Comedy Hour I

Community: Thursdays on NBC, 9:30/8:30 Central

Attempting to fill the shoes of My Name is Earl (along with its 8/7 timeslot starting in two weeks), Community is NBC's newest entry in their long-standing Thursday night comedy block. Unlike their flop from last year (Kath & Kim), Community is actually funny.

Jeff is a lawyer... or rather he used to be. It turns out that bar associations don't take it so well when your law degree came from an online "school" in Colombia. As a result, he's going back to college for the first time. Specifically, he's going back to Greendale Community College. In an effort to get in fellow student Britta's pants (she looks just like Elisabeth Shue), Jeff accidentally starts up a study group for his Spanish 101 class populated by a collection of misfits.

Community has almost everything I look for in a comedy. It's quotable (did you know that 90% of speaking Spanish is in how you move your hands?), self-aware, chock full of pop culture references (but not in an in-your-face Gilmore Girls kind of way), and walks the fine line between smart and silly. The pilot gets most of the dull exposition out of the way (character intros, etc.), but does it in a brilliant fashion. Throw 7 strangers into a room, let them interact, and you're bound to find out almost everything you need to know about them.

There have been two episodes so far, both hilarious, but in very different ways. You can catch up on Hulu or by watching the encore presentations tonight on USA at 11:05/10:05.



Bored to Death: Sundays on HBO, 9:30/8:30 Central

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