Community: Complete Series Review — The Analytic Critic
It’s not often that a sitcom takes big risks within its storytelling. Most attempt to play it safe, rehashing the same formulaic material captured on television for decades before. While this is partly due to budgetary concerns, it is mainly due to lazy writing and unoriginal ideas.
Enter Community. A modern sitcom from the late 2000s, Community captivated audiences straight from its unusual yet entertaining pilot. As a show that’s taken many risks, how did it ultimately resonate with the public six years later? Let’s take a look.
WRITING:
Community is about an eclectic group of students from various backgrounds attending a community college in the fictional town of Greendale. Trying to score with a girl from his class, Jeff Winger crafts an elaborate plan to sleep with her by spinning a series of lies. He creates a Spanish study group to get closer to her, yet he has no plans to actually study Spanish.
If this sounds hilarious to you, then you will likely be sorely disappointed. While Community is original and wildly entertaining, most episodes lack comedy. I chuckled once or twice throughout many episodes, and I even laughed uncontrollably during a handful of episodes. But this is not the norm.
In fact, Community is anything but normal. There’s a lack of consistency in the material because the series tries many groundbreaking techniques too frequently.
Another major issue with the series is the slowly degrading quality starting with season three. Four and five aren’t that great at all, though season six is the exception. Season six is actually a return to form; however, it marks the end of the series.
It’s a shame, too, because Community can be quite witty with its frequent pop culture references and constant rule-breaking (e.g., breaking the fourth wall). The very first paintball episode is brilliantly exciting and hilarious, somehow finding time to reference Die Hard before the end of it. There’s also a very clever video game episode in which the characters voice their 16-bit avatars while poking fun at common tropes present during the ’90s. What other sitcom would you see episodes like this? None that I’ve seen.
The characters, by the way, are actually quite original for the most part. Abed and Pierce are definitely the most unique: one struggles to understand humanity and needs to compare reality to film, while the other is a racist old man who might be unable to graduate before he dies.
Then again, a couple of the characters are both annoying and pointless. Britta and Shirley are rather unnecessary: they are both hardly likeable and incredibly unfunny. In fact, Jeff is like this for a while, too. It’s hard to become engrossed with awful characters. And with characters like Chang who don’t make sense to keep past season one, the show’s irritatingly inconsistent writing is only exacerbated.
CAST:
The writing isn’t the worst aspect of Community. That award goes to the cast. Joel McHale plays Jeff Winger, the show’s main character. I like Joel’s personality, but he lacks any substantial acting talent, particularly due to his tendency to overact.
Then there’s Gillian Jacobs and Yvette Nicole Brown. Both are surprisingly even worse than Joel, between their overexaggerated gestures and their inability to properly convey human emotion.
These three are probably the worst of the bunch, honestly. A few actors that later surprised me were Donald Glover, Alison Brie, and Chevy Chase. While I wouldn’t consider any of the three to have magnetic personalities or much conviction, all of them managed to win me over as the series progressed.
Even better than these three are Danny Pudi and Ken Jeong. Danny easily plays the socially awkward film-lover who’s out of tough with reality, even though this character seems to barely resemble the actor himself. There’s a certain magic he brings to the screen almost every episode. And despite Ken’s odd personality and poorly written character, he does somehow manage to put his comedic talents to good use.
Several of my favourite casting choices are unfortunately severely underutilized. John Oliver and Erik Charles Nielsen (Duncan and Garrett respectively) are absolutely hilarious recurring characters, though neither is given the screen-time they deserve.
Same with Keith David and Paget Brewster. Both of their characters are introduced in the final season, and yet they easily steal the show in almost every scene they appear in. I particularly loved the broken-down RV episode in which both certainly deliver outstanding performances (Sound familiar? Maybe from a little-known show called Breaking Bad…?).
Yet the reason I actually enjoyed the series as much as I did is because of one brilliant actor in particular — Jim Rash. Playing the Dean of Greendale Community College, Jim illustrates a unique comedic diversity between the props, gestures, and tonal range that he regularly employs. The Dean is BY FAR the best character on the show and it’s almost entirely because of Jim’s performance.
PRODUCTION:
For the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed the production elements of Community. With episodes directed by fantastic directors like the Russo brothers, Tristram Shapeero, and Anthony Hemingway, the series features captivating cinematography for the most part. Of course, there’s an inconsistency sometimes due to less experienced directors (e.g., remember the disaster of an episode when Troy and Abed go to the Inspector Spacetime Convention?).
Besides the beautiful visuals and colours produced by the Blu Ray edition of the series, what really stands out in the show’s production are the props, costumes, and set design. These are almost always immaculate, eye-popping, and immersive. The sound design and editing are pretty good, too, though these elements of production fall flat when they are paired with poorly written/directed episodes.
On the other hand, it’s the music that really pulls me out of the show sometimes. The main theme is just ridiculously awful in sound, an abrasive cacophony that I just want to end; the catchy hook isn’t enough to save it. Moreover, the lyrics don’t fit the show’s premise at all, making it feel out of place. To me, it seems like little effort went into the soundtrack. Even the orchestral score feels amateurish at times.
SUMMARY:
From all of the criticisms I made above, it probably sounds like I strongly disliked my time watching Community. Nothing could be futher from the truth. I enjoyed the witty writing, the unique characters, the intricate props, sets, and costumes, and some of the cast immensely. However, I can’t excuse the many flaws presented by the series. Do I recommend it? Certainly. Is it perfect? Far from it.
Community gets a 5.5 out of 10.
