Sound On Sight

Thursday Comedy Roundup: ‘Community’ 4.10 & ‘Parks & Rec’ 4.19 & 4.20

Let’s talk for a second about Abed Nadir. In a lot of ways, he seems emblematic of the problems that have hamstrung Community’s fourth season. As soon as he arrives at Jeff’s Christmas party, he is actively trying to mold it into a Die Hard homage. This isn’t unprecedented behavior for Abed, he shaped what is perhaps the series’ best episode “Critical Film Studies” into a My Dinner With Andrew homage, but recently it seems to be his sole motivating concern week in and week out. It feels like a shift in his character. If we take a look at “Cooperative Calligraphy,” an episode “Intro to Knots” closely resembles. Abed constantly comments “It’s a bottle episode!” but he is not attempting to propagate it. Abed seems to have gone from being primarily reactive, commenting on things as they unfold, to primarily proactive.

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Thursday Comedy Roundup: ‘Community’ 4.09, ‘Parks & Rec’ 5.18, & ‘Archer’ 4.13

For those familiar with the brilliant Angel episode “Smile Time,” it’s impossible to view “Intro to Felt Surrogacy” without thinking back on Joss Whedon and Ben Edlund’s masterpiece. One of the many impressive things about “Felt Surrogacy” is how quickly it steps out from under that shadow. Given how frequently the fourth season of Community has employed high-concept episodes as a crutch, it’s somewhat ironic that the most ambitious episode to date would be the one in which it finally establishes a unified voice.

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Thursday Comedy Roundup: ‘Community’ 4.08, ‘Parks & Rec’ 5.17, & ‘Archer’ 4.12

Those who lamented the absence of Eugene Mirman and Kristin Schaal from the Bob’s Burgers crossover in the season premiere will be pleased with this week’s Archer, as there is plenty of them to go round. Portraying Cheryl’s brother Cecil and his wife, they take the ISIS crew on a mission that seems ill-advised before it goes wrong and then goes even wronger. This is a pretty traditional trajectory for an episode of Archer, but as “Sea Tunt: Part I” primarily exists to set up Part II, one assumes there are a few more levels to go before we plumb the depths of catastrophe.

It further develops the rift that has been growing between Lana and Malory’s perception of what ISIS should be. Lana thinking they should at least attempt to be ethical while their careening reputation has Malory desperately clinging to schemes that test the limits of human indecency, like holding a nuclear warhead hostage. This is punctuated by Pam, in a turn that could serve as a metaphor for Malory’s self-destructive impulses, gluttonously devouring vegan-shellfish despite her intense soy allergy. In fact, everyone’s self-destructive impulses seem to be on display this week, be it Archer’s drinking himself into a stupor or Cheryl nearly wrecking the helicopter in a display of rage toward her sister-in-law. But Jon Hamm doesn’t make his much ballyhooed appearance until the very end of part I, so the self-destruction has only just begun.

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Thursday Comedy Roundup: ‘Community’ 4.07 & ‘Archer’ 4.10 - let us know what you thought…

The last three or four episodes of Community have settled into a pattern that we have to assume is the new normal for the show. They are primarily emotionally, rather than comedically, driven, and a primary focus seems to be Jeff’s relationship with his father. This is particularly true of tonight’s episode and the Thanksgiving episode, but it also factored heavily into the Halloween episode. This works, to the extent that it does, because the show seems to be developing a feel for the characters. The other aspect to these episodes, that is far less effective (and were it effective it might help to offset the show’s general humor deficit this season), is Abed’s attempt to mold the narrative via pop culture references.

This week, he attempts to create a fraternity in defiance of the Dean’s desire to keep them off campus launching a B-plot analogous to Animal House and several other films in that vein. Unfortunately, it never really goes anywhere. As the new creative team continues to iron out most of the serious issues that existed, the one that remains is the inability to organically explore the ways in which we use pop culture to relate to the world. Instead, the result often feels forced. While Abed has always bordered on autistic, there was always an aspect of his character that was very easy to relate to. That doesn’t seem to be as apparent this season.

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Thursday Comedy Roundup: ‘Community’ 4.06, ‘Parks & Rec’ 5.16, & ‘Archer’ 4.09

It’s probably unfair to keep comparing Community’s fourth season to the three that proceeded it. At this point, it has become painfully clear that this is a very different show. Yet it would be hard to argue that the show isn’t inviting those comparisons. That is clearly case with tonight’s episode, a sequel to two previous episodes that had been scripted by Megan Ganz. The surprise twist this week is that while it may not up to the standards of those episodes, “Advanced Documentary Filmmaking” is not doing them a disservice.

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Thursday Comedy Roundup: ‘Community’ 4.05 & ‘Archer’ 4.08

Reviewing comedy can be a difficult proposition at times as so often it comes down to your own personal sense of humor. You can attempt to focus on story-structure, performances, characters, theme, and, if the show is deep enough to warrant such analysis, that’s usually sufficient. However, when reflecting back on “Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations” from the team of Steve Basilone & Annie Mebane who delivered Season Three’s superlative “Introduction to Finality” as well as the relatively abysmal “Regional Holiday Music,” the problem is often that it just isn’t funny, and as far as that goes, your mileage may vary.

Which isn’t to suggest it’s perfect on all those other fronts. The group’s desire to escape Shirley’s Thanksgiving is arrived at a bit too quickly and without any rationale, Jeff’s encounter with his father is a bit schematic and sentimental in a sitcommy way (which was something Harmon’s show indulged in from time to time), Britta is closer to the Britta of episodes 1-3 than the rational Britta that appeared in episode 4, and Jeff’s gesture of generosity doesn’t feel completely earned. The thing is, most of these problems could have easily been ignored if the episode was just a little funnier.

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Via RePostered 

PaleyFest 2013: The Future of ‘Community’ – puppets and graduation

Thursday Comedy Roundup: Justin reviews Community & Archer