Community (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Community is an American television comedy
series created by Dan Harmon
that airs on NBC
. The series is about a group of students at a community college
in the fictional locale of Greendale, Colorado
. The series heavily uses meta-humor
and pop culture references
, often parodying film and television clichés and tropes
. The series premiered Thursday, September 17, 2009, and airs in the 8:00 pm ET time slot. It previously aired in the 9:30 pm ET time slot, beginning with its premiere, but later relocated with its fourth episode. On March 17, 2011, NBC renewed Community for a third season, which premiered on September 22, 2011. The series will go on an extended hiatus during NBC's midseason schedule, but will return at an undetermined time with all remaining episodes of the season airing.
), a suspended lawyer who attends Greendale Community College after it is discovered that he falsely claimed to have a bachelor's degree. The series focuses on the experiences of Jeff and the study group he accidentally forms while pursuing Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs
), a former anarchist trying to get her life back on track. The other members of Jeff's study group include Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase
), a millionaire on a late-in-life voyage of self-discovery; Annie Edison (Alison Brie
), a young strait-laced student and former prescription drug addict; Troy Barnes (Donald Glover
), a former high school star quarterback-turned-nerd; Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown
), a single mother and vocal Christian going to school to jumpstart her brownie business; and Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi
), a pop-culture-obsessed film student with an evident developmental disorder. The group originally unites as a study group for the Spanish 101 class taught by egomaniacal teacher Ben "Señor" Chang (Ken Jeong
), and quickly become friends.
), psychology professor Ian Duncan (John Oliver
), whom Jeff once represented for a DUI, and the overwhelmed Dean, Craig Pelton (Jim Rash
), who desperately wants his school to be more like a real university and goes to strenuous and excessive lengths to seem politically correct.
s. The newest ones are focused on the daily life of Dean Pelton. Others include a Spanish project, study breaks, and Abed copying his friends' lives and turning them into student films. These webisodes are featured on the front page of the Greendale Community College website on the AV Department page.
emphasized the importance of the cast to making the premise of the comedy work. "Casting was 95 percent of putting the show together," he said in an interview. He had worked with several of the cast members earlier; Joel McHale, John Oliver, and Chevy Chase all had cameo roles in episode 9 of Water and Power, the short film series produced by Harmon for Channel 101
. Actor Chevy Chase had long been a favorite of Harmon. Though initially not very partial to sitcoms, Chase was persuaded to take the job by the quality of the show's writing. Harmon saw similarities between Chase and the character he plays on the show. Though Chase has often been ridiculed for his career choices, Harmon believed this role could be redeeming: "What makes Chevy and Pierce heroic is this refusal to stop." Harmon had to warn Chase against playing a "wise-ass" the way he often does in his roles, since the character of Pierce is a rather pathetic figure who is normally the butt of the joke himself.
McHale, known from the E!
comedy talk show The Soup
, was also (like Chase) impressed by Harmon's writing. He commented that "Dan's script was so head and shoulders above everything else that I was reading." McHale appealed to Harmon because of his likeable quality, which allowed the character to possess certain unsympathetic traits without turning the viewer against him. For the role of Annie, Harmon wanted someone who would resemble Tracy Flick
, Reese Witherspoon
's character from the 1999 movie Election
. Originally the producers were looking for a Latina or Asian Tracy Flick, but could not find any. Instead they ended up casting Alison Brie
, known for her role as Trudy Campbell on Mad Men
.
northeast of Los Angeles, where they would take Spanish together. Harmon got involved in a study group and, somewhat against his own instincts, became closely connected to the group of people with whom he had very little in common. "...I was in this group with these knuckleheads and I started really liking them," he explains, "even though they had nothing to do with the film industry and I had nothing to gain from them and nothing to offer them." With this as the background, Harmon wrote the show with a main character largely based on himself. He had, like Jeff, been self-centered and independent to the extreme before he realized the value of connecting with other people.
About the creative process behind the writing, Harmon says that he had to write the show as if it were a movie, not a sitcom. Essentially, the process was no different from the earlier work he had done, except for the length and the target demographic.
. Additionally, the song "Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare" by Matt & Kim is featured prominently in the pilot episode and in commercials.
. Notably, David Bushman (Curator, Television) of the Paley Center for Media called Community the best new show of the fall season. Jonah Krakow of IGN
gave the first season an 8.5 saying that "Community eventually ramped up and delivered some amazing stories in the second half of the season." The second season received very positive reviews, scoring 88 out of 100 based on 4 critics on Metacritic. Emily Nussbaum of New York Magazine
and Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com
rated Community as the best show of 2010. In The A.V. Club
s list of the 25 best television series of 2010, Community ranked second, stating that the best episodes were "Modern Warfare", "Cooperative Calligraphy", and "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas
".
Premiering in the 9:30 pm ET spot on September 17, 2009, the pilot episode had a viewership of 7.680 million. In the 18–49 audience, it had a rating
of 3.7. As such, it held 93% of this audience from The Office, which had been in the previous time slot. The show was called the "bright spot for the night" for NBC
, seeing how The Office was down 18% from the previous year's premiere, while Parks and Recreation
, in the preceding time slot, was down 30%.
. At the 41st NAACP Image Award
s, Justin Lin
received a nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for "Introduction to Statistics". At the 2010 Teen Choice Awards
, the series received a nomination for Breakout Show and Ken Jeong
was nominated for Breakout Star Male. For Entertainment Weekly
s 3rd Ewwy Awards, it was nominated for Best Comedy Series, Joel McHale
was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy and Danny Pudi
was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. Betty White
received a nomination for Favorite TV Guest Star at the 37th People's Choice Awards
. The series received a nomination for Best Directing for a Comedy Series at the The Comedy Awards
. The episode "Modern Warfare
" won the 2010 Gold Derby TV Award for Comedy Episode of the Year. For the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards
, it was nominated for Best Comedy Series, while Joel McHale and Danny Pudi were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in Comedy Series, respectively. The episode "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas
" won a 2011 Creative Arts Emmy Award for Individual Achievement in Animation. IGN
named Community the best comedy series in 2010.
on March 23, 2010, airing Tuesdays at 9:00 pm. The series was moved to Mondays at 8:30 pm on June 7, 2010. The second season started airing in Australia with a double episode on November 30, 2010 on Go! airing Tuesdays at 9:30 pm. In the United Kingdom, the show began airing on October 5, 2010 on Viva
, airing two episodes on Tuesdays at 10:00 pm. In Latin America, it is aired on Sony Entertainment Television
. In Canada, the show airs on Citytv
, simsubbed
with NBC in many areas. In New Zealand, season one of Community premiered on FOUR
on February 7, 2011, airing Mondays at 8:00 pm. In South Africa, the show airs on Vuzu
, with the first season broadcast between April 7 and September 22, 2010, and the second season airing from February 2 to July 13, 2011. It premiered in India on March 14, 2011, on STAR World India
airing at 11:00 pm.
The second season was released on DVD on September 6, 2011. It also features commentary on every episode by cast and crew members; outtakes; animatics for "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" and making-of featurettes covering that episode as well as "A Fistful of Paintballs" and "For a Few Paintballs More".
for the first season, titled Community (Music from the Original Television Series) was released on September 21, 2010 by Madison Gate Records. The tracklist includes the main title theme, "At Least It Was Here" by The 88
; original songs and incidental music composed for the show; and several songs were performed by the characters (a mix of original compositions and covers).
Television comedy
Television comedy had a presence from the earliest days of broadcasting. Among the earliest BBC television programmes in the 1930s was Starlight, which offered a series of guests from the music hall era — singers and comedians amongst them...
series created by Dan Harmon
Dan Harmon
Dan Harmon is a writer and performer. He is the creator and an executive producer for the NBC television comedy series Community, and, along with Rob Schrab, a founder of the alternative television network/website Channel 101....
that airs on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. The series is about a group of students at a community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
in the fictional locale of Greendale, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. The series heavily uses meta-humor
Meta-joke
Meta-joke refers to several somewhat different, but related categories: self-referential jokes, jokes about jokes , and joke templates.-Self-referential jokes:...
and pop culture references
Meta-reference
Metareference, a metafiction technique, is a situation in a work of fiction whereby characters display an awareness that they are in such a work, such as a film, television show or book. Sometimes it may even just be a form of editing or film-making technique that comments on the...
, often parodying film and television clichés and tropes
Trope (literature)
A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...
. The series premiered Thursday, September 17, 2009, and airs in the 8:00 pm ET time slot. It previously aired in the 9:30 pm ET time slot, beginning with its premiere, but later relocated with its fourth episode. On March 17, 2011, NBC renewed Community for a third season, which premiered on September 22, 2011. The series will go on an extended hiatus during NBC's midseason schedule, but will return at an undetermined time with all remaining episodes of the season airing.
Premise
Community centers on Jeff Winger (Joel McHaleJoel McHale
Joel Edward McHale is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, television producer, television personality, and voice artist. He is best known for hosting The Soup and for his role as Jeff Winger on Community....
), a suspended lawyer who attends Greendale Community College after it is discovered that he falsely claimed to have a bachelor's degree. The series focuses on the experiences of Jeff and the study group he accidentally forms while pursuing Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs
Gillian Jacobs
Gillian Jacobs is an American film, theatre and television actress, best known for her role as Britta Perry on the NBC comedy series Community.-Personal life:...
), a former anarchist trying to get her life back on track. The other members of Jeff's study group include Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
), a millionaire on a late-in-life voyage of self-discovery; Annie Edison (Alison Brie
Alison Brie
-External links:...
), a young strait-laced student and former prescription drug addict; Troy Barnes (Donald Glover
Donald Glover
Donald McKinley Glover is an American actor, writer, comedian, and musician. Glover first came to attention for his work in the sketch group Derrick Comedy, and is best known for his role as community college student Troy Barnes on the NBC comedy series Community...
), a former high school star quarterback-turned-nerd; Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown
Yvette Nicole Brown
Yvette Nicole Brown is an American actress and comedian. Brown has appeared in various commercials, television shows, and films throughout her career...
), a single mother and vocal Christian going to school to jumpstart her brownie business; and Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi
Danny Pudi
Danny Pudi is an American actor, best known for his role as Abed Nadir on the NBC comedy series Community.-Early years:Pudi, who is of Indian and Polish descent, was born and raised in Chicago and grew up speaking Polish...
), a pop-culture-obsessed film student with an evident developmental disorder. The group originally unites as a study group for the Spanish 101 class taught by egomaniacal teacher Ben "Señor" Chang (Ken Jeong
Ken Jeong
Kendrick Kang-Joh "Ken" Jeong , also known as "Dr. Ken," is an American comedian, actor, and physician. Currently, he appears as Ben Chang on the NBC comedy series Community.-Early life and medical career:...
), and quickly become friends.
Cast and characters
The ensemble cast centers on Jeff, Britta, Troy, Abed, Pierce, Annie, and Shirley, members of a study group. Also recurring are unbalanced former Spanish instructor Señor Ben Chang (Ken JeongKen Jeong
Kendrick Kang-Joh "Ken" Jeong , also known as "Dr. Ken," is an American comedian, actor, and physician. Currently, he appears as Ben Chang on the NBC comedy series Community.-Early life and medical career:...
), psychology professor Ian Duncan (John Oliver
John Oliver (comedian)
John Oliver is a British stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known for his work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, for which he won an Emmy in 2009. He also plays a recurring character, Professor Ian Duncan, on the television series Community...
), whom Jeff once represented for a DUI, and the overwhelmed Dean, Craig Pelton (Jim Rash
Jim Rash
Jim Rash was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter.His most noticeable appearance was when he portrayed Mr Grayson/Stitches, a sidekick to the supervillain 'Royal Pain' in the 2005 film Sky High and as the recurring characters Fenton on That '70s Show...
), who desperately wants his school to be more like a real university and goes to strenuous and excessive lengths to seem politically correct.
Episodes
Most episodes feature titles designed to sound like the names of college courses such as "Introduction to Film", "Anthropology 101" and "Cooperative Calligraphy". The first season premiered on September 17, 2009 in the 9:30 pm ET timeslot. After three episodes, the show was moved to the 8:00 pm ET timeslot. In October 2009, it was announced that the show had been picked up for a full twenty-two episode season. In January 2010, NBC ordered an additional three episodes for the first season, extending it to a total of 25 episodes. On March 5, 2010, Community was renewed for a second season and premiered on September 23, 2010. On March 17, 2011, NBC renewed Community for a third season.Webisodes
In addition to the regular episodes, NBC produced a series of webisodeWebisode
A webisode is a short episode which airs initially as Internet television, either download or stream as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. The format can be used as a preview, a promotion, as part of a collection of shorts, or a commercial.A webisode can be an episode...
s. The newest ones are focused on the daily life of Dean Pelton. Others include a Spanish project, study breaks, and Abed copying his friends' lives and turning them into student films. These webisodes are featured on the front page of the Greendale Community College website on the AV Department page.
Casting
Dan HarmonDan Harmon
Dan Harmon is a writer and performer. He is the creator and an executive producer for the NBC television comedy series Community, and, along with Rob Schrab, a founder of the alternative television network/website Channel 101....
emphasized the importance of the cast to making the premise of the comedy work. "Casting was 95 percent of putting the show together," he said in an interview. He had worked with several of the cast members earlier; Joel McHale, John Oliver, and Chevy Chase all had cameo roles in episode 9 of Water and Power, the short film series produced by Harmon for Channel 101
Channel 101
Channel 101 is a non-profit short film festival in Los Angeles, which also has a sister festival in NYC, Channel 101: NY. Channel 101 is a creation of Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab in which participants submit a short film in the format of a pilot under five minutes in length...
. Actor Chevy Chase had long been a favorite of Harmon. Though initially not very partial to sitcoms, Chase was persuaded to take the job by the quality of the show's writing. Harmon saw similarities between Chase and the character he plays on the show. Though Chase has often been ridiculed for his career choices, Harmon believed this role could be redeeming: "What makes Chevy and Pierce heroic is this refusal to stop." Harmon had to warn Chase against playing a "wise-ass" the way he often does in his roles, since the character of Pierce is a rather pathetic figure who is normally the butt of the joke himself.
McHale, known from the E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
comedy talk show The Soup
The Soup
The Soup is an E! Entertainment Television weekly series; it is a revamped version of Talk Soup that focuses on recaps of various pop culture and television show moments of the week...
, was also (like Chase) impressed by Harmon's writing. He commented that "Dan's script was so head and shoulders above everything else that I was reading." McHale appealed to Harmon because of his likeable quality, which allowed the character to possess certain unsympathetic traits without turning the viewer against him. For the role of Annie, Harmon wanted someone who would resemble Tracy Flick
Tracy Flick
Tracy Enid Flick is a fictional character, originating in the 1998 novel Election by Tom Perrotta and portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in the 1999 film adaptation of the same title. Tracy is a smart, ambitious high school student, whose quest to win a school election is nearly derailed by her own...
, Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
's character from the 1999 movie Election
Election (1999 film)
Election is a 1999 American comedy film adapted from a 1998 novel of the same title by Tom Perrotta. The plot revolves around a three-way election race in high school, and satirizes both suburban high school life and politics...
. Originally the producers were looking for a Latina or Asian Tracy Flick, but could not find any. Instead they ended up casting Alison Brie
Alison Brie
-External links:...
, known for her role as Trudy Campbell on Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
.
Development
The premise of Community was based on Harmon's real-life experiences. In an attempt to save his relationship with his then-girlfriend, he enrolled in Glendale Community CollegeGlendale Community College (California)
Glendale Community College is a community college in Glendale, California, USA. It was founded to serve the needs of the people in the Glendale Union High School District which at the time included La Crescenta, Glendale, and Tujunga...
northeast of Los Angeles, where they would take Spanish together. Harmon got involved in a study group and, somewhat against his own instincts, became closely connected to the group of people with whom he had very little in common. "...I was in this group with these knuckleheads and I started really liking them," he explains, "even though they had nothing to do with the film industry and I had nothing to gain from them and nothing to offer them." With this as the background, Harmon wrote the show with a main character largely based on himself. He had, like Jeff, been self-centered and independent to the extreme before he realized the value of connecting with other people.
About the creative process behind the writing, Harmon says that he had to write the show as if it were a movie, not a sitcom. Essentially, the process was no different from the earlier work he had done, except for the length and the target demographic.
Filming
Filming the show involved a lot of improvisation, particularly from Chevy Chase. About Chase, Harmon said that he "tends to come up with lines that you can actually end scenes with sometimes." He also mentioned Joel McHale and Donald Glover, the actors who portray Jeff and Troy respectively, as adept improvisers.Theme song
The theme song of Community is "At Least It Was Here" by The 88The 88
The 88 is a four-piece indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. They have released five full length albums as of 2010, and are the backing band for the Ray Davies Fall 2011 US Tour.- Members :Members of the band are:...
. Additionally, the song "Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare" by Matt & Kim is featured prominently in the pilot episode and in commercials.
Reception
The show's first season received mostly positive reviews, scoring 69 out of 100 based on 23 critics on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. Notably, David Bushman (Curator, Television) of the Paley Center for Media called Community the best new show of the fall season. Jonah Krakow of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the first season an 8.5 saying that "Community eventually ramped up and delivered some amazing stories in the second half of the season." The second season received very positive reviews, scoring 88 out of 100 based on 4 critics on Metacritic. Emily Nussbaum of New York Magazine
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
and Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
rated Community as the best show of 2010. In The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
s list of the 25 best television series of 2010, Community ranked second, stating that the best episodes were "Modern Warfare", "Cooperative Calligraphy", and "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas
Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas
"Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" is the 11th episode of the second season of the American comedy television series, Community and the 36th episode overall...
".
Premiering in the 9:30 pm ET spot on September 17, 2009, the pilot episode had a viewership of 7.680 million. In the 18–49 audience, it had a rating
Ratings (broadcast)
Ratings is a term used to describe the methods used by radio, cable and terrestrial television programming measure their performance. Ratings are collated using audience measurement.-Mechanisms for Calculating Ratings :...
of 3.7. As such, it held 93% of this audience from The Office, which had been in the previous time slot. The show was called the "bright spot for the night" for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, seeing how The Office was down 18% from the previous year's premiere, while Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
, in the preceding time slot, was down 30%.
Awards and nominations
The series received a nomination for Favorite New TV Comedy at the 36th People's Choice Awards36th People's Choice Awards
The 36th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2009, was held on January 6, 2010 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and was broadcasted on CBS. Not all of the awards were presented on air during the show, as many including Favorite Movie were left out...
. At the 41st NAACP Image Award
NAACP Image Award
An NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....
s, Justin Lin
Justin Lin
Justin Lin is a Taiwanese American film director, best known for his work on Better Luck Tomorrow, The Fast and the Furious franchise and the television show, Community.-Life and career:...
received a nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for "Introduction to Statistics". At the 2010 Teen Choice Awards
2010 Teen Choice Awards
2010 Teen Choice Awards were held on August 8, introducing a lot of new categories now separated into "Movie", "TV", "Music", "Summer", "Fashion" and "Other". The show aired on August 9, 2010 on Fox, co-hosted by Katy Perry, who also performed, and Cory Monteith, Chris Colfer, Kevin McHale, and...
, the series received a nomination for Breakout Show and Ken Jeong
Ken Jeong
Kendrick Kang-Joh "Ken" Jeong , also known as "Dr. Ken," is an American comedian, actor, and physician. Currently, he appears as Ben Chang on the NBC comedy series Community.-Early life and medical career:...
was nominated for Breakout Star Male. For Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s 3rd Ewwy Awards, it was nominated for Best Comedy Series, Joel McHale
Joel McHale
Joel Edward McHale is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, television producer, television personality, and voice artist. He is best known for hosting The Soup and for his role as Jeff Winger on Community....
was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy and Danny Pudi
Danny Pudi
Danny Pudi is an American actor, best known for his role as Abed Nadir on the NBC comedy series Community.-Early years:Pudi, who is of Indian and Polish descent, was born and raised in Chicago and grew up speaking Polish...
was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. Betty White
Betty White
Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...
received a nomination for Favorite TV Guest Star at the 37th People's Choice Awards
37th People's Choice Awards
The 37th People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2010, were held on January 5, 2011 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and were broadcast live on CBS at 9:00 pm ET...
. The series received a nomination for Best Directing for a Comedy Series at the The Comedy Awards
The Comedy Awards
The Comedy Awards is an annual award ceremony run by the American television network Comedy Central, honoring the best of comedy. The first ceremony took place on March 26, 2011 and aired on April 10 on CMT, Comedy Central, Logo, Spike TV, TV Land and VH1...
. The episode "Modern Warfare
Modern Warfare (Community)
"Modern Warfare" is the 23rd episode of the first season of Community and originally premiered on May 6, 2010 on NBC. In the episode, after the Dean announces the prize for a friendly game of paintball, Greendale sinks into a state of all-out paintball war, with every student battling for...
" won the 2010 Gold Derby TV Award for Comedy Episode of the Year. For the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards
1st Critics' Choice Television Awards
The 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards, presented by the Broadcast Television Journalists Association , the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2010 until May 31, 2011, and took place on June 20, 2011 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, California...
, it was nominated for Best Comedy Series, while Joel McHale and Danny Pudi were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in Comedy Series, respectively. The episode "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas
Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas
"Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" is the 11th episode of the second season of the American comedy television series, Community and the 36th episode overall...
" won a 2011 Creative Arts Emmy Award for Individual Achievement in Animation. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
named Community the best comedy series in 2010.
Ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Community.- Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
| Season | Episodes | Timeslot (ET Eastern Time Zone The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time... ) |
Original airing | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | TV season | |||||
| 1st Community (season 1) The first season of the television comedy series Community originally aired from September 17, 2009 on NBC to May 20, 2010 in the United States. The first three episodes aired at 9:30 pm ET before being moved to 8:00 pm ET... |
25 | Thursday 9:30 pm (September 17, 2009 – October 1, 2009) Thursday 8:00 pm (October 8, 2009 – May 20, 2010) |
September 17, 2009 | May 20, 2010 | 2009–10 | #97 | 5.00 |
| 2nd Community (season 2) The second season of the television comedy series Community premiered on September 23, 2010 and concluded on May 12, 2011, on NBC and aired on Thursdays at 8:00 pm ET as part of Comedy Night Done Right.-Starring:*Joel McHale as Jeff Winger... |
24 | Thursday 8:00 pm | September 23, 2010 | May 12, 2011 | 2010–11 | #115 | 4.48 |
| 3rd Community (season 3) The third season of the television comedy series Community premiered on September 22, 2011, and airs on NBC Thursdays at 8:00 pm ET as part of the network's "Comedy Night Done Right" programming block.-Starring:*Joel McHale as Jeff Winger... |
22 | Thursday 8:00 pm | September 22, 2011 | 2011–12 | |||
International broadcast
In Australia, season one of Community premiered on Go!Go! (Australian TV channel)
GO! is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 9 August 2009.-Origins:...
on March 23, 2010, airing Tuesdays at 9:00 pm. The series was moved to Mondays at 8:30 pm on June 7, 2010. The second season started airing in Australia with a double episode on November 30, 2010 on Go! airing Tuesdays at 9:30 pm. In the United Kingdom, the show began airing on October 5, 2010 on Viva
Viva (UK & Ireland)
Viva is a music video and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel was officially launched on 26 October 2009 by Alexandra Burke, with an exclusive live performance of her single "Bad Boys". The channel replaced TMF. The channel is owned by MTV Networks Europe and was...
, airing two episodes on Tuesdays at 10:00 pm. In Latin America, it is aired on Sony Entertainment Television
Sony Entertainment Television (Latin America)
Sony Entertainment Television, commonly shortened to Canal Sony , is a general entertainment channel co-based in Perú, Chile, Venezuela, Brazil and Miami, Florida, United States. It airs in 26 countries in Latin America, and is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment...
. In Canada, the show airs on Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
, simsubbed
Simultaneous substitution
Simultaneous substitution is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requiring Canadian cable, direct broadcast satellite and multichannel multipoint distribution service television distribution companies to substitute the signal of a foreign or...
with NBC in many areas. In New Zealand, season one of Community premiered on FOUR
Four (New Zealand TV channel)
Four is a television station operating in New Zealand and owned by MediaWorks New Zealand. The channel launched 6 February 2011 at 6pm. The channel broadcasts on channel frequencies previously used by C4 with some shows previously screened on TV3 and C4 now screening on...
on February 7, 2011, airing Mondays at 8:00 pm. In South Africa, the show airs on Vuzu
Vuzu
Vuzu is a South African youth-oriented television channel produced by M-Net for sister pay television platform DStv.-History:The channel launched in mid 2009, replacing the popular M-Net channel, Go. This occurred during the second phase of the network's reshuffle of its youth channel offering...
, with the first season broadcast between April 7 and September 22, 2010, and the second season airing from February 2 to July 13, 2011. It premiered in India on March 14, 2011, on STAR World India
STAR World India
STAR World India is an English language television channel, part of the STAR World network, owned by Star TV broadcast in India. It syndicates popular shows from U.S. and U.K. to appeal to the English-speaking population of India and other South Asian countries...
airing at 11:00 pm.
DVD
The first season was released in North America on DVD on September 21, 2010 in a four-disc set. The set includes all 25 episodes plus bonus features, including commentary on every episode by cast and crew members; extended versions of the "Pilot" and "Communication Studies" episodes; outtakes; "Season One Cast Evaluations" featurette; "Season One Highlight Reel" featurette; "Creative Compromises" featurette; "Advanced Criminal Law" alternative scenes; and three mini episodes.The second season was released on DVD on September 6, 2011. It also features commentary on every episode by cast and crew members; outtakes; animatics for "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" and making-of featurettes covering that episode as well as "A Fistful of Paintballs" and "For a Few Paintballs More".
Soundtrack
A soundtrackSoundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for the first season, titled Community (Music from the Original Television Series) was released on September 21, 2010 by Madison Gate Records. The tracklist includes the main title theme, "At Least It Was Here" by The 88
The 88
The 88 is a four-piece indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. They have released five full length albums as of 2010, and are the backing band for the Ray Davies Fall 2011 US Tour.- Members :Members of the band are:...
; original songs and incidental music composed for the show; and several songs were performed by the characters (a mix of original compositions and covers).