FALL TV REVIEW: Community

Name of Show: Community
Network: NBC
Day: Thursday
Time: 9:30pm EST/8:30pm CST
Genre: Comedy
Length: 30 minutes
Episode Watched: Pilot

Setting:
Characters (in order of mention/appearance):
Abed - high-strung guy who talks really really fast
Jeff Winger (joel mchale!) - sleazy guy, former lawyer
Britta - 28, hot girl from spanish
Ian Duncan - British Dean. may have been on The Daily Show. . looks familiar
Pierce Walthorn - Toastmaster, makes award-winning moist towelettes
Shirley - needs a babysitter
Annie - young, high-strung girl, known as "Annie Aderol" in high school
Troy - the "wonderboy", quarterback and prom king

Stereotypes:
- Grumpy Old Man
- Sassy non-White Woman
- Funny fat guy
- Hot blonde wife of funny fat guy
- Quirky, far too self-aware early 20's guy/girl
- Emo Teen
- Guy you've seen in that one movie who always has a sarcastic comment
X Fallen star taking what work they can get
- Relatable guy/girl, soon to be tabloid fodder
X High-strung guy/girl whose buttons everyone enjoys pushing
- Cougar
X Brainy brunette
- Precocious kid acting way too mature for their age
X Hot blonde

Basic premise: Jeff, who has finally been caught in his lies, is forced to attend community college. . .and find a community of his own.

Pilot plot:
The DVR cut off the first minute of the show, but from what I can tell, some guy is speaking to new class about people who attend community college. . .describing the misfits who they'll be surrounded with. The one class I took at one was just full of people who didn't want to take bio at their school.

Jeff, the slick guy (Joel McHale!!) and Abed, a fast talking young guy (almost too fast. . .) are talking about the girl from Jeff's Spanish class. Abed knows a scary amount of information about her, and Jeff takes in as much as possible. All you need to know? She's scared for the upcoming Spanish class. I thought this was Day 1. . .it sure moves fast for community college.

Jeff visits his old friend, Dr. Ian Duncan (the Dean!) and asks for help on all his upcoming tests. He's only in community college because he had faked a law degree and now needs a real degree. We basically learn that Jeff and the truth have a mostly off-again relationship.

It's lunchtime! In the cafeteria, we see Britta frantically studying for Spanish. I didn't know that community colleges have high school cafeterias. . .but apparently this one does. See? I'm already participating in the spirit of lifelong learning. Jeff tries to hit on her and she'll have none of it, so he makes up a Spanish study group piecing together all the spanish words he knows. She actually knows even less, so she's impressed enough to attend. Throw in a Touched by an Angel and "Seinfield" "Actually, it's Seinfeld" reference, and we have ourselves a scene!

Britta actually shows up to the study group and Jeff learns that she dropped out of high school to impress Radiohead and that she values honesty so much that she won't speak to someone who's dishonest with her. He decides to bail now given his aforementioned relationship with the truth. She admires that he's honest about his dishonesty and all of a sudden he's in. . .until Abed arrives. He tries to get him to leave by sending texts, but Abed is clueless and reads them out loud to Britta. Not really giving community college students the best name. . .

Duncan, meanwhile sends a text with all the wrong acronyms, which Jeff decodes to mean that he should go outside. He gets Duncan to give him the test answers. . . .I still don't know how. Impressive.

He returns to the study group and there are people there thanks to clueless Abed. He's kinda screwed, so he runs out. . .right into Britta! He asks her out. . .I still don't know how. . .and she agrees. . .right after they do some studying.

They have their Breakfast Club moment of learning about each other and then quote some 80s movies. . .and it devolves into fighting. Jeff gets a call to meet Duncan in the parking lot and gets the test answers. Duncan wants Jeff's car in return. . .and Jeff gets to drive the smart car. "gets to" is actually a strong statement for how Jeff feels about it.

Britta is pissed about how the study group is going. Jeff tries to get her to see that they're untutorable and she should go to dinner with him, but instead she sees through his whole ploy to get into los pantalones. Yet. . .she agrees to dinner.

Act 1 Break Pickle: Jeff's study group is a sham and Britta thinks he's a shallow jerk.

Jeff takes control of the study group and gives them a lecture about how people can find the good in people except themselves. Asks them to forgive each other and then empowers them to become a community.

Britta still won't go to dinner with him, so he offers everyone the test answers, which no one takes him up on. He gets fed up, leaves, opens the packet and then sees that it's a bunch of blank papers. He busts into Duncan's office who admits that he's trying to teach him a lesson. . .oh, and and Duncan is going keep the car. . .to continue the lesson. Booyah.

He sits outside to mope and is slowly joined by each member of the study group who each receive a good piece of advice from him and invite him back to study with them. awww.

Reaction:
It's been a long day, and I'm a bit tired, but this is a fast-paced show. The dialogue moves, and there were some words I couldn't understand, let alone process. So. . .hopefully the speech slows down a little bit. Jeff isn't really all that likeable, yet you like him. Deep down, there's some redeemable value, and I'm sure it'll be a fun season trying to see it. It didn't make me laugh out loud (I'm a tough audience), but it was definitely different and enjoyable.


Competing against in my DVR schedule (remember, only two slots!): Grey's Anatomy and Project Runway
Added to schedule?: Yes. . .because I can record the later airing of PR
Renewed for a 2nd season prediction: yep!