TV Series Review: Community

by Rogue

The Basics:

Community is not your typical geeky sitcom. It’s a show by the great Dan Harmon (cocreator

of the Adult Swim animated television series Rick and Morty) and it stars an

ensemble cast. The premise of the show is a group of seven different personalities form

a study group for a Spanish class (taught by a Chinese professor) in Greendale

Community College. The comedy of the show is fresh and original and literally

indescribable. It’s aired on NBC for five seasons, while the sixth will air on Yahoo!

Screen.

The Cast and Characters:

1. Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) - a con artist at heart, he got caught at his law firm lying

about having a bachelor’s degree and enrolls at Greendale Community College for a

“quickie” degree.

2. Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) - a high school drop out, former anarchist and social

activist.

3. Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi) - a Palestinian-Polish film student suspected of having

Asperger’s syndrome but has an encyclopedic knowledge of TV shows and movies.

4. Shirley Bennett - a recently divorced single mother and vocal Christian.

5. Annie Edison (Allison Brie) - the youngest, people pleasing and over achieving

student who lost her scholarship to a prestigious university when she became

addicted to Adderall.

6. Troy Barnes (Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino) - a former high school star

quarterback who lost his scholarship due to injury, he instantly bonds with Abed and

embraces his geeky, goofy side

7. Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) - an old, racist and sexist millionaire who enrolls at

Greendale out of boredom

8. Ben Chang (Ken Jeong) - the slightly deranged Chinese Spanish teacher. Together

they study for Ben Chang’s ridiculous Spanish class and have to put up with the

antics of the exuberant and lively Dean Craig Pelton.

9. Craig Pelton (Jim Rash) - the exuberant and lively Dean who desperately wants

Greendale to be taken as a university, instead of a community college.

My Top 5 Episodes:

1. “Modern Warfare” (S01E23) - after the Dean announces the prize for the winner of

the school paintball game, it breaks out into an out all war. The episode heavily

references and parodies action movies and post apocalyptic films such as Die Hard,

Terminator, Rambo etc.

2. “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” (S02E11) - a freaking STOP MOTION Christmasthemed

episode. STOP MOTION ANIMATION!

3. “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” (S02E14) - the study group notice a fellow student

nicknamed “Fat Neil” is lonely and suicidal so they play a game of Advanced

Dungeons and Dragons with him, but Pierce feels left out and does his best to ruin

the game.

4. “Digital Estate Planning” (S03E20) - Pierce’s father has died but in order to claim his

inheritance he and the study group have to play an 8 bit console game reminiscent of

Nintendo and Sega systems, with a bit of Minecraft thrown into the mix.

5. “G.I. Jeff” (S05E11) - A FULL animated episode stylized after the 1980’s show G.I.

Joe.

Other Fun Bits:

These are just MY top 5 episodes, but there’s TONS more. Zombie themed episodes, an Apollo 13 episode, a glee parody episode, conspiracy theory episode, a Law & Order episode, hidden jokes and easter eggs everywhere. This show is genius and EVERYBODY needs to go check it out now!