Community | TV Review

Story by Mitch McCann 

| Published Oct 26, 2010

“Community” is an ensemble sitcom, currently in it’s second season on NBC Thursdays at 7 p.m.

Similar to NBC’s 1999 dramedy “Freaks & Geeks”, when you watch “Community”, you just know you’re getting a glimpse of comedy’s next heavy-hitters. Joel McHale from E!’s “The Soup” heads the show. With an up-and-coming cast featuring Ken Jeong from “The Hangover,” Alison Brie of “Mad Men,” a hilarious newcomer to TV — Danny Pudi, Donald Glover of “Derrick Comedy” and former writer for “30 Rock” — rounded out by an uncharacteristically funny Chevy Chase.

Contrary to other ensemble shows like “The Office,” “Community” possesses a youthful perspective that is, in many ways, the finer parts of it’s predecessors. Writer and creator Dan Harmon crafts clever stories that — while maybe unimpressive or far-fetched on paper — find a unique and witty voice on screen. Guest stars Betty White, John Oliver, Rob Corddry, Jack Black and Patton Oswalt provide useful story contributions without crowding or losing the story in a way that hasn’t been done well since “Arrested Development.”

Episodes continue to progress in quality and the hit-to-miss ratio of jokes. Yet even miss episodes have plenty of redeeming moments. When the writers hit their mark, they hit it hard and keep rolling. Small bits relevant to the episode are intertwined with intelligent allusions that build and swell to a side-splitting climax: A backwards “A Beautiful Mind” mixed with “An American Tail” plot combined with Ken Jeong winning his wife back with Salsa-dancing skills.

The show’s brilliance isn’t just in the big moments like most comedies, but instead in it’s minute-to-minute comedic subtleties. The ending segment, performed almost exclusively by Glover and Pudi, continues to be the funniest two minutes of television every week.

Overall, the show includes a beautiful mix of typical college comedy, as well as the antithesis of typical college comedy, memorable one-liners and a fourth-wall flirtation that has become not only a signature of the show, but a joke within a joke inside the show itself.

Harmon has crafted something unique that is reason enough to tune into NBC at 7 p.m. and dig around online later for “Big Bang Theory.”

by Mitch McCann