Confirmation biases are awesome and totally representative of what everyone else thinks! I'm not the only person complaining about this episode on this board. Several other very loyal fans have also spoken up and said that they didn't care for this episode. So yeah, while a lot of people thought this episode was awesome, you also had a lot of people who really didn't like it. This episode has a lot more negative feedback compared to other episodes, which usually have no negative feedback at all.
And you know this how? You've done extensive research on the subject?
There have been episodes in the past I didn't care for at all (the one about drugs springs to mind), that other people liked a lot. I think it's part of the nature of the show, that some things are going to resonate perfectly with one group, while another group may not get it at all. There's no need for you to hyperventilate about how this particular episode is getting more negative criticism than any other, because at best all you have is anecdotal evidence of that, which is not evidence.
You don't like the episode and other people didn't like it either. It's room temperature, man. Have a glass of tea, read a good book. Relax.
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
Wow I can't believe how many people's top ten slots Remedial Chaos Theory hits on.
Not the biggest fan of that episode though it was good. But remember I am going to defend Mixology Certification til the end of time as some of the finest half hours of television comedy or drama ever.
Also, paintball episode clip above of Chang's entrance reminds me for a brief period (from the minute the boombox hits the scene til he is shoving keytars through car windows) Chang was one of the best characters in the history of sitcoms. Too bad that changed.
I hope for the sake of Community they give Chang a chance to go out in a blaze of glory against John Goodman's character in the most epic season finale ever.
I love both Remedial Chaos Theory AND Mixology Certification. Also I rewatched S1's paintball ep and S1's christmas special, and I agree with the assessment of Chang. He used to be awesome. The dude coming into the spanish final to confront Jeff and Chang's all "I'll allow it" or the end of the ep when he comes back to tell them all they passed and he's like "don't care, I got a mountain to shred" dude's don'tgiveafuck levels were off the charts. abuse of power not giving a fuck Chang >>>>> crazy pathetic Chang
they didn't say 'fine let him go who cares'... they cut out the ENTIRELY UNNECCESSARY TO EVERYONE BUT YOU part of them starting up a manhunt and interviewing the main characters. what a fucking stupid waste of time that would have been.
They will hunt him because he's the Glee Club director that Greendale deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So they'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our Glee Club director. He's a silent composer, a watchful choreographer. A dork knight.
Welp, this is the first episode that I stopped partway through, then scanned to find the Annie bit (which, admittedly, had a REALLY great payoff with the 'boop sex' thing.) I'll try watching it again with more of an open mind. But thus far... yeah, not my cup of tea.
I don't really get the hate for this episode. Overall I thought it was better than the claymation special, which aside from the premise really wasn't all that (which is a common flaw of the show).
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VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
it's realistic within an episode where people are being brainwashed to join a glee club.
Bad writing is realistic in the context of bad writing.
because they didn't say 'fine let him go who cares'... they cut out the ENTIRELY UNNECCESSARY TO EVERYONE BUT YOU part of them starting up a manhunt and interviewing the main characters. what a fucking stupid waste of time that would have been.
They didn't simply cut the manhunt scene out, they showed the characters completely not caring.
sort of like the time you're wasting trying to prove that this episode was bad and has doomed the show even as it receives praise from a majority of the posters here.
Confirmation biases are awesome and totally representative of what everyone else thinks! I'm not the only person complaining about this episode on this board. Several other very loyal fans have also spoken up and said that they didn't care for this episode. So yeah, while a lot of people thought this episode was awesome, you also had a lot of people who really didn't like it. This episode has a lot more negative feedback compared to other episodes, which usually have no negative feedback at all. And keep in mind that people who love the show and want it to continue are much more likely to post something positive than rock the boat with something negative.
If you have some people shouting "OMG, best episode ever!" and some people saying, "Wow, that was very sloppy and not well made," then what that says is that the episode is going for something that is very, very different from what Community fans are accustomed to. Some fans may really enjoy that thing that's different, and other fans might really hate it. But both sides agree it's different.
The problem is that the thing that is different doesn't reflect what the show typically delivers. Which means that a lot of new viewers might watch the episode and think, "Hey, that's awesome," but then they won't like standard episodes of Community. And other new viewers might watch and think, "Wow, that's not very good" and stay away.
all I said was there are lots of people who liked it here, not that that means it was good. never said that.
"bad writing", you're wrong. deal with it. I argue that it's realistic and you just say the words 'bad writing' twice. that's not really a reply, it's a deflection.
"showed the characters not caring"... for about 5 seconds after the guy ran away. I guess that completely seals how the entire event went down, then!
and I like how you're the arbiter of what is and isn't what community normally goes for. it's offensive that you truly seem to think you have some relationship with the show ("loyal fan" OH WOW!) that people who liked the episode don't share.
you're wrong that it was bad writing and wrong that it somehow went against what this show does well (suddenly every episode that one person thinks is top 10 and someone else dislikes must be them doing something different). you can be right by saying you don't like it, but for some unknown reason that isn't enough and you need to cement that it was bad and not up to the standard of the show. I don't fucking get it.
edit - and it's convenient that you forgot the other times people didn't like episodes. but yeah let's pretend that never happens so the fact that it's happening here (while others put it among their favorites) means this one was definitely totally a bad episode.
I gotta say, I think Community lost the magic...around the middle of Season 2.
I've found this season to be pretty forgettable thus far. They were onto a good thing with the over-the-top send ups, but around the middle of Season 2 for whatever reason their was a writing shift and they started to try and destroy the group way more actively.
Season 3 continued that trend, and the branching out they've done has just felt forced. Like, there's just not a lot of "show" in there.
I think the first half of Season 2 was the weakest of Community, to be honest. I thought Season 1 and the last 1/3 of Season 2 were way stronger. And aside from one or two episodes in Season 3, I think it's strong - definitely stronger than the beginning of Season 2.
I'm pretty sure this is that weird doctrinal split Community seems to have though. A ton of people seem to like the episodes which to me, were less enjoyable. Like, I utterly agree with Podly on hating Mixology Certification. It's not at all the kind of thing I want or expect from Community.
Season 1's episode structure was just tighter and funnier, and I thought more conducive to doing their "serious character development" stuff at the same time.
The whole Pierce storyline in Season 2 was a pretty atrocious idea - it should have been more self-contained, and concluded in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons maybe 1 or 2 episodes after Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking.
RhalloTonnyOf the BrownlandsRegistered Userregular
I was one of the people that found this episode strange. Not necessarily bad, but definitely a different tone than what I'm used to.
...and then I remembered that I somehow was fine with a paintball episode and a zombie outbreak. Holiday episodes get a pass to do something different.
I'm pretty sure this is that weird doctrinal split Community seems to have though. A ton of people seem to like the episodes which to me, were less enjoyable. Like, I utterly agree with Podly on hating Mixology Certification. It's not at all the kind of thing I want or expect from Community.
Season 1's episode structure was just tighter and funnier, and I thought more conducive to doing their "serious character development" stuff at the same time.
The whole Pierce storyline in Season 2 was a pretty atrocious idea - it should have been more self-contained, and concluded in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons maybe 1 or 2 episodes after Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking.
It was just an incredible drag on the show.
I actually don't like Mixology Certification that much.
It was more enjoyable the second time I watched it but after watching it for the first time it was one of my least favorite episodes in just about every way.
I still liked it, but in the context of Community I didn't like it very much. Annie was awkward in an uncomfortable instead of a charming way, and the rest of the episode was rather boring to me.
*shrug*
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RhalloTonnyOf the BrownlandsRegistered Userregular
edited December 2011
I liked the bar episode. It was a perfect portrait of the disillusionment of coming of age scenarios, and it had the bonus of accurately displaying the quiet, weird, and isolating epilogue of what it's like to drive everyone home that other shows tend to avoid by ending at the apex of the night out.
I really enjoyed the My Dinner with Andre episode as well, because it worked on multiple levels simultaneously: I was entertained by the bait and switch because of my expectations of it being "The Pulp Fiction episode," Abed's bewildering monologue and Jeff's first real conversation have great balance as well as provide welcome character development, and more than anything else, the entire episode was a catostrophic risk. Sitcoms don't have giant 10 minute sections of exposition. Sitcoms don't do things like that, and if they do, they don't do them well. The Andre episode stands out as a unique and special experiment that could have been a perfect disaster but comes together as more than the sum of its parts.
The similarity between both of these episodes? I don't remember laughing a lot. Not like I did with some of the other episodes in season two, and certainly not like I did with some of the episodes in season one.
But I enjoyed them more than some of the rapid-fire joke episodes because I was being told a good story with a tone that I didn't expect to come from the show. It's sort of like the rare event when a kid's cartoon does something oddly poignant and it actually works, or when a serious film elicits funnier jokes than a comedy. I got my "quality" fix from appreciating the concept/execution rather than an abundance of funny jokes.
Community does a lot of novel, interesting things, and a lot of the time it does them with rapid-fire humor and timed jokes that work extremely well, but other times, when they're doing something genuinely interesting, humor isn't as pressing of a concern. The danger, however, is when one doesn't find the concept/hook/parody/risk interesting and there aren't a multitude of jokes/humor, it's easy to feel that the episode has betrayed the original tone of the series and (especially easy to feel this way after a few of these episodes in a row) has jumped the shark/gone downhill.
This season has been a little off to me, but I wonder if it's just because of situations/episodes like the last one. I don't watch Glee, so I didn't find the concept/parody to be super interesting, so it makes sense that I thought the episode felt a little aimless. I definitely enjoy the show, but I wouldn't mind a few more clever joke episodes at the expense of not having a few inverted trope episodes.
RhalloTonny on
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
I don't think we can compare any of Season One to anything else, it was just consistently high throughout, they were throwing out jokes like there was no tomorrow. We are essentially chasing the TV dragon because of that season.
I watched the Anthony Michael Hall Christmas episode on Thursday and in the first two minutes alone there were 10 very funny jokes.
Again, while the show at its worst is still better than nearly anything else out there, that first season was just special.
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RhalloTonnyOf the BrownlandsRegistered Userregular
I don't think we can compare any of Season One to anything else, it was just consistently high throughout, they were throwing out jokes like there was no tomorrow. We are essentially chasing the TV dragon because of that season.
I watched the Anthony Michael Hall Christmas episode on Thursday and in the first two minutes alone there were 10 very funny jokes.
Again, while the show at its worst is still better than nearly anything else out there, that first season was just special.
Exactly- there was a higher joke to clever inversion of trope ratio back then.
When I first started watching, it was because a friend of mine recommended the show, and the scene that hooked me was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2odOu0Oguo
which is basically continuous rapid-fire comedy.
Since it's going to be a while before a new episode airs, I guess we have some time. People have been talking about how this season hasn't been the best, or how the tone has shifted a bit, which leads me to wonder what people are using to compare the episodes this season:
Which episode (in your opinion) is the funniest episode of the show?
Additional, different question- which episode (in your opinion) is the best episode?
This season has been a little off to me, but I wonder if it's just because of situations/episodes like the last one. I don't watch Glee, so I didn't find the concept/parody to be super interesting, so it makes sense that I thought the episode felt a little aimless. I definitely enjoy the show, but I wouldn't mind a few more clever joke episodes at the expense of not having a few inverted trope episodes.
I think that most of the spoof episodes work well even if you don't know the source material, because they capture things from the source material that works really well on its own. Even if you've never seen a mafia movie, the "these are the bad times" montage from chicken fingers is still classic. Even if you've never seen "My Dinner with Andre," you can still get the dinner scene between him and Jeff. Even if you've never seen Breakfast Club, you still laugh at Abed and Jeff having a drinking montage. etc.
In other cases, they spoof things where they take the spoof to a logical conclusion. Their first documentary episode was a spoof on how these documentary shows use documentary as a cheap and easy format to tell the story. But then they add things, like explaining who is actually making the documentary and why (which these series don't do), and having Abed break the fourth wall at the end. And you have scenes where they do things that they honestly wouldn't have been able to do without the format, like explaining why Troy freaks out when he sees Levar Burton.
Then there are spoofs where you mock how the source material hides someone shitty behind something awesome, and you make it obvious by heightening the discrepancy. For instance, MadTV has a great spoof of how Dane Cook uses really great delivery to cover up really bad jokes. Rather than showing how bad his jokes would look under bad delivery, which is easy, they create even worse jokes with really good delivery. And then the audience realizes, "Oh, the only reason people laugh at Dane Cook is because of his delivery, and not his jokes. It makes sense now." Community does this all the time by using dramatic movie techniques to create drama in seemingly unimportant matters. I guess the KFC episode might be an example of this.
The truth is, I am much more aware of Glee than I am of a lot of the other things that Community has spoofed. And I have mocked Glee a lot. But it seems like instead of going the MadTV/Dane Cook route of "Let's show how Glee manipulates catchy songs to cover up bad writing by creating some incredibly catchy tunes of our own," and rather than capturing the techniques that Glee does right they decided to go the easy route and mock Glee for being shitty. Instead of saying, "You only care about Glee because the songs are so catchy!", the point seems to be more, "You wouldn't care about Glee is the songs were uncomfortable." Which is subtly different, but important. Because the difference is in the skill level involved. In order to do a MadTV/Dane Cook spoof, you still need a talented actor who can pull it off. If you want to do a Scary Movie type spoof, talent doesn't matter as much.
MalReynoldsThe Hunter S Thompson of incredibly mild medicinesRegistered Userregular
This thread is toxic, and it always goes to a dark place.
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VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
I have season 1 and 2, after I finish the commentaries maybe I'll see which are really my favorites and compare that to funniest.
the halloween ep of season 1 is the first one I saw and for a while it was my favorite. I love chevy chase and he's outstanding in it, the story is excellent and fucking batman ties it all together. but looking at it honestly I'm not sure it's any better than the other 'regular' (non theme) episodes of season 1, or funnier. it just stuck with me the longest.
likewise I'd have said the episode with getting rid of britta was one of the funniest but really I'm such a sucker for funny songs (and I think they're done perfectly) that it's almost a kneejerk answer.
could be a fun project. I've thought about it with arrested development but I don't think that series shifted tone/goals often enough to be 'listable' for me... some episodes are fucking beyond classic (Pier Pressure) but I can't pretend any of the episodes really contain much less humor than the next or try to do more than the last.
h is, I am much more aware of Glee than I am of a lot of the other things that Community has spoofed. And I have mocked Glee a lot. But it seems like instead of going the MadTV/Dane Cook route of "Let's show how Glee manipulates catchy songs to cover up bad writing by creating some incredibly catchy tunes of our own," and rather than capturing the techniques that Glee does right they decided to go the easy route and mock Glee for being shitty. Instead of saying, "You only care about Glee because the songs are so catchy!", the point seems to be more, "You wouldn't care about Glee is the songs were uncomfortable." Which is subtly different, but important. Because the difference is in the skill level involved. In order to do a MadTV/Dane Cook spoof, you still need a talented actor who can pull it off. If you want to do a Scary Movie type spoof, talent doesn't matter as much.
I don't think these songs were meant to be uncomfortable. they were overly direct (which is a play on glee) and in the style of pop songs (also a play on glee).
you're analyzing the episode based on you not thinking the quality of the songs is good enough, I think. those were meant to be pop parodies. annie is doing santa baby (which was done on glee), chevy's song is a springsteen song.
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
I think the music in the community episode is less glee like and more musical like.
Sure the songs were influenced by a variety of popular music acts (or your average xmas song) but i don't think they outright parodied them a la weird al or even The Lonely Island Guys.
The songs were appropriate to the characters and contained funny dialog and sequences... but I have a hard time calling the songs themselves parodies.
VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
I felt like at those two were for sure
they weren't on the same level as people whose careers are based on doing that but I think annie's song was pretty directly santa baby and there's no doubt the other was springsteen.
but yeah you're right, glee doesn't ever do rap I don't think. shirley's isn't a parody of a pop song but it's something that fits her character. it sounds like a classic christmas song iirc while being about something that would also attract shirley.
CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
edited December 2011
So, wait, Schrodinger, you're bothered that the songs aren't good enough? Troy & Abed's rap was awesome, Annie's and Shirley's songs were awesome. The glee song at the beginning wasn't terrific but it was kind of fun. The baby boomer santa song was also pretty fun, and showed a lot of talent in Abed & Troy's ability for impressions. I can't remember if there were any actual songs beyond that - I mean I know they started a few songs off but didn't do a full scene with any other than those I mentioned.
I'm not sure what you mean by you're "aware" of Glee. Does that mean you've watched an episode of Glee or not?
Cambiata on
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
Most people like every episode, but there's always someone who dislikes any particular one. And that's fine. The problem here is that you've appointed yourself in charge of saving Community, so the fact that you didn't like this episode is somehow a personal slight.
You're allowed to not like the episode, but holy shit you seem absolutely devoted to finding things to hate about it. I just rewatched it a while ago, and laughed even more than the first time I saw it. It's a good episode that you didn't enjoy. That's all.
I think Season 1 is by far the high water mark. The other season's have been ok, and so far I've liked season 3 better than I did 2, but it's never really fired on all cylinders like it did back in season 1.
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JuliusCaptain of Serenityon my shipRegistered Userregular
The truth is, I am much more aware of Glee than I am of a lot of the other things that Community has spoofed. And I have mocked Glee a lot. But it seems like instead of going the MadTV/Dane Cook route of "Let's show how Glee manipulates catchy songs to cover up bad writing by creating some incredibly catchy tunes of our own," and rather than capturing the techniques that Glee does right they decided to go the easy route and mock Glee for being shitty. Instead of saying, "You only care about Glee because the songs are so catchy!", the point seems to be more, "You wouldn't care about Glee is the songs were uncomfortable." Which is subtly different, but important. Because the difference is in the skill level involved. In order to do a MadTV/Dane Cook spoof, you still need a talented actor who can pull it off. If you want to do a Scary Movie type spoof, talent doesn't matter as much.
I didn't feel this was a Glee-parody, really.
The part that was a parody of glee was the scene in the beginning, they switched to an Invasion of the bodysnatchers parody with a mix of christmas-is-about-friends (also, musical episodes) and used the Glee club as the means. They poked fun at Glee the same way they've done before, good natured jabs with a few hints that it is sort of ridiculous. It wasn't about Glee.
Modern Warfare and Poultry weren't about paintball and chicken fingers, those were just the things through which they made a parody.
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VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
they weren't on the same level as people whose careers are based on doing that but I think annie's song was pretty directly santa baby and there's no doubt the other was springsteen.
but yeah you're right, glee doesn't ever do rap I don't think. shirley's isn't a parody of a pop song but it's something that fits her character. it sounds like a classic christmas song iirc while being about something that would also attract shirley.
In a way it was far more of a parody of musicals in general than of Glee. It's a college so the way to do it is trough the Glee club, but it didn't feel like the focus was on how specifically Glee is dumb. (rather, how silly is that spontaneous bursting out in song?)
The pierce and annie songs were jokes about those songs/singers and not really Glee.
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VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
I mostly agree, I still don't think those connections are coincidence though. but I recognize you could just say that sexy annie makes sense and bruce makes sense for the song they're singing and the person they are singing to.
but it was more general than a glee parody even though there were specific glee bits (the study room, piano player) and glee is sort of a musical. I can go with that.
I mostly agree, I still don't think those connections are coincidence though. but I recognize you could just say that sexy annie makes sense and bruce makes sense for the song they're singing and the person they are singing to.
but it was more general than a glee parody even though there were specific glee bits (the study room, piano player) and glee is sort of a musical. I can go with that.
I wouldn't say they were a coincidence. Particularly with the annie-bit it's clear that they watch Glee, but put on some extra levels of parody on it and made it fucking hilarious. There is the joke about glee doing it, but there's also the joke about how dumb santa baby sounds and what baby boomers think Springsteen is saying to them. There's fucking layers man, like an onion.
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VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
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And you know this how? You've done extensive research on the subject?
There have been episodes in the past I didn't care for at all (the one about drugs springs to mind), that other people liked a lot. I think it's part of the nature of the show, that some things are going to resonate perfectly with one group, while another group may not get it at all. There's no need for you to hyperventilate about how this particular episode is getting more negative criticism than any other, because at best all you have is anecdotal evidence of that, which is not evidence.
You don't like the episode and other people didn't like it either. It's room temperature, man. Have a glass of tea, read a good book. Relax.
I love both Remedial Chaos Theory AND Mixology Certification. Also I rewatched S1's paintball ep and S1's christmas special, and I agree with the assessment of Chang. He used to be awesome. The dude coming into the spanish final to confront Jeff and Chang's all "I'll allow it" or the end of the ep when he comes back to tell them all they passed and he's like "don't care, I got a mountain to shred" dude's don'tgiveafuck levels were off the charts. abuse of power not giving a fuck Chang >>>>> crazy pathetic Chang
Annie: "I'll be spending time with by bubby at the movies."
Troy: "You're not taking both of them?"
Annie: "...One's dead."
Troy: "...What?!"
EDIT: Bubby sounds like "boobie", BTW.
They will hunt him because he's the Glee Club director that Greendale deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So they'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our Glee Club director. He's a silent composer, a watchful choreographer. A dork knight.
Steam ID XBL: JohnnyChopsocky PSN:Stud_Beefpile WiiU:JohnnyChopsocky
all I said was there are lots of people who liked it here, not that that means it was good. never said that.
"bad writing", you're wrong. deal with it. I argue that it's realistic and you just say the words 'bad writing' twice. that's not really a reply, it's a deflection.
"showed the characters not caring"... for about 5 seconds after the guy ran away. I guess that completely seals how the entire event went down, then!
and I like how you're the arbiter of what is and isn't what community normally goes for. it's offensive that you truly seem to think you have some relationship with the show ("loyal fan" OH WOW!) that people who liked the episode don't share.
you're wrong that it was bad writing and wrong that it somehow went against what this show does well (suddenly every episode that one person thinks is top 10 and someone else dislikes must be them doing something different). you can be right by saying you don't like it, but for some unknown reason that isn't enough and you need to cement that it was bad and not up to the standard of the show. I don't fucking get it.
edit - and it's convenient that you forgot the other times people didn't like episodes. but yeah let's pretend that never happens so the fact that it's happening here (while others put it among their favorites) means this one was definitely totally a bad episode.
I've found this season to be pretty forgettable thus far. They were onto a good thing with the over-the-top send ups, but around the middle of Season 2 for whatever reason their was a writing shift and they started to try and destroy the group way more actively.
Season 3 continued that trend, and the branching out they've done has just felt forced. Like, there's just not a lot of "show" in there.
Season 1's episode structure was just tighter and funnier, and I thought more conducive to doing their "serious character development" stuff at the same time.
The whole Pierce storyline in Season 2 was a pretty atrocious idea - it should have been more self-contained, and concluded in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons maybe 1 or 2 episodes after Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking.
It was just an incredible drag on the show.
Advanced Documentary Filmaking was an utter delight.
one of the first huge ones I remember was the ABED episode.
but to me this latest ep was classic community.
If there is no season 4 I am hoping we get a strong enough conclusion like last season finale.
the end of last season was probably not on a tightened budget.
...and then I remembered that I somehow was fine with a paintball episode and a zombie outbreak. Holiday episodes get a pass to do something different.
I actually don't like Mixology Certification that much.
It was more enjoyable the second time I watched it but after watching it for the first time it was one of my least favorite episodes in just about every way.
I still liked it, but in the context of Community I didn't like it very much. Annie was awkward in an uncomfortable instead of a charming way, and the rest of the episode was rather boring to me.
*shrug*
I really enjoyed the My Dinner with Andre episode as well, because it worked on multiple levels simultaneously: I was entertained by the bait and switch because of my expectations of it being "The Pulp Fiction episode," Abed's bewildering monologue and Jeff's first real conversation have great balance as well as provide welcome character development, and more than anything else, the entire episode was a catostrophic risk. Sitcoms don't have giant 10 minute sections of exposition. Sitcoms don't do things like that, and if they do, they don't do them well. The Andre episode stands out as a unique and special experiment that could have been a perfect disaster but comes together as more than the sum of its parts.
The similarity between both of these episodes? I don't remember laughing a lot. Not like I did with some of the other episodes in season two, and certainly not like I did with some of the episodes in season one.
But I enjoyed them more than some of the rapid-fire joke episodes because I was being told a good story with a tone that I didn't expect to come from the show. It's sort of like the rare event when a kid's cartoon does something oddly poignant and it actually works, or when a serious film elicits funnier jokes than a comedy. I got my "quality" fix from appreciating the concept/execution rather than an abundance of funny jokes.
Community does a lot of novel, interesting things, and a lot of the time it does them with rapid-fire humor and timed jokes that work extremely well, but other times, when they're doing something genuinely interesting, humor isn't as pressing of a concern. The danger, however, is when one doesn't find the concept/hook/parody/risk interesting and there aren't a multitude of jokes/humor, it's easy to feel that the episode has betrayed the original tone of the series and (especially easy to feel this way after a few of these episodes in a row) has jumped the shark/gone downhill.
This season has been a little off to me, but I wonder if it's just because of situations/episodes like the last one. I don't watch Glee, so I didn't find the concept/parody to be super interesting, so it makes sense that I thought the episode felt a little aimless. I definitely enjoy the show, but I wouldn't mind a few more clever joke episodes at the expense of not having a few inverted trope episodes.
I watched the Anthony Michael Hall Christmas episode on Thursday and in the first two minutes alone there were 10 very funny jokes.
Again, while the show at its worst is still better than nearly anything else out there, that first season was just special.
Exactly- there was a higher joke to clever inversion of trope ratio back then.
When I first started watching, it was because a friend of mine recommended the show, and the scene that hooked me was
which is basically continuous rapid-fire comedy.
Since it's going to be a while before a new episode airs, I guess we have some time. People have been talking about how this season hasn't been the best, or how the tone has shifted a bit, which leads me to wonder what people are using to compare the episodes this season:
Which episode (in your opinion) is the funniest episode of the show?
Additional, different question- which episode (in your opinion) is the best episode?
I think that most of the spoof episodes work well even if you don't know the source material, because they capture things from the source material that works really well on its own. Even if you've never seen a mafia movie, the "these are the bad times" montage from chicken fingers is still classic. Even if you've never seen "My Dinner with Andre," you can still get the dinner scene between him and Jeff. Even if you've never seen Breakfast Club, you still laugh at Abed and Jeff having a drinking montage. etc.
In other cases, they spoof things where they take the spoof to a logical conclusion. Their first documentary episode was a spoof on how these documentary shows use documentary as a cheap and easy format to tell the story. But then they add things, like explaining who is actually making the documentary and why (which these series don't do), and having Abed break the fourth wall at the end. And you have scenes where they do things that they honestly wouldn't have been able to do without the format, like explaining why Troy freaks out when he sees Levar Burton.
Then there are spoofs where you mock how the source material hides someone shitty behind something awesome, and you make it obvious by heightening the discrepancy. For instance, MadTV has a great spoof of how Dane Cook uses really great delivery to cover up really bad jokes. Rather than showing how bad his jokes would look under bad delivery, which is easy, they create even worse jokes with really good delivery. And then the audience realizes, "Oh, the only reason people laugh at Dane Cook is because of his delivery, and not his jokes. It makes sense now." Community does this all the time by using dramatic movie techniques to create drama in seemingly unimportant matters. I guess the KFC episode might be an example of this.
The truth is, I am much more aware of Glee than I am of a lot of the other things that Community has spoofed. And I have mocked Glee a lot. But it seems like instead of going the MadTV/Dane Cook route of "Let's show how Glee manipulates catchy songs to cover up bad writing by creating some incredibly catchy tunes of our own," and rather than capturing the techniques that Glee does right they decided to go the easy route and mock Glee for being shitty. Instead of saying, "You only care about Glee because the songs are so catchy!", the point seems to be more, "You wouldn't care about Glee is the songs were uncomfortable." Which is subtly different, but important. Because the difference is in the skill level involved. In order to do a MadTV/Dane Cook spoof, you still need a talented actor who can pull it off. If you want to do a Scary Movie type spoof, talent doesn't matter as much.
You people must hate me or something
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Community is srs biznez.
Hey now. Schrodinger isn't everybody.
the halloween ep of season 1 is the first one I saw and for a while it was my favorite. I love chevy chase and he's outstanding in it, the story is excellent and fucking batman ties it all together. but looking at it honestly I'm not sure it's any better than the other 'regular' (non theme) episodes of season 1, or funnier. it just stuck with me the longest.
likewise I'd have said the episode with getting rid of britta was one of the funniest but really I'm such a sucker for funny songs (and I think they're done perfectly) that it's almost a kneejerk answer.
could be a fun project. I've thought about it with arrested development but I don't think that series shifted tone/goals often enough to be 'listable' for me... some episodes are fucking beyond classic (Pier Pressure) but I can't pretend any of the episodes really contain much less humor than the next or try to do more than the last.
I don't think these songs were meant to be uncomfortable. they were overly direct (which is a play on glee) and in the style of pop songs (also a play on glee).
you're analyzing the episode based on you not thinking the quality of the songs is good enough, I think. those were meant to be pop parodies. annie is doing santa baby (which was done on glee), chevy's song is a springsteen song.
do you think the music on glee is well performed?
Sure the songs were influenced by a variety of popular music acts (or your average xmas song) but i don't think they outright parodied them a la weird al or even The Lonely Island Guys.
The songs were appropriate to the characters and contained funny dialog and sequences... but I have a hard time calling the songs themselves parodies.
they weren't on the same level as people whose careers are based on doing that but I think annie's song was pretty directly santa baby and there's no doubt the other was springsteen.
but yeah you're right, glee doesn't ever do rap I don't think. shirley's isn't a parody of a pop song but it's something that fits her character. it sounds like a classic christmas song iirc while being about something that would also attract shirley.
I'm not sure what you mean by you're "aware" of Glee. Does that mean you've watched an episode of Glee or not?
Most people like every episode, but there's always someone who dislikes any particular one. And that's fine. The problem here is that you've appointed yourself in charge of saving Community, so the fact that you didn't like this episode is somehow a personal slight.
You're allowed to not like the episode, but holy shit you seem absolutely devoted to finding things to hate about it. I just rewatched it a while ago, and laughed even more than the first time I saw it. It's a good episode that you didn't enjoy. That's all.
I didn't feel this was a Glee-parody, really.
The part that was a parody of glee was the scene in the beginning, they switched to an Invasion of the bodysnatchers parody with a mix of christmas-is-about-friends (also, musical episodes) and used the Glee club as the means. They poked fun at Glee the same way they've done before, good natured jabs with a few hints that it is sort of ridiculous. It wasn't about Glee.
Modern Warfare and Poultry weren't about paintball and chicken fingers, those were just the things through which they made a parody.
In a way it was far more of a parody of musicals in general than of Glee. It's a college so the way to do it is trough the Glee club, but it didn't feel like the focus was on how specifically Glee is dumb. (rather, how silly is that spontaneous bursting out in song?)
The pierce and annie songs were jokes about those songs/singers and not really Glee.
but it was more general than a glee parody even though there were specific glee bits (the study room, piano player) and glee is sort of a musical. I can go with that.
I wouldn't say they were a coincidence. Particularly with the annie-bit it's clear that they watch Glee, but put on some extra levels of parody on it and made it fucking hilarious. There is the joke about glee doing it, but there's also the joke about how dumb santa baby sounds and what baby boomers think Springsteen is saying to them. There's fucking layers man, like an onion.