Week 3 Part 2

I have no previous experience with either of these shows, but I had seen bits and pieces of 30 Rock in passing. Nothing stuck, however, and I’m afraid I feel the same even now. When it kept winning awards I would think to myself, maybe I saw a bad episode…But now I’m just sure I’m crazy and the rest of the world operates on a different level of comedy. ;)

Community was something I had heard of, but never seen. I knew Joel McHale was in it and I like him from “the Soup” so I had a sense that it would probably be pretty good. At least one would hope so. Then again, sometimes network tv just kills an awesome comedian’s mojo. (I’m talking about the polite version of Chris D’Elia in “Whitney”….grrr…love him but…grrr) Anywho!

Community links:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/08/24/community

I really liked how this review went into the way community colleges are represented in the show. Its easy to forget that this is saying something about a piece of our society even though it may be covering it up with jokes. Having an educator’s point of view was interesting and made me realize stereotypes that hover in the education world. I hadn’t really acknowledged them before. Not because I didn’t believe in them, I just hadn’t sat down and thought it out. It was very perceptive.

http://www.thetvaddict.com/2010/11/18/review-community-season-2/

This review really delved into the pop culture implications of Community and I liked what the author had to say about it. This opening paragraph was just…awesome.

-For pop culture connoisseurs, it’s like a delicious, greasy, but still organic feast: any given episode (like the great Halloween one) is a tightly constructed, au courant homage to worn-out stories, plot cliché, and character archetypes — it’s an inspired take on a lack of inspiration; a celebration of what makes pop culture bad that makes it uproariously good.-

I can’t really describe it any better. I just have to take my hat off to this guy, Alaks Chan. His review was full of great insight and understanding of the characters, storytelling…everything.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2011/05/community-review-a-fist-full-of-paintballs-pt-1-22.html

Loved this review because I loved the episode! Paintball is awesome and this episode was just fun. The review says as much and I really enjoyed the stray observations the author, Sean Gandert, made towards the end. He and I seem to be on the same level on what’s funny.

30 Rock links:

http://www.tvfanatic.com/2011/04/30-rock-review-100th-episode/

Watched this episode as well and I must say, this reviewer found it much funnier than I. As I reread some of his favorite quotes, I think, “yeah, that’s funny.” but I didn’t have a strong reaction to it whatsoever. Again, its probably just me. “It’s not you, it’s me.” I liked this review because the author sounded like a fan and that made it more…pleasant to read vs. someone simply rehashing the episode. He was also honest, pointing out the parts of the show that didn’t work along with the parts that did.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/14/AR2010101407822.html

I didn’t see this specific episode, but I read this anyway and I liked how the author mentioned that in 30 Rock, you never see much of the actual show they’re making. “TGS”. Thought was an interesting observation. I haven’t seen much of the show so I didn’t want to assume it was a general thing, but after reading this, I guess I can.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/review-how-30-rock-rebounded-its-way-to-a-strong-season-5

I REALLY LIKED THIS. Why? It talked about Community!! LOL. Used it to compare the state of 30 Rock. The author talked about wanting to walk away from the show during season 4 and how its improved since then.  Went into some interesting detail and it really made me stop and consider the changes; also gave a little insight into what keeps a fan coming back and it also highlighted Community’s ability to be “conceptually ambitious”.

Now, in conclusion, I didn’t really find anything shattering in these reviews. While the last of my listed 30 Rock reviews did make me a little more…understanding of the show, it didn’t really change my feelings towards it. The Community reviews just made me aware of a deeper cleverness to the show. I can’t stress how much I loved that quote I pulled. Such a good read.