Community News: October 19th is February 7th, Show to Return to its Old 8PM Thursday Slot

NBC has finally revealed when Community will return – February 7! What I hate about this announcement is that the show will be going back to competing directly with ratings juggernaut The Big Bang Theory in the Thursdays at 8 time slot, as well as American Idol and the CW’s highest-rated drama, The Vampire Diaries.

The Thursday night comedy lineup for NBC will then be: Community, Parks and Rec, The Office, and new show 1600 Penn (30 Rock will have ended and Up All Night will be on hiatus). No word on when midseason comedy Save Me will make an appearance.

Other midseason NBC news:

New drama Deception (formerly Infamous) will take Revolution’s plum Mondays at 10 slot in January while the futuristic drama goes on hiatus. It will air after The Biggest Loser (Revolution and The Voice will return in late March).

Smash will start its second season on Tuesday, February 5th at 10 after Parenthood wraps up its season in January. This move actually makes me more likely to watch the show, as I usually don’t have any broadcast shows to watch in that time slot. I liked some things about the show during its first season, but hated others. The music, however, kept me watching.

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The Hard Truths Behind Dan Harmon’s Community Ousting and My Thoughts

A voice of reason amid all the cries of “Why even watch season 4?” “This is the darkest timeline,” and “Community won’t be Community without Dan Harmon,” this article looks at all the very plausible explanations for why he was fired.

While the show started out as an accessible, though quirky, sitcom, over the past few years it has evolved into a very niche show. I still love it, but occasionally there are episodes that try so hard to parody something that they forget to be funny (“Pillows & Blankets” was the latest offense – I think I laughed once during the entire episode).

The article linked below focuses on what good might come out of the change in showrunners. I for one am hoping the changes will be reminiscent of Mark Ruffalo playing the Hulk instead of Edward Norton in The Avengers. I know comparing actors to showrunners is a bit like comparing apples to apple trees, but both Norton and Harmon have a reputation for being difficult to work with. Bringing in Ruffalo was far from the only thing that made The Avengers a success, but I believe it helped. (Side note, since I’m already talking about The Avengers, wouldn’t it be awesome if Joss Whedon had become Community’s new showrunner? I know it’s completely different from his own shows – though not from ones he’s worked on – and unlikely to have worked out, but can you imagine the fan craziness that would have ensued?)

Found this right after I finished this post, and thought it was amazing! (And very fitting to add.)

But what I don’t understand with this move to make Community more mainstream, is why NBC still plans to air Community on Fridays, a timeslot usually reserved for niche shows. It seems like they’d do one or the other (fire Dan Harmon or move the show to Fridays), not both. How is the show expected to pick up new viewers that way? Far better to air the final season of 30 Rock there instead. I would have put Community on at 8 on Wednesdays, followed by Animal Practice (giving the new show the benefit of a veteran lead-in). Then Thursdays could have started with sophomore Up All Night at 8, followed by the similarly-themed Guys With Kids. I do hope some executive at NBC is smart enough to figure that out before fall, and if not, that a new show bombs quickly and NBC rearranges things.

The Hard Truths Behind Dan Harmon’s Community Ousting — Vulture.

Continue reading The Hard Truths Behind Dan Harmon’s Community Ousting and My Thoughts

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Community – Regional Holiday Music

 

The fall season of Community has ended with a great musical bang, and I’m a little sad, but also a little disappointed. I was hoping this final episode of 2011 would be something amazing. There were moments of brilliance, but I felt the episode as a whole didn’t quite hit all the right notes.

More on the highlights and low points of the episode in a bit, but first, don’t forget to enter my Community giveaway. You don’t even have to visit that page to enter – just leave a comment on this post (since you’re here already!) before the end of December and you’ll be entered! But if you want more chances, check out the giveaway post. Continue reading Community – Regional Holiday Music

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Community – Giveaway!

 

This month, I’m giving away a season of Community! Winner will receive his or her choice of either a season DVD set of the show (season one or two) or a $15 Amazon gift card! See rules below for how to enter by leaving comments, sharing on Facebook, linking on Twitter, and more!

Easy-peasy rules (more details and ways to win below, but if you want to enter and move on, this is what you need to know): Leave a comment, get an entry. Post link to this page on Facebook, get entries. Post link on Twitter, get entries. Simple as that. Continue reading Community – Giveaway!

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Community – Biology 101

I fell in love with this unlikely comedy from episode one, and I’m looking forward to an amazing third season – even if they “have more fun and be less weird than the first two years combined.” (Though, wouldn’t that mean they could be more weird than either of the previous years, just not as much as both of them put together?)

Side note: I might have blogged about The Big Bang Theory instead today, especially since it had two episodes airing last night compared to Community’s one, but I just wasn’t impressed with its episodes. Too much raunchy stuff, reminding me that the show came from the same mind as Two and a Half Men. I really hope the rest of the season isn’t like that.

“Biology 101” offered two weird glimpses in to the mind of Jeff Winger, beginning with the crazy music opening quoted above. Hilarious to think that Jeff daydreams in musicals. The second is a monkey-gas-induced trip into the power of the study group table – but more on that later.

And yes, there shall be spoilers!

Dean Pelton steps into his new role as regular cast member with a new adversary, his vice-dean, played by John Goodman. I’m not all that fond of the dean, so I hope he doesn’t take over the show, but he’s tolerable and even funny in small doses, like Senor Chang. I loved it when Chang emerged from the air vent and said, “Don’t tell the monkey I live here.”

And Pierce is back! For good it seems, thanks to the events of this episode. For a bit it seemed like he was back to his nefarious ways, but no, he seems to have improved over the summer. The fight over the spot in the biology class was fun, though, even with Jeff’s weird vision of himself eating his cell phone and Pierce on his deathbed, still reaching for the study group table.

I like the new teacher. It’s nice that it seems the group will be actually learning something this year, as opposed to the craziness of having Chang, Betty White, and Duncan as teachers in the past. He even got Jeff’s attention, though admittedly, the reason Jeff paid attention is because he didn’t want to lose his study group.

It’s interesting, though – if the group needs the cohesiveness of taking the same class, does that make a fifth year of the show completely out of the picture? I just hope the ratings are good enough this year to at least get a fourth year and bring the series to a natural close.

A highlight of the episode is when Abed freaks out when he hears that Cougar Town won’t come back until mid-season. Britta hopes to comfort him with the British version, Cougarton Abbey, but fails to mention it’s only six episodes long. When the sixth episode of his “new favorite show” ends with everyone drinking hemlock, Abed becomes nearly catatonic. He finally snaps out of it when Britta introduces him to another British show that’s been airing since the 1960s, Inspector Spacetime (a clear parody of Doctor Who).

And Chang gets a new job as a security guard for the college. I love Jeff’s response to that: “Interesting. And this is the year we all die.”

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Community – Laughter and Paintballs

Community didn’t do that great of a job winning me over with the show’s initial promos. I remember being bored and confused with the teaser. Maybe it was a better hook for those familiar with Joel McHale.

I don’t remember what pushed me to watch the first episode – perhaps a later, better ad. But I liked the show enough to keep watching, and eventually enjoyed it so much that I pre-ordered the first season months in advance.

I love how each of the characters has their own type of humor, and how different characters take turns pairing up in each episode so the dynamics are always fresh. Of course, my favorite pair is Abed and Troy. I love their 30 second clips at the end of most episodes – and those make a great introduction for people new to the show.

The show’s second season wasn’t quite as consistently good as the first, but the season’s best episodes really shined – and none more than the two-part season finale.

I was a bit skeptical when I heard they were doing another paintball episode. Hadn’t they already covered that well enough in the first season? I was afraid it would simply be a rehash of “Modern Warfare,” but, boy, was I wrong!

The first of the connected episodes, “A Fistful of Paintballs,” put an Old West spin on the slinging of color. The gang is dressed up for a Western-themed end-of-the-year picnic (with free ice cream), when a paintball competition, complete with six-shooters, is announced. The prize – $100,000 – sends the school into a frenzy. Add in a tale of alliances and betrayal, and epicness ensues.

The second episode, “For Few Paintballs More,” changes things up when hostile paintball assassins invade the school wearing white gear and masks. Yes, they look like Stormtroopers. Add in a Star Wars-esque rolling intro, tiny robotic paint launchers on wheels zipping through the halls, and Abed acting like Han Solo (complete with vest), and you have the best mashup of space opera and western since Firefly. (I’ll have to find out if Cowboys & Aliens tops it later.)

Community is just about tied with The Big Bang Theory for my favorite comedy show, and I really hate that they both air at the same time. So I won’t fault you if you don’t watch this on Thursdays this fall – but be sure to catch it online later!

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