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

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

He is the worst person in the world.

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 loved how cynically contrived each of those songs was as a recruitment tool, especially Shirley's.

is it someone's birthday today??? public schools won't tell me!

This episode was hilarious and it was more because of the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" vibe than it was because it was a musical. Britta going up to Jeff and having him turn around going "LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" and her subsequent scream was just money.

yup

yeah just the bland laaaaaaaaaaaaaaa was the lolingest part of that

also the implication that everyone else had to be brainwashed via a specific type of song geared towards their sensibilities in order to get sucked into the glee club, but Jeff could just go "LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" at Britta and after a good scream she's totally down

like, it actually subtly played to the character's total lack of connection to music

I got a Christmastime for me. I got a Christmastime for a tree.

like, it actually subtly played to the character's total lack of connection to music

― OH NOES, Monday, December 12, 2011 11:17 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

haha yes i remember thinking "that's all it takes?"

Pretty good ep. I really hate musicals and would never watch Glee willingly and was going to stop watching until Annie's dance. A pretty enjoyable episode. I liked how Pierce took credit for the perfection of music by the baby boomers. And the "Laaaaa" part was LOL, otm. And yay for animated gifs:

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvx5i4AgTm1qbmsgzo1_250.gif
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvx5i4AgTm1qbmsgzo2_250.gif
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvx5i4AgTm1qbmsgzo3_250.gif

i was cringing that entire scene.

prefer it in animated gif form.

I am reasonably certain that scene was supposed to induce cringing, hence Jeff's commentary at the end.

I enjoyed Pierce's reaction to the Baby Boomer Santa song. He looked so proud.

I loved that.

yeah and the dylan impression lol

http://i.imgur.com/mNT2E.jpg

peace

Yeah Troy as Dylan was fantastic. Although Childish Gambino has kind of killed the funny in Troy rapping, A-B-E-D had me laughing twice as much.