Our long national nightmare is over: Community returns tonight

Terrible show now, after showing a lot of promise in the first two seasons. Compared to Parks and Rec and Happy Endings, it's like Community is trying not to be funny.

 

The third season, with Dan Harmon, was already straining and going off the rails. Without him, it's completely focused on the nuttiness and quirk, at least in the first episode. Actually, the problem with the show wasn't that it was bad. The problem was it being the Uncanny Valley of TV shows, trying to be Dan Harmon, but not quite reaching, yet getting close enough to look uncomfortable.

Another problem is that the show is more and more about the goddamn dean, a truly one-note character.

 

I bet reception to this exact same episode would be a hell of a lot more positive if Dan Harmon's name were in the credits.

Then again, if you didn't like Season 3, well, why would you think you'd like Season 4?

 

I thought it was OK, but like others have said, the premieres generally aren't the best episodes. One thing that has me concerned is that Sepinwall wrote the other episode out for critics to screen dealt with an Inspector Spacetime convention and wasn't as good. The premise sounds great, so I'm a little bummed he didn't like it.

I've always been more of an Annie guy, but I had a positive physical reaction to Britta in the fountain.

Season 3 may not have been as consistent, but Regional Holiday Music and, in particular, Basic Lupine Urology were as good as any episode of any show on TV last year.

 

It's not that I didn't like season 3. It just seemed to be less consistent, and there were more times when you could see everyone sweat to try to pull it off.

 

I have some sort of blind spot for this show. No one in the world liked that episode except me, apparently.

I'm not complaining, though.

 

Maybe I had my expectations tempered because of the bad reviews, but I didn't think it was too bad either. Not the funniest episode, but more character focused.

 

I didn't mind it, but they don't have their fastball yet this season. It's been a string of C+.

 

Yeah, but I figure it takes the new show runners a few episodes to get the hang of it. I find the fact that the first few were OK, if not fantastic, fairly promising.

 

Community is my favorite major network show since Seinfeld. Loved the first three seasons and adore Britta.

Season 4 isn't Community. It's another relationship-driven sitcom littered with bad one-liners. Troy and Britta have been paired. Thursday's episode makes you think Jeff and Annie will be at some point.

Very disappointing. NBC wanted it dead. Well, now they've got it.

 

This part was written by someone else, right? Because someone who watched Seasons 1-3 can't honestly think both these stories suddenly just popped up over the downtime.

 

They built those relationships slower than any other show would have, and I still don't think Annie and Jeff ever really get together.