Community: Season Three

Let me first start out by saying that I am so incredibly happy/excited that Community was picked up for a fourth, albeit just 13 episodes, season.

Though it was banished to the Friday night schedule part of me has hope that the large amount of fans, much like Fringe that was also sent to Friday and has stayed there for a handful of seasons, will follow it there (and maybe even pickup a few more now that it's out of Big Bang Theory's shadow) and not only force NBC to give it a few more seasons, but also pickup the back nine episodes for season four. One can only hope.

Plus, there is the added Chevy Chase/Dan Harmon feud that, in my opinion, made NBC let Harmon go as showrunner. The new showrunners are supposed to make it more appealing to a wider audience - which I hope doesn't mean the show I love will cease to exist the way it truly should. I think Chase has done a great job on Community but out of the cast, he may be the lone member that could be let go and the show would still remain the same as it always was. I guess we shall see how things look in the fall.

Now, season three. We had to wait until March to finally get more Community and I definitely wore out my Hulu Plus watching the previous seasons during that lost time.

I actually feel like the show got off to a rocky start. Sure, it was still funny and better than most shows on television, but it was lacking from what I come to expect from Community. I was excited for the guest stars, John Goodman and Michael K. Williams. But, even those came in with a whimper and didn't truly take off until the final part of the season.

And, the final part of the season was epic just like the first two seasons.

One of the great things about Community is that it can do these 'themed' shows that are so amazing, yet still use them in the course of the overall show.

"Basic Lupine Urology" was an episode that revolved entirely around Law and Order. The study groups yam is killed and because Annie can't see herself getting a grade lower than an A she gets the others to find out how the yam was killed. In this episode we finally get that great Michael K. Williams guestspot.

The final three episodes of the season that all aired over an hour and a half on the same night were possibly the greatest of the season.

The first was another great 'theme' episode entitled "Digital Estate Planning" and almost the entire episode takes place in an 8-bit video game. Breaking Bad's badguy Giancarlo Esposito steps in as Pierce's dad's assistant who will hand over the Hawthorne Wipes fortune to Pierce, if he is the first to defeat the video game.

In the final two episodes we get resolution on Chang taking over the school and the Greendale Seven being expelled. We also receive a visit from alternate timeline Evil Abed.

The final of the three episodes almost wraps up the season as if this would be the final show of the series. And it sort of touches you that way as well. But, now that the show has finally gotten the pickup it deserved, perhaps the flashes that we see at the conclusion of this episode will be intertwined in the story lines of season four.

#sixseasonsandamovie

PS- I have to admit that I am definitely Team Annie (if I were a teenage girl and actually used terms like that), but I definitely had the gaga eyes for Britta when she was dressed in goth. I don't know why, but it worked.

Girls of TV: Jacobs vs. Brie

In yet another close vote, Smulders was able to knock off Anwar by a single vote.

This next vote should be interesting as it places two Community actresses against each other. I guess it just comes down to which camp you are in - Britta or Annie?

Anyway, voting continues - have fun!

(4) Gillian Jacobs

Before Jacobs became Britta Perry on Community, I apparently saw her on an episode of Fringe. But, her only other major work came as Cherry Daiquiri in the film Choke.

(5) Alison Brie

Brie is quite possibly the only person on this list that is currently starring in a pair of shows. She was first Trudy Campbell on Mad Men, but now stars opposite her opponent on NBC's hit comedy Community as brainiac Annie Edison.

poll by twiigs.com

TV Meme: Day 19 - Best TV Show Cast

Wow. I have been back and forth on this one for a little while now. In the end I think I decided to go with the one that I did because the show is still on and is still just getting started, but already there is so much chemistry between the characters.

At first, my gut instinct had me selecting Scrubs as the best television cast. I mean, for eight seasons they delivered the laughs and the relationships between each and every character just seemed so genuine. That is something so hard to do. But, the cast was actually very close friends off of the set, and it clearly showed on the show.

That being said, I have (and will) be using Scrubs in a great many posts for this meme. Which is pretty obvious seeing as how it is my favorite show. So, I decided to select the show that is, I guess, currently becoming my favorite show - Community.


I seriously hope this show doesn't have a sophomore slump because I am really speaking so highly of it, but only after one season.

As I have said in previous posts the cast shakes down like this. Joel McHale stars as Jeff Winger, a lawyer who gets found out for having a fake degree and must return to community college to get his old life back. Gillian Jacobs is Britta Perry, a love interest for Jeff who is also a large feminist and activist - she has also been called the downer of he group. Danny Pudi plays Abed Nadir, a film student who converses through his knowledge of movies, mostly from the 80's. Donald Glover is Troy Barnes, a former star quarterback who loses his scholarship when he gets hurt tossing a keg. Alison Brie stars as Annie Edison, a brilliant girl who blossomed late in life, or after she overdosed on drugs and had to leave high school. Chevy Chase plays Pierce Hawthorne, the inventor of Hawthorne wipes. Finally, Yvette Nicole Brown plays Shirley Bennett, a mother of two who is freshly divorced and heads to college for the first time.

Also on the show in a smaller role are Jim Rash as Dean Pelton and Ken Jeong as Senor Chang - with John Oliver as Professor Ian Duncan also lending a hand in a handful of episodes.

It's truly amazing just how quickly the cast gelled together. The best scenes, much like Friends at Central Perk, are when the cast is alone in the study room. Without even saying words, but gestures at the table and sly looks they can have you rolling on the floor. But, the dialogue is just as great as the gestures - and the characters have blossomed there as well. Each character has found their niche and they slide together perfectly.

The best character interactions come between Troy and Abed. They have truly developed amazing chemistry together - they remind me a lot of J.D. and Turk (except neither of them is truly the star of the show). I have embedded their Spanish rap below - check it out. If you do watch the show, make sure to stick around for the credits - they usually do something off the wall crazy like this.



I urge you if you have not checked out this show yet and you like comedies (especially a show like Scrubs) then check this one out. Don't just watch a single episode because it might not show you everything you need to see - watch a few and you won't regret it.

TV Meme: Day 15 - Favorite Female Character

Again, there have been so many great female characters in the history of television - how do you pick just one?

In fact, I couldn't. I had to select two, but only because I feel as a pair they make a great team, and make the show better. Apart I feel the show might be missing something.

So, my two favorite female characters are Britta (Gillian Jacobs) and Annie (Alison Brie) from Community.

Britta is the feminist movement, always has a snappy comment, sex symbol type for the main star Jeff (Joel McHale). Annie is the cute as a button, but can also push the right buttons girl that holds the group together - but is also a little neurotic.

The two together play such an important role on the show. Separated I don't feel the show would be as great as it has become. And the sexual tension that has been part of the show between Jeff and Britta has been great, but there is also a little hidden sexual tension that pops up every so often between Annie and Jeff, despite the huge (albeit only on the show) age difference.

This almost feels like a throwback to Gilligan's Island where there are the two types of women, but whoever you choose is great. Ginger was the movie star with the good looks; however, Maryanne was the girl next door-type. Annie is the new Maryanne where Britta (despite not a true movie star) would resemble the new Ginger.

So, who do you pick?

That question comes to a head in the finale for Jeff - where he is to choose between Britta and his former flame Professor Slater (Lauren Stamile). But hidden in the shadows is that elephant in the room that is Annie, a fourth wheel in this little love-rectangle.

Just great casting all around for these two. Two actresses I had never really heard of until this show got started, and both do a fantastic job on the series. Together they are amazing, so I could not choose just one. Sorry.

TV Meme: Day 3 - Favorite New Show From This Past Season

Unlike years past this was a pretty slow year for me in selecting new television programs to watch. I was just starting grad school when the Fall season got underway and I had been under extreme pressure from Mrs. Kano to drop some of the many shows I was already watching - so as shows were canceled and completed I didn't really jump on to too many new shows from this past season.

And, when things were coming together for this upcoming season I wasn't really too thrilled with many of the previews. The lone show that grasped my interest was FlashForward as Lost was ending and I was hoping to fill my nerd-void (that apparently didn't work). I was also somewhat interested in The Middle, which was a new comedy on ABC thanks to the inclusion of Neil Flynn (or the Janitor in Scrubs). That being said, I was also interested in Cougar Town the new brain child of Scrubs helmer Bill Lawrence.

Although I enjoyed all three of the above shows - and two of them actually will return for a second season (adios FlashForward) it was a show that I really had no intentions of watching that gets my pick for favorite new show of the season. And despite my search for another Lost this show just may help me as I grieve the loss of Scrubs.

My favorite new show from this past season is none other than: Community. And, like I said above, I had no real intent to even watch this show except for the fact that I was allowed to watch the very first episode wicked early on Facebook - which actually peeked my interest.

I was unsure if the premise of the show could actually work, but so far it has and it has surpassed my level of expectations and then some.

Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) is a lawyer who gets caught with a phony law degree. So, in order to get back to his cozy lifestyle and his former job, he is forced to enroll at a local community college and get an actual degree.

In the pilot he does his best to talk his way out of actually attending class or paying attention in an attempt to basically just get his degree handed to him - but that fails.

He meets a pretty girl in the cafeteria, Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) who is struggling with Spanish and, in an attempt to get in her pants, pretends to be a Spanish tutor and invites her to study with him. She accepts, but little does he know that she invites a handful of other students from her Spanish class to the study session - and this is the birth of an extremely funny comedy.


The rest of the cast rounds out amazingly, Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) is the old man of the group. In the past Chase has sort of become annoying, but he really hits it on all levels as a supporting character. Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi) is a film loving student that Jeff believes possibly has Aspergers. Abed compares everything that happens to a movie and has movie quotes that fit every situation. Troy Barnes (Donald Glover) is a former football star who misses out on a scholarship. Troy wasn't one of my favorite characters at the start of the show, but he has truly progressed into a great character and has some great one-liners. His relationship with Abed is one of the best in television. Annie Edison (Alison Brie) is a goodie-goodie brainiac who is only in community college because she became addicted to pills in high school. She is the young girl of the group and tries to keep everyone on task. Finally, Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown) is the mother of two boys that recently divorced her husband. She is very religious and sometimes tosses her two-cents around.

One other character missing above is Senor Chang (Ken Jeong) who is the groups Spanish teacher and gets involved in a lot of their extra-curricular activities somehow. He is extremely over the top and hilarious in almost all of his scenes.

As I said, I was not looking for this show but it somehow found me and I couldn't be happier. Sure, it had some growing pains in its first season, but for the most part it was downright amazing and hilarious. I haven't laughed this hard during a show since - dare I say it - Scrubs.

And just because I think she is so cute - here is a picture of Alison Brie: