Community

[Addicted2aa]

Just watched this week's episode of community and it is in my opinion the best of the series to date. To me this takes the show from run of the mill, albeit good, TV, to being up there with some of the best TV ever made. Don't want to give spoilers but damn, best acting I've seen from the cast, everybody brought their A game.

Any other fans of the show here? If so, any thoughts on this episode?

[Otter Disaster]

Community is far and away one of the best comedies on TV right now.  It's got a great ensemble cast, great writing, and it doesn't take itself too seriously.

[@lantis]

I agree with Otter, and the thing that really sells the show is the recurring characters that are not part of the main group, like the Dean, Starburns, and Prof. Duncan, because they all remind you of those weird people you tend to meet in college.

I absolutely love Alison Brie as Annie, and Donald Glover is hilarious as Troy.  Ahbed is usually a solid character, but the writers sometimes struggle with making him consistently great.  That said, I actually did not like this week's episode that much.  It was still funny at times, but they got really serious out of what seemed to be nowhere, since the show generally never gets too heavy in character development.  Depending on where they go from here though it might sway my opinion of this episode from indifferent to either resentment or love.

[ikindadislikekevinsmith]

Is it wrong that i was rooting for Peirce when he was working over Fat Neil?    What does that say about me?

C’mon D&D nerds!  Where you at?!?  You should have had about fifteen kinds of gasms over last night’s episode.  Fat guys?  Can I get a what what?

When Britta was being described by the narrator as a contrarian while she was defending Julian Assange…  You don’t know how many of my libertarian, Kusinich/Nader voting, black coffee radical, I hate daddy types have tried to convince me that that asshole is some kind of hero.

Best comedy on tv, hands down.  Postmodern Mash.  Self referential metahumor grown up.

[@lantis]

I loved the episode and thought it fit well into the style of the show, but I wouldn't say I had any kind of "gasm" over it.  As far as D&D referencing goes in a comedy, I've seen it done better.  The fact that they were using AD&D kind of irked me since we are now 3 editions past that.

It was a hilarious episode, and I've already watched it multiple times.  It is definitely one of the better episodes in a season that has already been very strong.

[Otter Disaster]

I liked the D&D angle, and was very much looking forward to this episode.  I liked the episode especially Pierce cheating, the Lord of the Rings Narration, and everyone ultimately getting into character, but I did find myself nitpicking over Ahbed making all the rolls himself, and a few other things that people outside the know wouldn't think twice about.

I did find it interesting that they were playing AD&D. I fully expected 4e.  Most of the books they showed were pre-2nd Edition, if I'm not mistaken.  That seemed odd given that Neil was probably not even born when those books went out of print.  I wonder why the choice to go with a much older version was made...

[Alisha Mynx]

I did find it interesting that they were playing AD&D. I fully expected 4e.  Most of the books they showed were pre-2nd Edition, if I'm not mistaken.  That seemed odd given that Neil was probably not even born when those books went out of print.  I wonder why the choice to go with a much older version was made...

Could have been "inherited".  My younger brother and I have a ton of the older books from our older brother and an older cousin.  A lot, if not most of it, is older than my younger brother (he's early 20's).

[ikindadislikekevinsmith]

Ah, i love it.  It’s one of the rare occasions when I get to be normal.

[@lantis]

I did find it interesting that they were playing AD&D. I fully expected 4e.  Most of the books they showed were pre-2nd Edition, if I'm not mistaken.  That seemed odd given that Neil was probably not even born when those books went out of print.  I wonder why the choice to go with a much older version was made...

It is because the writers and directors are sometimes out of touch.  Listening to the commentary from the episode where Jeff and Troy dress Pierce up as a wizard, you learn that Dan Harmon and all the other staff were cracking up about him looking like the Cookie Crisp Wizard, but it wasn't until Donald Glover improvised the line about not knowing who that was that they realized the mascot had been changed and younger viewers wouldn't get the joke in the same way.

On a side note, I was talking with a friend about the episode today.  She was laughing and thought it was hilarious.  She said she really enjoyed how they were describing what they were doing in the game, and how silly it was.  Then I explained to her that that is actually how the game is played and she stopped for a minute and laughed even harder about the parts she had thought were funny.

[Slappy]

Is the show worth it?  I honestly didn't even know it was still on.

[Beta Ray Bill Cosby]

I did find it interesting that they were playing AD&D. I fully expected 4e.  Most of the books they showed were pre-2nd Edition, if I'm not mistaken.  That seemed odd given that Neil was probably not even born when those books went out of print.  I wonder why the choice to go with a much older version was made...

It is because the writers and directors are sometimes out of touch.  Listening to the commentary from the episode where Jeff and Troy dress Pierce up as a wizard, you learn that Dan Harmon and all the other staff were cracking up about him looking like the Cookie Crisp Wizard, but it wasn't until Donald Glover improvised the line about not knowing who that was that they realized the mascot had been changed and younger viewers wouldn't get the joke in the same way.

Also I think it was partially so that they could call the episode "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" since every episode is titled like a class would "asian population studies" and "Celebrity Farmacology" for example.

I liked the episode a lot and the D&D inconsistencies didn't really bother me, I think they were there to smooth out the narrative

"Jeff What did you roll?"
"A 12"
"Ok, now add your modifier"
"19"

is a lot faster if Abed just rolls and describes.

Finally, yes, community is one of the best shows on TV. Now-a-days I really only watch it and 30 Rock.

[@lantis]

The naming probably did play a factor, even though the creator has said that they take great liberties with that aspect.  Essentially they don't let themselves get bound by it since they have seen some pretty absurd course titles on community college registration forms.

And Slappy, it is a great television program.  It is one of the few shows that is consistently funny and still allows for character development.  After its first season it became the lead-in show for Thursday nights, competing with among other things Big Bang Theory and holding its own.

[Slappy]

Havn't seen the Big Bang either.  Last sitcom i watched regularly was Cheers.

[Alisha Mynx]

Finally, yes, community is one of the best shows on TV. Now-a-days I really only watch it and 30 Rock.

While Community looks like I could actually get into it (I've only actually seen two or three episodes due to mostly being busy or not feeling well), I just can't seem to get into 30 Rock.  I've tried, and I just don't care for it.  I don't think it's a bad show or anything like that, it just isn't doing anything for me. 

[@lantis]

30 Rock definitely has a very specific style of humor to it.  And honestly, I think it is what sitcoms should aspire to be.  Well constructed to the point where if you don't like it, it isn't because it is bad, but because it isn't your style of humor.