Quick Take: Community, "Contemporary American Poultry"
"Abed, the mafia movie is over." – Jeff
Review: Community, "Contemporary American Poultry"
(S0121) NBC's two hour sitcom block on Thursday nights is a stronghold of comedic domination. That said, if there are weaknesses in the fortress, they do not come from the direction of freshman Community, which I really believe will be one of the best comedies on television for years to come.
It certainly is right now. While some have criticized Community's use of pop culture references, I say it thrives on it. Almost all of my friends and I easily lapse back and forth from banter to pop cultural asides to occasional matters serious and real life-ish, and Community functions intuitively in that mode. We know, for example, that Pierce (Chevy Chase) is constantly and desperately trying to do whatever it takes to fit in with the gang, to be hip, to be pop culturally savvy. So it was therefore hilarious that he, apropos of nothing, started to drop the term "streets ahead" to the study group (you know, the one that never actually studies).
While it clearly doesn't resonate with group's amorphous sense of hipness, they take the time to dissect and discuss none the less. Inquisitive Annie (Alison Brie) wonders if it means something cool… or something else. Pierce rejoins that if you have to ask… well, then you're streets behind. What's especially compelling and funny though is that as the topic shifts to something much more important – racing to the cafeteria in time to get their hands on those delicious chicken fingers before they run out (I'm guessing Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution would certainly not approve!) – "streets ahead" is thrown in as an off camera aside of approval.
In other words, Pierce, defying the odds, had managed to get the catch phrase to seep into the group's pop culture vocabulary. And that, kids, is both funny and cool.
Speaking of pop cultural references, Community wins my heart forever and ever with Abed's (Dany Pudi) segue into Goodfellas-like voiceover, which transitions into an entire Martin Scorsese-esque sequence about the "crew's" moves to get their hands on those delicious chicken fingers, replete with '60s croon-y soundtrack. Whether or not you've seen Goodfellas (and everyone really needs to see Goodfellas), that's not just funny, that's epic.
The "mafia movie" evolves into an ego battle between Jeff and Abed. It works really well in that it plays off what we already know about these characters (Abed is a walking/talking voiceover/self-directing director of the movie of his life, Jeff's position as "head" of the group is crucial to his persona). There's even a nice character-driven at the end where we learn a little bit more about these two characters (in every sense of the word.
And that's good TV. No, great. Streets ahead.
More thoughts on "Contemporary American Poultry":
Video: Community, "Contemporary American Poultry"
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Recap: Community, "Contemporary American Poultry"
Jeff and Abed take on the Chicken Finger shortage at Greendale head on creating a division in the group that leaves Jeff without power.
From Around the Web: Community, "Contemporary American Poultry"
