Community Season One

When Community first aired as part of NBC's Thursday Night Comedy line up, I gave it two episodes to win me over. I should have given it three. I initially missed the first season of this amazingly funny show but when a friend of mine who essentially never likes anything told me I had to give this show a chance, I decided to listen. Season 2 instantly won me over, which meant I had no choice  but to track down Season 1 to see all the hijinx and hilarity I had missed.

Fortunately doing that was pretty easy to do. Not only can you pick this season up on DVD for a relative song on Amazon, you can also get it via Direct Download from them as well. While the first two episodes are a little slow, it's only because they take the time to introduce the motley members of the Study Group to the audience, as well as set the stage of what life at Greendale is like. But starting with the third episode, which focuses in on Abed, who's dysfunctional behavior both strains the boundaries of the fourth wall and fuels much of the "meta" humor that makes this show so appealing, Community as a whole really feels like it starts to find its footing.

As the season progresses the show begins to really explore the dynamics of the members of the Study Group and puts a lot of emphasis on the connections that humanize these characters, and ultimately bring them together. By the time you get close to the end of the first season, it seems the writers can do no wrong with classic episodes like Contemporary American Poultry , and Modern Warfare.

Contemporary American Poultry is a brilliant homage to mafia movies like the Godfather or Goodfellas,  and it pulls off the conceit with both class and style. Modern Warfare may not be related to the hit gaming franchise, but it does manage to squeeze in some kind of loving reference to almost every major action movie you could think of.

At the end of the day this show shines. The combination of a top notch cast giving the audience characters that are identifiable and writing that is able to convey both emotional weight as well as a self deprecating self awareness has launched this series to being one of my top two favorite live action comedies on television today.