Why the ‘Community’ Pilot Has Different Versions on Peacock and Hulu (original) (raw)
The cast of Community
Image via NBC
Published Apr 7, 2024, 10:00 AM EDT
Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for ten years. Between relentlessly adding new titles to his watchlist and attending as many screenings as he can, Liam is always watching new movies and television shows.
In addition to reviewing, writing, and commentating on both new and old releases, Liam has interviewed talent such as Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Plemons, Sam Mendes, Billy Eichner, Dylan O'Brien, Luke Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Liam aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in Allentown, PA.
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Summary
- Community's pilot sets up unique characters and humor that distinguish it from traditional sitcoms.
- Different streaming services offer various versions of the pilot episode, providing alternate versions of key scenes and jokes.
- Subtle, blink-and-miss gags are integral to Community's humor, making it difficult to fully appreciate through syndicated cuts.
The 21st century saw a massive shift in the development of half-hour comedies as networks became more willing to greenlight experimental programming that did not resemble the more formulaic sitcoms of the previous decade. While narratively straightforward, half-hour shows like Seinfeld and Friends dominated the ratings in the 1990s, the new century saw a rise in mockumentary-style comedies like The Office and Parks and Recreation, as well as multicam series like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development; these programs subsequently reshaped the industry and led to a broader definition of what defines a “sitcom.” Although it didn’t achieve the same level of popularity upon its initial release, Dan Harmon’s NBC comedy Communityearned a significant cult fandom and only became more popular upon its streaming debut. Although this availability has allowed the series to gain more viewers who missed it initially, _Community_’s pilot episode has been heavily edited for some of its streaming homes.
Release Date
2009 - 2015-00-00
Network
NBC, Yahoo! Screen
Showrunner
Dan Harmon
Directors
Tristram Shapeero, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Rob Schrab, Jay Chandrasekhar, Adam Davidson, Justin Lin, Steven K. Tsuchida, Kyle Newacheck, Victor Nelli Jr., Nat Faxon, Michael Patrick Jann, Anthony Hemingway, Ken Whittingham, Steven Sprung, Tricia Brock, Jeff Melman, Gail Mancuso, Duke Johnson, Fred Goss, Bobcat Goldthwait, Richard Ayoade, Seth Gordon, Beth McCarthy-Miller
Writers
Chris McKenna, Hilary Winston, Andrew Guest, Tim Hobert, Karey Dornetto, Stephen Basilone, Emily Cutler, Annie Mebane, Alex Rubens, Tim Saccardo, Paul Isakson, David Seger, Maggie Bandur, Monica Padrick, Matt Murray, Liz Cackowski, Lauren Pomerantz, Dan Guterman, Matt Roller, Ryan Ridley, Carol Kolb, Jon Pollack, Dino Stamatopoulos, Donald Diego
A suspended lawyer is forced to enroll in a community college with an eccentric staff and student body.
Main Genre
Comedy
Seasons
6
Community takes place at the idiosyncratic campus of Greendale University, a remote community college in Colorado that accepts a very odd student body. Although the campus is often seen as a joke by educational professionals, it aids in helping its peculiar students work through difficult situations in their personal lives. Following his disbarment from practicing the law, the disgraced hotshot attorney Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) begins taking classes at Greendale to quickly graduate and return to his previous perspective. While Jeff’s dilemma serves as the inciting incident in the first Community episode, the pilot does a great job at setting up the entire cast of characters. Within just one installment, Harmon established what made Community unique compared to other sitcoms and the show’s highly referential, satirical sense of humor.
Although Jeff plans to coast through getting his degree at Greendale through his relationship with Professor Ian Duncan (John Oliver), he attempts to flirt with his classmate Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs) by suggesting they form a study group. While Jeff has no intention of actually taking part in group meetings, he is taken aback when Britta invites the film student Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), the former high school athlete Troy Barnes (Donald Glover), the single mother Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown), the aging conspiracy theorist Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) and the overachiever Annie Edison (Alison Brie). The Community pilot reveals each of the main characters’ core flaws, setting them up for their best episodes **in later seasons.**While some sitcoms use their pilots as “proof of concept” installments, the initial episode of Community was already foreshadowing the direction the series would take.
While the scale and scope are less significant compared to later seasons, Community ’s pilot is still one of its best episodes.Harmon managed to do a lot of subtle worldbuilding to indicate that Greendale is far different in practice than it may have seemed from an outside perspective; each of the characters, while fulfilling a familiar archetype, are much more than the caricatures they could have been. The pilot teases certain storylines, such as the complicated romantic relationship between Jeff and Britta and Pierce’s illustrious fortune, that would become more prominent in later seasons.
Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) from Community sitting with hands folded, smiling
Image Via NBC
The series earned rave reviews and succeeded in obtaining a niche fanbase that appreciated Harmon’s unique storytelling structure. However, Community struggled with its ratings throughout its run and was canceled after its fifth season; although the show was revitalized on the Yahoo Screen streaming service, its lackluster final season brought the series to an abrupt close. As a result, Community ’s popularity heightened because of its debut on streaming services. The ability to binge the show and catch up on its subtle in-jokes proved very beneficial for those watching the series for the first time.
Although it certainly succeeded as a result of its debut on Netflix, Community ’s different streaming homes contain different versions of the pilot episode. The version first released on Netflix (that is now available on Peacock) does not include the new version of the logo in future seasons; it also omits key conversations of Jeff flirting with Britta, sharing a conversation with a lunch lady, talking to Troy about his leather jacket, and reacting to Duncan’s dirty car. However, a different version of the episode on Hulu includes these deleted scenes.
According to Community screenwriter Andy Heriaud, the pilot available on Peacock resembles the original cut of the episode released on broadcast. To comply with the requirements of a streaming syndication package, _Community_’s showrunners had to cut out certain moments to fit within the parameters that allowed for advertising. While it cuts out some of the subtle jokes that Community became known for, the syndication-ready pilot was necessary in securing the residuals for the show following its initial release and cancelation. Heriaud revealed that while he “brought this issue to Netflix’s attention when Community launched on the platform,” the streamer “just replied with a shrug.”
While complying with additional edits to fit syndication parameters is an unnecessary burden on any show, in this instance, it is particularly harmful because _Community'_s best jokes are derived from "blink and you'll miss it" subtle gags. While some episodes are more rewatchable than others, Community can't be viewed out of order like other sitcoms. There are forward-looking character development and serialized narrative elements that require the utmost attention from the viewer; to view Community as merely a "highlight reel" would be to divorce it from its unique qualities.
Perhaps because of the unusual sense of humor, Community struggled to fit within NBC's comedy schedule alongside more straightforward comedies like The Office and Parks and Recreation. Nonetheless, the development of the upcoming spinoff movie suggests Community eventually found an audience that viewed the series as it was intended.
Community is streaming on Hulu in the U.S.