A few months ago, after much nagging by friends, I began watching Community on Netflix Canada. Since I have just finished the first season, I was glad to know that the second season of this uncommonly smart sitcom was coming to DVD just in time. The title is a reference to “community college,” that second-class citizen of higher education. In the first season, we were introduced to a ragtag group of characters who meet at a Spanish study session and who quickly learn to put the “community” into community college.
The hook in the first season is that we’re following Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), a former lawyer who has been disbarred after it’s discovered that he faked his degree. He’s come to Greendale Community College in order to take the fastest (and easiest, he thinks) route back to a well-paying legal career. But we quickly learn that it’s the other characters who are much more interesting. This is truly an ensemble cast, and there are no weak links at all. But for that reason, the show does take a few episodes to really start firing on all cylinders, as the audience comes to know each character’s quirks. I’ve not yet watched the second season, but have been told that it’s better than the first, and that would be no surprise. With so many strong characters, there are nearly endless possibilities for funny storylines.
All I know is that I’m very much looking forward to sitting down with Jeff, Britta, Pierce, Abed, Troy, Annie, Shirley and Señor Chang as soon as possible. In fact, if I can watch all of these today, I’ll be all caught up for the third season, which premieres tomorrow night on NBC.
Community: The Complete Second Season comes on four DVD discs and contains all 24 episodes. Special features include:
- Commentary on every episode
- “Creating Wonderland”
- Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas: Original Storyboard Animatic and In-Process Animatic
- Season Two Cast Evaluations
- DJ Steve Porter Remixes Season One
- The Paintball Finale: From Script to Screen
- Outtakes
- Deleted Scenes
I think I watched 9 episodes in a row the other night…Couldn’t help myself. I’ve got 6 left, but I need to watch Hanna first…
There’s a few slower episodes so far, but there’s also some terrific ones. I love the zombie episode. If you thought the first season had its “meta” moments, this one has “meta-meta” moments.
Not as keen on Chang (a little Ken Jeong goes a long way), but otherwise I love the characters and that’s why the show is terrific.