Community: Season 1

"Community" is a beloved and acclaimed cult-comedy series that ran for six seasons between 2009 and 2015. Created by Dan Harmon, the show follows an eclectic group of characters whom are brought together while attending Greendale Community College. Though its production was oft-troubled and there were plenty of shake-ups both on-screen and behind-the-scenes over its six-year run, the fact remains- thanks to witty writing, stellar performances, incredibly likable characters and top-notch production values, "Community" is easily one of the best of the best. An icon in the world of television comedy, and one of the greatest sitcoms of our time.Season one gets things off to a strong start, with the majority of the episodes involving the introduction and establishment of the main characters and their dynamics with one-another. There's Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), a cynical disbarred lawyer who needs to earn a legitimate degree. Britty Perry (Gillian Jacobs), a strong-willed but often misguided idealist and wannabe-activist. Abed Nadir (Danny Pudy), a geeky student whose obsessed with films and whom seems to suffer from some sort-of developmental disorder. Shirley Bennet (Yvette Nicole Brown), a motherly Christian housewife reeling from a recent divorce. Annie Edison (Alison Brie), a High School graduate and compulsive over-achiever trying to shed her past as a pill-addict. Troy Barnes (Donald Glover), a former High School football star whose trying to find his way in the world and escape the pressures of his past. And Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase), an eccentric millionaire who has been enrolling in Greendale over and over to combat general boredom. These seven unique individuals originally comes together as a study-group (albeit for less than noble reasons), but eventually blossom into a sort-of family throughout the season.Part of the charm of “Community” is how it juggles both earnest and genuine character development and broad, conceptual satire to create a unique and whimsical experience. While the series starts as a relatively standard, yet still exceptionally well-executed, sitcom, it quickly becomes something much more. This is the sort-of show where one week, an episode might tackle a real and grounded issue with thoughtful handling of drama, and the next week... we’d get a full-on parody loaded with satirical pop-culture references and cartoonish logic. (And yes, I know that “Community” fans dread the word “parody”, but it’s the only word I can think of to describe some of these “concept episodes.”)The cast is all magnificent (with special props going to Jacobs and Pudi, whom are by far my two favorite actors on the show) and really do their all with the wonderful material they are given. Creator Dan Harmon and his crew of writers and directors also do a lot with the concept. There’s paintball wars and mafia stories involving the school cafeteria that are absolutely hilarious… and at the same time also plenty of deliberate character-centric episodes that will tug at your heart-strings. And the show’s direction and editing is very well-done. Not that you’d expect anything else from a series whose directors include the Russo Brothers (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Civil War”) and Justin Lin. (“The Fast and the Furious” franchise.)As for the DVD release- this is a very good set for both fans and newcomers alike. While I’m still holding my breath for a potential Blu-Ray re-release at some point (this series is so cinematic, I’d be worth re-buying in HD), what’s here is pure gold. There’s plenty of bonus content, including audio-commentary on every single episode, a plethora of outtakes, extended episodes and behind-the-scenes featurettes. And the quality is quite good, with sharp picture and crisp sound. Even though the entire series is available to view online on websites such as Hulu in the US and Netflix in Canada, I’d definitely recommend this set to anyone interested. For less than $20, you’re getting well over 9 hours of content. That’s a total steal!“Community” Season One on DVD gets a perfect 5 out of 5!

Community is a sitcom that ran from 2009 to 2015. It starred Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, a lawyer who was disbarred for obtaining a fraudulent law degree. He is forced to (for some reason) go back to community college to get an undergrad degree so he can restore his law degree. Of course, anyone with any knowledge of the legal profession knows that everything about that is totally preposterous, but in a goofy comedy, it works fine. Winger wants to get through school with the least amount of resistance possible, tries to find the easiest classes to take, and forms a study group with an interesting mix of students. The rest of the main cast included Allison Brie as Annie, a recent high-school graduate who was the classic over-achiever who popped Adderall, Danny Pudi as Abed, an aspiring film student who sees everything through a pop-culture movie or tv show lens, Gillian Jacobs as Britta, a mid-30s cynic trying to figure out what to do with her life, Donald Glover as Troy, an ex high-school football star who personifies the "dumb jock" persona, Yvette Nicole Brown as a middle-aged housewife going to school to put her life back together after a divorce, and Chevy Chase who plays Pierce, a rich, old racist who keeps enrolling in school for something to do. The recurring season one cast included Ken Jeong as Senor Chang, the Spanish teacher who could barely speak Spanish, Jim Rash as the very politically correct Dean of the school (who would become series regulars in subsequent seasons), and John Oliver and John Michael Higgins and professors at the school.In the first season, the focus of the show was on character development and the school storylines, basically the weird mix of people you get at community college. The show hit home for me as I was, at the time, a lawyer going back to undergrad to get an engineering degree, and I started out by taking classes at a local community college, and there was definitely a weird mix of personalities around campus. The show is basically a story-of-the-week show that has some kind of theme either involving something in the lives of one or more of the characters, or something going on at the school. Toward the end of the season, we get the first of what would become a signature for the series, the paintball episode in which the winner of a school-wide game of paintball gets priority registration the next semester. Of course, the game gets totally out of hand, and the paintball episodes get crazier and crazier as the show went on.For those who get the DVD set, the extras include audio commentary on every episode with series creator Dan Harmon and various members of the cast. There are also a couple of short mockumentary features, including cast evaluations in which Harmon evaluates the performance of each cast member. There are a few mini-episodes, deleted and alternate scenes, a season highlight reel, and an extended cut of the episode "Communication Studies". A lot of material for those who like watching the extras.Overall, the show is very good. It is very well-written and well-acted, even if the main cast was made up of mostly unknown actors (aside from Chase) and the guy who hosted "The Soup". While the main premise of the show is totally preposterous, the fact that much of the show was very tongue-in-cheek and did not take itself too seriously, it worked. While it did include some elements common to pretty much every sitcom, it was not a carbon copy of anything and had no problem making fun of pretty much any topic. So, if you have not seen the show and are trying to figure out if you should give it a chance, it is well worth watching.