Community Review: "The Art of Discourse" (1.22)
Community isn’t a show that’s just pop culture savvy, its characters for the most part live within a safe little bubble of standard TV and movie plots that protects them from harm. What’s more, they know it, and are more than happy to play their roles as protagonists within a buddy cop movie or a romantic comedy or whatever else comes their way. Luckily that’s not all there is to the show, so it never slips into a world where references themselves become jokes, but there’s definitely a risk of that taking place—only the razor-sharp writing and a stellar cast... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsThe 10 Best Sitcoms on TV Right Now
The 10 Best Sitcoms on TV? I can't believe I'm even typing that... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the DayCommunity Review: "Contemporary American Poultry" (1.21)
There's no denying that Community is a show suffused with pop culture. Almost every episode's plot has been done by a sit-com or movie previously, and Community does little to hide this—to the point where it sometimes revels in its referentiality. Other than Family Guy and occasionally South Park, it's a show that's most reliant on its audience knowing its pop culture references for enjoyment. This is going to be especially true of an episode centered around Abed.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsCommunity Creator Dan Harmon Explains Monster House, Calls Steven Spielberg a Moron
Following our own advice pays off. Last year, Paste suggested that Twitter users looking for a laugh follow Kelly Oxford (@kellyoxford), a mom of three with a sharp wit and a propensity to mock celebrities.... read more
Found in: Movies, NewsCommunity Review: "The Science of Illusion" (1.20)
If there's one joke in Community that perfectly encompasses the show's sense of humor it's the snake in a can gag at the beginning of "The Science of Illusion." Like the show's characters, we're all aware of the old snake in the can prank. I've seen other shows comment on this before, but the commentary is usually, "Let's mention how dumb this prank is." Community took a different route, which is instead actually infusing the joke with comedy by changing things while simultaneously recognizing the joke along with the audience. Offering a totally empty peanut can is funny, and the... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsCommunity Review: "Beginner Pottery" (1.18)
Amongst Community’s more immediately noticeable traits is generally the show’s self-consciousness. It’s this feature that tends to divides critics more than other elements of the show, as for some people this facet is indicative that Community is full of nothing but shallow, hip self-regard. But self-consciousness isn’t necessarily a bad thing and it also doesn’t necessarily lead to a bunch of South Park-style jokes that don’t particularly go anywhere aside from a particular episode’s heavy-handed point. Self-consciousness can actually make things feel a lot more real, despite the stylized way that they’re being used in Community.... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsCommunity Review: "Basic Genealogy" (1.18)
One of the things that always sets sit-coms in particular off in their own, unrealistic little worlds is their lack of outside friendships or families. If a show is based around a family, you’d better be prepared for almost every episode centering on the characters of that family interacting rather than the reality of our lives, which is time spent at school, work and with friends. Reality is a lot bigger than the couple of easy sets used in a sit-com, and the way shows wall off one portion of the world is a large part of what keeps them... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsCommunity Review: "Physical Education" (1.17)
When Community began, one of my biggest fears was that the show would be taking Abed's immediately popular quirkiness and turning this into the entire show. Remember Family Matters? If so, you might recall how quickly the show was subsumed by Urkel and went from watchable if unoriginal to frighteningly awful. Community was always a better show than that, but breakout characters run the risk of ruining the balance of things, especially when they're not really developed. For more examples, just think of nearly every running character that SNL has ever had. ... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsCommunity Review: "Communication Studies" (1.16)
Community, as with every other sit-com this week, saw the need to focus on Valentine’s Day. But while for most shows I maintain a certain level of dread for these things, Community is different. The show manages this first off by having a fairly interesting love triangle with its Jeff-Britta-Michelle relationship, which this episode definitely improved, but more importantly because of the show’s intense pacing. In The Office, the Pam-Jim dynamic took years of will-they/won’t-they nonsense before things happened, and while the show has a certain level of changing dynamics ultimately it’s always about bringing things to a nice,... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsThe Funniest Characters on TV Right Now
Say what you will about the boob tube, but because of its serial nature, television allows for more character development than film or even most novels. When we find characters worth watching, we may stick with them for years (or in the case of the ageless Simpsons, decades). That’s a big investment of time, so the payoff better be good. In the case of these 10 characters, the payoff is in laughs. Here are the 10 funniest TV characters still on the air:... read more
Found in: Blogs, List of the Day
