There are times when the television is on, where my mom will raise the complaint that there is nothing good on TV. Usually I just brush it off as a mere generational gap. Captain Kangaroo? Whatever, mom. However, one of these times occurred while I was watching Community. Not cool. Because I love her, and society tells me not to, I didn’t scream hateful things at her and condemn her existence for such a ridiculously, outrageous claim.

For you heavy breathing, eye-rolling, naysayers, you are lucky I am behind a computer screen and cannot slap you because I surely (Shirley!) would. It’s a bold move to just crown a show the best written one on television. Believe me I’m aware of that. And I have no problem doing it. Yeah I said it. 

I consider myself, however unjustly, a connoisseur of television. I drink it in, swish it around my mouth, and savor the intricacies that make it so delicious. (How the hell do you watch TV?) 

A lot of people have told me that TV can turn you into a mush brain. Every time I hear that I want to strangle that person. They’re lucky societal norms be holdin’ me back!  Because TV was like a secret, extra parent.  I won’t argue that there is a lot of junk on TV but I will argue that there is some really enriching shit on there that needs to be seen and appreciated for its enrichiness. 

We live in a world now with literally thousands of television channels and exponential television shows. 99.9999999% of them are aired right where they should be and bringing in a respectable viewership rating or just flat out sucking. 0.000001% are aired too soon and their viewership suffers because, to be perfectly honest with you, the viewership is not ready for them. 

Like Arrested Development before it, Community is that minuscule percentage and about 3 million people realize it. They tune their televisions to a show that is quirky, heartwarming, educational, logical, thought provoking, silly, and relentlessly hilarious for 21 minutes and then watch something else that doesn’t come close to that combination.

“If it’s so good why is almost always canceled?” Shut up made up person I’ll explain. A lot of criticism stems from it being self-referencing. It’s “too hard to keep up with” because you have to get all the inside jokes. NEWSFLASH: THAT IS THE SIGN OF A TERRIFIC STORY/SHOW. When you read a book you are not looking for each chapter to be different. You want a cohesive story. That way it is easy to follow. You want to see that the characters acknowledge the past that has been created for them. Psst, that’s what Community does. It’s not a niche comedy, it’s an intricate comedy and people have real hard time keeping up with that. Their loss.

Play now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3kVNxLnOjY

This may sound like painful rambling but this is the first chance I have been able to sit down and write since the season 3 finale of a show that honestly never ceases to amaze me. It also comes on the heels of the news of Dan Harmon being fired as the artist of the beautiful masterpiece he created. They took the pallet away from da Vinci before he painted Mona Lisa’s face. 

Because I have no other way of saying it, thank you Dan Harmon. Thank you Community. This show is one of the greatest things I have ever seen. It changed my life and I hope it continues to do so. #sixseasonsandamovie

fictiveme:

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs;

ask yourself what makes you come alive.

And then go and do that.

Because what the world needs

is people who have come alive.

Word