I have a confession to make: I have always thought Community is overrated. I know, I know! That’s so sacrelig, what are you Shelly, a demon, you have no soul, you should go kill yourself, etc, etc. Don’t get me wrong – I like it! A lot! I just…don’t like it as much as everyone says I should. And furthermore, I do think it got a little out of control with its pop culture laden theme episodes and random meta fantasy sequences. The characters are funny. The actors are talented. We don’t need claymation, you know?
Shelly, what is your point? Well, my point is that in less than two minutes, the opening to last night’s Community season premiere not only won me over, but it made me applaud their pop culture references and their meta. I know, I was shocked, too! But honestly, it’s amazing. In response to, God, so many things, the show opened with a fantasy sequence of Jeff’s. It’s a musical number. It’s making fun of Glee. It’s making fun of the Emmys’ continuous snubbing of Community, while it continues to nominate Glee for Best Comedy (when Glee is continuously slammed by critics and Community receives constant praise). And in top notch meta form, it made fun of people like me.
With lyrics like “we’re gonna seem like a mainstream dream” and “we’re gonna finally be sunny and shiny”, it challenged all its critics. In one little musical number, Community looked me in the eye and said, “You want a normal show? With normal plots? Fine, we’ll act like Glee. We’ll wear bright colors and have big smiles and hand you a pile of garbage week after week. No more weird themes, no more clever references, no more sharp wit. Just pretty people who deliver cheesy messages on a silver platter. You happy now?” Well, alright then, Community! It’s ballsy, it’s funny and, you know, it’s making fun of Glee, which I something I always appreciate it. So game on, Community. I look forward to this season.
You can watch this amazing opening sequence here: