One of my first intimations with Community came in the pilot
when Abed spouted a line from The Breakfast Club to break the tension of the group’s first fight; if you’ve seen it you
know what I’m talking about. This
moment would forever endear the show to my pop-culture loving heart and begin
the origin story of the “Nerd Super Hero” that is Abed. The decision to put a character on TV
who has more knowledge of TV than anyone watching, and thus reflects TV and its
collective history back at the viewer, was bold to say the least. However, Abed
is what modern TV needed—an emotionless embodiment of Television with a capital
“t”. The Breakfast Club isn’t TV, so maybe I mean media/culture in general;
every bit of cinema art that has existed since that horse first began to run,
and people put negatives in a row and focused a light and a lens around them
made up the source of Abed’s collective intelligence. He loves his cinema so
intensely that it becomes a tool for him to relate to the rest of the world. He
is everyone who has taken art seriously enough to let it take over his or her
life.
For all the golden moments this show has given us, we (I’m
speaking to the huddled Community masses)
have to tread very lightly as a Community fandom. Has the show gone
too far or is it just me? Am I just experiencing a rational moment while
fearing the demise of my beloved show?
But there is the paradox: only a show that has accepted its fate of
cancellation can create such absurd humor.
I didn’t comment on the past two episodes because the Law
& Order episode, “Basic Lupine
Urology”, was a simple parody that followed a strict theme and never addressed
any of the pivotal plot lines like Chang’s Army or the evolution of the
interpersonal relationships within the study-group—it was a simply a diligently
executed farce. But now that the past two episodes have aired, and things like
Chang’s army have progressed, I feel better equipped to make assessments of Community at large.
That isn’t to say I have a right to, or know what I’m talking about, but
I love this show too much to not write about it.
This show is FUCKED.
Harmon has written himself into a corner with this paradox of television
show that may not have yet alienated its niche audience, but has most certainly
pissed off the network enough by never being able to carry a broad audience
like Modern Family. Or as Tom Haverford
would say, the show makes no “boo-koo bucks.” Are we watching the dying breathes of a show or are they
just fucking with us? They
probably are, but it’s stressful to watch as a fan.
(Editor’s Note: As of this posting, Community was renewed for a 13-episode fourth season and rumors
of Dan Harmon’s removal as show-runner have started swirling.)
“Sure it’s a
great show but Community won’t last,”
everyone said immediately after the pilot aired. However, it’s been three years
and still the show manages to carry on despite Harmon’s brazen flaunting of
network television conventions. However, following college rules, we know Community has to end after four years. “No community college
lasts four years,” psychiatrist John Hodgeman said. The writing is telling us that our fears are grounded;
Harmon will either permanently change the show or end it. Everything is Changing so fast it’s impossible to know where it will go.
(That Chang pun seems too easy.)
Maybe we, the viewer, are in the worst timeline, but, like
the pizza-guy, we are cut-off from the group and can never really know the
future of this show. The chaos of the show mirrors the chaos of being a fan of
the show and I enjoy every minute of it. They (Harmon and his writers) really
have me on the edge of my diapers.
How annoying was that mislead with fake-psychiatrist
Hodgeman? I mean, give us some
substance right? Not another fucking clip show. Abed in counseling could have
been much funnier.
When’s Morel Orel airing? Star-burns is dead but Star-burns
Industries is alive and well.
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