Consider for a moment some of the most influential scripted TV comedies of the past decade. Arrested Development is an intricately woven arras of absurdity and double entendres. The Office is a bittersweet tale of little passions and victories in an otherwise bland and barbed world. Entourage is a chronicle of obsession with status and class told with charm and snark.
Each of these shows developed critical cachet by sticking to its vision. Each episode sells not only jokes and conflict, but a brand of comedy.
This raises a question: Would it be possible to create a well-written sitcom whose only brand of comedy is not having a brand? Would it just crash and burn because of its inconsistency? Or would it crackle with whimsy and unpredictability?
In 14 episodes, the new NBC sitcom Community has started providing answers to these questions. So far, all signs are positive. Allow me to walk you through it.
Joel McHale stars as a lawyer banished to lowly community college for faking his degree. He unintentionally starts a study group for his Spanish class.
The people who join this group are portrayed by actors of a variety of calibers. On the one end is Chevy Chase, a Hollywood star of the past. On the other is Donald Glover, an improv comedian who writes for 30 Rock and makes YouTube videos with his buddies.
It's the delights of the relative unknowns of the group - Glover and Danny Pudi, who plays a student with mild Aspergers and an uncanny grasp of popular culture - that really steal the show, to the point where the writers have given them little sketches to close each show.
Each of the show's eight main characters brings a different dynamic to the show. Unlike The Office, which is overstuffed with Michael Scott's social ineptitude, and 30 Rock, where each bit is zanier than the last, Community's comedy has an ebb and flow to it.
This allows for both genuinely surprising gags, like Glover's remarkable modern dance segment with Gillian Jacobs, and oddly touching segments of character development, like the montage at the end of the episode "Environmental Science" featuring the song "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail.
Though it has a clear tone and well-developed ensemble of characters, Community is rough around the edges in all the right ways. It has bits of slapstick comedy, moments of drama, silly puns, dry one-liners, big set pieces, TV meta-humor, clever cultural references, gutsy flirtations with political incorrectness and wit both subtle and obtuse. There is ample clich
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