Community - Season 2 Thread (1 Viewer)

[Hanson]

The reason I love Community so much is that the writing is so smart and clever, and it has one of the finest casts on TV, with every one of them able to wring laughs from line readings alone. There's eye candy (blonde and brunette), a diverse cast of characters, and amazing production values. Every other show is like a mini-movie.


But what I find so rewarding about Community is that it's chock a block with pop culture references. Some are obvious, some are sly, and some are quite esoteric. And many times, I'm laughing so hard at them that I have to rewind. Thank god for DVR's.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo

There's eye candy (blonde and brunette)

Whom do you like better, Jeff or Troy?

 

[Paul D G]

^^


I started watching this this season and was instantly hooked. This is exactly my kind of show. My wife, however, doesn't get it so I always look forward to reading this thread to 'get' with other fans.


Since we're in winter rerun time I'm replacing my normal viewing nights with catching up on Season 1. I find it interesting that Troy and Abed were teamed up during the credits so early on while during the show itself they have nothing to do with each other (only watched the first 4...)

 

[Hanson]

Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman

There's eye candy (blonde and brunette)

Whom do you like better, Jeff or Troy?

[/QUOTE]

Why, Chang of course, And not just because Ken Jeong is Korean. It's because he's a doctor.


BTW, Community ranks very high for me in terms of laughter density. This is a very important metric for me -- The Office is slowly losing it's laughter density, while 30 Rock waned last year but is back in full force this year. If I can couch it in terms you can understand, Dave, Community's high jpi makes it the Retina Screen of sitcoms (but much, much less douchey than the actual Retina Screen).


And while my wife was lukewarm towards Community in the beginning (there are a few episodes in the first season she didn't even watch), it's now surpassed The Office to become her favorite Thursday night comedy. That coupled with the death spiral The Office is in.

 

[joshEH]

The NBC synopsis for tonight's episode:

"ASIAN POPULATION STUDIES" Annie (Alison Brie) returns from spring break to find that her crush Rich (Greg Cromer, Justified), "the Doctor," has enrolled at Greendale Community College, sparking a heated debate about whether to add Rich and/or Señor Chang to the study group. Shirley's (Yvette Nicole Brown) ex-husband André (Malcolm Jamal Warner, True Blue) is back in the picture, and Shirley has some big news for everyone.

...And I think we can all guess what that "big news" is. Also, John Oliver is back.

 

[Walter C]

And this is the first time it is going up against American Idol. I just hope it won't get eaten alive by that juggernaut.

 

[TravisR]

^ Yeah, I'm happy that Parks And Recreation has probably the best slot on NBC (between The Office and 30 Rock) but it and Community are on against some really big competition. Maybe after a decade and after so many judge changes, American Idol will start to decline in popularity.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

The judge changes this year will probably increase ratings. They got off to a good start yesterday (in terms of the show -- I don't know what the ratings were).


I might have to Hulu Community anyway -- usually at 8 I'm putting my son to bed.

 

[Citizen87645]

Black George Foreman and White Michael Chiklis. Same guy.

 

[EricW]

i liked the Jamie Lee Curtis line


that scene reminded me of the bar scene in kiss kiss bang bang. any other show/movies use it?

 

[spshultz]

This episode was chuck full of quotables and I'm glad it's back on.


Jeff - "Huh. Nice sweater"

Andre - "Thanks, my dad gave it to me".





"I agree with brown Jamie Lee Curtis". Holy hell that one got me laughing.


Normally I'm not a big fan of the Chang character but tonight he was absolutely spot on.

And the misdirection at the end was perfect. I should have seen it coming but didn't.

 

[joshEH]

"MEZZANINE?!?!?"


Loved it. Another home run. I totally dug the setup to Jeff running to "Annie" at the end. I figured it out through the open-door monologue to Rich, but so what? Great stuff.


"I spell 'kettle corn' with a 'Q-U'."


This friggin' show came back with both barrels. Whereas, watching the first three minutes of Perfect Couples afterwards was like getting dumped on by a cold pail of bilgewater. Of all the sight gags, I loved the underlined "PENIS" the best. Underlined MULTIPLE times.


"And after all the kids get their candy --" "...Uh, I think I'm going to talk to some other people."

 

[Todd H]

Absolutely hilarious return. Glad it's back.

 

[joshEH]

Likewise, I enjoyed Chang's first appearance crouching on top of the bookshelf, unseen for several minutes. Awesome. However, if Chang is still a member of the study group, I do worry he'll be overused a bit. I like the man best in small doses.


Also (and this is probably a stupid question), how did Jeff know exactly where Rich lived? Did he just follow the smell of the kettle corn? And if Rich said he made the kettle corn in his garage, why did his front entrance look so apartment-like?


Just so you're all aware, this in no way detracted from the hilarity of Jeff's rain-soaked confession at the end...perhaps my brain was over-analyzing.

 

[Jacinto]

For me, that was the best episode of the season. I've just felt like too many of the episodes felt really forced, but the humor in this one seemed effortless and natural. Glad it's back.

 

[EricW]

Also (and this is probably a stupid question), how did Jeff know exactly where Rich lived?

back in the S1 pottery episode, Jeff had a stalkerish obsession with Rich, found out where he went to school, etc.

 

[joshEH]

Also, it's becoming pretty clear that the writers are setting Rich up as a Norman Bates-like psychopath.


There's his original "Norman Bates" moment; the finger; Jeff comparing him to Manson and Dahmer; and, of course, Rich saying, "You can't fake being good to get away with bad things." Unless it's intentional misdirection, I'd say they're doing some pretty heavy foreshadowing.


Further, Jeff gave a speech about how Chang's evil is all on the surface, and therefore, they know him. Whereas, they know nothing about Rich, because his "evil" is on the inside. I'd say they alluded to it, even if it didn't show itself in the actual episode.


If Rich really is a psycho, I hope the finale has Chang saving the the study group from him.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by joshEH

Also, it's becoming pretty clear that the writers are setting Rich up as a Norman Bates-like psychopath.

I thought that was going to be the punchline somewhere in the episode too but since it didn't happen, I think they'll just play him as a legitimately nice guy.

 

[EricW]

what would have been extremely cool for this episode is if they'd had background actors later on who actually looked like a "anderson cooper with a soulpatch" or "black michael chiklis"

 

[TravisR]

'Dildopolis' is such an awesome word that it should be added to the dictionary.