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I finally decided to catch up on Season 4 and 5 Season 4 was cringe inducing in its badness. Season 5 was like a different show (even compared to the earlier seasons) but it was a great show.
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Feb 9, 2015 07:10
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Season 5 is one half season 3 quality and one half season 4 quality.
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Feb 9, 2015 07:17
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Season 5 is good. People here don't actually remember Seasons 4 or 5 very well, judging by statements like that.
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Feb 9, 2015 07:23
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A lot of people's perceptions of Season 5, I think, are coloured by the way that the three weakest episodes were the last three.
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Feb 9, 2015 07:28
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I don't think Basic Story is weak, it's just meta as hell and almost unwatchably inaccessible. It's also one of my favorite episodes. On the other hand, G.I. Jeff is interesting (and has some amazing gags) but doesn't really justify itself, and Basic Sandwich is kind of a mess all around, so yeah, you're pretty much right. Arist fucked around with this message at 07:33 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 07:31
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Cooperative Polygraphy is one of the best episodes of the entire series, and App Development and Condiments might be the finest 22 minutes ever put to film.
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Feb 9, 2015 08:23
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Season 5 suffers from two big problems. First, the show's reason for the study group getting back together post-graduation was weak, so you spent every episode asking yourself questions like "why does Annie care about grades when she already has her degree?" or "why is Britta allowing herself to be treated like dirt when she graduated a year ago?" Second, all of the so-called 'good' episodes are just rehashes of better season 2 episodes. ACB is the best episode of the season, but even that's just a rehash of the L&O episode from season 3.
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Feb 9, 2015 11:35
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Irish Joe posted:Season 5 suffers from two big problems. First, the show's reason for the study group getting back together post-graduation was weak, so you spent every episode asking yourself questions like "why does Annie care about grades when she already has her degree?" or "why is Britta allowing herself to be treated like dirt when she graduated a year ago?" Second, all of the so-called 'good' episodes are just rehashes of better season 2 episodes. ACB is the best episode of the season, but even that's just a rehash of the L&O episode from season 3. I really don't get why they went with the 're-enrolment angle. If anything it would've made more sense for Annie to run the Save Greendale group as a job/teacher and to recruit Jeff into it. Or, really, just pretend that Season Four never happened.
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Feb 9, 2015 14:38
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Rename thread to Community: Irish Joe appreciation station
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Feb 9, 2015 16:26
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MikeJF posted:A lot of people's perceptions of Season 5, I think, are coloured by the way that the three weakest episodes were the last three. I recently watched the commentaries and features on the S5 DVD, and Dan & Co. spend a lot of time half explaining and half apologizing for the lesser quality of the last few episodes. They basically went way over their budgeted time trying to make D&D 2 with David Cross as spectacular as the original D&D episode and had to rush everything else for the rest of the season, leading to things like finishing the animation on GI Jeff 3 days before it was supposed to air. VVVVVVVVVV 
tinstaach fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 16:36
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tinstaach posted:...leading to things like finishing the animation on GI Jeff 3 days before it was supposed to air. I'm willing to forgive this because it lead to one of the greatest things ever: https://soundcloud.com/octopaganini/harmontown-rob-scrab-g-i-joe
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Feb 9, 2015 16:43
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If you want to learn more about what happened with the internal politics at Sony and NBC (and now Yahoo), this chat from NATPE 2015 with Dan Harmon is fascinating: http://new.livestream.com/accounts/6754692/events/2727631/videos/74459110/player?autoPlay=false&height=360&mute=false&width=640 NATPE is basically a television producer's conference, so much of the conversation is about the minutiae of how things are made. The stuff about what was going on at NBC throughout the show's run is very interesting. Spoiler: there was so much infighting at NBC with people jockeying for power during an extended transition period that Community kept getting ignored and sort of renewed by default, even though no one at NBC really liked or wanted the show. I don't think it's explicitly said, but some of the implication is that at least part of how the fifth season 'return to Greendale' concept came about was because of said politics. You can't alienate the season 4 writers and producers by ignoring it, and you can't radically change the concept of the show without alienating the producers who expect TV to be this mostly static thing. ashpanash fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Feb 9, 2015 |
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Feb 9, 2015 17:41
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 The Study Group is so small now. (even though they aren't a study group anymore.)
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Feb 18, 2015 01:56
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I'm really surprised they didn't put the new cast members in that poster just to round it out. My eyes keep looking for people who aren't there.
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Feb 18, 2015 02:12
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Wrong thread
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Feb 18, 2015 02:14
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I feel bad because I don't have high hopes for this anymore. Rewatching the show I don't tend to go past season 3 anymore. 5 was good but it wasn't Pierce being the Beastmaster
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Feb 18, 2015 10:59
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I made it all the way through season 4, but couldn't even bother to finish season 5.
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Feb 18, 2015 14:50
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Spacebump posted:
It's funny how a poster can be so bright and vibrant and yet be so devoid of color.
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Feb 18, 2015 16:13
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2/6 or a third are minorities though.
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Feb 19, 2015 01:22
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Ratjaculation posted:I feel bad because I don't have high hopes for this anymore. Rewatching the show I don't tend to go past season 3 anymore. 5 was good but it wasn't Pierce being the Beastmaster It's so bitter and miserable now. Especially with Troy being killed and cannibalized by his childhood idol after being captured by Somali pirates. I'm expecting them to write Shirley out via tripple murder suicide. It used to be a show that was hopeful and joyous about the connections we make with people, but now it's just depressing with occasional strong episodes. I'm going to wait for opinion to settle on Season Six before I decide wether to invest.
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Feb 20, 2015 13:08
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PriorMarcus posted:It's so bitter and miserable now. Especially with Troy being killed and cannibalized by his childhood idol after being captured by Somali pirates. I'm expecting them to write Shirley out via tripple murder suicide. What? Wasn't this a joke made by Joel McHale or something? I know that Community is a comedy that has "jokes" in it so I guess I can see how things get confusing
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Feb 20, 2015 15:11
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the last episode sucked but it did end with a computer powered by friendship, so i don't know about it being a miserable show i guess the only people who comment on shows when they're not currently on the air are people who want to express how little they feel towards the show now
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Feb 20, 2015 18:26
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Last Chance posted:What? Wasn't this a joke made by Joel McHale or something? I know that Community is a comedy that has "jokes" in it so I guess I can see how things get confusing It was on a fake TV new channel scroll. (Not the cannibal part though) 
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Feb 20, 2015 18:32
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The cannibalism comes from a joke Joel McHale made during the Season 6 Comic Con panel. He said he wanted an episode to cut to Troy eating Levar Burton, not the other way around. Also, got to say: I rewatched the series recently and Season 4 is honestly not that awful. By no stretch of the imagination is it Community at its best (Season 1, fyi) but there are a couple of good episodes: History 101, which I liked because it maintained Jeff's character development from the end of Season 3; Advanced Documentary Film-making, which, despite the ridiculous Changnesia premise, actually creates good scenes for Jeff and Annie and Troy; Herstory of Dance, which introduces Rachel and is also the final time Pierce is characterized as anything other than a horrible racist, and Basic Human Anatomy, Jim Rash's episode). I think the drama surrounding the season negatively influences people's opinions of it. The only really bad episodes are Conventions of Space and Time, the episode where Inspector Spacetime became completely intolerable, and Advanced Introduction to Finality, the paintball/Darkest Timeline psuedo-finale. For the rest of the episodes, as long as you can overlook Pierce being completely mishandled (which I admit is bad, because he was the funniest character) then Season 4 is generally competent with regular glimpses of the old magic.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:00
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In It For The Tank posted:The cannibalism comes from a joke Joel McHale made during the Season 6 Comic Con panel. He said he wanted an episode to cut to Troy eating Levar Burton, not the other way around. "But Dan Harmon wasn't involved, so therefore it's automatically bad." Yeah, I think a lot of hate on S4 came from people who had already decided to hate it before watching a single frame, so one was never going to get an honest reaction to it. As I mentioned before, I made it through S4, but couldn't even finish S5. Is 4 as good as S1? No, but it's nowhere as awful as people wanted it to be.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:07
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In It For The Tank posted:For the rest of the episodes, as long as you can overlook Pierce being completely mishandled (which I admit is bad, because he was the funniest character) then Season 4 is generally competent with regular glimpses of the old magic. Pierce has been mishandled since Season Two, when they had the interesting idea of having him get hooked on pills and then forgot they made him nasty after he was cured. And yeah, 4 is pretty good. It doesn't pull off the concept episodes as well, but it does the more normal episodes fine. To be fair to it as well even the last half of 3 didn't do the concept episodes so well.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:09
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The Felt episode was pretty garbage.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:12
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Yeah, I think if I could make one change to Seasons 1 - 3, it would be to have Pierce stick to his guns and stay separated from the group during Season 3. He should still have been around but in a limited capacity (like Duncan in Season 1 and 2) and only interacted with the entire group for specific episodes like his father's appearance and the videogame episode. It would have been an interesting if he had remained in Greendale while the other six study group members were expelled after Chang's coup, and his aid in retaking the school could have represented a real reconciliation between everyone. This might have mitigated the Chevy/Dan conflict come to think of it.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:17
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I'd also entirely scrap the dreamatorium. It felt like it was taking over the show during Season 3 and it didn't really present them with any storytelling options they didn't have without it.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:23
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In It For The Tank posted:Yeah, I think if I could make one change to Seasons 1 - 3, it would be to have Pierce stick to his guns and stay separated from the group during Season 3. He should still have been around but in a limited capacity (like Duncan in Season 1 and 2) and only interacted with the entire group for specific episodes like his father's appearance and the videogame episode. It would have been an interesting if he had remained in Greendale while the other six study group members were expelled after Chang's coup, and his aid in retaking the school could have represented a real reconciliation between everyone. This might have mitigated the Chevy/Dan conflict come to think of it. I don't understand why Harmon can't drop the whole "old geezer in the study group" thing either. Chevy, then Jonathan Banks, now Keith David. Awesome performers, but maybe he should try to add a different dynamic to the group instead of what's come before.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:27
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Davros1 posted:I don't understand why Harmon can't drop the whole "old geezer in the study group" thing either. Chevy, then Jonathan Banks, now Keith David. Awesome performers, but maybe he should try to add a different dynamic to the group instead of what's come before. For someone whose going on about the characters needing to change and evolve he doesn't half fight against the natural flow of the show to keep them static.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:31
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Banks was fun and David probably will be too so who gives a gently caress.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:31
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I liked Season 1 Pierce the best. I liked him being fumbling and old and sad but well-meaning, instead of hyper dickish to the point of pathetic old man Pierce. Pierce as a reflection of Jeff was a good dynamic.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:39
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Davros1 posted:"But Dan Harmon wasn't involved, so therefore it's automatically bad." I will always take more Community, even S4. That said, it is pretty bad. There's a couple of episodes I really liked, maybe 3 or 4. Some very mediocre ones, and some really bad ones. I think you're forgetting lazy writing like the number of rhyme jokes, which weren't actually jokes, just phrases that sound kind of funny. Port and Guarascio are now on Marry Me and I find them doing the same rhyme joke concept but the actual jokes on that show are better on average than the fourth season's.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:44
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I work with a guy that has a fascinating theory about Community, sort of along the lines that Jeff isn't really a self-insert of Dan (which Dan has stated he is) but instead he represents the way Dan sees the world and all the people in it. However, essentially my friend is from Reddit and so basically he sees Jeff as the uber redditor: 1) Jeff is the enlightened atheist that knows better than everyone else and is above all of "it" 2) Shirley is the ignorant religious breeder that is just a complete idiot next to the enlighted Jeff 3) Annie is basically a kawii anime character that Jeff is in love with 4) Brita is a strawman feminist that gives a Jeff something to put down 5) Abed is a quirky charming comical reference machine that generates memes, basically Abed "is" the internet. 6) Pierce is of course all old luddites that just don't get it 7) He didn't talk about Troy, I suppose that indicates his view on race somehow, but I'm too bored now to go on about it.
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Feb 20, 2015 19:49
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I can't believe we're finding ways to complain about Jonathan Banks and Keith loving David.
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Feb 20, 2015 21:06
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Butt as boobs and feet as hands. Cruel world.
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Feb 20, 2015 22:11
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MrAristocrates posted:I can't believe we're finding ways to complain about Jonathan Banks and Keith loving David. There both fine additions to the show that don't really need to be part of the core group.
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Feb 20, 2015 22:16
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Yeah I mean they make the show better and everything but do they need to be there??
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Feb 20, 2015 22:27
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Jonathan Banks was a perfect addition, and I was heartbroken that he couldn't stick around. 
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Feb 20, 2015 22:32
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