By [ad_1]
Dan Harmon’s Community is wildly underrated, but after all these years, it really shouldn’t be.
Though it’s been off the air since 2015, Dan Harmon’s Community is still on Netflix for a reason — it has developed a cult following that hasn’t died out since its conclusion at the end of Season 6. But besides that dedicated group of fans, Community either flew under the radar of many viewers or simply didn’t entertain them. But not only is it Dan Harmon’s most underrated creation, especially in comparison to Rick and Morty, but it’s one of the most underrated sitcoms out there.
Even though it has a substantial fan base, Community is still wildly underrated overall. This is due to a number of subjective factors, such as someone’s personal taste or sense of humor, but also objective ones like the fact that it’s one of the most unique sitcoms ever created. It challenges a lot of typical sitcom tropes and goes beyond what a “normal” sitcom would do.
Unlike other successful sitcoms like The Office or Friends, Community doesn’t rely on the same narrative devices time and time again. The show is infamous for being meta, meaning that it frequently references itself as a TV show. Abed Nadir, one of the main characters, is the source of most of the meta moments, as he constantly calls his friends “characters” and references filmmaking techniques that the show uses while he explains it. For some viewers, this can get old quickly, but it makes for an entertaining aspect of the show.
Furthermore, Community has many themed episodes that really stand out. They have recurring “Paintball Assassin” episodes where the entire college participates in a dramatic paintball showdown for a huge prize, and there’s even an episode entirely in claymation, though, according to the story, it’s only inside of Abed’s mind. All of these unique entries make for ingenious storytelling without sticking to the same, boring narrative devices usually seen on TV.
In some sitcoms, character development simply doesn’t exist. The characters are merely a source of humor or motivation. But in Community, not only is character development present, but it sticks to the tried-and-true formula of having everything work out by the end of each episode, barring a few exceptions. Each character essentially starts off as a stereotype, but changes and grows alongside one another. It makes the whole show heartwarming and endearing, despite the constant reference humor.
And reference humor is another aspect that makes the show so unique. While some shows rely on a little bit here and there to spice up the comedy, Community uses reference humor as the main comedic fuel. It can certainly be a lot for people who don’t love that type of humor, but for those who do, Community is the show for them. Not only does it reference lots of pop culture, but it references the show itself by calling back to previous episodes. For every joke to make sense, viewers need to be paying attention to each episode, but they will be heavily rewarded for their efforts in laughs.
After all these years, Community is still a criminally underrated show, despite gaining notoriety on a streaming giant like Netflix. While its comedy isn’t for everyone, it’s about time that Jeff and the gang get their spot on the sitcom Mount Rushmore.
About The Author
[ad_2]
