Early in the pandemic with lots of free time at home, I stumbled upon “Community,” a sitcom about a community college study group. The beginning of the show felt like your run of the mill sitcom, later turning into something completely different.
I am not an avid watcher of sitcoms. They don’t make me laugh or they overuse laugh tracks, making the overall joke less funny. However, “Community” was the first sitcom I watched where I actually laughed. The TV show frequently uses meta jokes and pop culture references and play homage to many television tropes.
While the humor that “Community” offers may not be for everyone, there is something else that makes “Community” such a unique sitcom and stands out for me. Concept episodes tend to be some of the show’s best episodes, which are directly parodying a specific film or an entire genre, ranging from “Law & Order,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Star Wars.” What makes these homages so great is that they are not randomly incorporated but it is cleverly integrated as part of the show’s plotline.
The show still does not lose grasp of their characters when putting them in crazy, almost absurd situations just for the sake of a parody or a joke. The plots created in each episode are an inventive way for developing the characters and creating new plot lines. While I may not understand all of the culture references, I understood enough to appreciate the level of humor that “Community” is offering. All I can say is that “Community” is truly “streets ahead.”
