Originally Posted by Obey The D (Post 11597859)

They have a guest star play the teacher every season! I think people need to stop over-analyzing this show and just watch it.

Originally Posted by madcougar (Post 11597812)

I was immediatly put off by the fact that Nick Kroll was missing from the group of Germans. At that point, I realized I couldn't place the other two actors if I'd wanted to. I know that this probably sounds insane, but at this point, I just couldn't enjoy the episode.

Originally Posted by madcougar (Post 11597867)

I agree with this point. Hell, Betty White played the professor in Season 2 for a few episodes at least.

Originally Posted by rocket1312 (Post 11597900)

And if we should all just watch the show and not analyze it, then what are we all doing here? Isn't the whole point of a discussion forum to, I don't know, discuss?

Originally Posted by Obey The D (Post 11597935)

If I didn't know that Harmon was off the show, I'd probably just feel like the first three episodes were a little on the weak side.

Originally Posted by madcougar (Post 11597867)

I agree with this point. Hell, Betty White played the professor in Season 2 for a few episodes at least.

Originally Posted by SpanishTechno (Post 11597901)

That stuck in my craw too. How hard can it be to plan ahead and get Nick Kroll for an episode?

Originally Posted by Jimmy James (Post 11597608)

This was a really good episode. I have some commentary about it, but I want to stress I'm not trying to pick the show to death. My expectation is that when such a big change happens at the top, there will be things that are different.

With that said, Dan Harmon would have never made several of the choices in this episode. First, the Dean would have been much more involved in the study room thing. Having the Dean distracted with Chang was a good call, but something more specific to the plot would have been a much better choice. Establish that the Dean had signed that study room out to the group like a couple of semesters at a time but he got distracted by the Chang stuff.

On top of that, Community is not a show where the other study rooms are clearly objectively inferior and therefore the rest of the school hates the gang. It's a show where (perhaps with one funny exception), the study rooms should be all virtually identical. One should have had an oval table instead of a rectangle. Another should have had different color chairs. Sure, put one in the basement and make it horrific. The point should have been how absurd the attachment to the one particular one was. The other students shouldn't have been rioting against the group, either. Instead, the group should have tried to rally support from the other students who were then just completely mystified about why it's a big deal. Leonard perhaps would be sympathetic if he thought they had to use study room x, the one crappy one in the basement, but then when he found out no it's that they were in study room b, the one that is identical except the chairs are a different color, he's just exasperated.

The Harmon view on this show was very specific and absurdist to a larger degree than with these new guys. It appears when they try to recapture that type of thing, they can't get the characters right. When they get the characters right, they don't get the absurdism correct. It's close enough to satisfy me, but I thought we weren't going to get any more Community because it was going to be canceled last year. I see this as bonus Community which is better than no Community.

Originally Posted by SpanishTechno (Post 11597957)

I think people are trying too hard to figure out how Harmon's absence has affected the show.

Originally Posted by Fist of Doom (Post 11597994)

I'm just looking for some laughs, and didn't find many this episode. The head German was irritating, and Pierce getting electrocuted was stupid.

As long as we're analyzing the show...

The opposite of what I thought would happen this season has happened (so far): I figured they'd struggle with plots and compensate with lots of jokes. Instead, the storylines have been good, but the execution and jokes have been hit-and-miss.

Originally Posted by madcougar (Post 11598001)

Fist, you might be a clone of mine who's running around the earth because this is 100 percent exactly the way I feel. Are you super handsome and have a very large penis?

Originally Posted by SpanishTechno (Post 11597957)

Agreed. There were plenty of episodes all throughout the first three seasons that people said were weak or "felt off". I think people are trying too hard to figure out how Harmon's absence has affected the show.

Originally Posted by JasonF (Post 11597980)

:lol: I love that this now becomes an issue of planning -- like the producers woke up Tuesday morning and said "Hey, let's do a German episode" but there was no time to dig Kroll's phone number out of the rolodex.

More likley is that Kroll was not interested in reprising the character, or (since his star is rising), they couldn't afford to have him back.

Originally Posted by JasonF (Post 11597980)

:lol: I love that this now becomes an issue of planning -- like the producers woke up Tuesday morning and said "Hey, let's do a German episode" but there was no time to dig Kroll's phone number out of the rolodex.

More likley is that Kroll was not interested in reprising the character, or (since his star is rising), they couldn't afford to have him back.

Originally Posted by Goat3001 (Post 11598066)

"We can't get Nick Kroll. Shut it down, we're moving on with something else."

-Dan Harmon, if he was still show runner.

Originally Posted by JasonF (Post 11597980)

More likley is that Kroll was not interested in reprising the character, or (since his star is rising), they couldn't afford to have him back.

Originally Posted by rocket1312 (Post 11597826)

but that excitement was quickly squashed once I realized Nick Kroll was replaced. The new guy (who I assume is some comedian I just didn't recognize) wasn't nearly as funny.

Originally Posted by Big Boy Laroux (Post 11597544)

That was great.

Todd - "They lost a pen"

Originally Posted by Todd B. (Post 11598431)

The new German is Brian, the sound boom guy, from The Office.

Originally Posted by Finisher (Post 11598649)

He pretty much killed the episode for me. Unfunny and nails on chalkboard bad accent. Not sure why he keeps landing roles.

Originally Posted by Jimmy James (Post 11598652)

Was he actually the best actor who auditioned?