What Made 'Community' the Best Sitcom Ever
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Note: It has come to my attention that “Asperger’s” is outdated diagnosis with a problematic history that may be offensive to those on the Autism Spectrum. Apologies for this- the show itself utilized the term and I missed the context in writing this video.
In this video I describe what makes Community my favorite TV show of all time and the most innovative and funny sitcom I’ve ever seen. With its rich understanding and homages to everything film and tv and its ridiculously well-written characters- Community is a sitcom designed for me- and just about anyone with a deep passion for television. Despite struggling in ratings during its tenure on NBC and it’s subversion of the big network sitcom genre much to the big network’s dismay, the show received high praise for its trademark meta-humor, the performances of the immensely talented ensemble cast, and the consistent high quality in direction and writing. But why though?
In this video, I want to discuss what makes Community different than anything on TV while also being my go-to comfort watch, and in this first episode I want to dive into how the episode Contemporary American Poultry first differentiated the show from the contemporary American sitcom. This is the part one of a larger series I will do the show- so subscribe to see more Community content. In this video I cover that episode as well as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and Remedial Chaos Theory to explore the innovation of the sitcom, what makes a homage a homage, the relationship between Jeff and Abed, and what Season 4 of Community was missing.
You can watch Community on Netflix and Hulu.
RUclips, this video is for television and film lovers, people who watch video essays on tv and film analysis.
Alternate Titles: How Contemporary American Poultry differentiated Community from the Contemporary American Sitcom, Why Community is Streets Ahead of Any Other Sitcom, The Episode Community Became Community, What Makes "Community" the Greatest Comedy of All Time
Let me know in the comments what episode of Community got you into the show and why. I’ll see you guys soon.
Related Videos:
The Day Community Was Born
Community and the Heart Within the Chaos
Why Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is the Best Episode of Community
The Best Episode of Community: Mixology Certification
Community: How Paintball Changed Everything
The Day Community Died
This Episode of Community is Streets Ahead
The Philosophy of Community
Question: What Episode of the show got you into Community?
Also, I plan on covering the following episodes in upcoming videos:
1. Paradigms of Human Memory
2. Cooperative Polygraphy
3. Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television
4. And likely more
The Pilot itself grabbed me right off the bat. I started watching the show around the 4th episode of season 2.
The episode which got me into Community was Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I had heard some good things about Community, but somehow I had never seen an episode. Somehow I became aware that they were doing an episode centering about AD&D and figured I would give it a watch. I was damn impressed by the episode and began watching it weekly after that.
I started the show the night of the pilot, I think I was like 15, freshman year of high school. My feelings weren’t very strong about it, but as the show picked up and fell into it’s rhythm I was like, obsessed. I remember when it went to Hulu I got an account just to rewatch. I still watch all the time, at the very least once a week. You did beautifully with this vid essay, I’ve seen a few about Community but you’ve really captured something here. Can’t wait for more of this series!
@@delia9960 Thank you!
@@RobertJazo That might be the best episode honestly
If you don't think Community is streets ahead, well...You just might be streets behind.
Correct.
Annnd i had sex with ertha kit
It's always sunny is the goat tho
You guys have no clue how ajar streets come and go.
Community is to me what Friends is to most (normal) people.
Same here, if the video wasn’t obvious enough lol.
When Netflix dumped Friends which I used to watch constantly, I started to rewatch Community over and over. And now I know it like the back of my Chang.
I hate friends like how Jeff hates Leonard
Community is to me what friends are to normal people
Just say normies dude.
I don’t know if I can even get through a week without singing “love is not admissible evidence” to myself.
I just got a huge chuckle over reading this, then remembering how it went note for note and needing to sing it aloud for myself.
I was literally thinking about that like half an hour ago. Get out of my head.
@Xaviezor policical
Copra !!!
Agreed and really glad Community is getting a re-look. This and The Good Place I think are my top “sitcoms” ever
Great picks
I don't think the Good Place technically qualifies as a sitcom after S1. IT's not really situational comedy anymore and has a pretty solid through line with the plot.
Agreed!
It’s a shame that the streaming services think Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is racist and pulled it from their platform. What a joke.
Peacock brought it back, thankfully
One of my favourite shows ever made
S1-3 is some of the best stuff aired on TV
Agreed
Community is one of those shows that I can always come back to and get the same level of enjoyment. That and Bojack Horseman. I think I’m on my 4 or 5 watch of community and it never fails to be great
Two of the best shows ever
Add Avatar: The Last Airbender and you have my top 3 of all time
And both have Alison Brie in the main cast
You in this thread are my people ❤️ I wish you're my friends IRL
@@siswatching You don't know that we aren't murderers
My dad and I are from Jersey and we’ve always loved the crime genre movies like goodfellas, The Godfather, and shows like the sopranos. When that chicken finger episode came out, I swear to God we laughed our asses off.
Beautifully summarized. I hope this brings some new people to this show!
I do as well. Thank you!
I think I was hooked from episode two or three because pf how funny it was, but the episode that really caught my complete attention was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. As someone who had also considered going down, let's say, the same path as Neil, it really impacted me. It also made me want to play D&D which I never had before.
i've been called wierd for liking community over big bang theory or friends, community was just better, even in season 4 it was superior and thats saying something, often community has been the comfort that I have looked because I never had the time or place to make decent friends or bro's, i'd say that this comedy has something special and I wish that i can see more of this in the future.
There's no laugh track, case closed
The writing is the key . There is such a love for dialogue that really is missing these days,. Next is the acting is a++
Watching stuff now everything feels disconnected and actors not talking but reading.. and I bake. The actors and writing especially..
Community is so fluid because it is so well written. They got truly best delivery from the actors who were allowed to start which characucatuees ( extreme versions of themselves and the. Slowly flesh them out..and yet tying everything together.
Some of the best movies and episodes are bottle episodes.. abed hates bottle episodes ( because they are some of the hardest..but are the most satisfying)- dungeons and dragons is also- a bottle episode.
Also, community made fun of everything and knowing cencorship was bad.. you need chaos for order ad. Community is organized Chaos
Caricature you mean or character?
Community is the GOAT sitcom.
The fact that Dan Harmon made Community(the most underrated show off all time) then went on to create possibly the most universally praised show off all time(which has so many elements from Community) in Rick and Morty is a testament to this man's genius.
If there's a comedy TV HOF he's in it with just those two shows.
Agreed
It's always sunny is the goat but community easily top 3
Tbh I prolly got parks and rec at #2 but community might be 3
@@nickpeitchev7763 I'll agree to disagree.
I love community but it's always sunny has more classic seasons than community has, well, seasons.
With how epic community makes every episode, I forget how utterly mundane the setting is. They’re literally just in a study room for like there quarters of the series.
Leonard likes this post
Community is my comfort show, like 8th watch throughs so far.
The changnesia was the only part of that season that felt consistent with the show and character
Perhaps, but it just wasn't funny to me.
I liked most of season 4. But tbf I binged it all at once so maybe the good episodes made me not think the bad episodes are that bad. Like the hot air balloon episode didn’t even seem that bad to me
"When you really know who you are, what you like about yourself, changing for others is not a big deal".
My dream job is to work in a writer's room, for television sitcoms. Community really built that mold for how I can pull that off.
Write what you think is funny, pass it around to your fellow writers, and just work on it. Please do not be afraid to be "offensive or controversial". That is the birth of hilarity. What comes next is how you present it. We live in a day where creators are afraid to make what they want, because audiences might not like it.
Fuck the audiences, please just keep the beat going, and do what you want to do. Just go buck wild with it, dude. In the long run, you will find your community.
Community is one of my favorite shows ever and your video further explained why I like it so much!
community is the sopranos of comedy
honestly my go to episode/s of community include any abed-centric plot.
Agreed.
I only started watching Community a few months ago, but I quickly fell in love with it. I'm coming up to the end of season four and I've got to say, I don't get why it gets so much hate.
Community is a show that rewards rewaches: there's always new details to discover, jokes and references to get and layers to unpeel. On my first watching I thought that S04 was OK and I didn't really love S05 and S06. This changed when I rewatched the whole show, like, watching it as whole I finally understood the genius of the last two seasons and why S04 was not good. S04 has good moments and great jokes in basically every episode, but it failed to capture the heart of the characters in the insightful way that only Dan was able to. It's not terrible on it's own (except the Christmas episode, this one is truly awful), but it doesn't get anywhere close to the other seasons. It tried to replicate the concept without the human heart that made it work, when the last two seasons set up to be their own thing with the human heart back (but also changed).
I’ve always considered season 5 to be a top three season behind 2 and 3. It hurts a lot when Donald left but the strong episodes of season 5 were just so funny and inspired.
@@ComeWatchTV I look forward to seeing what Season 5 has to offer then. Even if I'm not ready to say goodbye to Troy.
I agree, s4 was good.
Randy loves the NBC sitcom ‘Community’ and the sweet, sweet sound of your commentary
Thanks Randy
Beautifully summarised. I hope this brings some new people to your channel - it did me
I don't think there's a single episode that got me into it, it was a specific clip I kept seeing of Jeff and Troy on the football episode. You know the one.
I started to watch the show because of all the Chang memes
This show became my favorite after A fistful of paintballs episode. Once I finished the series, I went back and rewatched the whole thing. Found some things that I missed the first time and I still continue to find new things from this show. Remedial chaos theory is probably the best episode in the entire series, at least for me 😅
I always liked community. the show actually played a small role in my decision to go back to college in my 30s. Upon rewatching it, I got a different perspective on the greendale 7. at first I viewed them as relatable flawed people....now I look at them like the gang from its always sunny....all 7 of them were complete slimeballs
That would be the flanderization of the characters by S3.
@@kyleellis1825 you dont think it was intentional or that the show was just about 7 really shitty people?
Season 4 gets a lot of grief, but I think a lot of it is unearned. To be sure, season 4 gave us the puppet episode, and overall the writing was stronger in other seasons. But here are things that season 4 did different, that I think were positive steps forward that I wish had stuck:
- Shirley was no longer a judgy Christian where you wondered why she considered everyone else her friends (or why they considered her a friend for that matter). She was still a Christian, yes, but she accepted her friends' differences. For that matter, they made it a thing that Shirley was on the valedictorian track, and I like that.
- Similar to Shirley, Pierce was given just a little bit of a more forgiving treatment, and maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. As Jeff said in the episode where he was hanging out with Pierce at the barber's, Pierce may be a total pain in the ass 90% of the time, but that other 10% might make it worth it.
- Jeff was not always trying to get into women's pants. Now I don't think Jeff was obligated to be asexual, but on the other hand, some of his horndoggery did not wear very well over time. Especially his interest in Annie.
I think Shirley was handled correctly, but all the other characters were not. I think Troy/Britta goes without saying, but characters like Abed, Jeff, Annie, and the Dean read like fan-fiction. I do skip on rewatches so ive only seen season 4 once, but maybe later on I can give a more developed answer. I get your points though.
@@ComeWatchTV You're not wrong that there are episodes where they get this or that character wrong. But then there are episodes where I think everyone is done pitch-perfect, like the one with the Germans trying to take over the study room. I'll put that as one of the top 10 episodes of "Community", possibly even one of the top 5.
Pierce felt weird in season 4. Like, that barbershop episode felt like something you'd see in season 1 when Jeff was just getting to know Pierce.
If that's not "heart", then I don't know what is.
Good shit bro! Make a video about dissecting one of the characters!
Bet. Might do Troy or Annie cuz I don’t think I’ve seen a video on them yet
Thats where I got that quote, from Abed! "When you know who you are and what tou like about yourself..... changing for other people isnt such a big deal." I think about that a lot because its very true.
Malcolm in the middle edges out ahead, but community is a close second
nothing like a great video essay about a great show
This is the first Community video where my exact feelings towards the show have been put into words. Which makes sense, since you seemed to find the show when you were in almost the same position as me. It really was my COVID comfort show lol. Great vid, can't wait to watch more of your stuff!
Thank you so much!
1) I'd seen several episodes but didn't get into it until Critical Film Studies. Any show that successfully combined My Dinner with Andre with Pulp Fiction was something special. 2) In the last 20 years, there's only one other Sitcom that was equally brilliant (But in a different way) The Good Place. 3) Yeah season 4 was weak, but it did introduce Rachel which even Harmon agreed was a good character.
But the Pulp Fiction stuff was just tacked on. It wasn't thematically relevent to any growth the characters went through.
aw, i owe a lot to this show too. it's how my fiance and i started spending time together
The Law & Order homage was my personal favourite episode. Season 3 I think?
Yup! One of the best for sure
I watched it yesterday lol one of my favourites, I think it's underrated, people don't mention it in lists of best community episodes
it's still amazing to me that Harmon could get fired from his show and then turn around and let it happen to someone else.
It's funny that Family Guy should keep coming up, there's a lot of weird parallels. Not just the fact that they also innovated a relatively fresh kind of comedy (the cutaway gag) yet eventually got mercilessly mocked for it, but the fact that the initial premise is clearly "a guy whose only connection to the world is TV" and they kinda lost that and started just naming things from TV. the main character became "the show" and "the show" just says things.
Right from the first episode I knew I was watching something different and unique, but it was I think from the second or third episode I was sure this was going to be a great show and I was hooked. Incredible show! By the way, I only knew of Joel McHale in the show which was the initial reason why I even decided to watch it. I knew him from the E! show called The Soup. He was hilarious in that show. Anyway, I'm glad I watched Community from the first day it was aired on TV.
"all that is human and all humanity is better than everything inhuman." aha so this is why Community is comfort tv there's no nihilism in it.
I can see why it kept you company during the pandemic. I couldn't watch anything edgy or dark in the early days of.
Community is my favourite sitcom of all time really, I used to watch it as a kid when it was first coming out with my brother so it’s also very nostalgic.
Good shit, my man. I hope your channel goes far.
Thank you!
Agreed. And to think Big Bang Theory kept on going. This is one of the darker timelines.
Bro I also wasn’t allowed to watch spongebob, I feel so understood lol
Excuse me. Pierce's Ertha Kitt story came up ORGANICALLY!
I have to say while Troy and Abed were a great pairing, Abed and Jeff were much more interesting and just better over all. Troy has a line in one of the episodes where he yells, "no one gets Abed" admitting that even he himself struggled to understand Abed. This in inherently wrong because Jeff understood Abed more than anyone, there was a deeper understanding between those to than anyone else on the show.
For sure
If they kept the Abed as a surrogate kid to Britta and Jeff thing, by S4 it was more Jeff/Annie. So we totally would have had Abed dealing with Annie starting to do more of the "mom" things Britta did, since she lives with Abed.
Then Troy becomes the fun stepdad that doesn't make Abed eat his vegetables.
I remember one time seeing an article that said "what makes community work is that the cast is written in a way that makes you feel like part of their friend group"
And ever since then, every time I come back to watch community, I feel like I'm coming back to see my old friends
I love that. Totally.
Love you bro. Community is my favorite show too. It is the best
Shout out to Scrubs and Man seeking Woman, in addition to, of course, Community.
I first started watching back when the show aired but i stopped watching because it did not air in the netherlands at the time. My first episode ever was modern warfare and when it came to netflix in 2020 i binged the whole show. I loved it and season 1-3 are perfect in my opinion. It is a shame that we never got to see what dan wanted to do with season 4. I really liked the rest of the show (season 5-6) but it lost it’s magic a little at that point. I think dan harmon is great writer but he needs other people to keep him grounded. I hope that if they one day make the movie (which i sadly enough lost hope for) they bring back all the people that worked on the first three seasons
Everyone is sleeping on this video. To the amazing creator, you are an amazing writer and creator. Community will always be my all-time favorite show.❤
Thank you so much.
Community is a meta-masterpiece of meta-art.
So meta that is meta when it was not meta intended:
-it got cancelled twice
-last seasons were kinda bad in comparison
-the cast had some problems
-the "big star" (chevy chase) had creative differences with the writers and had problems for being (rac1st) like his character.
-one member leave because it became famous for other projects (donald glover)
Those are classic big tv-serie problems, but here, was so ironic that it was beautiful.
The packed nostalgia and popculture references of "ready player one", combined with the "mock the cinema formulas" of tropic thunder, created a beautiful homage called *community*
For me it's truly a beautiful poetic dichotomy, that I can only describe as "the nicolas Cage of sit-coms"
Is it good? Is it bad? It's just mediocrely great
I have shows that I watch many times over. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Kill Tony, Sunny and a few more.
Community is my go-to out of them all. I love watching the background to see subtle jokes.
Yup Community is incredibly rewatchable
I got into the Show because of Danny Pudi's charecter Abed, and Chidlish Gambinos(Donald Glovers) charecter Troy were very relatable to me.
comfort characters for me as well
CAst me when you create your show. Thanks
The volume isn;t loud enough..?
Who is this kettle corn popping phantom?
Community is great because of the writing. Dan Harmon is is a genius writer
He really is. Offensive humour with heart
Have you ever watched the British TV show Spaced? A great show with lots of references.
Yes, big Edgar Wright guy. Great show
It is not, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the best sitcom ever made.
Most consistent for sure
You haven’t seen arrested development
It's like with advertising beer temperatures. You have to be able to prove something is tangibly better and that's nearly impossible (because of personal taste). Every single liquor store in town can say they sell the coldest beer in town though (since all beer freezes at the same temp, you just stay half a degree above that and it's the coldest beer in town. All beer at that temp is the coldest beer in town.
Once a show hits a certain level of quality, they're all the best. Better is just personal choice.
Goated TV show from goated youtuber
Very good video, but you need to keep your hands off the mic when recording. Very many audible mic bumps
Yea it didn’t help I had like the cheapest possible usb mic back then. Still need to improve on that end definitely
I've watched it (not season 4) about 30 times. Listed about 100 times over
you got your top 10 episodes?
ayyy Indiana represent. you’ve earned my subscription on that alone (the vid was great too)
appreciate it!
It's always sunny is the goat but community easily top 3
Excellent. Thank you.
I just hope when you finally do run your own show that you don't make some bullshit
That’s the goal
Troy funking barnes
Community é incrível
I have never seen the dnd episode with fat neil i honestly dont think its on netflix
you are correct-- I think all the streamers removed the episode. :(
Did Community win any award? I can't remember ever reading about it.
It won an Emmy for individual achievement in animation but that’s it as far as major awards go. Huge snub, especially in the writing and comedy series categories
Always Sunny, Fraser, Friends, The Office, Curb, Cheers, Seinfeld. C'mon my guy. Community was great and certainly innovative, but it was never as popular and never had the same cultural impact as these other great sitcoms. The show was almost cancelled how many times? Community has a niche audience, and always will be polarizing. Therefore, it is objectively not the best sitcom ever made.
More popular does not equal better. Surely I didn’t argue that in this video. The fact that it was so unsupported by its network but still so influential and high quality makes it even better imo.
@@ComeWatchTV Being popular, having nearly universal appeal, is in my opinion necessary if you are going to call a sitcom the GOAT. As much as I love Community, many people just did not like the show.
Danny is the reason.
6 SEASONS AND A MOVIE
AND A MOVIEEEEE
The D&D is the first one that blew my mind and I rewatch it all the time. 10/10
Arguably the best episode
I cant believe netflix got rid of that episode, I will never forgive them for that
Community got me through lockdown.
Yup
Interesting take. I haven’t seen a single episode of this show but I might give it a shot!
You best
After watching this, I 100% pulled up Netflix for another rewatch. I love this show.
Yup, it’s just how it goes with community
Just hope you've somehow managed to see Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.
Not weird in the same way, but The Good Place could get quite weird and similarly had complex characters with emotional story arcs. I could see why you might not think it's as good as Community, they're quite different shows, but I'd say the quality is overall on par.
Another really good show!
Does the Goodplace techncally count as a sitcom after S1? IT's really plot driven and no episode is stand alone.
I love the puppet episode. If that one is the very worst of Community then fans of the show have very little cause to complain. Troy's verse in the confession song where he admits to causing the Greendale Fire of '03 is both beautiful and beautifully sung. This moment alone makes up for the gas leak as far as I'm concerned. Community is as perfect a TV show as can be produced and haters of the puppet episode are just streets behind.
Time stamp 16:28 Dan Harmon-lying on the belly is PRONE. Supine is in the back.
I saw the title and just gonna agree with all the video
I think I was hooked from episode two or three because pf how funny it was, but the episode that really caught my complete attention was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. As someone who had also considered going down, let's say, the same path as Neil, it really impacted me. It also made me want to play D&D which I never had before.
Can you make a video on the puppet episode?
A critical analysis of the puppet episode is next on my list
theres a video on youtube called “community crack” if i never watched it i probably would’ve never gotten into the show.
Always glad to meet new Greendale alumni
hi i realize that this is an almost year old video but i'd like to point out that the use of "asperger" instead of autism is kind of bad. i get that community itself uses aspergers the one time they explicity mentions abed's autism but the term is none the less outdated, reducive and can be hurtful to the autistic community. i'd advice you to use autism instead next time. "aspergers" has been removed from the dsm5 and is now considered apart of asd, autism spectrum disorder. aspergers is called so after a literal nazi who wanted to seperate people who showed symtomps of autism but could still work mostly the same as allistic people in a society from the people who showed symtomps but could not function well enough to deserve to live by nazi standards. you might realize how that might be problematic. autism is as stated a spectrum where you can have a lot of different experiences, it's not just a straight line from well adjusted needs no helps practically acts like a normal person to retard which the excistance of the aspergers seperate lable kinda does? so yeah, use autism instead of aspergers. obvs if yr directly quoting from something or talking about a past (self) diagnosis thats case to case on what you should use. but yeah overall autism is a much better word thnx
Will do
I added a note at the top of the video description!
@@ComeWatchTV that's great! :-) sorry for the long winded comment i understand that it's an easy point to miss especially since you mostly mentions it in passing. great video!
No I appreciate comments like this
Best video ever!!!!
I’m honored
Aspergers is notably not a diagnosis anymore, and originates from nazi eugenics. The term would be autism :) aspergers used to mean not autistic enough to euthanize
... Asperger's has always been used to refer to specific types of high functioning people on the autistic spectrum.
I always knew the whole "autism awareness" campaigns would hurt a LOT of people on the spectrum. Thanks for proving it. We'd be much better off if the ignorant assholes of the world didn't feel like they had justification to pretend they know. I don't know if you mean it maliciously, but comments like yours cause a lot of harm and serve as the origin for a lot of false understandings.
Well, they really need to come up with better distinctions in the terminology. Because with how generic the definition of autism spectrum is, people may as well just call us weird. It's just as much use for anyone.
@@dontmisunderstand6041agree. All these comments saying to just use autism isn’t accurate.. Asperger’s is more focused on the inability to recorgnize emiotion cues.. vs other autistic things.. I also don’t see how Asperger’s is worse than Austis5ic.. it seems bizarre Austin is people celebrating that word.. but scowl Asperger..
Do they know to the regular Pearson they don’t care…
@@kyleellis1825or special. But it’s cause of this denial.. like the gender stuff and race stuff.. these things don’t defy your entire personality.
Abed is abed who is special.. he’s not special and abed.
To understand the real fun part of Community, you had to watch like thousand main stream movies and tv series and absorb them deep before start Community. That's why it is not for everyone.
It is like One Punch Man of sitcoms, if you didn't watched tons of anime already, you can't have the fun with OPM that much. I didn't like it beacuse i don't have anime culture, i understand the references and absurdity, but i am not overwhelmed by it. But i've watched like thousands Hollywood movies and i have seen all kind of clichés.
Great take
A smart show is doomed in this stupid society, like Futurama.
arrested development number 1 community number 2
At 7m 52s, I think I heard your cat, and thank you, that made my day
My first episode was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons when i went to a friends house to play.
Maybe the best episode tbh
Dungeons and dragons episode is banned
Mega L
@ComeWatchTV chang got shut down right away and was dealt with in game befitting the dirty knife eared scum(besides drizzt)
where can i watch advanced dungeons and dragons??? it isnt on netflix because.... well, chang, but, i need to see it
I imagine it’s available to purchase as an individual episode somewhere but I’m not sure
Might be my favorite Community breakdown. Felt every point.
Appreciated!
So we're just going to ignore this h8 crime?