Season Analysis: Scott Aukerman has a great rapport with Reggie Watts, and a great rapport with all of his funny friends. There are several funny segments that I assume were brought over from the podcast. But sometimes it all gets a bit silly.
“Elizabeth Banks Wears A Red Dress”
The most important part of comedy is the element of surprise. So for a show as ironic and absurd as Comedy Bang! Bang!, it’s hard to continually produce good comedy when surprise is always expected. So it was nice to have a guest like Elizabeth Banks, who more or less acted as herself instead of trying to match Scott Aukerman as he played “Scott Aukerman.” But the real reason this wins as best episode is David Wain, who appears as television critic Gordon “The Hatchet” Thatchet.” Wain operates on a different comedy plane than everyone else in the room (always a formula for success), as he constantly assigns star ratings to every moment of the show and tells Scott, “You’re no Johnny Carson, honey.”
So the public at large likes Muse now or something?
Original Version
1. P!nk ft. Nate Ruess – “Just Give Me a Reason”
2. Bruno Mars – “When I Was Your Man”
3. Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko – “Stay”
4. Justin Timberlake – “Mirrors”
5. Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive”
6. Icona Pop – “I Love It”
7. Demi Lovato – “Heart Attack”
8. Pitbull ft. Christina Aguilera – “Feel This Moment”
9. Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
10. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz – “Thrift Shop”
11. Drake – “Started From the Bottom”
12. fun. – “Carry On”
13. Muse – “Madness”
14. Lil Wayne ft. Drake and Future – “Love Me”
15. Paramore – “Still Into You”
16. Krewella – “Alive”
17. Olly Murs ft. Flo Rida – “Troublemaker”
18. J. Cole ft. Miguel – “Power Trip”
19. Ace Hood ft. Rick Ross and Future – “Bugatti”
20. Maroon 5 – “Daylight”
Jmunney’s Revision
1. Radioactive
2. I Love It
3. Thrift Shop
4. Madness
5. Stay
6. Still Into You
7. Mirrors
8. Troublemaker
9. Heart Attack
10. Carry On
11. My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)
12. Just Give Me a Reason
13. Started From the Bottom
14. Feel This Moment
15. Alive
16. When I Was Your Man
17. Power Trip
18. Bugatti
19. Love Me
20. Daylight
Multiple songs that I first heard on Cinema Sounds!
Original Version
1. fun. – “Carry On”
2. Bruno Mars – “When I Was Your Man”
3. Rihanna – “Stay”
4. Olly Murs ft. Flo Rida – “Troublemaker”
5. Emeli Sandé – “Next to Me”
6. P!nk ft. Nate Ruess – “Just Give Me a Reason”
7. Pitbull ft. Christina Aguilera – “Feel This Moment”
8. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz – “Thrift Shop”
9. Maroon 5 – “Daylight”
10. Justin Timberlake ft. Jay-Z – “Suit & Tie”
11. Ed Sheeran – “Lego House”
12. Taylor Swift – “22”
13. Youngblood Hawke – “We Come Running”
14. Demi Lovato – “Heart Attack”
15. The Lumineers – “Stubborn Love”
16. Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait”
17. New Kids on the Block – “Remix (I Like The)”
18. Phillip Phillips – “Gone Gone Gone”
19. OneRepublic – “If I Lose Myself”
20. Vicci Martinez ft. Cee-Lo Green – “Come Along”
Jmunney’s Revision
1. Thrift Shop
2. Stay
3. We Come Running
4. Troublemaker
5. Stubborn Love
6. Suit & Tie
7. Come Along
8. Heart Attack
9. Carry On
10. Next to Me
11. Gone Gone Gone
12. Just Give Me a Reason
13. Lego House
14. Feel This Moment
15. 22
16. Remix (I Like The)
17. When I Was Your Man
18. I Will Wait
19. If I Lose Myself
20. Daylight
Those first two minutes were something else, huh? Community has always had a more cinematic feel than most shows on TV, not just in terms of all the films it has made homages to, but also in terms of the way it is shot and the detail of the set design. So, as the camera darted back and forth from Jeff’s living room to his door, it was surprising that it had taken this long for the show to have a long unbroken shot like that one. The only bad thing about it was that it did not last any longer than two minutes. There was another one soon after that also lasted about two minutes, but then that technique just stopped for the rest of the episode. Sure, that was disappointing, but that was only in comparison to how awesome it was while it was happening. Besides, they were doing different things the rest of the episode that would not have necessarily worked with a long unbroken shot. But it would have been nice if it could have lasted the whole first act, or at least until the opening credits. That is how all of “Intro to Knots” ultimately went down: a lot of promise that was met a little, making the whole episode disappointing, but only insofar as it could have been even more awesome.
With the entirety of the episode taking place in Jeff’s apartment in real time, the entire study group (minus Pierce, unfortunately, but plus Chang, oddly, though somewhat fortunately) is in close proximity, a formula for everything to beautifully bump into each other. Combine that with the Hitchcockian plot – which references in particular the real-time murder mystery Rope – in which Professor Cornwallis is tied to a chair so that the study group will have him at their mercy to force him to bump up their group paper to a more favorable grade, and this is quite a simmering cauldron of angst. It has been disappointing that Cornwallis has been more heard than seen this season, but Malcolm McDowell made the most out of finally getting significant screen time, offering up the best ass-kissing removal tell-off I have seen in a while. (Even though, oddly enough, there was still some showing when there could have been telling, such as when Annie tells Jeff that Cornwallis just told her to get her “fit bum” into the kitchen to refill his drink, instead of actually pointing the camera on him being the cad that he has been established by everyone else as.) Cornwallis promises an A to whoever unties him, but an F to everyone else, and then proceeds to pick at the scabs of the group dynamic, and he also manages to act as a voice of a typical Community fan within the show, speaking to several of the common criticisms of Season 4. He sniffs out trouble in the Tritta romance and posits that there is a triangle with them and Jeff, and he demands to know why everyone puts up with “that idiot,” i.e., Chang. He even manages to bring to light a previously latent tension – the Annie-Shirley valedictorian rivalry – that should affect the group dynamic in an entertaining fashion in the future.
Cornwallis is ultimately unable to get anyone to break, because despite their problems, they really are united and their friendship is so strong and all that good stuff. The Winger speech hits on forgiveness and loyalty, and it isn’t his best, but it does the trick. So Cornwallis acquiesces because his daughter never visits him, and being at the gang’s Christmas party actually kept him away from working on his suicide note. And this revelation kind of lands with a thud. Perhaps it is logical enough to explain his behavior, and it fits with the Greendale ethos of the entire series of accepting lonely people. But since Cornwallis is not that significant a character, it is hard for a secret of his to bring much heft to the proceedings. And then this episode just ends. That lacking ending doesn’t take away from the tension of the rest of the episode, but it sure doesn’t live up to it, either.
Of course, the Jeff-Annie business of this episode must also be touched upon, thanks in no small part to Ms. Edison so assuredly swooping in and putting her stamp all over Mr. Winger’s place. She is also aggressive by showing up with gifts after they had all agreed against that (although everyone else brought gifts as well – I imagine Jeff insisted on no gifts and then they together decided to ignore him). It all seems like another example of Annie wanting to play house with Jeff (which apparently bothers some people), and while there is certainly part of that to it, her main point of the night seems to be teaching Jeff that “the obligation [of gift-giving] is the gift.” While her phrasing may sound bizarre, she actually raises an interesting point: the bonds formed by being indebted to others and others being indebted to you can be quite rewarding. Then there is the tag, which seems designed to enrage just about every segment of the Community fandom: shippers, anti-shippers, and those who think the Darkest Timeline should be left well enough alone. I basically agree with the sentiment that the Darkest Timeline has no place outside of “Remedial Chaos Theory,” but if its placement in the tag is, as I suspect, an indicator that it won’t affect what is really going on, then I will be happy to see the occasional riff on the evil versions of these characters. And while I would actually like to see Jeff and Annie together in the Prime Timeline, I am not sure I want the official version to be as carelessly passionate as on display here. But that does not mean it wasn’t a hell of a lot of fun to see that kiss, and that hair, and to hear Jeff say that he actually wishes Annie were younger. B+
Taking a cue from The A.V. Club, this feature is a list of ten episodes from a particular television show that more or less best represents that program.
Seinfeld is the best sitcom of all time. Or, wait, that might actually be Arrested Development. Or maybe, a few decades from now, I will look back and decide that Community actually fits that bill … Seinfeld is definitely one of a select few shows that could legitimately qualify for that distinction. Here are ten great episodes.
“The Chinese Restaurant” (Season 2, Episode 6)
Jerry, George, and Elaine wait to be seated at a Chinese restaurant. That’s it. That’s the entire episode. As they wait, they have Seinfeldian conversations. Eventually, they decide they’ve waited long enough and they leave without eating (resulting in the all-time classic punchline: “Seinfeld: 4!”).
“The Deal” (Season 2, Episode 13)
Can you remain friends with an ex? Sure you can, Seinfeld proved that for nearly a decade. Some people may find it difficult, but Jerry and Elaine were the perfect exes to make it work. But can a friends with benefits arrangement ever work? Long before J.T., Ashton, Mila, and Natalie were pondering this query, Jerry and Elaine got greedy with their deal. In one of the series’ first great diner conversations, George displays a rare bit of wisdom, nothing that for thousands of years, people have been trying to have sex without the messiness of a relationship. This early classic shows that Seinfeld originally had a softer heart, as Season 9 Elaine probably would have been perfectly fine with $182 cash as a birthday present from Jerry.
“The Boyfriend” (Season 3, Episodes 17-18)
About 20 years before Louis C.K. made the awkwardness of male friendship a cornerstone of his sitcom, it was an oft-overlooked theme of another stand-up-starring sitcom, epitomized in the 2-parter “The Boyfriend.” Elaine starts dating New York Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez, but it’s Jerry, a big fan, who ends up going through the motions of a relationship with him. “The Boyfriend” is also notable for reaching the heights of Seinfeld’s cultural references, with the “2nd spitter” sequence: Kramer and Newman hate Keith Hernandez because he spit on them after a game. But, in a nod to JFK’s 2nd-shooter theory, Jerry demonstrates that there must have been a second spitter, or else that’s “one magic loogie.”
“The Pitch” (Season 4, Episode 3)
How many shows have the chance to explain what they are AND portray the creation of itself within the context of an episode? Seinfeld was famously “a show about nothing,” as so insistently and memorably spelled out by George Costanza to NBC executives. But it was really a show about everything, or nothing in particular, as it were. The contrast between all that did happen on any given episode and the extreme nothingness endorsed by George made it clear how much “a show about nothing” was a misnomer, but a useful one nonetheless. The scene in the diner in which Jerry addresses the fallout of the meeting (“You’re not artistic, and you have no integrity!”) is an all all-time great portrayal of the struggle to bring a creative vision to life.
“The Contest” (Season 4, Episode 11)
What other show can claim that the episode often cited as the one that turned it into a massive hit revolved around masturbation? That may not seem like a big deal to present-day viewers of 2 Broke Girls, but twenty years ago, pleasuring oneself was not a commonly discussed topic on television. It was a good thing that it was a taboo topic actually (and that Seinfeld had such great writers), as it led to the all-time classic euphemism “Master of Your Domain.”
“The Race” (Season 6, Episode 10)
It is hard to imagine the characters of Seinfeld in their childhood iterations, but that didn’t stop the show from being in touch with their pasts. Take “The Race,” which recalls a legendary moment from Jerry and George’s high school days, when Jerry won a foot race in gym class thanks to an inadvertent false start that has remained a secret for all these years. “The Race” also features Lying George Costanza at his fanciful best, as he paints himself as a millionaire who lost his virginity to his homeroom teacher.
“The Fusili Jerry” (Season 6, Episode 21)
This episode might be filling the “personal favorite” spot of this list, as the main reason it is here is because it made me laugh a lot. It also earns its place thanks to the first appearance of Patrick Warburton’s career-making turn as David Puddy and its exemplary use of Jerry Stiller as Frank Costanza. Both contribute to the Seinfeldian sexual politics of this episode, with most every character entangled in a web of “move-stealing,” which metaphorically captures the politics of comedy and joke-stealing. Kramer has one of his best plots of the series, with his wackiness married perfectly to the Seinfeldian conversation about what sort of person would have a vanity plate that reads “ASSMAN.” Of course a proctologist would have that sort of sense of humor. The “one in a million” ending that confirms this theory after Frank gets Kramer’s pasta statue of Jerry stuck in his rectum is one of the most satisfying endings of anything, ever.
“The Bizarro Jerry” (Season 8, Episode 3)
Elaine dates a guy who is the opposite of Jerry. He has two friends who are the opposite of George and Kramer: they volunteer, they buy each other groceries, the Kramer opposite always rings the doorbell and identifies himself before walking through his neighbor’s door. The episode itself is a bizarro version of a comforts of home tale in which Elaine realizes that she belongs with the petty people she’s always been friends with instead of her new thoughtful friends.
“The Little Kicks” (Season 8, Episode 4) Seinfeld has the reputation of plots from the same episode seeming like they must have come from different episodes. Its fans have often been heard to say, “That was all one episode?!” But those seemingly disparate elements often somehow come together, never better than in “The Little Kicks.” Jerry and Kramer’s bootlegging, George playing the role of the bad boy, and Elaine’s herky-jerky dancing converge in a bravura final sequence in which everyone shows up to pick up George at the police station. Elaine and Frank Costanza have a piece of each other, and in the tag, the streets of New York are alive with Elaine’s little kicks.
“The Betrayal” (Season 9, Episode 8) Seinfeld faced criticism of its characters becoming overly cartoonish in later seasons, but it was still churning out bold concepts all the way to its final year. “The Betrayal” – a.k.a the Backwards Episode – may be thought by some as overly reliant on its gimmick, but with the tight plotting of Seinfeld at its disposal, it made the most out of that gimmick (sample gag: Jerry says “God bless you” [three seconds earlier] Elaine sneezes). Offering a new perspective proves that no matter what order you go, the people of Seinfeld are essentially always the same.
And here are ten more:
“The Parking Garage” (Season 3, Episode 6), “The Limo” (Season 3, Episode 19), “The Pilot” (Season 4, Episodes 23-24), “The Marine Biologist” (Season 5, Episode 14), “The Hamptons” (Season 5, Episode 21), “The Opposite” (Season 5, Episode 22), “The Soup Nazi” (Season 7, Episode 6), “The Cadillac” (Season 7, Episodes 14-15), “The Merv Griffin Show” (Season 9, Episode 6), “The Bookstore” (Season 9, Episode 17)
Original Version
1. Bruno Mars – “When I Was Your Man”
2. P!nk ft. Nate Ruess – “Just Give Me a Reason”
3. Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko – “Stay”
4. Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive”
5. Justin Timberlake ft. Jay-Z – “Suit & Tie”
6. Pitbull ft. Christina Aguilera – “Feel This Moment”
7. Icona Pop – “I Love It”
8. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz – “Thrift Shop”
9. Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
10. Drake – “Started From the Bottom”
11. fun. – “Carry On”
12. Olly Murs ft. Flo Rida – “Troublemaker”
13. Taylor Swift – “22”
14. Chris Brown – “Fine China”
15. Maroon 5 – “Daylight”
16. Lil’ Wayne ft. Drake and Future – “Love Me”
17. Ace Hood ft. Rick Ross and Future – “Bugatti”
18. will.i.am ft. Britney Spears – “Scream & Shout”
19. Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait”
20. Of Monsters and Men – “Little Talks”
Jmunney’s Revision
1. Radioactive
2. Little Talks
3. I Love It
4. Thrift Shop
5. Stay
6. Troublemaker
7. Suit & Tie
8. Fine China
9. Carry On
10. My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)
11. Just Give Me a Reason
12. Started From the Bottom
13. Feel This Moment
14. 22
15. When I Was Your Man
16. I Will Wait
17. Scream & Shout
18. Bugatti
19. Love Me
20. Daylight
Regular reader of Community episode reviews and comment sections that I am, I have noticed similar comments that many people keep making over and over this season. And some of them are just not fair. Here are a couple of those that need to stop right now:
-“The new regime are just copying what they think Dan Harmon would have done.”/”They are only doing this homage/plot/etc. because that’s what the old Community would have done.”
If you have been in the writers’ room, or on set during the filming of an episode, then you have the right to make this criticism. Otherwise, how do you know? Besides, what does it matter how these episodes were conceived? It’s a long way from conception, to writing, to rewriting, to rehearsing, to filming, and to editing the final product. There are a lot of moments in that process that really have nothing to do with copying or not copying what has come before. Ultimately, though, any show that is on the air long enough is going to be beholden to its earlier seasons, regardless of how much of its original creative team is still around. It’s not that it’s copying itself, it just can’t be ignored.
-“All you haters wouldn’t be criticizing this episode if Harmon had done it.”
First of all, this comment invites the response, “Yeah, because Harmon would have done it better.” Some people have summarily dismissed the entire fourth season, sight unseen, and others who have actually been watching probably haven’t been giving it as fair a shake as they should be, but some of them are still making legitimate criticisms. This comment essentially attempts to de-legitimize any criticism. Wondering how Season 4 episodes would have gone if Harmon had done them, and wondering how fans would have reacted to these episodes if Harmon had done them exactly the same are worthwhile thought experiments, but they’re not part of reviewing the actual episode. Dismissing criticism when you want to praise an episode might seem like an easy solution, but it really doesn’t do anything in the way of making the critics give it another shot.
I can keep my dignity with my predicting powers this year, having gone 7 out of 12. I really overestimated Magic Mike, and I slightly overestimated J-Law.
Here’s a breakdown:
Best Movie – Winner/My Guess: The Avengers
Male Performance – Winner: Bradley Cooper, My Guess: Channing Tatum
Female Performance – Winner/My Guess: Jennifer Lawrence
Scared-as-S**t Performance – Winner: Suraj Sharma, My Guess: Jennifer Lawrence
Breakthrough Performance – Winner/My Guess: Rebel Wilson
On-Screen Duo – Winner/My Guess: Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane
Shirtless Performance – Winner: Taylor Lautner, My Guess: Channing Tatum
Best Fight – Winner/My Guess: The Avengers
Best Kiss – Winner/My Guess: Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence
WTF Moment – Winner: Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson, My Guess: Anna Camp
Best Villain – Winner: Tom Hiddleston, My Guess: Leonardo DiCaprio
Best Musical Moment – Winner/My Guess: Pitch Perfect
Cold Opening – A Message From the President
Until (or, unless) Jay starts adding some personality to his Obama, these political cold opens are going to remain bland for the foreseeable future, even for sketches that actually have a few funny lines, like this one did. This time didn’t actually focus on Obama, but it didn’t help that the focus was on a couple of senators that most people are probably unfamiliar with. B-
Vince Vaughn’s Monologue
Yeah, this is where it’s at. “Vince Vaughn talks to the audience” doesn’t do this monologue anywhere near justice. It lasted a while, but that was part of the fun of it. It would have been enjoyable if it had dragged on the whole episode. And it kind of did, when he gave Eric his phone back during the goodnights. A-
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