-to-community/

would be happy if that happened, although suspicious that he and/or the stanbase would find some way to fuck it up

He admitted he'd been asked, but apparently said he'd only return if Chevy did too. Not sure which half of that (or if all of it) is the joke.

i think we are being deprived of an epic Pierce death scene tbh

He said he'd been approached but only as part of a ploy to get a new season okayed, and now that that's happened the deal is off the table.

How are they justifying a fifth season? Did they all get held back a year?

feel like people are sweating the 'logic' of that too much. it's not remotely as glaring as high school shows full of 20somethings or the Korean War lasting 11 years.

jeff and pierce are the only ones that graduated

I'm not necessarily on board with every situation like that either BUT if the linear passage of time is not actually part of the reality of the show, I don't have much of a problem with it. With Community, they were constantly counting the years until graduation etc so it does seem glaring.

xpost

I don't even know if "glaring" is the right word: it seems like a question that's at least worth asking.

I mean, Annie's and Shirley's competition to be valedictorian is one of the things that actually stands out in my memory about what I saw of s4.

the whole idea of "graduating" in four years from a community college, or a community college where people live in dorms, and all other kinds of thing.... i mean this show was not built with verisimilitude in mind, let's put it that way

it's like they want to make liberal-arts-college jokes AND community-college jokes so they just kind of combine the two (nonsensically, but in a way that sets up enough good jokes that nobody really cares)

i became jamaican for a moment here

"all other kinds of t'ing, y'know"

i mean this show was not built with verisimilitude in mind, let's put it that way

OK, but they had already established that within the fantasy-world of the show, these students happen to attend a community college where they graduate after four years. The characters had been planning for this and story lines were built around this premise. Anyway, maybe zachlyon was actually answering my question. I thought he was joking, initially.

But tbf I haven't even watched the last few episodes and kind of hated s4 so maybe I am just being a flippant asshole after all? Not like I'm eager for the next season either way.

no, i was answering but maybe i'm wrong? i didn't really catch all the intricacies of the graduation statuses of season 4 on account of my not caring at all. i was under the impression that they didn't all graduate but then i'm not sure why shirley and annie had the whole valedictorian storyline at this point

if i interpret the events correctly, as we saw a short season 4, it ended after 1 semester instead of 2 with Jeff graduating early - season 5 could just be the following, final semester for troy, annie, britta and shirley

I think that's right, the last episode was perhaps the start of semester 2, with some meta-joke presumably about the wonky airdates saying that it was "winter-summer" semester having finished the "autumn-spring" semester.

ok but if that's the case why the big deal with the valedictorian storyline if there's a whole other semester? it seemed at the end like it was all concluded. that was just dumb.

The other characters could stay at the school longer, depending on when they selected a major. And even then they coould stay longer due to red tape and such. I used to work in the RTVB department at a CC, where the main degree was 2 1/2 year, but the joke among us was it really took at least 3 because you couldn't take the classes in the suggested degree order (due to cancellations, classes not being offered freaquently enough etc).

community colleges offer two-year degrees y'all, don't be holding this to real-life standards

many offer four but don't let that stop you

really? i thought the two-year idea was built into the notion of "community college"...

wikipedia:

In the United States, community colleges, sometimes called junior colleges, technical colleges, or city colleges, are primarily two-year public institutions providing higher education and lower-level tertiary education, granting certificates, diplomas, and associate's degrees. Many also offer continuing and adult education.
After graduating from a community college, some students transfer to a four-year liberal arts college or university for two to three years to complete a bachelor's degree.
Before the 1970s, community colleges in the United States were more commonly referred to as junior colleges, and that term is still used at some institutions. However, the term "junior college" has evolved to describe private two-year institutions, whereas the term "community college" has evolved to describe publicly funded two-year institutions. The name derives from the fact that community colleges primarily attract and accept students from the local community, and are often supported by local tax revenue.
Comprehensive community colleges
Many schools have evolved into and adapted the term comprehensive to describe their institutions. These schools typically offer six facets of education:
Transfer education – The traditional two-year student who will then transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a BS/BA degree.
Career education – The traditional two-year student that will graduate with an Associate Degree and directly enter the workforce.
Developmental – Remedial education for high school graduates who are not academically ready to enroll in college-level courses.
Continuing – Non-Credit courses offered to the community for personal development and interest.
Industry training – Contracted training and education wherein a local company pays the college to provide specific training or courses for their employees.
eLearning - Distance learning occurs online using one's computer and proctored exams. Pell grants and federal aid apply to eLearning also. For example, studying Spanish in an eLearning environment is possible when in another state and federal aid is applied to out-of-state tuition.
Within the transfer education category, comprehensive schools typically have articulation agreements in place that provide prearranged acceptance into specific four-year institutions.[5] At some community colleges, the partnering four-year institution teaches the third and fourth year courses at the community college location and thereby allows a student to obtain a four-year degree without having to physically move to the four-year school.
There is a number of institutions and organizations which provide community college research to inform practice and policy.
For background on U.S. community college libraries, see "Disposed to Consolidation and Innovation: Criteria for the Community College Specialization."

i really wish they'd just go on taking classes and hanging out, never acknowledging that they've been there for how many seasons the show lasts. let the internet writhe in agony, if they don't acknowledge it, no one can make them!

On some level, sweating their collegiate career is like screaming "HOW IS BART STILL NINE?" at your tv

i really wish they'd just go on taking classes and hanging out, never acknowledging that they've been there for how many seasons the show lasts. let the internet writhe in agony, if they don't acknowledge it, no one can make them!

― da croupier, Tuesday, May 28, 2013 7:21 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i wouldn't mind that

my problem isn't with the shows verisimilitude, it's with people trying to rationalize the show

i mean i don't really have "a problem" at all

if the show suggests there's some logic to it, and they do, then people are totally right to debate it and critique it if so driven. they should have just taken the "you get this is basically a cartoon, right?" out.

i probably wouldn't have said that circa s2 when i thought it had more potential though

I am at a private college that is very similar to a community college, and there have been students here that have been here forever. The group not graduating in 4 years doesn't bother me -- people going back to school rarely finish on time because of work/kids/etc.

Otoh, I've stopped watching Community so I don't know why I'm arguing about this.

i really doubt dan harmon is coming back, but if he did i would be fine with him calling all of last season a dream and just starting year four over again from scratch.

annie walks in on jeff in the shower

xp That would be ideal, just pretend s4 never happened, start from the end of s3.

it can go on for TWENTY seasons if they just keep resetting the timeline, no biggie.

man i'm really hoping after the last episode that the word 'timeline' never comes up in this show again

ha, i didn't realise i'd done that, i've been indoctrinated to the show's vocabulary. OMG WOULDNT IT BE AWESOME IF THE HAD A SEASON FOR EACH OF THE 7 TIMELINES OMG OMG~~~~~.

You should see the face that post made me make, it was pretty impressive.

I am imagining it was a bit like this:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/cf7573743c1b013d71eeb01a0f91af44/tumblr_mlw2yhPdy31qz8kcpo1_500.gif

I am doing a bad job of writing/posting today, never mind me.

Entire seasons should be genre seasons: a stop-motion season, a paintball season, a musical season...

this thread can turn into just a series of gifs of DJP's facial contortions.

eventually they will all morph into this:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Q_4mbCuV7QE/SYoQQykuOAI/AAAAAAAAE6w/qOKzg7c_EOM/s400/steve-urkel-mug-shot-500x387.jpg