Why community will sadly fail

If you haven't watched Community, it is a fantastic show.  The writing and the characters are the best since [insert show with writing and characters that are really good.  Probably something from the 90's.  Saved by the Bell.], and the show does unbelievable themed episodes: crushing zombies, spot on post-apocalyptic action movies, and nails the "documentary" style show (i.e. The Office).  The jokes come fast and the delivery is perfect.  Abed and Troy are clearly actual friends and the most dynamic duo since Turk and JD (plus Donald Glover, "Troy" is right on the verge of becoming massive*).


But, the big problem with the show, is that the drama sucks. That isn't really a problem, because it's a comedy.  The problem is that shows like this, comedies, need relationship,     it's the thing that keeps it together.  The stickiness.

Look at the best comedies, they all have a bit of drama. The Simpsons definitely has it (or had it).  Homer got his job after almost committing suicide for failing his family; Marge and Homer have separated countless times; Bart sings to Lisa on her birthday; Homer saves Barney.  Seinfeld has Jerry and Elaine, plus all of the characters had good relationships with each other.  Family guy has it, The Office beats it to death (and notice now that the Pam and Jim thing is done, the show suffers), and Arrested Development rocked it with every character.


There is only one good show I can think of that doesn't really have any relationship, Southpark.  Maybe I'm wrong, I don't remember the show that well, but I can't pinpoint any real relationship in that show.  So how do they work as a show?  Zany.  Non-stop zany.  They can make episodes lightning fast and can just pick anything in the news and rip it to shreds.  Pick a subject, make non-stop jokes without limit, end episode. The show is pretty much a 22 minute long Conan opening with cartoon characters.


And that's what Community is doing.  Non-stop jokes for the episode, delivered perfectly, with awesome themes.  But no relationship. They tried the Britta/Jeff thing, they tried the love-triangle, they tried the sad Pierce, the sad Shirley etc.  They all failed. And they know it, it's why they dropped all of those story lines.  Their writers know this, so they keep trying different angles of drama (which is predicated on relationships) and they keep failing.    They have moved on to moves that are reserved for season 6 or 7.  Self-referencing, calling out characters on their classic moves, call-backs to past episodes. They succeed at the zany, but it's not sustainable. They can't do it like Southpark.  Southpark picks from whatever is hot and kills it.  Community can't do that.  They do genres and character jokes, and they will eventually run out.  Thus they will fail.  So soak it up while you can; there will not be another show like it.

*Note: Donal Glover wrote for 30 rock, does great stand up http://comedians.jokes.com/donald-glover, and is the oddly serious rapper Childish Gambino.  Give him 6 months.

NY: where stuff is.

Time for a tirade on New York.  I was born in Chicago and I think the first thing the doctor said to me was, “heard of New York?  You will”.  Someone posted this: “Philadelphia is like the Toon version of New York.”  NYC must be the single most egocentric place on earth and it has no right to be.  Philly is not a mini-version of New York, it’s the oldest city in the fucking US.  I’ve been in Philly for 3 years now, and although I have no loyalty to it and want to punch a Phillies fan just as hard as you do, it is a city that is probably 10 times as great as NYC.  In fact, every city I’ve ever been to is better than New York.  I’m a city snob, and I only count about 10 US cities as real cities, Boston, Philly, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Atlanta, a few others; so my list is considerably shorter, but they are literally all better than New York. 

If you chose a color for every city, Green for Boston, Red for Philly, some color you’ve probably never heard of for San Francisco, you know what color New York would get?  Brown.  New York is what happens when you start a coloring book and then monster a few pixie sticks and go ape shit with the box.  It looks like shit, it feels like shit, but yes, you did it, all the colors are there.  How novel.

Now, I’m the first to admit the relevance and necessity of NYC.  I get it, it’s fun as hell to go out in, it’s got everything you could want, it’s the functional epicenter of the US, arguably the Western World.  I would live there in a heartbeat.  But that’s because I have a short list of cities.  Cleveland is not on my list of cities.  If I had a choice of living in Cleveland or New York, I’m not suicidal; all of my mental faculties are in place.  I would be in New York.  But if it’s New York or Miami, someone order me something bright and frooty.  I would live there because it’s a real city and I need to be in a real city, not because it’s the tits. It is not even one tit. It’s a shit hole.  It’s greatness is only because everyone is there.  It has no intrinsic value.  It’s bland and messy.  It has no character.  If we could just get everyone to get up and go somewhere else, then we could finally stop talking about it.  But we can’t.  So fuck it.  Someone get me a slice of mediocre pizza and an overpriced beer, I’ll be in Brooklyn if you need me.