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Community

Pilot

Season 1, Episode 1, Aired Sep 17, 2009

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Jeff Winger enrolls into Greendale Community College after his law degree is revoked and immediately finds a way to make his student life a breeze. He pretends to be an expert in Spanish forms a study group with a bunch of misfits to impress a girl named Britta.moreless

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Patricia Belcher

Cafeteria Lady

Joel McHale

Jeff Winger
Chevy Chase

Pierce Hawthorne
Danny Pudi

Abed Nadir
Gillian Jacobs

Britta Perry
Donald Glover

Troy Barnes
Yvette Nicole Brown

Shirley Bennett

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Fan Episode Reviews (15)

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Meh

5.0

"Mediocre"

By Spoontown, Nov 20, 2011

From the previous reviews I expected a lot more. Constant comparisons to Stripes just confuse me as I have not seen it, likewise Chevy Chase does nothing for me, over this side of the pond he is nothing more than the dad from the National Lampoon's Vacation films, which are not top of my list for repeat viewing, and other stuff like Caddyshack and the Three Amigos. The concept of a Community College is another idea that doesn't really translate well to us overseas, and is not explained all that well. Then there's Jeff who is a dishonest lawyer (are there any other kind), not the most sympathetic of characters, I honestly don't care about the story of him going back to college because he lied about his education. I was interested to see John Oliver, but don't think he was used that well, either his accent has changed since being in America or he was asked to do a slightly different one from his normal one. He was much better in Important Things with Demetri Martin.
Maybe this series gets a lot better but I was not blown away, at the moment it's sad to say that the only reason I will give episode 2 a viewing is because Britta and Annie are both beautiful and I liked the actress who plays Annie in Mad Men.moreless
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It gets better.

7.0

"Good"

By The-A-Man, Oct 15, 2011

Not a consistently barnstorming start from a tv show, but this has clearly done something well to get to Season 3.

This first episode introduces an interesting group of characters, not all of which appear funny initially. That said, Abed is shaping up to be an all-time favourite.

Regardless of what you think of this episode, do yourself a favour and push through to the second. It gets considerably better.
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Better the second time.

7.5

"Good"

By IndianaMom, Mar 03, 2011

When I saw this episode when it first aired I wasn't overly impressed. The story seemed weak and it looked like it was going to be only a showplace for Joel McHale. However, I was immediately drawn to Abed. What a great character!

I continued to watch the show, enjoying it more and more as the season progressed. I got to know the characters and felt like I wanted to be friends with each one. So much so that I purchased the season 1 DVD the week it was released.

I watched the pilot episode on the DVD and saw its brilliance. Now that I know the characters I love this episode. It spends time setting up each seemingly stereotypical community college student in the study group. We needed this set-up episode in order to enjoy the rest of this stellar season.moreless
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Pilot episode.

7.5

"Good"

By Canogaparkcindy, Nov 04, 2010

A good start to NBC's "Community" Watching it the first time around, I wouldn't say it was the strongest comedy in Prime-time, but it was still pretty good. We've got dynamic characters that all have a "thing" about them, which makes them intriguing. All of the characters are instantly likable, and some of the jokes unexpectedly worked here.

Now I doubt this show will become one of my favorites but it's definitely better than some of the other stuff that's on TV right now from what I can see from the pilot. The end of the episode left us with a good feeling, and Jeff's speech was really great about what makes humans different from everything else.

I do have to commend this show on it's writing, but I don't know if I have to commend the show on it's acting. Most of the actors are fairly new except Chevy Chase and Yvette Nicole Brown. But actors like Joel Mchale, I fail to take seriously, and I think we all know why.

There are better pilots out there, but this is pilot is good enough to tune in next week.moreless
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Good pilot, didn't really come out as strong as Modern Family or other shows but introduced a great bunch of characters and an indication of how funny it would get.

7.0

"Good"

By DaVulture, Oct 15, 2010

When I saw the pilot for the show, I didn't really think it was that great. I thought parts of it were good, but I just didn't feel it came out and swinging as the effortless Modern Family. This show began with an introduction of Jeff Winger, he is study gang full of nutcases including Pierce, Abed, Annie, Shirley, Britta, and Troy. The pilot really is about Jeff Winger having to enroll in Community College to get his law degree license back. The thing I liked about this episode is that they started out swinging, they didn't focus ultimately on Jeff losing his job and the typical storyline. Nope they showed him ready Day 1 to try and begin his new life. The first episode focuses on the study group being formed and Jeff supposedly thinking he has answers to the Spanish test which he really doesn't and ultimately abandoning the group only to later come back to the GROUP and start a new friendship. The pilot's ending worked kind of well and Abed's one line from the Breakfast club really was the highlight for me personally "Smoke it up Johnny." The pilot wasn't groundbreaking as someone else said, but it gave a strong indication Community would grow.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Jeff said he's on a 4-year probationary period because he lied about having a bachelor's degree. The Colorado Bar Association automatically disbars anyone who does that for a minimum of 8 years. And even then, a reinstatement to the bar after that period would be highly unlikely.
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QUOTES (10)
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- Troy: Whoa, you just wrinkled my brain.
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- Professor Duncan: I thought you had a Bachelor's from Columbia. Jeff: And now I have to get one from America. And it can't be an e-mail attachment.
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- Jeff: If I wanted to learn something, I wouldn't have come to community college.
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- Duncan: I'm asking you if you know the difference between right and wrong? Jeff: I discovered at a very early age that if I talk long enough, I could make anything right or wrong. So, either I'm God or truth is relative. And in either case, boo-yah!
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- Britta: I think actually we should prioritize here and study first and then go to dinner... And if they really prove to be untutorable, we'll slip out early. Jeff: Oh, they will be untutorable!
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- Shirley: You have been sexually harassing me since the first day of class. Pierce: Sexually harassing? Wha-- that makes no sense to me. Why would I harass somebody who turns me on?
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- Britta: Wait, so-- so this is a game to you? You put human beings into a state of emotional shambles for a shot of getting in my pants? Jeff: Why can't you see that for the compliment that it is?
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- Jeff: You have just stopped being a study group. You have become something unstoppable. I hereby pronounce you a community!
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- Jeff: That's what I do! I make things up. And I got paid a lot of money to do it before I came to this school-shaped toilet. I was a lawyer!
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- Troy: (chuckles) Asperger. Annie: It's a serious disorder. Pierce: So serious, why don't they call it meningitis?
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NOTES (5)
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- Chevy Chase ("Pierce") will be receiving the "And" credit.
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- Actors connections: Joel McHale ("Jeff") and Danny Pudi ("Abed") also worked together in the 2008 pilot-never-turned-into-series Giants Of Radio. Joel McHale ("Jeff") and Jim Rash ("Dean Pelton") also worked together in the 2008 movie The Onion Movie.
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- Original International Air Dates: Canada: September 17, 2009 on Citytv Latin America: February 4, 2010 on Sony Entertainment Television (a.k.a. Canal Sony) Sweden: February 8, 2010 on TV6 United Kingdom: October 5, 2010 on Viva
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- At the end of the episode, an "In Memoriam" dedication was made to film producer, writer, and director John Hughes (1950-2009). He wrote the screenplay for National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) which starred Chevy Chase (Pierce). He also wrote and directed The Breakfast Club, which seems more a propos to this episode.
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- Featured Music: • "You Made Me Like It" by 1990s • "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by The 88 • "Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare" (Series Theme Song) by Matt & Kim
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Jeff: ...and we can give Ben Affleck an Academy Award for screenwriting. This is in reference to the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, for which Ben Affleck shared a 1998 Oscar for Best Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) with co-writer and co-star Matt Damon.
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