Community Review

High school may be television’s most overused format. From Gossip Girl to Freaks and Geeks, television shows have attempted to portray life as a student from an exhausting variety of angles. The thought of watching the same jock, nerd, spoiled girl, and rebel parade around their school again and again is nauseating. But imagine being rescued from the depths of Cliché High; instead of being inundated with those stereotypes, imagine being able to watch their parents, grandparents, and indubitably cool uncles suffer as scholars. Welcome to NBC’s Community.

Community tells the story of Jeff Winger (played by the Soup’s Joel McHale), a former lawyer who is forced to go back to community college when it is discovered that his degree from Columbia is not from the Ivy League institution, but the South American nation. Jeff soon encounters a number of other personalities not expected to be found on a campus.

Chevy Chase in particular stands out as Pierce Hawthorne, an older divorcee who is sort of like a heavenly cross between Michael Scott of The Office and George Bluth of Arrested Development (perhaps not coincidently, two of the show’s executive producers, Joe and Anthony Russo, co-directed a number of Arrested episodes).  Hopefully Community will be Chevy Chase’s reentry into comedy after a number of recent duds.

Fans of The Soup—McHale’s five-year-old pop culture week-in-review show on E!—will be pleased to find that McHale’s cocky, sarcastic, and somehow charming persona has carried over to Community. Thanks to this cocky swagger, coupled with a unique premise that strives away from becoming too gimmicky, and a true comedy veteran in the form of Chase, Community should have what it takes to become a great new comedy.

The show will join the Office, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock (coming in October), and fellow newcomer SNL Weekend Update: Thursday in NBC’s Thursday night comedy lineup—shaping up to be the greatest night of television in the medium’s history.

Bored to Death Review

HBO’s latest foray into offbeat comedy, Bored to Death, centers around Jonathan Ames, played by Jason Schwartzman—a hilarious actor who stole the show in both The Darjeeling Limited and this summer’s Funny People with his dry, deadpan delivery and somber charm. Ames is a struggling magazine writer who has just broken up with his girlfriend. Cripplingly apathetic and in the depths of an identity crisis, Ames places an ad on Craigslist offering his services as a private detective.

Within a day, he is already on his first case. In the first episode, he finds himself on the hunt for a missing person and comes face-to-face with a meth-addled British bartender, wielding both a knife and a lighter. Suffice it to say things quickly become less boring for Ames.

His best friend Ray, a comic book writer, is played by one of 2009’s breakout stars, Zach Galifinakis, who frequently drops some droll lines. Ames’ absentminded and pot-loving boss, George is played by comedy legend Ted Danson, whose performance is expectedly sharp. The pilot doesn’t reveal what sort of roles Galifanakis and Danson’s characters will play in Ames’ investigative exploits, and some of the exposition and plot seem rushed and not yet completely developed, but Bored to Death has the potential to be a wildly original comedy and a fall hit.