For years, NBC has dominated the comedy market, from classics like Cheers, Seinfeld and Friends to recent favorites like Scrubs, The Office and 30 Rock. While 30 Rock continues to enjoy success, having recently picked up its third straight "Best Comedy" Emmy, The Office's primary actors are under contract for only one more season, and the story is approaching a natural end. Parks and Recreation, created by part of The Office team, appeared to be the natural replacement, but it might not even survive this season, leaving the spot open for any show. With the debut of Community this fall, it appears that they have found a suitable heir.
Community has everything required to be the next big hit: a stellar cast of both new and established talent, a fresh, creative plot and a talented writing and directing staff. The show takes place at a community college in the fictional town of Greendale, Colo., where Jeff Winger (played by Joel McHale of The Soup), a suspended lawyer, is forced to go back to school after the state bar deems his college degree invalid. In the pilot episode, Jeff runs into a professor that he once represented and explains his situation.
"I thought you had a bachelor's from Columbia?" Jeff's acquaintance Duncan (The Daily Show's John Oliver) asks. "And now I have to get one from America," he responds. "And it can't be an e-mail attachment."
Such is the dry humor that characterizes the show, as one might expect from the directing team of Joe and Anthony Russo, who won an Emmy for their work on Arrested Development. If you've ever seen McHale dead pan talk shows and reality shows on The Soup, then you know just how snarky and sarcastic he can be, which translates perfectly to his character. McHale does his best to channel Bill Murray for the role of Jeff, a self-described selfish jerk who realized at a young age that "if I talk long enough I can make anything right or wrong so either I'm God or truth is relative."
This attitude permeates into all of his conversations with other Greendale Community College students, as he simply looks for ways he can take advantage of their naivete. Of course, once he meets Britta (Gillian Jacobs), the attractive blonde in his Spanish class, all of his efforts become focused on her. He tells her about a study group he's starting, with the intent that it will only be the two of them. But she tells several other students in the class, and in this manner we are introduced to most of the supporting cast, which includes Chevy Chase as Pierce, a retired moist towelette mogul, and Donald Glover (of YouTube humor team Derrick Comedy) as Troy, a less-than-intelligent former high school quarterback and prom king. Ken Jeong (The Hangover) has a role as their domineering Spanish teacher.
Although it can be tough to predict exactly what the future has in store for the show after only two episodes, Community has all of the necessary components to be NBC's next hit comedy. The network certainly hopes other people feel the same way, and are counting on the large audiences it has attracted through two weeks of following The Office to follow it to its 8 p.m. time slot when it moves there Oct.
