5 reasons why we need Community back

Fact: in every sit-com the seasons from second to fourth, maybe fifth, are the really fun ones, therefore stopping a very amusing tv series in the middle of the third season is a crime against Comedy and should be punishable by law. Nbc's Community is one of the best tv series on the air (or kind of) right now and probably one of the best ever, so here are some reasons why I think it should be back on schedule as soon as possible.


#1: Alison Brie

Isn't she adorable? I haven't even picked one of the cute photos

Wait this post should be about the show not about this amazing actress that...see? I'm doing it again, focus Marco, focus! ok now for some more specific reasons...


#2: Alison Brie The show is just plain brilliant

See? I'm not obsessed with Alison Brie, here's Danny Pudi for example. Man I love that guy

Community, more than anything else, is a smart show. I could easily point out the big differences with some of the other shows: no laugh tracks, actual character development, incredibly talented actors, the fact that the inexplicably overused - and incredibly annoying- joke about using the voice-command on the phone and calling the wrong person has not been used on the show (there is a reference on it at some point when Chevy Chase is just about to do it but gets stopped by Gillian Jacobs) et cetera et cetera... you probably already know all that, what I want to point out is how this show approaches what it decides to show (again, the key word here is " smart"). I'll try to make it short, what I like about this show, apart from the extreme attention to details, is that it manages to keep a strong identity even when it makes a massive dose of references. I guess that's the major point Community's critics raised: "it's so meta!" but look at how it plays meta, how it keeps being Community even when it becomes a mafia movie, a western or a Star Wars remake.

About Star Wars, remember the Family Guy special episode? That was horrible. I love Seth MacFarlane (who doesn't?) and I had some of my best laughs seeing his shows but try to remember the Star Wars special: it was basically the same plot of Star Wars with the Family Guy characters starring as the original movie characters. Peter, Lois, Brian and the others weren't actually in the film but to lend their appearances, and if there were some laughs they came (or should've come) from the gap between the real film and MacFarlane's version (plus a few jokes), same way you'd laugh at little kids playing Amleth. My point is, take instead the Community's second season finale which is basically a Star Wars episode: you still have the same basic characters (the good roguish adventurer, the strong princess, the chosen leader, the dark overlord) and the same themes (a dark force seizes power, a rebellion, love and hope and the eventual defeat of the bad guys) of the original movie but you still have all the characters from the tv show, and the main story goes on and takes important steps. Instead of just using Star Wars to do another episode and maybe get some old fans of the movie to see it the guys at Community just wanted to pay homage to an amazing film and they found a way to do it their way, without stealing anything from it. Now, that's how you play meta.

Just to clarify how much I like this show know this: I'm not an actor and even if I think it's one of the most fun jobs you can have I never really thought about becoming one (even though Orson Welles said once that italians are so naturally good at acting that in Italy you can just have random people do something on camera and call yourself a director), but if some crazy Hollywood guy ever shows up at my door and says "kid, pick a role and I'll give it to you", well, working in Community would be my second choice. Hey I know it's not impressive as if it were the first choice but that would be playing Dream in a Sandman movie directed by Neil Gaiman (a role I actually played once by the way, long story) so I guess your silver medal should still be pretty nice, Community. Also I'm a Phd student so I'm supposed to be kind of smart, my endorsement is worth at least a few dozens american teenagers (take this Glee!)


#3 I really think I should just write Alison Brie, post some photos and call it a day the World needs to laugh

plus look at all the fan art this show has spawned! we need  inspiration too! (oh yes that's Alison Brie again, but it's just because that's the first fan art pic I found using google I swear)

So we don't have Community but there are other shows, right? ok 30rock, which took Community's slot, may not be funny enough but hey, what about the classics? How I met your mother is still on the air right? what about The Big Bang Theory? yeah, what about them...

I'm deeply sorry because I used to love those shows and still like them, but if you remember the fact of the day at the beginning of this post you already know what's the problem with them: they are done or almost done and I love my shows like my steaks: medium rare (AHR AHR AHR sorry bad joke, it won't happen again). The problem with How I met your mother is that even though they still haven't actually jumped the shark the characters became older, so if in the first few seasons they were able to show the world of the people in the late twenties/early thirties with all his rules and stereotypes and go on for years still having new funny-but-also-deep material to use, now they're left with a desperate (borderline depressed) single man, a couple that's about to have a kid, a girl in complete personal crisis and an ex womanizer that suddenly realized what he really wanted all along. You can still work something out with this, and it may even become better, but the show has to become darker maybe sacrificing a little bit of the comedy. Instead, it went kinda duller (it still has his good moments though). The Big Bang Theory, on the other hand, started already with fewer things to say and now it's basically just a container for jokes (most of which involve Sheldon being Sheldon), I'm not even sure they care for the story or the characters anymore, and even the ones that got introduced later on in the show (Bernadette and Amy) ran pretty early out of novelty.

Also, It's always sunny in Philadelphia won't be on air for months I guess.

That was a sad sad paragraph and I already regret writing it so let's go back to Community


#4 Alison Brie sings and dances too! look at the video! the actors just seem to have fun doing their job, and that makes for amazing interactions between the characters

Hey it's not that I just wanted to post something with Alison Brie in it! ok maybe, but I laugh every time I see this video (and hope they'll put it in one of the episodes at some point)

Look at this freaking video shoot between takes with, I think, Joel McHale's phone, just look at it. Now I don't know if the cast of Community is so close in real life as it seems from interviews, twitter, little videos like this and the way they seem to be a real "family" on the show (I had that kind of family when I was a undergrad student myself), but I think they are and that helps the show a lot. I'm not just talking about the simple fact that if you work with people you like you'll do a better job, but also how that helps them come up with some of the little stuff we see in the shows (that happen very often in tv series), and things like Abed's and Troy's handshake, to make an example, is something you can only invent with a friend. Plus, of course, playing a group of friends is easier if you actually are a group of friends.

#5 Alison Brie (ok, I give up)

good morning miss Brie, thank you for giving the sun a reason to shine

update: Parks & Recreation is very goodl, plus Community will be back March the 15th ergo I really should erase everything (except the pictures of Ms Brie)

P.S. I'm probably breaking some copyright law here, if so please don't sue me mr angry photographer and guy/girl from deviantart (I think), tell me what I have to take off the site and I will replace it with pictures of my roommate's cat with funny captions. Otherwise I can add your credits at the end of this post, I can even write a few lines about how much I admire your work and maybe give you a couple original italian recipes to impress your friends with, what do you think? no I don't have money, come on be reasonable I'm just trying to write stuff for fun.