Low enrollment in NBC’s “Community”

Antonio Hernandez/ The Roundup

Shows about high school life and college antics have come and gone. From “90210” to “Greek,” audiences have seen cliché after cliché as 20 something’s try their best to act like teenagers again. 

NBC’s new show, “Community”, now enters the fray, and focuses on an academic life rarely seen: community college. 

The concept is there, community colleges are full of a variety, ranging from students who cannot afford four-year universities, to high school graduates who would rather finish up their general education at a lower price. 

But yet again, the writers of “Community” chose to fill their characters with overused comedic clichés. 

Perhaps the most original character is Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), who is attending Greendale Community College because he faked his law degree in order to become a lawyer. After being caught, Winger must start his education over again. 

Winger starts a study group, in “Breakfast Club” fashion, in order to get to Britta (Gillian Jacobs), who is a beautiful high school dropout that attends his Spanish class. 

It is in this study group that we meet the other characters, Pierce (Chevy Chase), Abed (Danny Pudi), Annie (Alison Brie), and Troy (Donald Glover). 

Pierce is an old man that attends college simply because he can. Annie and Britta are both high school dropouts, and Troy is a high school athlete who lost his scholarship in injury. 

The show stays in this study room, leaving audiences to observe as each character pours out their life story in a near-comedic fashion. I say near-comedic because all of these characters are so dry that it’s hard to find them funny in the first place. 

Obviously the writer, Dan Harmon, didn’t bother to flesh out the characters and instead chose to generalize the community college population. That aside, the actors do try their best to bring life into otherwise stale. 

Mchale does an admirable job playing a character who believes he is above everyone. His inspirational monologue, designed to uplift his comrades, may have been the only funny lines to grace the screen. 

Chevy Chase is grossly misused and only allowed a few scenes to express his comedic muscle. 

If anything, “Community” is a rehash of the cult-classic “Breakfast Club.” It’s good that the writers even admit it, as Abed constantly references to the 80’s classic. 

“It’s just like Breakfast Club” he says throughout the show. It’s too bad that it’s already been done. Perhaps audiences will have the patience to watch overused characters argue for 30 minutes. I doubt that the audience will stick around though. 

As a community college student, I couldn’t help but feel insulted by the characterizations presented. 

Perhaps it is good to laugh at ourselves once and a while, but NBC should take note that it’s not a good idea to alienate a segment of their audience. 

Community colleges are not full of dropouts and 20-year-old slackers. All of these students attend Junior colleges for a variety of reasons. 

Maybe the only reason students should watch it, is for the scenes that were shot on Pierce Campus. 

Perhaps Pierce can offer a few classes in comedy, maybe then the next time “Community” comes to visit, they might actually learn something.

Courtesy of NBC studios ()