Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
03-01-13, 10:55 AM
#26
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
The lack of Nick Kroll bothered me as well. I liked the flashbacks, but overall I thought the episode was just average.
03-01-13, 11:04 AM
#27
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
And if we should all just watch the show and not analyze it, then what are we all doing here? Isn't the whole point of a discussion forum to, I don't know, discuss?
03-01-13, 11:07 AM
#28
Senior Member
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
That stuck in my craw too. How hard can it be to plan ahead and get Nick Kroll for an episode?
03-01-13, 11:21 AM
#29
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
03-01-13, 11:36 AM
#30
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
If I didn't know that Harmon was off the show, I'd probably just feel like the first three episodes were a little on the weak side.
03-01-13, 11:56 AM
#31
Senior Member
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
Agreed. There were plenty of episodes all throughout the first three seasons that people said were weak or "felt off". I think people are trying too hard to figure out how Harmon's absence has affected the show.
03-01-13, 12:03 PM
#32
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
03-01-13, 12:10 PM
#33
Suspended
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
I love that this now becomes an issue of planning -- like the producers woke up Tuesday morning and said "Hey, let's do a German episode" but there was no time to dig Kroll's phone number out of the rolodex.More likley is that Kroll was not interested in reprising the character, or (since his star is rising), they couldn't afford to have him back.
03-01-13, 12:20 PM
#34
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
This was a really good episode. I have some commentary about it, but I want to stress I'm not trying to pick the show to death. My expectation is that when such a big change happens at the top, there will be things that are different.
With that said, Dan Harmon would have never made several of the choices in this episode. First, the Dean would have been much more involved in the study room thing. Having the Dean distracted with Chang was a good call, but something more specific to the plot would have been a much better choice. Establish that the Dean had signed that study room out to the group like a couple of semesters at a time but he got distracted by the Chang stuff.
On top of that, Community is not a show where the other study rooms are clearly objectively inferior and therefore the rest of the school hates the gang. It's a show where (perhaps with one funny exception), the study rooms should be all virtually identical. One should have had an oval table instead of a rectangle. Another should have had different color chairs. Sure, put one in the basement and make it horrific. The point should have been how absurd the attachment to the one particular one was. The other students shouldn't have been rioting against the group, either. Instead, the group should have tried to rally support from the other students who were then just completely mystified about why it's a big deal. Leonard perhaps would be sympathetic if he thought they had to use study room x, the one crappy one in the basement, but then when he found out no it's that they were in study room b, the one that is identical except the chairs are a different color, he's just exasperated.
The Harmon view on this show was very specific and absurdist to a larger degree than with these new guys. It appears when they try to recapture that type of thing, they can't get the characters right. When they get the characters right, they don't get the absurdism correct. It's close enough to satisfy me, but I thought we weren't going to get any more Community because it was going to be canceled last year. I see this as bonus Community which is better than no Community.
With that said, Dan Harmon would have never made several of the choices in this episode. First, the Dean would have been much more involved in the study room thing. Having the Dean distracted with Chang was a good call, but something more specific to the plot would have been a much better choice. Establish that the Dean had signed that study room out to the group like a couple of semesters at a time but he got distracted by the Chang stuff.
On top of that, Community is not a show where the other study rooms are clearly objectively inferior and therefore the rest of the school hates the gang. It's a show where (perhaps with one funny exception), the study rooms should be all virtually identical. One should have had an oval table instead of a rectangle. Another should have had different color chairs. Sure, put one in the basement and make it horrific. The point should have been how absurd the attachment to the one particular one was. The other students shouldn't have been rioting against the group, either. Instead, the group should have tried to rally support from the other students who were then just completely mystified about why it's a big deal. Leonard perhaps would be sympathetic if he thought they had to use study room x, the one crappy one in the basement, but then when he found out no it's that they were in study room b, the one that is identical except the chairs are a different color, he's just exasperated.
The Harmon view on this show was very specific and absurdist to a larger degree than with these new guys. It appears when they try to recapture that type of thing, they can't get the characters right. When they get the characters right, they don't get the absurdism correct. It's close enough to satisfy me, but I thought we weren't going to get any more Community because it was going to be canceled last year. I see this as bonus Community which is better than no Community.
I also agree that this was the strongest episode of the season, so far. I did laugh at quite a bit of it, which I guess is good enough for me in the post-Harmon era of the show.
03-01-13, 12:25 PM
#35
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
As long as we're analyzing the show...
The opposite of what I thought would happen this season has happened (so far): I figured they'd struggle with plots and compensate with lots of jokes. Instead, the storylines have been good, but the execution and jokes have been hit-and-miss.
03-01-13, 12:29 PM
#36
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
I'm just looking for some laughs, and didn't find many this episode. The head German was irritating, and Pierce getting electrocuted was stupid.
As long as we're analyzing the show...
The opposite of what I thought would happen this season has happened (so far): I figured they'd struggle with plots and compensate with lots of jokes. Instead, the storylines have been good, but the execution and jokes have been hit-and-miss.
As long as we're analyzing the show...
The opposite of what I thought would happen this season has happened (so far): I figured they'd struggle with plots and compensate with lots of jokes. Instead, the storylines have been good, but the execution and jokes have been hit-and-miss.
03-01-13, 12:32 PM
#37
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
03-01-13, 12:46 PM
#38
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
I disagree. I think the episodes feel way off this season. They look like Community, they sound like Community, but they don't FEEL like Community (to me). That wouldn't bother me so much if the episodes were funnier, but while there have been some good jokes, I haven't laughed much. I'm not going to say it's all because Dan Harmon is gone. The fact is almost the entire writing/producing staff has turned over since season 2. I'm not sure if there's even anyone left from when the show first started. I've disliked a handful of episodes in the series' past, and overall I didn't like some of the directions season 3 went, but this season's epsiodes have just left me feeling apathetic. It was pointed out in an earlier thread that the show has a history of seasons starting slowly (which is true), and I hope that is the case. I will be the first one to come in here and change my tune if we get a great episode or two, but right now I'm just not feeling it.
Last edited by rocket1312; 03-01-13 at 12:52 PM.
03-01-13, 12:56 PM
#39
Senior Member
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
I love that this now becomes an issue of planning -- like the producers woke up Tuesday morning and said "Hey, let's do a German episode" but there was no time to dig Kroll's phone number out of the rolodex.More likley is that Kroll was not interested in reprising the character, or (since his star is rising), they couldn't afford to have him back.
03-01-13, 01:21 PM
#40
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
I love that this now becomes an issue of planning -- like the producers woke up Tuesday morning and said "Hey, let's do a German episode" but there was no time to dig Kroll's phone number out of the rolodex.More likley is that Kroll was not interested in reprising the character, or (since his star is rising), they couldn't afford to have him back.
03-01-13, 01:32 PM
#41
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
"We can't get Nick Kroll. Shut it down, we're moving on with something else."
-Dan Harmon, if he was still show runner.
-Dan Harmon, if he was still show runner.
03-01-13, 01:39 PM
#42
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
03-01-13, 05:28 PM
#43
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
03-01-13, 07:50 PM
#44
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
03-01-13, 08:05 PM
#45
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03-01-13, 10:20 PM
#46
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
I think this episode was pretty good and mostly back to form. Some pretty solid jokes, just not enough of them. All the characters "felt" right this episode.
The only issues I still have is the lack of jokes. I also agree the Germans were horrid.
Oh and Chang still sucks. They should have taken the fresh slate opportunity this season to write him out.
The only issues I still have is the lack of jokes. I also agree the Germans were horrid.
Oh and Chang still sucks. They should have taken the fresh slate opportunity this season to write him out.
03-02-13, 01:03 AM
#48
03-02-13, 01:06 AM
#49
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Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
I'd think the other two surely could have handled things by themselves. They must have really believed in the comedy rule of three or something. Was he their only option for a third? Was he actually the best actor who auditioned? Was there something perhaps about their callback to Hogan's Heroes that suggested somebody with a terrible accent would be funny?
03-02-13, 02:12 AM
#50
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013
Hard to believe since he was fucking awful. He landed Moe in Three Stooges. I think what happens a lot of the time is someone lands a decent gig and gets the interview process down, and then they're continually hired whether they're funny/talented or not.
Kroll was probably busy with The League and/or his sketch show. Just roll with the other two.
Kroll was probably busy with The League and/or his sketch show. Just roll with the other two.