This one fell flat for me, too. I don't doubt the good intentions of the people running the show now, but they keep hitting wide of the mark in recapturing the nuances that made the show great. They seem to have the form down, just not much of the substance.

And I agree that the Britta/Troy pairing seems week and without any sense of chemistry. I could buy Troy and Annie (back when the show was working that subplot) because they both seem so naive and childlike. This one doesn't work at all.

I'm not holding my breath for season 5, but with NBC's other comedies not doing much better (and worse for the most part), I can't seem to give up hope.

no, you dont HAVE a single zero underanding of space time contiunum. you are fooolish and you qill be in trouble and find beigns osuch as myself to continue to extinct. you dont have anu idea what your getting urself ito and its wise to bakc off and stay in ur current uneiver,se. you have no idea what awaits u its scary, youll know pain if you cotninue to earch the scosmos, you will find pain, and you wikl experience pain,

|do you understand pain a little now? if u dont share soemones pain, u cant never understand them. but just because u underdtand them doesnt mean u can come to an agreement. that sthe truth. you will tregrret us, expect us. for we are gods, we are pain.

Looks like Dan Harmon has fallen on hard times.

I'm going to have a hard time believing Abed is not now a super villain after what Pierce did to his show.

It was just an attempted Americanization of the show, right? Sort of like American Coupling or American Life on Mars, wasn't it?

Yes, and pandering to every demographic. The focus group looked like they were covering every ethnicity, male, female, etc.

Yeah, i've been rewatching the previous seasons over the last month and i'm on Season 3. The Dean has been just as creepy in that season, and I just got to the episode where Abed freaks out in the Imaginarium. Not that different from what we've seen so far this year with Abed, although the sum of all the pieces does still feel slightly off to me.

I think perhaps it is not so much that any one character is turned up to 11 (they all have been in the past). It may be more that in the past for the most part it was only one character turned up to 11 at a time. You didn't have 11 Annie at the same time as 11 Troy, for instance.

When viewed in that regard, it is more difficult to say if this is something that was inevitable for this season (shows do change) or if it's the new creative people trying hard but missing the mark.

I still think it's the lack of actual college that disturbs me the most. The first three episodes haven't set foot inside a classroom and have not featured any notable study room scenes. I think that's unprecedented for a three episode run.

I didn't mind this episode. It was just ok, but that is a step up from the first two episodes. That said, I too miss the college setting. Maybe the show has outgrown that, but I think the show was at its best when its absurd storylines revolved around the school. Now that you mention it, the study room has felt particularly annexed this season.

Looking at the preview on my cable menu, it appears they actually begin a class next week.

They set foot inside a classroom in the very first episode.

They were at the college, and we saw a fleeting scene in the study lounge. When did they get into a classroom?

They went to that Ice Cream class before the Dean ushered everyone out...

Oh, right, right. My choice of words therefore should be tweaked. Fair point.

Good point. I agree.

I ultimately liked it. I think the show has been improving somewhat since the mediocre first episode, but I agree there are elements that seem "off". Like the aforementioned Britta gymnastics clothes changing scene or crazy Annie.

I for one had to suspend disbelief that a focus group would ultimately decide to make a show on the wants and suggestions of a 60 something male when the most important demo for advertisers is people 18-49.