You hate your life if you're not watching Community.

Hey, are you watching Community yet? Sources, specifically Blast Magazine and its television ratings report, tell me that Outsourced has more viewers yet AGAIN. Therefore, the Community posts shall continue!

Last night's episode was a spoof of Apollo 13, I think. I'm not sure because I never saw that movie - womp womp womp. However, it was still hilarious to me. The gang gets trapped in a space simulator, fight with one another and Pierce is actually funny as he has to deal with space madness, Ren and Stimpy style.

But with teamwork and finger-lickin' goodness, the team managed to complete the heavily KFC-branded simulation. It was an especially strong episode for the dean and his gay tendencies, Senor Chang had a great five second cameo, and my love affair with Troy continues. I thought he was hilarious in his role as the captain of the simulator, and I definitely liked the slight tease they had when Brita landed on his lap.


Also, that thing to the right? That's the community college's flag. What aren't you watching this show??? Why do you hate your life and deny yourself this enjoyment? So as a final enticement, here are some quotes that would only be super hilarious if you had seen this great, great episode:

Jeff: Pierce! You're talking to an Atari cartridge. Sit down.

Jeff: Our school may be a toilet, but it's our toilet, and nobody craps in it but us.

Brita: How many schools would let you get a degree in theoretical PE?

Dean: *shows them on the map where the city impound lots are*
Abed: It looks like you circled public rest rooms and truck stops.
Dean: Ohhh, okay... That is a different side of the map, and that is... for... a different project.
Abed: Why do they have star ratings?

Troy: There is a time and a place for subtly, and that time was before Scary Movie.

Pierce: I WILL KILL YOU, SANDERS!

Community: Now the best show on television.

I painted a tunnel on the side of the
library. When it dries, I'm going to try it.

The above is second favorite line from last night's Community. The best line? After Annie (Alison Brie, right) complains about how it sucks to always be the physical bait in all of their plots, she storms off. Abed says he didn't hear what she was saying. Troy says, "All I heard was suck." So good.

The actual plot of the episode is somewhat secondary to all of the awesome lines and moments. But it does have good cameos by Drew Carey (as the boss of Jeff's old law firm) and Rob Corddry (as the greasy partner who actually got Jeff fired). Shirley and Pierce are mostly secondary characters, and the secondary storyline is funny. It involves Senor Chang trying to win a pop-and-lockathon in order to gain entrance into the group. Oh, and Dean Pelton is doing his normal ridiculous boosting for the university.

Troy also had some other great moments, like when the security guard catches him and Abed going on a lawyer's computer, and Annie chloroforms him. This causes all three of them to freak out hilariously:


Troy says, "Ahhhh, I don't know what to do, my whole brain is crying!"

Other great lines? From Jeff, "Shirley, don't sue a stripper. Life sued her, and she lost." And also, "Pierce, do I even have to say it? It's bad to hunt man for sport."

Basically, if you like snappy, funny comedies, then you need to dump The Office and start watching Community. The early second season episodes don't rely on any previous knowledge of the show, so just start doing it.

An OMG moment in the Community all-hands-on-deck finale!

I will eventually have a post ranking all of the various shows I watched this year, but right now, Community is definitely in the Top 5, and possibly the Top 3, depending on how a couple finales shake out. While reviews are a bit mixed for the finale this past Thursday, I love it for a number of reasons, including the big news at the end of the episode, which I will tackle at the end of this entry. In no particular order otherwise:

- The continued expanded character roles for Abed (Danny Pudi) and Troy (Don Glover). While Troy learned in this episode that too much of a good thing can be bad for you, via his giant cookie, I'm not sure if this is true of the Community characters. If they ever did make a spin-off show, Troy and Abed are the obvious candidates.

With this pairing and a lot of the season, I think the writers deserve credit for seeing how the actors interacted and developing relationships from there. At the beginning of the season, I think there was an effort to develop Troy as a counterpart for Jeff, given the athletic background of Troy. However, as he and Abed clearly have a sort of goofy chemistry together, Troy's athletic background has been put on the back burner. This is definitely the right move.

- All of the guest stars for Community, who mostly play professors, were on full display in Thursday's episode. The most consistent performer, I've never even mentioned before on this blog: Jim Rash, the actor who plays Dean Pelton, and who somehow has 51 credits on IMDB. With his bald dome and mannerisms, Rash kind of reminds me of Stephen Stucker, who played the flamboyantly gay and energetic Johnny in Airplane!

Along with Dr. Ken (a.k.a. Senor Chang on the show), Rash is consistently funny as the overly-enthusiastic Dean Pelton. While the show lacks a traditional nemesis, Pelton serves as a mild antagonist, constantly enrolling members of the Spanish study group in his service. I like that there is an instigator, someone who motivates the gang to do things, instead of focusing solely on their interpersonal drama from week to week.

Thursday's episode also saw guest appearances from Jeff's former professor flame (meh) and John Oliver as the school psychologist. Oliver is great in this role, especially when he was getting loaded at the community college prom. I also loved the LOST reference, as Chang promised that he would find a loophole to get his revenge, and he did by the end of the episode.

- Finally, I suppose I should talk about the kiss. Given my profound love for Alison Brie, it was hard to see her lock lips, but at least it was with the dreamy Joel McHale. (I'm also slightly annoyed that I missed Brie during her art school phase. Damn!)

I also think this fits in well with the on-screen chemistry the actors have with one another. From the pilot and initial episodes of Community, it looked like they were playing up a possible Jeff and Brita romance. However, I just don't think they (meaning the actors) ever had that great of a chemistry. Therefore, I applaud the decision to go with a Jeff and Annie pairing, since there is electricity in all of their scenes together.

Now that they have made-out a bit though, I imagine the second season is mostly going to be concerned with logistical dilemmas. I think the two 1) initially downplay what happened and then 2) have a secret romance. My friend Matt advanced the hypothesis that Brita would be the last one to know about Jeff and Annie, which I agree with. I also wonder if the age difference gets brought up at some point - On the show, I believe Annie is in the 18 to 20-year-old range, whereas Jeff is closer to 30. That's a pretty significant gap, and I hope they don't just ignore the issue completely.

That being said, I honestly can't wait for the second season of Community. Of the various shows I watch, I definitely think it had the strongest end to its season, keeping in mind that several still have some wrap-up episodes to go. Community had a bit of a bumpy start, but it has grown-up to be a really clever comedy.

Finale grade: A+
Season grade: A

Annie grows up on Community

This week's Community was disappointing as compared to previous weeks, but hey, I've been saying that it is hard to get hitting grand slams week after week. If I was evaluating Two and a Half Men instead, I would say, "Hey, this episode of Two and a Half Men is the greatest thing I've ever seen on this miserable hack show!" But because Community has been consistently great this year, even a strong episode like last night's is a bit of a disappointment.

The whole scenario of the episode - Annie rats out Senor Chang for not having a teaching degree because she wants the Spanish group to stay together - resolved a bit too neatly at the end. You know, the part where Chang is now going to be a student at the community college, and presumably will be even more wrapped up in the study group's activities. (Speaking of, Starburns got another speaking part in Thursday's episode - I might have to eventually learn his name at this point.)

While the ending was a bit stereotypical and clean, the rest of the show was amusing. Abed was doing Abed stuff, and as my friend Tom said, there was a reverse Good Will Hunting going on with Troy and his innate knack to fix mechanical issues. Chang getting fired allowed him to play a big part in this episode, as he commiserated to Jeff and others about his situation. He also rocked a mean keytar (combination guitar and keyboard). Clips from all of these can be found at this here neat Atlantic blog.

Grade: B+

The picture of Annie and Senor Chang comes from this site.

Community's aim still flawless

Jeff Winger... You son of a bitch!

Well, in case you still haven't heard, last week's episode of Community was mad ill. Like the previous Goodfellas episode, this one spoofed the conventions of action movies. It was the paintball Armageddon, as roving gangs of students clashed over the ultimate prize – prior registration for the coming semester. Or, as Jeff dreams, all classes on a single day, creating a six-day weekend for him every week.

My favorite part of the episode has actually been kind of panned on the Internet – Jeff and Brita finally hooked up, in a fairly unclimatic way, on a desk during a break in the Paintball Wars. However, I like how little attention it was given, since it suggests that it will be more of an isolated occurrence, as opposed to a full-out relationship. Also, because the hook-up came out of nowhere, it reminded me of the excellent Newsradio. The writers for that show intentionally have Dave and Lisa hook-up in the second episode, much to the chagrin of the network, who want them to start a long-range, love-hate relationship like on Cheers or Friends.

Outside of that questionable call, depending on your perspective, the episode was practically perfect. Highlights include the appearance of Senor Chang, suicide paintball bomber, and the action cliches exhibited by Troy and Abed. I feel like I'm repeating myself on a weekly basis in terms of hyping the show, but heck, it just keeps getting better and better.

Grade: A+

For the ladies... An extra picture of the dreamy Joel McHale:

Community snatches Thursday night crown back, because it is a winner

A little more than a month ago, it seemed like Parks and Recreation was destined to go on a sort of epic Thursday night run, since it had been building on a long string of quality episodes. Consider me disappointed with this week's episode then, which was funny, but not quite as poignant or deep as the last new Parks and Recreation episode was.

Meanwhile, Community has just kept plugging along. While this week's episode wasn't as ridiculously funny as last week's, which had Annie's Boobs and Goodfellas, it was still great. The infantile competition between Jeff, Brita and the high school kids was a nice, silly complement to the more serious storyline of everyone hating on Pierce.

As usual, the best portions of the episode were with Abed and Troy. Abed is trying to check off everything on a quintessential college experience list, such as breaking a guitar like in Animal House, pantsing and getting pantsed, pledging the most popular fraternity on campus, stealing a rival's mascot, and making a robot in order to impress chicks.

The actual dramatic arc of the episode - Pierce getting kicked out of the group for being an ass to Shirley - isn't really that great. But all of the other stuff going on in the episode more than makes up for it. In fact, I couldn't decide on just a couple photos, so please enjoy the others at the end of this entry.

Grade: A

TV Review: Annie's Boobs and Goodfellas make Community great

Community came back from its unnecessary couple-of-week break strong, as the gang at the community college did their best to setup a literal gang, as in a mob syndicate. The scheme? Controlling the chicken finger production at the school, the only decent thing at the cafeteria.

The linchpin for the plan was Abed, who of course immediately started acting like a movie mob boss with his new found power. While the primary spoofing of the episode was of Goodfellas, there was also some Casino and Godfather thrown in there for good measure. Starburns also got a slightly increased role in the episode, which was kind of neat.

However, the purest "laugh out loud" moment of the episode featured a stupid gag by Troy. At the height of the gang's good times, the Spanish study group all arrange lavish perks for themselves - Pierce gets cronies, Annie gets a new backpack (which is why she's doing the robot dance above), Brita gets a hair stylist, etc.

Troy somehow gets a monkey, which he names... Annie's Boobs. Well, to be precise, HE didn't name the monkey that - The monkey has his own Twitter. (p.s. It actually does!!! Right here!) This joke is so simple that it makes for cheap laughs throughout the episode. "I've got to give a banana to Annie's Boobs."

Anyway, this was probably my favorite episode of Community so far from start to finish. If you haven't seen the show yet, it is a good episode to jump in on, since you don't need a ton of past knowledge of the characters to get most of the jokes.

Grade: A+