"Community" - brought to you by Hawthorne Wipes™!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5cdzc3YdFI

where is this treesuit i have been hearing so much about.

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvxn75LTuR1qcm2gno1_500.png

the Body Snatchers joke w/ Jeff was :) :) :) :) :)

Something happening between Annie and Abed right at the end there?

Really enjoyed that ep, by the way, although I wonder if I would have got more out of it if I watched Glee.

Liked Troy's Bob Dylan impression although The "Baby Boomer Santa" song wasn't my favourite.

Had to read another message board to find this out b/c I didn't realize that the paw at the end belonged to Annie's Boobs.

I thought it was just another cat joke.

Dean dean-da dean
Dean dean-da dean

The rap video joins the anime foosball scene and the 2001 homage as proof the show basically just becomes Family Guy when it detaches from reality entirely. The Christmas Claymation worked for me because it was all from Abed's perspective, but when lasers and dancers come out for Troy and Abed's rap, no one other than the viewer is actually seeing this shit. I don't hate Family Guy (at least the first run of episodes) like some people do, so it's not the worst thing in the world, but it just feels more hollow when the genre parody is just overlapped on top of their reality instead of emanating from it. I think the foosball thing would have been so much more effective if they just recreated the edits and intensity of the genre using the actual actors, rather than actually cutting to animation.

Taram Killam was amazing, and there was a lot to love in this episode, but it sort of feels like the show peaked with Season 2, to the point that IF the show stops after this season, I won't be furious. It's still a smart, funny show with lovable characters, and they've gotten over that "Detective Chang" low, but it feels like they're done expanding the parameters and just working the established mold. There are enough smart, funny shows with lovable characters on these days that I won't necessarily feel deprived.

Rong.

i agree that the rap video was kinda too much.

but it's Tear 'N Kill 'Em, not Tear 'Em Kill 'Em.

I like to believe he and Cobie Smulders pronounce their kid's name Shaolin Kill 'Em.

not getting why chinese instructor singing his name is racist when Dean is singing "Dean Dean Dean Dean".

You see he's asian and a clown so he must be an asian clown, and that's bad. whether or not his clown status comes from his ethnicity or the insane shit he does is irrelevant to the truly sensitive.

but when lasers and dancers come out for Troy and Abed's rap, no one other than the viewer is actually seeing this shit

musicals.

Exactly. Kinda baffling that anyone needs this explained to them, particularly in a musical episode where it's pointed out that a piano is playing itself.

I think, if Community were cancelled at this point, I might ultimately miss the characters/actors more than the show itself. I say this because I feel like there's been a tug of war between the two modes of this show (semi-grounded exploration of what constitutes a community vs. balls-out rapid-fire experimental genre pastiche) for a while, and the latter seems to be winning out this season. Which is fine, because it's still an excellent show, but there's also a danger of it becoming more of a show I am in awe of and respect (a la Arrested Development) than a show that I love.

hey guys, i know it's a "musical," i'm saying their parodies are funnier when they don't just zip characters into the world their parodying, but parodies that spring naturally out of the world of Community (i.e., every other song sequence in the episode).

having a rap video backdrop magically appear for our delight would be like having the paintball episode feature an interlude in an actual jungle.

obv the line is blurry (I'm fine with the self-playing piano, etc) and funny is funny, i just think the rap video, anime bit, etc. move the show to the seth mcfarlane side of things more than I'd like

the point is, the weird bits aren't thrown in as random cut-away pop-cultural references, they're used to highlight what's already going in with the character interactions. The 2001 bit made sense as Jeff was hallucinating from monkey sleeping gas and already has so many deep father issues and an even deeper fear of turning into Pierce. Both he & Pierce so need to be a part of the group that they're obsessed with it, which is why the study table was there in the sequence, not the obelisk.

And I liked the Detective Chang bit, as it gives a glimpse into the head of a guy who desperately needs to be in authority and important, so he crafts a highly dramatic narrative out of quotidian measly shit. The joke works in the contrast between what actually is and what chang really, really needs them to be.

Also, the dueling voiceover gag at the end of the ep was awesome.

they're used to highlight what's already going in with the character interactions

How did the rap video do this for you? Not denying it, just wondering. I was actually OK with it as a musical sequence, to be clear.

Okay, you know what my problem with the rap video was? It took place in the blanket fort instead of the Dreamatorium.

each song we're shown that transmitted the glee virus was customized to have maximum persuasive impact to the character. since troy & abed clearly have abnormally rich inner lives, and the two of them doing a childish gambino song inside their heads/fort works.

the rest of it fit in with the abnormality of the episode, established with the very first abed song.

my problem w/ the rap video was mainly that both of their flows were distractingly awkward in a not-funny-on-purpose way even though one of them has sold tens of thousands of copies of a rap album

man i knew that after this episode tumblr would be filled with animated gifs and people saying "best episode ever" but i thought that ilx would as usual provide an oasis of sanity, guess not though, this episode was really really subpar, not "bad" per se but i didnt laugh out loud once and the glee parody felt so forced and awkward and stupid and like... song parodies? really?

sure but Alison Brie

the thing with making fun of something like glee is it's go hard or go home...you kinda have to be as over the top as the target, for better or worse

there's always something crazily abnormal happening even if it isn't a theme episode

that being said, I don't think the rap or anime bits improved the episodes much but I understand the resilience to anything like a family guy cutaway. maybe the merits of the flashy rap and anime sequences weren't enough to defend crossing into family guy territory (and I feel like these are ratings stunts). but in the context of the foosball episode, I'm glad I saw anime instead of real life because they sounded really emo during the anime

how can something be a ratings stunt if it's happened more than halfway into an episode after anyone 'on the fence' has tuned out and wasn't in any commercials for the episode

anyway the more i think about it the more this episode was a total success -- annie's sexy idiot song, the baby boomer song and the children who don't know about jesus song were all perfection

I laughed a few times (this Christmas musical episode) because the insanity was awkward and insane (and they were supposed to be brainwashed and acting insanely). It was amazing that Alison was able to exponentially escalate the awkwardness and dumbness of her glee personality during her song. As you watch it, you think she can't sink any farther but she does so incredibly. The very last line was perfect

how can something be a ratings stunt if it's happened more than halfway into an episode after anyone 'on the fence' has tuned out and wasn't in any commercials for the episode

― skrillex pretend (Mr. Stevenson #2)

it's because the writers are still in over-the-top ratings mode... it doesn't brush off so easily. they aren't just trying to get new people (putting stuff in the first 5 minutes)... they are trying to keep the folks who are on the fence

and how do you keep people watching if they are only watching with one eye open? big flashy anime and rap sequences

impressed anew with ilx's ability to suck the fun out of anything

the honeymoon is over mookie

Too much overthinkin' goin' on up in this bitch

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvx22ff3gO1qe3p9bo1_500.gif
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvx22ff3gO1qe3p9bo2_500.gif

my bad

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvx22ff3gO1qe3p9bo1_500.gif
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvx22ff3gO1qe3p9bo2_500.gif

i read an article today about how community & himym are like 'post-tumblr' where clearly a lot of jokes are written with an internet afterlife in mind--moments made for gifs & hastags

it was all v rmde til i opened this thread

thing is people have been like this w/ comedy for the longest time -- i mean seinfeld may be more meme-y than anything actually made in the era of people saying the word "meme" constantly. but now every other fucking show has the title w/ a hashtag in front of it in the corner of the screen or quotes names with @ in front of them in ads instead of magazines or newspapers, so there's a whole self-consciousness about how entertaining audiences is somehow different now that the audience is all having a million public conversations with each other as soon as the show is over.

just watched the claymation episode with my sisters, full of renewed love for this show.

Assuming NBC had any intention of giving Community a bump in order to attract a bit more viewership, they'd do well to rerun the claymation Christmas episode at some point this month.

they are, either this week or next week

They didn't promote the Glee episode at all -- the online previews didn't show up until two days before -- so I doubt they'll take any extra measures to promote a rerun from last year (untouchably brilliant as it is).

Two important things to remember when I sound nonchalant about Community's fate:

a) I basically resent serial TV (too much investment and time, same reason I resent comic books), and would prefer to experience as much as possible in "Trade Paperback" Form. However, my wife is a TV enthusiast and I wind up getting invested in more shows than I'd like to be.

b) a Community I'm not watching would bum me out (the fact that the simpsons is not worth my time STILL bums me out) and I'd rather it die while it was young and beautiful. which it is.

man i knew that after this episode tumblr would be filled with animated gifs and people saying "best episode ever" but i thought that ilx would as usual provide an oasis of sanity, guess not though, this episode was really really subpar, not "bad" per se but i didnt laugh out loud once and the glee parody felt so forced and awkward and stupid and like... song parodies? really?

otm

offtm

i did lol @ "diminishing returns" "what's a dimibidibwibibdib"

i enjoyed how blasé everyone was after mr. rad confessed to murdering the first glee club, like "oh that guy tricked us" rather than "wow he killed eight people."

PS this is who mr. rad was based on from glee, mr. schuester AKA mr. schue:

http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/feb2010/9/7/mirror-22-02-10-image-2-485221691.jpg