Community

For all the right reasons, "Community" has become one of the mainstays in NBC's comedy line-up. During its first season, "Community" focused on attorney Jeff Winger, disbarred after the accreditation committee discovered his undergraduate degree was from Colombia the country, not the university. Determined to win reinstatement in his old profession, Winger enrolls in community college, forming a Spanish-class study group which includes, among others, a cynical divorcee and a mid-life millionaire who made his money in moist towelettes. "Community" bravely exploits the ethnic and economic diversity in the study group, showing its gifts as an equal opportunity satirizer. The writers also have courage to wring big laughs from realistic representation of life and attitudes in "junior college." During the second season, "Community" had large and loyal enough following to encourage writers' development of plots centered on characters other than Winger, and they developed some of their best material by focusing on the dynamics of the group itself. Every member of "Community's" all-star ensemble cast has impeccable comedy or small-screen credentials: Chevy Chase's resume, of course, reads simply "legend." Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, and the rest of the cast bring a combined gazillion years of small-screen experience into the mix, and they have imprinted their distinctive styles on their roles. Similarly, all the partners in the production team boast high-powered Hollywood pedigrees and trophy cases full of Emmys. If "Community" had gone dark after the first thirteen episodes, television sets all over North America would have gone straight to test-patterns, because NBC writers and producers would have abandoned all hope for traditional sit-coms' futures.

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