Kay is back Guest-Clacking for us again, after sharing her thoughts about House and its surprises with us last time.
Dear Community,
Oh, Community — how I want to love thee! You’re weird, wacky, and definitely off the wall. You’ve given Chevy Chase by far the most annoying and desperate, yet loveable character on television. You’ve also given Alison Brie a ballsy, smart, and hilarious role. In fact, for her, I really want to love thee. I tuned into your very first episode to watch her, because I saw Brie on the web series My Alibi. In fact, I cameo-ed on that show! If you look 23 seconds into My Alibi episode 17 you’ll see me.
But, the truth of the matter is that I can’t seem to love thee. I know the jokes are funny, the timing is wonderful, the cast is perfect, and most of the time it’s tasteful, but something just makes me change the channel.
Tonight, is your three-part season finale. It’s also the last time you’ll be on Thursday nights. Next season, season 4, you’ll be on Fridays. I don’t know why people don’t want to watch television on Friday nights. I know I do! I guess it’s “date night.”
I think it’s really cool that you’re doing a three-part finale. I don’t think that I’ve ever heard of a show doing that! Way to go at being a zebra series in a crowd of horses. I commend you for that. Being that zebra is what you’ve always done best. Community, you’re just different and I love thee for that.
Who knows, I might watch a little bit of you tonight, although, I will have to change the channel to watch Touch. I’m sorry for that, but I love seeing the connections everyone has on that show.
The threesome that will be your swan song to Thursday night looks really funny and quirky. You’re spoofing North Korea’s régime, which is not politically correct and that’s OK. There’s too much PC in this world as it is.
I’m also glad to see that the exiled Dean is going to be getting some action. From what I’ve seen, he seems a little inept. He also seems to segregate himself from his students, or at least Jim Rash appears to think that. In a recent article, Jim Rash says, “[I]t’s sort of nice to see as the dean get involved with the study group as we try to reclaim Greendale.”
Well, tonight, (Thursday, May 17, 2012 ) your last 3 episodes of season 3 air. The first part airs at 8:00 PM EST and then at 9:00 PM and 9:30 PM EST. You can find it on NBC.
Sincerely,
A Respectable Wannabe Fan
Clacked by Guest Clacker
on May 17, 2012 @ 19:27 EST5EDT
I liked the first two seasons, but have been way turned off by things this season. It also coincides with the Community fandom getting weird to the N-th degree, so I’m sure that factors in :P
. . . . .
Worry not, Kay. I’ve never been on board, either.
I don’t understand how this show isn’t the most beloved show on TV these day. If New Girl and Schmidt can be a sensation with workout videos (deservedly so), why can’t Community get more love?
Yes, this season has been a little rough. The level of awesome has been super uneven. But these last 3 episodes were great. And the closing scenes of the finale? It ended with me thinking, why isn’t Joss Whedon, with all his crazy new-found Hollywood pull, trumpeting the awesomeness of Community? It seems like if he and Dan Harmon got together, and had personalities that worked well together, whatever their project was, it would be the most hilarious, emotionally sincere thing ever. It should happen.
And Community’s fandom isn’t weird, it just seems hyper-creative. Community animated as the cast of X-Men? Check. (I’ve kind of lost count of how many pop culture things they have been portrayed as.) World War 2 era-esque propoganda posters? Check. Amy Pond approval? Check. Epic Promethesus like trailers? Check. I think it’s the nature of the show that spans so many different genres that it would inspire people on a variety of different genres/levels.
And I have heard Touch is good, but, ugh. I have such Kiefer Sutherland = Jack Bower block. And 24 was so painful in the end, I just can’t.
In the end though, I appreciate that you recognize it’s creativity even though it’s not your thing. It’s weird, often kooky, and has all sorts of random references that don’t usually tie together at all. All I can recommend, is start with an awesome episode (like Modern Warfare or Advanced Dungeon and Dragons), or any other episode you connect to, and then watch one more lesser known one. Or watch some horrible sitcom first, and then do a palate cleanse with Community.
I love weird and cooky and use those words to positively describe something. I don’t usually go for the shows most people like. I’m not a Jersey Shore or NCIS fan for example. I’m not sure the appeal of New Girl though – I think it’s to raunchy for my taste. The weirder, the better. It’s just, I never seem to get into it. I loved last season’s finale when they did the paint ball tournament and Josh Holloway was on. I also enjoyed the Christmas episode where they spoofed Glee.
Touch is good. I never watched 24 so I don’t have the block. Touch can be slow though and it is very detail oriented. I missed 1 episodes this season and it made me a little lost as to what is happening on the grand scale of the show. There’s a lot of little bits and pieces one needs to watch for to fully grasp the show and the connections.
As I said to my mom the other day, I want to get into the show. I also want to watch The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family. For me, it would probably be best if I started from the first episode and go.
Kay (the writer of this piece)
I’ve found that I best enjoy the show is to watch it initially, read a couple reviews (typically here, AV Club, and Hitfix), then give it another look. This is especially true if I feel that a concept of an episode is something that I’m not fully getting. This show throws a lot of things out there (some of it way out there), and some of it goes over my head. But I find that looking at different references and tropes when they’re pointed out via next-day write-ups not only helps me understand the show better, but I get some info on pop culture stuff I otherwise would not know about.
I understand that not everyone has the time or the want to be that engaged in a network comedy, and that the above paragraph probably points out a big flaw in the show in that respect. But screw it, this show is tits, and I don’t regret that investment.
That needs to be the slogan of next season: “Community is tits”.