Surprise, it WAS Dan Harmon that made Community good

The first episode of season 4 of community aired tonight. The first episode of the series that Dan Harmon wasn't involved with after leaving the show. Personally I had faith that the show's quality would remain intact, but I was very unpleasantly surprised when I watched tonight only to find myself cringing throughout half the episode. I can't be the only one that was bummed out after tonight's episode right?

It seemed like whoever came up with this episode knew about how ingenious the show could work in a TV trope like a bottle episode and tried to do something similar. The difference was that it's usually done subtlety, while this constantly hit you over the head: "Laugh track! See, we're funny too! Please love me!" They failed miserably.

Was there ever a doubt?

Sad to hear, but I fell out of love with the show after season one.

I think the best way I've heard it described was that the new episodes (or at least the one which has aired) feel like really well produced fan films that happen to star the original cast. It's clearly done by people who love and understand what made the show special - they're just not quite up to the task of recreating it.

Wow. What a bunch of miserable fucks in this thread. People need to ease up and face reality:

• People overestimate Harmon's involvement in the show. He only wrote 2 episodes (Spanish 101 and the Pilot). (just the clarify, I'm not saying Harmon did nothing, but he had many talented writers, many who stayed on the show for the 4th season).
• Season premieres have never been Community's strongest episodes. Anthropology 101? Lame. Biology 101? Lame.

You could take this exact episode, put Harmon's name back on it and this thread would not exist. Now shut up, listen to Harmontown and #WatchCommunity.

@ShadowConqueror: Whoa, in my opinion some of the best episodes of the show is in the second season. And that's probably my favorite season.

Didn't love the new episode, but i still have faith in the show. It is so damn good when it is at its best!

@ShadowConqueror said:

Sad to hear, but I fell out of love with the show after season one.

You missed out.

@ThePickle said:

Wow. What a bunch of miserable fucks in this thread. People need to ease up and face reality:

• People overestimate Harmon's involvement in the show. He only wrote 2 episodes (Spanish 101 and the Pilot).

While I agree with your basic sentiment that people are reacting overly dramatic to this "okay" episode, you seem to UNDERestimate Harmon's involvement. Just because he only has a writing credit on two episodes doesn't mean he barely had anything to do with the show. He was the creator and showrunner, he basically had his hands in EVERYTHING about the show.

@Sergio said:

It seemed like whoever came up with this episode knew about how ingenious the show could work in a TV trope like a bottle episode and tried to do something similar. The difference was that it's usually done subtlety, while this constantly hit you over the head: "Laugh track! See, we're funny too! Please love me!" They failed miserably.

The sitcom parody with a laugh track was just that, a parody with intentionally terrible jokes that get punched up with a dumb laugh track at every possible moment. I would agree, though, that something about the episode felt a little "off" in the sense that it didn't quite come together like it was intended to. I liked that they addressed the elephant in the room and made explicit references to this year being "different" and how change is scary and weird. It was the perfect way to start this season after all the drama. Especially with the way they actually teased the audience by showing almost every character actually being scary different (i.e. the Dean's intro). It also doesn't help that we KNOW that there was so much drama behind the scenes. It robs the show of its innocence in a way.

I'd say just see how the rest of the episodes turned out. I have faith in them. There have been "just okay" episodes in previous seasons as well. The fact that they went all out with the crazy animation segment and how they reintroduced Chang tells me that they're gonna keep going to crazytown and that's how I like my Community.

@ThePickle: You should read up on the writing process for Community. Interviews with writers, prodcuers, etc. It was Dan Harmon's show from top to bottom.

I'm curious, though. With such strong vitriol you must be on to something. Have you been to a parallel universe where Dan Harmon was at the helm at this episode and everybody loved it? Speculation is easy to do, so I'm wondering if you've got more going to back up your opinion than smugness.

Eh, give it time. I love Community, but I made sure to not hype up its return too much. The season premier wasn't amazing, but it was far from awful.

@HaltIamReptar said:

@ThePickle: You should read up on the writing process for Community. Interviews with writers, prodcuers, etc. It was Dan Harmon's show from top to bottom.

I'm curious, though. With such strong vitriol you must be on to something. Have you been to a parallel universe where Dan Harmon was at the helm at this episode and everybody loved it? Speculation is easy to do, so I'm wondering if you've got more going to back up your opinion than smugness.

He had a lot of input in the show, but people talk about him like he did all of the writing. I'm not saying he just sat on his ass, but he has writers (and Donald Glover improvising basically everything Troy says).

Such strong vitriol? No. I'm disappointed people weren't able to get past Dan Harmon, but I'm not angry. My speculation just comes from people going into the premiere with such high expectations. Unfairly high expectations. It wasn't the strongest episode, but like I said the season 2 and 3 premieres weren't fantastic either.

half of season 1 and most of season 2 is the best of Community

you do not have to watch after that

I really liked the first season of community. However, the following seasons just spiraled too far into the realm of absurd. I still liked them, they just felt to over the top. Is Chevy Chase really no longer on the show?

One iffy episode, duder. That's hardly enough to go on. I don't doubt that the show will Chang a bit without Harmon, but whether it becomes bad remains to be Dean.

I can't help but agree with the OP, it did seem a bit off to me. Still well worth watching, still better than most any other sitcom on TV, but it was off. I tend to like shows like Community that are clearly the artistic vision of one person (Moral Orel is another endeavor that comes to mind), and no show like that can recover completely from such a dramatic shake-up. It also doesn't help that a lot of the episode was devoted to a joke that Harmon had already nailed at the beginning of the third season.

@jjm494: He's still on the show for now, but he quit during production, so at some point this season he'll be written off.

@DeathbyYeti said:

half of season 1 and most of season 2 is the best of Community

you do not have to watch after that

Yep.

I have hope the show will get much better. I thought the opener of S3 was pretty lame but it went on to have some of the show's best episodes.

I wonder if the 'Abed TV' thing is a not-too-subtle jab at BIG BANG THEORY and it's turgid, stock sitcom laughs.

The writer of the first show is urging people to calm down and wait for the second episode to come out, and I agree with him... you can't judge an entire season on the opening episode. It's not like every episode Harmon was in charge of knocked it out of the park.

I had super low expectations after Harmon was let go and the air date was delayed forever. Maybe that's why I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself enjoying it. I'm curious to see how the season goes from here.

I didn't think that series 3 was very good either. Then again, after series 2, I'm not sure how the show could do anything but disappoint.

Aw, really? I watched both seasons for the first time recently and really liked them, even if they did seem a little forced and absurdist at the end. I was hoping to keep plodding on. Does it really get that lame to just stop?

Eh, there's nothing wrong with season 3. Still don't see why some people are so down on it, despite not agreeing with several characters arcs myself.

I am not feeling the disappointment. Seems the show is still on track to being good.

I just watched episode 2 of the new season and it was as good as a majority of the series episodes. Then again, I was never part of the Community cult so maybe that has something to do with it.

I'm not feeling it after these first two episodes. Community has always been hit and miss for me but I'll keep watching in hope that this season will find what made the show so funny to begin with.

You guys are crazy, they had me at "Changnesia".

I found the first two episodes to be alright, and that is kind of the norm for the show. Yeah, there were some great episodes in the first two seasons (less so in the third), but overall, most of them are just alright. Which isn't a bad thing, considering that most tv shows are bad, in my opinion. To put it another way, it isn't the best show out there, but it is still one of the better ones, and i hope it sticks around.

I haven't seen the second one yet, but that first one was totally fine. Not a standout, but they can't all be.

Add the six timeline episode and the hearts of darkness parody and this is probably true.

Still a decent show though. Better and more creative than any other comedy out on basic TV. Sitcoms are just at a low point after it's peak in the 90s.

Community is one of those shows that seemingly everyone around me watches and will never shut up about. I was never really interested in it, at least at the moment and by virtue of everyone talking about it and only about it i kinda started to hate the show despite never watching a single episode...

The first season of Community was the best, but even sub-par Community is better than 99% of comedy shows being made today.

The Hunger Deans!!

Pretty much how I was until I finally gave it a shot one weekend. Ended up blasting through the first two seasons in a week. It's worth it if you have the time but I dunno. I wouldn't want someone else to feel sad from how kind of meh it gets towards the end of season three.