Nerds Rejoice – Community Returns Tonight!

I, literally, could not be any more excited for tonight. Why you ask? Because the best written, smartest, nerdiest, most compelling, heart-wrenching, laugh out loud comedy on TV returns with all new episodes after a dark time of indeterminate hiatus since Christmas. “But The Big Bang Theory has been on for weeks I thought?” I can almost assuredly hear you saying dear reader. While this is a nerd website, and I’ll admit, I’ve liked BBT in the past, you know what I have to say to that? Fuck You, that’s what I have to say to Big Bang Theory. I can’t be the only nerd who has heard a hundred times at work something along the lines of “Oh you like Star Trek / Star Wars / Comic Books / Laser Tag / Other Nerdy Endeavor, you must love Big Bang Theory” from some spinster housewife who doesn’t have a clue. While I am a nerd, and a great deal of what BBT says it true, it does not speak for me. I’m sure you all love BBT, but let me disabuse you of notion that it is the better show in the 8pm Thursday timeslot after the jump.

Let me start by saying this: I have a bit of a grudge against BBT. One of my favorite comedies was cancelled in order for it to live. You’ve probably never heard of it, but it was a hilarious little sitcom with a hot young cast of before-they-were-stars called The Class, a kinda weird Friends clone by the same producers. The cast included Jason Ritter (John Ritter’s son), Lizzy Caplan (Casey from Party Down), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (the non fat gay guy on Modern Family), and Jon Bernthal (Shane from The Walking Dead) all before they hit it big. The show had solid ratings, but CBS thought they could do better, and they were probably right. Doesn’t mean I have to like the decision.

So with that came the birth of Big Bang Theory. Yet another lame sitcom under Chuck Lorre. Now, don’t get me wrong, sitcoms are not inherently lame. As I stated above, The Class and Friends were both fairly decent sitcoms in recent memory. I would list How I Met Your Mother as an example of a great sitcom. They have good writing, characters have depth and experience growth, they follow people you care about. I would say that is not the case on BBT. I would call the writing crass and shallow, even hacky. While there is only so much you can do with a sitcom, I wouldn’t exactly normally call it an artform. BBT plots are recycled and formulaic and appeal to the lowest common denominator. Get this straight nerds. BBT is not laughing with you, it is laughing at you. The jokes are structured so that “Middle America” laughs because it is nerdy and they don’t understand the joke, therefore it must be funny. Nerds laugh because hey, it’s nerdy, that makes me feel included. No, they are specifically excluding you and mocking you, and you don’t even realize it. And it’s just not that funny to begin with, no matter how many nerd icons guest star in stunt casting during May sweeps. To put it succinctly: BBT is a dumb show about smart people. Community is a smart show about everyday people.

Community on the otherhand is the exact opposite kind of show. I’ll admit, when I first heard the premise of the show it sounded stupid. Seven people attend community college together, why would I watch that? I’ll tell you why. Community isn’t exactly a comedy. It’s more a drama that just happens to be really funny. In fact, I would call it art (particularly the paintball episodes, which have some of the most amazing cinematography I’ve ever seen this side of Garden State). Community is exactly that. The show truly is community. It’s about people, and relationships, and problems, and real feelings, and people growing together through shared circumstances. While each episode is discrete, like DS9, things that happen in one episode carry over into the following episodes. If you compare the show in the pilot, and where the characters were then to where they are as of now, midpoint season three, the sheer amount of growth these people have experienced is amazing. And I say people, not characters, because they are so rounded out and fully formed that I feel like they are my friends I get to catch up with each week. The world on the show is just so realized, from the way people act, to to the vast array of weird secondary characters, it’s a place I wouldn’t mind being, and when was the last time you said that about any other show and truly meant it?

The great thing about Community is that when you turn in each week, you never know what you are gonna get. The show has perhaps the best writing staff in comedy today. The show was created and headed by Dan Harmon. True nerds may recognize him as a member of the Dead Ale Wives, the sketch team that brought us the infamous “I Cast Magic Missile”, linked below. The great thing about the Community writers is their originality, creativity, and versatility. No two episodes are structured the same. There have been shows with a Western Motif, a Star Wars send up, a documentary, a claymation episode, a nior detective story, a musical episode, a My Dinner With Andre homage, a zombie episode, an Apollo 13 riff, an anime sequence, an episode with 6 different timelines, even a clip show of clips from non-existent episodes. And while the show may have a reputation for these so called “theme” episodes, it’s not all they do. There are several “normal” episodes that are just superb and heartwarming. Whether it’s some random non sequitur from Troy, a meta pop culture reference from Abed, something over preachy or moral from Shirley, Britta just plain Britta-ing something, or any of Jeff’s group speeches, the writing is always compelling, and different than anything else currently on television.
 

 
But what about guest stars? BBT has had some great ones: Stan Lee, Katie Sackoff, Steven Hawking, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Wil Wheaton. Sure, that’s a pretty sweet list. But Community has had Betty White, John Goodman, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, John Oliver, Nick Kroll, Martin Starr, Luiz Guzmond, Jerry Minor, Drew Carey, Rob Corddry, Andy Dick, Matt Walsh, Kevin Corrigan, Paul F Thompkins, John Holloway, and they too have had Levar Burton and George Takei. That list is pretty much every funny person currently working in television. And don’t forget the regular cast, which includes Joel McHale (host of The Soup), Ken Jeong (Mr. Chow from The Hangover), Chevy Chase, and recent Academy Award winner Jim Rash, who you may recognize from when he made fun of Angelina Jolie’s leg as part of his acceptance. But what about the babes? Sure, Kaley Cuoco is pretty hot, but she certainly doesn’t have the acting or comedic chops of either Alison Brie or Gillian Jacobs, both of whom are pretty easy on the eyes.

So, here is what I’m proposing. Tonight there is no Big Bang Theory. It is preempted by NCAA Basketball. It will be until April. You’re a nerd, if you made it to this website and made it through all of this. You don’t like sports, much less basketball. So, for the next 3 weeks, why not try watching Community instead? I’m pretty sure you’ll like it better. It’s got a bit of a learning curve to it, but don’t worry, stick it out. It’s well worth it. The chart below should be everything you need to get yourself up to speed. Here comes the personal pleading. This show is really important to me. I’ll admit it. I’m really invested in the show, there have been times it’s made me cry. I truly believe it’s the best show on TV currently. But it’s following is much smaller than BBT or American Idol or most of it’s other competitors. It’s ratings aren’t fantastic, but the show itself is. It needs more people watching it. Those fans it currently has are fiercely loyal (and loud), and I’m trying to do my part. We’ve been lucky to get 3 seasons. College runs four years till graduation, and Season 4 is by no means a guarantee at the moment. So if you can just give the show a chance these 3 weeks, it would be awesome. And if you like it (which I’m sure you will), tell someone else. Tell me in the comments. Will ya, please? For the Human Beings.

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook