When people think of sitcoms and what they tend to watch, their mind usually directs to the famous argument of which sitcom is better: Friends or The Office? Would they rather follow a group of people in an apartment complex finding themselves in different situations or would they rather a satirical documentary style show following a paper company? These shows have shaped many lives and have broken records, but there is one show that broke the boundaries of what situational comedies are about and defied what other shows were doing at the time.
Community is a sitcom created by Dan Harmon, running from 2009 to 2015. The six season show follows Jeffery Winger (played by Joel McHale), a disbarred lawyer who found himself having to go back to college after getting caught with a fake bachelors degree from Columbia University. Jeff settles on Greendale Community College, under the pretense he would get a legitimate degree and go back to being a practicing lawyer.
In order to get closer to Britta Perry (played by Gillian Jacobs), a classmate he had grown attracted to, Jeff establishes a fake Spanish study group. The plan goes awry for him, Britta realizing what Jeff was trying to do and inviting fellow classmate and film nerd Abed Nadir (played by Danny Pudi) in order to sabotage Jeff’s plan to get her alone with him.
Abed misunderstands Jeff’s advances completely and further invites more students under the idea that it was an actual spanish study group: elderly millionaire Pierce Hawthrone (played by Chevy Chase), religious single mother Shirley Bennett (played by Yvette Nicole Brown), former high school football star Troy Barnes (played by Donald Glover), and straight-A workaholic Annie Edison (played by Alison Brie).
Although Jeff’s plan to get closer to Britta failed, the diverse group of students became an actual friend group (plus a legitimate Spanish study group) and would face all four years of community college together. Whether it’s dealing with their flamboyant, imposing dean, Craig Pelton (played by Jim Rash), or trying to take back control of the school when their Spanish teacher, Ben Chang (played by Ken Jeong), takes over Greendale Community College in a dictator-like fashion, the study group goes through ridiculous situations and heartfelt moments all the same.
Why would a show about a “community” of college students be deemed as groundbreaking and ahead of its time? Simply watching just a few of the most popular episodes can answer this question. It was completely different from anything on television at the time, and arguably now.
One of the most considerable factors of Community’s success is the sheer amount of references and parodies the show has within its six seasons. No matter what music you listen to or what other shows you watch avidly, there is always at least one reference for you to catch and relate to. There are even entire episodes based off of these references and satirical parodies, such as season three, episode 17 of Community called “Basic Lupine Urology”, where everything down to the opening theme is a homage to the show Law & Order.
The high-concept story lines do not stop at just passing references. Some episodes take a completely creative, original approach such as entire episodes filmed in stop-motion animation or filmed with hand puppets. The show even develops events within the show that appear every so often in the seasons, such as the annual Greendale Community College paintball fight or a school dance for just about every occasion the Dean can come up with.
Though, if Community had a different cast, the show would feel completely different. Each character in the show develops their own story and experiences unique from one another, while also bringing in a great sense of representation. A prime example of a good representation comes in the form of the aforementioned film-obsessed Abed Nadir, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder. Rather than throwing a complete mix of stereotypes into one character, the writers and actor Danny Pudi himself put extreme thought into the character to make it a realistic interpretation of a very real individual.
Accurate representation of such an individual and even other instances of minorities in the show, such as single black mothers or homosexual men in positions of power, was rare back when Community first aired and increased favorability when it came to relatability.
It’s this very commitment, thought, and straying away from the normal sitcom formula that makes Community stand out from the others. The show ended with its sixth season in 2015, though a Community film is currently confirmed to be in production to fulfill the in-show, meta joke about the study group lasting six seasons and a movie. (What other show can you think of that breaks the fourth wall so often and confirms future seasons and a movie right off the bat?)
I encourage you to watch Community for yourself to realize just how different this show is from the rest of the options on television or streaming services. The episode I like to recommend is called “Remedial Chaos Theory” (season three, episode 4), though every episode has its charm and the ability to jump in and understand what is going on without having to sit down and watch from the very beginning.
So, to the question of “Friends or The Office”? I answer Community.
