February 7th is October 19th

[Contains Spoilers]

I had one television goal this summer: to watch every episode of “Community”. It all started when a good friend of mine praised “Community”’s bizarre references.  He explained how Troy (Donald Glover) is obsessed with LaVar Burton from “Reading Rainbow”. I was intrigued, as I loved “Reading Rainbow” almost as much as I love outdated pop culture references. Needless to say, I became hooked and managed to finish my summer goal. For those of you not familiar with “Community,” the series is about a study group at a community college: Greendale Community College. The premise sounds vaguely boring, but the writing is not and the main characters (or the “Greendale Seven”: Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs), Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown), Annie Edison (Alison Brie), Troy Barnes and Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase)) keep it interesting. “Community” also features comedian Ken Jeong as Ben Chang, the teacher turned campus security guard, and Jim Rash as the cross dressing Dean Pelton. Regularly featured on "Community" are themes of friendship and personal growth along with paintball, Kentucky Fried Chicken, role-playing and mock trials. Because of the show’s unique sense of humor, it tends not to be palpable to all audiences and has garnered low ratings. However, “Community” hasn’t completely escaped creative recognition as it was nominated for one Emmy and won another. This year, writer Chris McKenna, was nominated for an Emmy for writing “Remedial Chaos Theory", which was an episode that contained seven alternate timelines. In 2011, Drew Hodges won an animation Emmy for "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" in which the entire episode is done in stop animation. It’s the creativity of unconventional story telling that sets “Community” apart and has afforded it passionate fans who have fought to keep it on the air. While “Community”’s humor may be bizarre, it is oddly accessible in a way that makes it unlike any show on television. Viewers might not be able to relate to exact scenarios on the show, but fans know it’s the sentiment behind them that counts. For example, in recalling the LaVar Burton episode, Troy’s choice in a hero might be strange (no offense to Mr. Burton) but anyone can relate to the idea of not wanting to be disappointed in meeting their hero. Troy says, "I've told Pierce a thousand times, I never wanted to meet LeVar in person! I just wanted a picture! You can't disappoint a picture!"

Despite what I have said thus far about “Community,” I found the third season finale, "Introduction to Finality," to be somewhat blasé (no dance numbers?!). The finale neatly tied-up loose ends (for example, the air conditioning repair school is now part of the main school and Troy is officially back in the group), introduced some “new” faces (Starburns is still alive and perhaps Evil Abed will now be making cameos?) but it seems that with everything going on in the episode (the battle for Shirley’s sandwich shop, Evil Abed’s therapy sessions, the death of Vice Dean Laybourne , the challenge in the Sun Chamber, etc.), it lacked focus and cleverly crafted jokes. Although "Introduction to Finality," was not one of my favorite episodes, I was still left feeling the same way I always feel about the Greendale Seven, that they can overcome any obstacle, perhaps even if that obstacle is the departure of the show’s creator, Dan Harmon. It appears that Dan Harmon learned he was fired just as it hit the press. The summary of the argument between Harmon and Sony boils down to artistic vision v. money and ratings. Harmon has been replaced by David Guarascio and Moses Port who are best known to me as the people who attempted to produce a terrible American version of one of my favorite British television shows, “The IT Crowd” (if you haven’t seen the UK version, do yourselves a favor). They also produce “Happy Endings” which is an awesome show (also, do yourselves a favor, see it). The fans wonder (worry) what the next season will be like without the show’s creator.  Do we attribute the show’s quirky humor to Dan Harmon? To the cast? Good writers? Does the firing of Dan Harmon signal a directional change for “Community”? At Comic Con, Guarascio assured fans “The only thing we care about is keeping it this weird, wonderful gem that it's always been. That's not gonna change." And if the pictures for the season 4 premier are any indication, it looks like they’ve kept their promise. What are those unicorns about?! I love unicorns. And the Dean's costumes.

The description of the first two episodes of season 4 have already been released and the premier will feature a “Hunger Games” tribute (yes, Entertainment Weekly and I used the word “tribute” on purpose. The title of the premier, “History 101,” could refer to the characters’ past and possibly another indication to the fans that there will not be a severe alteration to the characters, themes and tone we have come to know and love. Joel McHale claims that the season premier contains “an homage to something that kids in the late ’80s and early ’90s watched on Saturday mornings.” (“Double Dare”? Please be referencing "Double Dare") The description for the second episode brings the group to Pierce’s mansion on Halloween. The combination of an epic Halloween hunt and Pierce’s family background could be hilarious. The bar is high, however as “Community” has already displayed noteworthy Halloween episodes which include a zombie outbreak and a round of horror stories that examine the groups homicidal tendencies. The setting for episode two brings me particular delight as Pierce’s peculiar family background was the subject of one of my favorite episodes entitled "Digital Estate Planning" in which the group has to play a video game (with 8-bit video consoles) in the battle for Pierce’s inheritance (which featured the flawless Giancarlo Esposito as Pierce’s brother who will be returning for Season 4). Jeff’s dad (played by James Brolin) will be making an appearance as well this season, and I can only hope that means we will learn more about the characters’ families.

Only 13 episodes have been ordered and, after some delay, Community returns February 7th at 8/7c on NBC... that is the brightest timeline! Here’s to six seasons and a movie…Go Human Beings!