Season 3 NBC’s Community in Review

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This past season of Community has been a huge let down. I felt season 3, in addition to being weak, was disjointed and lacked continuity with the pilot. Remember when Dean Pelton asked “What is Community College?” Well let me explain what it means as of now Shirley ( who re-married Andre with eliminates everything about her character) and Pierce (his super-rascist Dad dies, he loses his fortune (maybe))  resolve their they shop issues (there may or may not be a Shirley’s- I don’t know), Abed destroy’s Bad Abed (he is more ‘mental’ this season, keep in mind in Season 1 he at least had a dorm and was self-sufficient), Troy ascended the Air Conditioning School Throne (he is a super-nerd/Britta love interest now but remember he was the jock in season 1 and there was an Annie/Troy thing), Jeff has accepted his career may be over (but yet he may or may not be screwing Britta but again we moved millions of miles aways from that story line from season 1), Britta—breaks (Britta becomes a ‘wildcard’ stupid blonde that actually appeared intelligent in Season1) and Annie…well, there is Annie.

Unlike may people, I feel this past season has left a horrible taste in my mouth. Unlike so many, I am not amused at the puppet episode of last season nor the Nintendo themed episode of this season. I have not felt that this season was as much bad as much as it seems lost. I understand, the writers wish to resolve may character issues but at what price?

Personally, I think every writer should be forced to watch the pilot of a series before writing a new episode- this keeps the show on track. What I have felt is a sin and a shame about the community writing is that its way off base from the first season. Remember when the story revolved around, Jeff Winger and it seemed to be told from his perspective.

Senor Chang, wasn’t so weird but he was as funny. Troy was an athletic jock not a crying closet homosexual nerd, Annie was obsessed with Troy and was mentally unstable, Shirley was the divorcee returning back to school to provide a better life for her sons, Abed was the kid with Aspergers, Britta was the semi-intelligent rebel now turned student and not the slutty ditzy blonde, Pierce appeared less “Pierce’ and Jeff was the swindler.

I am sorry everyone but I can’t deem an entire season good when the season had good parts but overall it was horrible. I have more questions this season than ever, like why did Britta sleep with subway or why was she so slutty this season? Or Why are we pushing the whole Troy-Britta relationship but ignoring a possible Jeff-Annie relationship? What ever happened to Britta and Jeff- lets be honest, if they writing were consistent we would have the ‘Ross and Rachael’ chemistry. Why invite Chang into the group and to do that the stuff you did to his character? Why not have Dr. Rich in the group?- he would have introduced a different dynamic. Why kill off Starburns to only have him return and yes Britta screwed him too? Why introduce Asian Annie and not pursue that road? Why is Shirley back with Andre?- when her not being with Andre was a central focus of her character. Why give Jeff Daddy issues?—when this is just community college? I could do this much of the day, hey writer- its getting worse.

 

How did we go from Jeff being this cool lawyer to him ripping off his shirt at Bar Mitzvahs? I am not the kind of person that grins and accepts every episode to act as if it could even compare to Modern Warfare, which I think was the best multi-parody. The point is, the storyline revolved around the Greendale Community college in particular Jeff. Without the Roos-Rachael dynamic we have a LOST show. At times, I feel like I am watching an episode of LOST with the ‘alternative time lines” the people in black that only select people can see and the meta-everything.

The problem is we are diving too far into the lives of the group. But even then, we are not seeing enough to care or to resolve what we already know about them like Abeds father, Annie parents, Pierces 13-year run at Greendale. They try to make the back stories of all the characters multi-layered but it comes off cheap and lame. For instance, o.k- Jeff was once this cute little lonely kid that Shirley destroyed but what made Shirley so mean and why give any of the characters much of a backstory if the show revolves around not where they have been but where they are going.

To throw out a few curve balls in this last season:

Make Pierce Jeff’s father or Britta’s father either character needs a parental figure. Bring back the Troy-Annie dynamic. Since you have ended Shirley’s character at starting the shop- give her less lines. Drop the City College nonsense or make Annie the new Dean. Give Britta and Jeff a baby, so we can write them off or at least let Britta get with Rich and allow Jeff to walk out the way he came because as typical with Jeff he is a winger.

Overall, My advice to the writers for next season, get back to what made me watch Community every Thursday night.

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