raisindot wrote:I've kind of meh on the show.
For me it's kind of a second-tier Scrubs, trying to throw all sorts of deconstructive riffs on the sitcom format to make up for a set of characters that long ago ossified into mannerisms. I watch it only because it's the first show in the Thursday night NBC lineup.
But I wouldn't worry about it getting cancelled. NBC doesn't have a single entertainment show in the Top 20. The Thursday night comedy lineup is more of a counterprogramming idea than anything else, and the network has traditionally had a soft spot for keeping low-rated quirky comedies (like 30 Rock) around and hammocking them with higher-rated shows on either side.
My guess is that Community will come back at some point as a late-season or summer replacement. The only worrisome point is that NBC is moving (but not cancelling) the execrable Whitney and replacing it with the almost equally execrable Up all Night.
That's really sort of odd because I am not a fan of Scrubs at all, but I could go on about how fantastic I think this show is all day.
With regards to the characters and development or perhaps lack thereof, I think this is worked into the show quite well. Change and development are pretty big themes in the show, I think.
Spoliers-a-coming: In the first episode of this season Jeff tries to convince the group that they've evolved beyond having to take the same classes so they can be together all the time, but of course, we know he's saying that because the others want to take a different class so that Pierce can rejoin the study group and he hates Pierce and wants him gone. Basically, they haven't evolved much at all, not in that way at least. Jeff even addresses this in his speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XevozhyCr8
The whole of Biology 101 was about how several characters (mainly Jeff and the Dean) had decided things were going to change and then those changes not happening as they thought they would.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=x3esZdVmhS8
In Advanced Gay, Troy is asked to choose whether he wants to use his talents to become a plumber or join the sinister secret society-esque air conditioner repair school and he chooses neither because right now he just wants to "watch TV with his friend", which is what we expect from him and Abed. They goof around playing Inspector Spacetime, building blanket forts and gnerally being what we know to be 'Troy and Abed'.
Having said that, I would argue that there are ways, small as they might seem, that the characters are growing and changing, especially prominent in Jeff's character this season. In Biology 101 and Remedial Chaos Theory, the audience comes to learn that the group who used to depend on Jeff so much don't need him quite as much as they used to. In fact when he's not around, they actually seem to be able to have more fun. I remember reading somewhere that Dan Harmon said this would be a tough year for Jeff as the group and relationships within it change around him.
Anyways... I won't pretend to know anything about how TV works in the US, or how probable a fourth season being made is. All I know is that the fans are worried about the show, which means I'm worried about the show. But most of all,
thank you so much for watching it every Thursday. I hope you do the same tonight.
(Whoops this sort of turned into an essay, sorry!)
