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1* {{Adorkable}}:
2** Gillian Jacobs describes Britta (and herself) with this exact word in one of the Season 3 commentaries.
3** Annie: A neurotic, compulsive over-achiever whose innocence, cuteness and naivete nevertheless make her adorable.
4** As Troy becomes less of a jock, he turns into this, with his endearing child-like behavior and his appreciation of the geek culture like the in-universe series ''Inspector Spacetime'' slowly being developed thanks to his close friendship with Abed.
5** Chang is somewhat endearing in his Kevin persona and his less psychotic moments in Seasons 5 and 6. Any other time? Not really.
6** Frankie is comically awkward when flustered and has a remarkable tendency to put her foot in her mouth for somebody so composed. There's also her attempts at playing the steel drums in "Advanced Safety Features", which have to be seen to be believed.
7* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
8** The characters themselves go back-and-forth over whether Pierce is an inherent, fundamental and completely irredeemable {{Jerkass}} or whether he's just a lonely but socially inept old man who just wants to make friends but has no clue how, and merely ends up lashing out whenever his overtures are rejected.
9** Abed; LovableNerd [[TheWoobie Woobie]] with numerous psychological and emotional problems who uses pop culture as a way of trying to connect to people, or [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] sociopath who enjoys pulling strings to get people into trouble that resembles his favorite movies and TV shows?
10** In Season 3, is [[spoiler:Evil Abed really trying to crossover into the Prime Timeline, or is he just a figment of Abed's imagination?]]
11** Do Troy and Abed merely have a cute, HoYay filled HeterosexualLifePartners friendship that they get a bit too fixated on at times, or are they in fact alarmingly co-dependent on each other?
12** Do the students and faculty of Greendale treat things like paintball and pillow fights as SeriousBusiness, or do they all (like Jeff [[NotSoAboveItAll most of the time]]) just want an excuse to get away from class/work?
13** Britta's parents. [[spoiler:[[Recap/CommunityS6E02LawnmowerMaintenanceAndPostnatalCare The episode in which we meet them]] suggests that they spent Britta's childhood dominating and stifling her, only to eventually do a HeelFaceTurn and want to rebuild bridges with her after she grew up and ran away. However, because in the episode they're ''so'' laid-back, friendly and easy-going, an alternative interpretation has arisen that suggests that they've ''always'' been like that and were happy to let Britta believe they were overly-oppressive bad guys when she began to lash out rather than confront her about it.]]
14*** On a related note, [[spoiler:while a lot of their actions ''are'' described as being incredibly cruel, it's pointed out InUniverse that it could just be both Britta and her parents [[SelfServingMemory remembering the same events very differently]], and Britta is ascribing motivations to events (like her cat running away) that were never actually there because of how upset she was and looking for someone to blame due to emotional distress]].
15** Andre, Shirley's ex-husband, whom she divorced because he cheated on her; is he a BitchInSheepsClothing or a well-meaning but flawed man that dealt with the stress of his stereo business failing in an unhealthy fashion? And no, the backstory isn't UnreliableExpositor: Andre confirms that he did cheat on Shirley in season two and why he doesn't blame her for [[spoiler:sleeping with Chang during the HalloweenEpisode]]. Not helping matters is he promises to be a better husband through the next two seasons, [[spoiler:but divorces her (again) and takes the kids when her sandwich shop visit fails]].
16* AudienceAlienatingEra: Season 4.
17** Characters underwent {{Flanderization}} by being defined solely by a single joke: Abed is quirky to the point of a mental disorder! The Dean is a WholesomeCrossdresser! Meanwhile, Troy reached near-SatelliteCharacter levels while Pierce was increasingly DemotedToExtra and barely played a major role in any given episode[[note]]Pierce's decreasing screentime was partially a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot: Creator/ChevyChase was getting increasingly sick of working on the show, and he ultimately left midway through the season after having an outburst where he dropped a racial slur on-set[[/note]].
18** Troy and Britta's relationship suffered a major ShippingBedDeath as the writers couldn't find anything interesting to do with them; Chang's FakingAmnesia plot was obvious and hackneyed.
19** Earlier jokes and storylines were brought back as {{Fanservice}}, with the ''Inspector Spacetime'' joke being run into the ground. The finale, which brought back the "worst timeline" and paintball concepts that'd been lampshaded as old and forced an entire season prior, was critically panned with the only good thing about it being the reveal that it was AllJustADream. A few shots at Season 4 were taken in-universe during Season 5, with reference to the "gas-leak year".
20* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The show ended up dealing with this from an unusual angle. The basic premise seems simplistic enough, but the implementation defied almost all expectations of the genre. The large main and supporting cast, [[KudzuPlot thickly plotted stories]], [[ContinuityLockOut high levels of continuity]] and ''loads'' of in-joke meta humor made it difficult to jump in to any given episode. The AffectionateParody episodes that came to define the series only exacerbated the issue, as that meant they were constantly switching style and tone. Very few episodes even bothered with topics such as class projects, tests and grades, despite the fact the main cast is supposed to be a study group. Even the fandom came to admit that the community college setting was mostly a backdrop to everything else. By the time Jeff [[spoiler:became a teacher]], the writers still did very little with it.
21* AwardSnub: In spite of achieving a rabid following and a lot of praise from critics, the show only snagged a handful of MediaNotes/EmmyAward nominations during its entire run. The sole writing nomination was for Chris Mc[=Kenna=] for "Remedial Chaos Theory".
22* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Has a [[AwesomeMusic/{{Community}} sub-page]].
23* BadassDecay: In the first paintball episode, Chang is TheDragon and brings his own weapons. In the second, he's an incompetent moron who continually betrays the groups he latches on to. Of course, the entire second season was largely dedicated to giving Chang a near-constant HumiliationConga, so this is perhaps understandable. And also, it's worth pointing out that he didn't actually do anything in the first Paintball episode, except take out Britta while getting taken out by her.
24* BaseBreakingCharacter:
25** Out of the main cast, Shirley is probably the most divisive. Depending on who you ask she's either a realistically flawed woman among a cast of flawed people who nonetheless has plenty of great scenes and heartwarming moments, or an annoying, shrill [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] and secretly the biggest {{Jerkass}} in the group. [[TakeAThirdOption Then there's a third camp]] who think she's fine enough, [[OutOfFocus but wish she had more screentime and plotlines to her name.]]
26** Pierce easily comes second place in terms of divisiveness: see AlternativeCharacterInterpretation above. Part of the fandom thinks he's a bigoted, utterly irredeemable {{Jerkass}} who more than earned his [[DroppedABridgeOnHim lousy departure]]. Others think he's a lovable buffoon who simply has a tendency to [[TheDogBitesBack act out and become abrasive when he's ignored or made fun of for too long.]] The behind-the-scenes drama involving Chevy Chase and his ''immensely'' vitriolic relationship with the series doesn't help any matters.
27*** Amongst Pierce's fans, there's also a divide between those who prefer his more grandfatherly, InnocentBigot, dopey but ultimately well meaning characterization from Season 1 and parts of Season 3, and those who prefer his more straightforwardly insecure and nasty characterization from Season 2. Fans of the former characterization tend to blame the latter characterization on the aforementioned drama between Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase, further complicating matters.
28** Chang. While fans generally love Creator/KenJeong, opinions are divided on the handling of the character after Season 1, especially since he went through a great deal of {{Flanderization}} and the show clearly struggled to find reasons to keep him around once he stopped being the group's Spanish teacher.
29** A relatively small but still noticeable one has begun to spring up around Abed, largely centring around the AlternativeCharacterInterpretation listed above. Even though there are multiple episodes ''per season'' dedicated to deconstructing just how thoroughly annoying and occasionally outright destructive Abed's antics are capable of becoming as well as how they could backfire on him in the form of pushing away his friends or taking a significant toll on his own sanity, some fans of the show feel as though whatever lessons those episodes were meant to teach Abed, especially with regards to not treating his friends like fictional characters who exist purely to be manipulated for his own amusement [[AesopAmnesia never really stuck around to any kind of meaningful extent, even to the episode's tag]] and he is all-too-often EasilyForgiven (especially by Troy).
30*** Relating to this is the fact that, while each member of the group is shown to have reasons for behaving in the way they do (especially Pierce, Jeff and Annie), they all have multiple instances of either being [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse actively called out or else realising for themselves that they've crossed a line and that they need to alter their behavior to accommodate the others in the group]]. When it comes to Abed, however, not only does he rarely get called out for his more destructive actions/behaviors to the same extent as the others but on the occasions that he is, the respective episodes tend to end with Abed either getting his way or else not really having to significantly confront or learn to alter the worst aspects of his behavior in the same way everyone else is given the chance to, largely due to him tending to fall back on his own FreudianExcuse of having an [[DiagnosedByTheAudience undiagnosed neurological disorder]] and a rough childhood in order to do so. Even though the later seasons began to have instances of outside characters calling out this dynamic of Abed (intentionally or not) forcing everyone in the group to accommodate him and very rarely that effort going both ways, the dynamic itself never really changed. Put simply, depending on who you ask, Abed is either an {{Adorkable}} LovableNerd whose meta humor and dynamic with Troy is the source of some of the show's best jokes, or he's a [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] vaguely sociopathic KarmaHoudini who regularly gets the group into quite serious trouble for the sake of his own amusement.
31* BizarroEpisode: While ''Community'' has a number of episodes which would fall under this for any other show, it still has those that qualify as a BizarroEpisode even by ''Community''[='s=] standards.
32** "[[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology Epidemiology]]" -- A ZombieApocalypse takes place at the school's Halloween party.
33** "[[Recap/CommunityS2E11AbedsUncontrollableChristmas Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas]]" - A stop-motion animated Christmas episode taking place in Abed's mind.
34** "[[Recap/CommunityS3E10RegionalHolidayMusic Regional Holiday Music]] -- A ''Series/{{Glee}}'' parody with elements of ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'', in with characters constantly bursting into song.
35** "[[Recap/CommunityS5E08AppDevelopmentAndCondiments App Development and Condiments]]" -- a 70's sci-fi movie-esque dystopia caused by an app beta test.
36** "[[Recap/CommunityS5E11GIJeff G.I. Jeff]]" -- An episode taking place [[spoiler:inside Jeff's mind]], where Jeff and his friends are rogue G.I. Joes who slowly become aware of the fact that their life is a cartoon.
37** "[[Recap/CommunityS6E10BasicRVRepairAndPalmistry Basic RV Repair and Palmistry]]" -- a [[RoadTripPlot Road Trip Episode]] that [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] HowWeGotHere and {{Flashback}}s and ends with an [[MoodWhiplash aggressively dark]] BigLippedAlligatorMoment.
38* BrokenBase:
39** The biggest split is on the Harmon-less Season 4 (which was either pretty good or the worst thing on television, depending on who you ask), but many smaller ones exist among the fandom, ranging from whether or not Season 3's second half was too bizarre, if Season 1 was the best or worst of the Harmon years, if Harmon's return in Season 5 revitalized the show back to its glory days or if it was simply too little too late, and whether Troy was utilized well in his final season or not.
40** Britta's [[TookALevelInDumbass devolution]] into a DumbBlonde. Some people think it's {{Flanderization}} gone too far or even insulting and mean-spirited (particularly since Britta's character was apparently inspired by an ex-girlfriend of Harmon's during his time in college); others say it suits Gillian Jacobs' flair for physical comedy better than Britta's original characterization and actually gave her more of a personality beyond the "cool girl" archetype she started off as. And then there's a third party who don't mind the change but think the show goes too far in making her the ButtMonkey and being treated harshly by the narrative even when [[DumbassHasAPoint she makes a surprisingly good point]].
41** ''Inspector Spacetime'' is either a cute AffectionateParody or an OverlyLongGag that was run into the ground almost immediately after it was introduced.
42** "[[Recap/CommunityS5E11GIJeff G.I. Jeff]]" has a significant split in opinion, some people love it, a lot of people think it is one of the worst episodes the show ever made. Other people find it boring, often as a result of the WholePlotReference being an American cartoon that a lot of viewers weren't really familiar with, or even knew existed, which makes the references to the references just blank, unfunny bits that don't work.
43** As the online fandom has reduced in size to revolve mostly around Reddit and Facebook groups where long term fans mix with newcomers doing an ArchiveBinge, there has been an increasing split between Jeff/Annie shippers who dominated the fandom when the show was airing and newer viewers who generally dislike the ship who join forces with the few shippers of other pairings who never liked Jeff/Annie in the first place.
44** The "Chang takes over the school" arc in Sesaon 3. A wild, ambitious story that defied convention, broke with the show's formula and raised its comic imagination to new heights, or an over-the-top, improbable tall tale that stretched the credulity of the audience while turning Chang into a HateSink?
45** The removal of the otherwise well received ''[[Recap/CommunityS2E14AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons Advance Dungeons And Dragons]]'' from Netflix and Hulu. Was taking it out from their platforms appropriate and respectable in light of heightened concerns and awareness of racism, or was it an overreaction, considering the execution of the scene and how tame it is compared to some other scenes and jokes the show has? The history of dark elves in real life Dungeons and Dragons, who have been accused of initially being based on racial stereotypes, doesn't help matters. Yvette Nicole Brown [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjJQBX2Nw2A thinks]] highly of the episode, and laments the controversy it caused overshadowing the acting of Charley Koontz in his one featured episode. The controversy is only for Netflix and Hulu since Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, and the season two DVD release still have the episode.
46* CatharsisFactor: While it's a BreakTheCutie moment for Britta, to the point that [[spoiler:Professor Duncan refuses to take advantage of her vulnerable state to sleep with her]], there is something kind of satisfying about how her anarchist friends in Season 5 pointing out that [[spoiler:yes they may have sold out by buying a movie theater and going into real estate, but it means they have responsibilities and obligations and can actually ''do'' good with what they have. Britta just wants to do destructive vandalism in the name of self-righteousness.]] This forces her to finally confront her SoapboxSadie tendencies, as well as perhaps ''why'' people have been calling her "the worst".
47** A more played straight example is after the climax of Season 1's "Modern Warfare," where Jeff fires Chang's automatic paintball gun in the Dean's office and then shoots the panicked and helpless Dean in the head with paint. Considering everything the Dean had put the campus through, it is ''more'' than satisfying to watch.
48* CharacterRerailment: "Repilot" returns most of the characters back to their Season 2-era characterizations after the intense {{Flanderization}} that was Season 4. Especially notable is Chang, who immediately drops his unpopular "Kevin" schtick and returns to being a SadistTeacher like he was in the first season.
49* ContinuityLockout: More of a meta-version; in later seasons particularly, Dan Harmon tended to use the show as an airing board for his grievances with the network which, coupled with his fondness for obscure meta-humor, tended to result in a lot of jokes about ''Community's'' behind-the-scenes issues that would completely fly over the heads over anyone unaware of or uninterested in the details of how the suits at NBC had pissed Harmon off this week. While many of the devoted fans -- being media-savvy types who tended to follow along with news about their favorite shows in the first place -- responded well to these kinds of jokes, it arguably didn't really help with the show's persistent troubles in attracting a broader audience -- which, in addition to consistently leaving the show in danger of cancellation, ironically also left the show stuck in a position where it was in constant risk of the kind of ExecutiveMeddling that annoyed Harmon in the first place.
50* CrazyIsCool: "[[Recap/CommunityS3E20DigitalEstatePlanning Digital Estate Planning]]" has Abed deciding to stay with Hilda and finding out he can have children with her, who he can command to do anything. HilarityEnsues. And then there's the final battle with Pierce's father, which involves [[spoiler: shooting Abed's children at a giant rock monster's legs so they can pickaxe it to death, Troy and Abed shooting lava at it out of golden mechs, Shirley piloting a helicopter against it, and Pierce riding an atomic bomb.]]
51* CriticalBacklash: Given a major portion of the fanbase is very vocal about their hatred on Season 4 and would commonly treat it as the absolutely worst thing on television, is quite common for newer fans that finally check it to find it SoOkayItsAverage and even admit to enjoy or even love some of the episodes.
52* CriticalDissonance: While critical reviews for Seasons 5 were extremely positive, fandom reaction was slightly more mixed, ranging from Season 5 being the best since the the first two seasons to feeling that by this point the show had run out of steam, even with Dan Harmon back as showrunner.
53* CrossesTheLineTwice:
54** An excerpt from "Environmental Science" that was used standalone to promote the show. It's too long to present in its entirety here: see [[{{Quotes/Community}} the Quotes page]].
55** Pierce, frequently. One example is he's playing ''TabletopGame/{{Pictionary}}'' and draws a swastika to convey a windmill, saying that Rabbi Chang should know what it is. [[note]] Apparently this is just one of ''thousands'' of swastika-windmill ''Pictionary'' incidents. [[/note]]
56* CultClassic: It's hardly mainstream, but the fanbase is dedicated enough and big enough to campaign for its renewal and success.
57* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Abed speaks in a flat affect, seems to understand and obsess over certain movies and shows more than the average enthusiast, has a hard time dealing with change, mentions he is "not good with faces" (facial expressions) and struggles at times with emotional regulation and staying calm. All are extremely common symptoms of [[UsefulNotes/{{Autism}} autism]], or autism spectrum disorder, which many viewers believe Abed has.
58* EnsembleDarkhorse:
59** Several recurring Greendale students are extremely popular among fans, most notably Magnitude ("POP POP!"), Star-Burns (his name is ''Alex''), and Garrett, TheComicallySerious LargeHam ("CRISIS ALERT!").
60** Many wish Professor Duncan would have been able to stick around as a main character as was originally intended, thanks in no small part to Creator/JohnOliver's hilarious performance. Suffice to say, fans were overjoyed to see him come back for a recurring role in Season 5 and for him to gain a decent amount of character depth in the process.
61** Drama Professor Sean Garrity, due to Kevin Corrigan's [[ChewingTheScenery incredibly over-the-top]] portrayal.
62** Sgt. Nunez for being a ReasonableAuthorityFigure and competent {{Foil}} to Chang, and for being smart enough to [[spoiler:go ScrewThisImOuttaHere when Chang's insanity becomes too much for him to handle]].
63** Rachel, the cute and endearing coat check girl played by Creator/BrieLarson, from "[[Recap/CommunityS4E08HerstoryOfDance Herstory of Dance]]" is widely considered one of the best parts of Season 4, by Creator/DanHarmon himself and much of the fanbase.
64** Officer Cackowski, for his great comedic chemistry with the study group, being rather kooky even by the standards of this series, and being essentially ''made'' of memorable lines.
65** Koogler, the ManChild FratBro played by [[Series/ArrestedDevelopment Mitch Hurwitz]] in "App Development and Condiments".
66** Custodian Lapari, largely in part due to him being played by the hysterical Creator/KumailNanjiani and being a surprising invocation of EvilIsCool in "Modern Espionage".
67** Both Season 6 regulars Frankie and Elroy manage to avert ReplacementScrappy by way of being ''adored'' by fans, thanks to being a great StraightMan in a cast of increasingly wacky characters for Frankie, and an excellent performance by Creator/KeithDavid and lots of funny and endearing lines for Elroy. It's not uncommon to see fans online wishing that they were both around for longer than just one season.
68* EvenBetterSequel: Some episodes that revisit earlier episode concepts are regarded as just as good, if not better than the original, most notably the second {{Mockumentary}} episode "[[Recap/CommunityS3E08DocumentaryFilmmakingRedux Documentary Filmmaking Redux]]" and the second ClipShow episode "[[Recap/CommunityS3E19CurriculumUnavailable Curriculum Unavailable]]".
69* FanMyopia: While the show most certainly has a devoted fanbase, its ratings were ever-declining throughout its run. It doesn't help that a VocalMinority of the show's fans have a tendency to repeatedly put down competing sitcoms as inferior in their frustration with its poor ratings, which did nothing but make fans of the competing sitcoms less likely to watch ''Community''. Some have speculated that this toxicity in the fandom instead had a negative impact on the show, which couldn't afford to lose viewers. This is in large part due to the LawOfFanJackassery; the fandom is essentially right at the middle. The show is far too popular for the VocalMinority to just be kicked out, but doesn't have nearly enough mainstream recognition for them to just be ignored.
70* {{Fanon}}:
71** Given his nicer-than-nice attitude concealing an apparently very screwed-up mindset resulting from [[FreudianExcuse maternal abuse]], a common fan-interpretation is that Rich is secretly some kind of SerialKiller.
72** [[spoiler:Annie]] being the Ass Crack Bandit in Season 5. The Ass Crack Bandit's identity ''is'' strongly implied to have been her in the SeriesFinale, but it's also still left as a RiddleForTheAges.
73** Britta's first name is frequently thought to be short for Brittany.
74** Abed is never officially stated InUniverse to have autism aside from Jeff [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness in the pilot]], but it's pretty much treated as fact by everyone due to frequent mentions out-of-universe by the cast and crew regarding Abed being written as somewhere on the autism spectrum.
75* FandomRivalry: Both of which are [[UnknownRival exceptionally one-sided]]. Generally speaking, most ''Community'' fans hate both ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' and ''Series/{{Glee}}'' due to both series having been timeslot rivals for ''Community'' along with ''Community'' being seen by its fans as "doing everything better" than what those two shows were doing. In contrast, most fans of ''The Big Bang Theory'' and/or ''Glee'' seem to be surprised to learn that ''Community'' even '''exists''', much less that there's a rivalry between the fandoms.
76** In the case of ''The Big Bang Theory'', the animosity seems to be due to how there's the feeling among the ''Community'' fandom that the former puts nerds and nerd culture up to ridicule, whereas ''Community'' is a show "for nerds by nerds."
77** This was ''thought'' by many to be referenced in the show, and for a while got it a lot of hate online. In one episode, Jeff goes on and on about how much he hates the Music/BarenakedLadies, not understanding why everyone likes them so much. This was seen by many as a cheap shot at ''The Big Bang Theory'', whom Barenaked Ladies sing the theme song for. Dan Harmon himself had to come out and clarify that no, the episode had nothing to do with ''The Big Bang Theory'', that it was a reference to the fact that he, like Jeff, knows a lot of fans of the band who are very passionate, and he just doesn’t get it.
78* FanonDiscontinuity: Season 4 (the only season without Dan Harmon and the first without most of the writers of Seasons 1-3) has been declared this by some fans, with some even hoping to erase the season from canon by having Abed walk out of the Dreamatorium shortly after the end of Season 3, and reveal it was all just him running simulations. [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/07/dan-harmon-wont-be-a-jerk-about-community-season-4-and-doesnt-plan-to-negate-anything It wasn't]], but its SeasonalRot was heavily lampshaded throughout the fifth season, poking fun at some of its more questionable plot developments. Characters even refer to it in-universe as 'the gas leak year.' Also, on the extreme side of things, there are some fans who only prefer [[FirstInstallmentWins the first season]] when the show was still somewhat grounded and had yet to go DenserAndWackier, refusing to acknowledge the existence of any season that came after.
79* FanPreferredCouple:
80** Despite Troy and Abed having canon love interests in the form of Britta and Rachel, respectively, most fans ship the two together instead, due to the massive amounts of HoYay between them and their great chemistry, with Troy/Abed having the most fics for the show on [=AO3=] and still being popular years after the show ended.
81** Jeff and Annie despite Jeff/Britta originally being meant to endgame. How much do some fans prefer this couple you may ask? Enough to vote them [[http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b229149_tvs_top_couples_2011_winner.html TV's Top Couples 2011]] despite the fact they are not a canon couple.
82* FranchiseOriginalSin:
83** A lot of the criticisms of the "[[SeasonalRot weaker seasons]]" (read: Seasons 4-6) -- i.e., Britta being [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] into a DumbBlonde CosmicPlaything, Troy becoming increasingly defined solely by his friendship with Abed along with [[TookALevelInDumbass becoming an idiot]], Abed serving largely as a {{Manchild}} MetaGuy with a quirky way of thinking, Shirley and Pierce and Greendale ''itself'' all being left OutOfFocus, an increasing emphasis on surrealism and LeaningOnTheFourthWall seemingly for the sake of themselves, {{Call Back}}s and {{Continuity Nod}}s all becoming so prevalent as to result in ContinuityLockout, and the ever-increasing levels of cynicism -- all have their roots in the more beloved Seasons 1-3. At the time, people were accepting of these elements since such developments were novelties, and also helped to develop characters in a way that a regular sitcom wouldn't have the luxury of doing. By the time of Season 4 though, it was clear that the show was focusing entirely on its bizarre nature at the expense of developing the main protagonists, which made people far more frustrated with the show's flanderization and increasingly wacky plots.
84** The show in the first half of the first season was more of a standard ensemble comedy, but fell backwards into finding out the cast and crew were ''really'' good at one shot {{Parody Episode}}s, starting with "Contemporary American Poultry" and ''Film/{{Casino}}'' but really catching critics and audiences attention with "Modern Warfare" being a PaintballEpisode lampooning action films like ''Film/DieHard''. This created a push to keep doing these types of episodes but unfortunately the cast and setting was never intended to be that flexible and the characters would often get swept into [[UniversalAdaptorCast playing a particular role without regard for who they really are]]. So this made the show gather a passionate fanbase who adored the meta humor, but the radically different tone from episode to episode made it difficult to grow an audience, remaining fairly stagnant in viewership for the remainder of the series. The parody episodes also saw some diminishing returns, as a follow up "A Fistful of Paintballs"/"For a Few Paintballs More" two-part PaintballEpisode in the second season got a much cooler reception.
85** Britta's {{Flanderization}} into a SoapboxSadie DumbBlonde in Season 3 is often cited by her fans as a reason for why the show began to decay as time went on. Even in Season 1 though, Britta was shown that she wasn't nearly as well-informed or sympathetic towards the causes she was interested in, with a few characters pointing out how she sometimes went on about various political causes for the sake of acting superior towards others. This aspect of her character was a lot more tolerable when it was mostly used to round out her more positive traits (such as her kindness towards her Study Group members, her charisma, and her willingness to call Jeff on his bullshit), and was still smart and independent overall. It's only later on that the negative aspects of Britta's character became irritating for fans when she TookALevelInDumbass to the point where she's wrong about absolutely ''everything'', and seemingly existed for the sake of screwing things up and being [[HatedByAll hated by every single character around her, Study Group or not]].
86* FriendlyFandoms:
87** Let's just say that ''JustForFun/InspectorSpacetime'' was very well received by both ''Series/{{Community}}'' fans and ''Series/DoctorWho'' fans (at least when it was introduced, opinions are divided on how well it was handled throughout the season). Creator/MattSmith and Creator/KarenGillan are huge fans of ''Community'' and even expressed interest in appearing in the show.
88** The fandoms of fellow intensely-quotable {{Cult Classic}}s ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' and (to a lesser extent) ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' tend to overlap with ''Community'''s. It helps that Creator/TheRussoBrothers were involved in ''Arrested Development'' before becoming directors on this show, and several actors on ''Arrested Development'' make cameo appearances here.
89** While not as pronounced as other examples, there's also a not-insignificant overlap of ''Community'' fans with [=NBC's=] ''other'' main sitcoms - Namely, ''[[Series/TheOfficeUS The Office]],'' ''Series/ParksAndRecreation,'' and ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]''.
90** And, of course, considering they're both made (in part, at least) by the [[Creator/DanHarmon same creator]], there's a clear overlap between fans of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' and ''Community,'' with many even becoming fans of the latter through the former and Harmon's association.
91** Also with the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse due to the shared involvement of the Russo Brothers as well as several ''Community'' cast members having roles in the films. This is made particularly amusing in how the SeriesFinale to ''Community'' ended with Jeff and Annie giving several {{Take That}}s towards the franchise.
92* GeniusBonus:
93** In "Basic Lupine Urology", Colonel Archwood's final question to Todd [[spoiler:shows that Archwood takes legal ethics seriously, as Todd probably told him he accidentally did it, but he couldn't ask the question directly because it would either give away the case or make Todd perjure himself. The bluster when asking is an attempt to hide this distinction.]]
94** In "Geography of Global Conflict", the flyer for Greendale's [[Roleplay/ModelUnitedNations Model UN]] club is (appropriately) decorated with the flags of various countries. But several of them are the flags of non-sovereign states (including UsefulNotes/HongKong, UsefulNotes/{{Greenland}}, the UsefulNotes/IsleOfMan, and the UsefulNotes/BritishIndianOceanTerritory), which aren't actually [[UsefulNotes/UnitedNations UN]] members--suggesting that Annie Kim [[SmallNameBigEgo isn't as knowledgeable about global politics as she pretends to be]].
95* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Series creator Creator/DanHarmon is well aware of ''Community'''s surprising popularity in the Philippines.
96* GottaShipEmAll: The end of "Romantic Expressionism" played with this when they acknowledged that, essentially, nothing was truly off limits and there would always be some degree of tension between unrelated characters. It then went around the table, pairing everyone with everyone else. Sometimes to the characters' [[{{UST}} interest]], sometimes to their [[HoYay surprised]] [[LesYay interest]], sometimes to their [[{{Squick}} disgust]] and [[CrackPairing shock]].
97* GrowingTheBeard: "Debate 109" is generally agreed to be the episode where the show first grew some stubble. Full growth was achieved with "Contemporary American Poultry" and then solidified with "Modern Warfare", which is generally considered one of the series' signature episodes.
98* HarsherInHindsight:
99** In one episode, Pierce's cellphone puts his mother on speaker as she says she heard his father's ghost. In "Advanced Gay," Pierce reveals his father is alive and that his mother liked to pretend that Cornelius Hawthorne was dead because he's such an awful person. Then Jeff [[spoiler:accidentally kills Cornelius with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech on Pierce's behalf]].
100** The RunningGag about Greendale being a SuckySchool with a generally inept faculty who repeatedly run completely idiotic classes (such as an analysis of who the titular boss was in ''Series/WhosTheBoss'') becomes this after [[spoiler:"[[Recap/CommunityS5E01Repilot Repilot]]" showed the ramifications of attending such a school]].
101** All the jokes about Pierce dying (especially the ones about him DyingAlone) can become this after Season 5 when [[spoiler: it's revealed that Pierce masturbated himself to death - presumably in a room by himself.]]
102** Chang punching Duncan in the face with a roll of quarters in his hand in Season 2 is a hilarious bit of physical comedy. Then the Ass Crack Bandit in Season 5 came up with a much more sinister use for quarters, which Duncan would ''also'' be subjected to.
103** The "Troy and Abed" singing gags in TheStinger become this in [[spoiler: Season 4, where Evil Abed and Troy sing the last Stinger one as part of their radio show. They both reluctantly accept the status quo where Chang is a dictator in their timeline and reaffirm that no matter what happens, the two are friends. You can tell it feels like the EndOfAnEra before the next season premiere. Season 5 has Troy and Abed singing it mid-show during the Pierce interrogation episode as "Troy and Abed are in mourning", foreshadowing that Troy is leaving for good and Abed isn't ready to say farewell]].
104** In the episode "Aerodynamics of Gender", the world is seen as a RoboCam through Abed's eyes. When the RoboCam is on the screen, you can see a list of memos Abed has for himself. When Abed is playing back something Shirley said to him, one of the memos is [[spoiler:"Confirm mom for Xmas"]]. This is a lot worse in hindsight when you realize "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" is just a few episodes later.
105** "Intro To Documentary Filmmaking" has Jeff literally beating up Pierce for saying his father was coming to visit, because it was another of Pierce's MindScrew pranks, and that this is why Pierce has no friends. [[spoiler:Jeff does actually meet his father in Season 4, and the only positive Jeff gets out of it is learning he has a BigBrotherInstinct for his half-brother; his CallingTheOldManOut isn't even that different from what he told Pierce]].
106** In the episode "Modern Warfare", the Glee Club shown in the first game of Paintball Assassin ends up dying in a bus crash next season [[spoiler:caused by their own crazy teacher, Mr. Rad]].
107** In the episode "Paradigms of Human Memory," there is a flashback to "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"; however, it is seen through the eyes of the other characters. Puts a much darker light on the former (with the other characters lampshading that it wasn't nearly as fun as Jeff and Britta seemed to be remembering), and really makes you think about [[{{Squick}} snowman Chang's bottom button...]]
108** In Season 3's "Remedial Chaos Theory", Troy's absence leading to the darkest timeline seems harsher after Creator/DonaldGlover left the show in the fifth season, which became the last season after NBC cancelled the show. You could say Troy leaving the group really did lead to the darkest timeline. This was later subverted when it was announced that Website/{{Yahoo}} Screen would produce at least one more season with virtually the same budget as the Creator/{{NBC}} seasons.
109*** Relatedly, a consequence of the darkest timeline being Pierce's death becomes a lot more uncomfortable given not only Creator/{{Chevy Chase}}'s already "eclectic" relationship with the show deteriorating to the point that he would outright quit in Season 4, but that his own character (Pierce) [[spoiler:would be killed off less than a season after that in Season 5]].
110*** Similarly, Troy and Pierce's interactions with each other in Timeline 6 where the former gives the latter a vicious TheReasonYouSuckSpeech take a much darker turn once Glover revealed years after the show ended that [[HostilityOnTheSet he and Chevy Chase did not get along]] since Chase had made racist jokes to him (i.e., telling Glover that, "People think you're funnier because you're black").
111** It's noted on the commentary track for "[[Recap/CommunityS4E13AdvancedIntroductionToFinality Advanced Introduction to Finality]]" that the final line of the cold open, Troy commenting "One for all, and all for one guy we can leave behind!" was originally just a joke about Pierce's age, but the line took a greater subtext when Chevy Chase quit the show. The joke ''was'' originally HilariousInHindsight, but became HarsherInHindsight when [[spoiler:Pierce was revealed to have died in "[[Recap/CommunityS5E03BasicInterglutealNumismatics Basic Intergluteal Numismatics]]"]].
112** The two-season arc of Shirley reconciling with her husband becomes this when [[spoiler:they divorce again during the TimeSkip]]. Even worse, Andre and Shirley renewed their vows promising to accept that they both have changed and would commit to their relationship with Shirley opening a sandwich shop to support their family. [[spoiler:The sandwich business fails and as a result, Andre takes the kids, leaving Shirley alone]].
113** Professor Kane quitting due to the guilt of Starburns' death becomes this when you find out [[spoiler: he faked it, meaning Kane had a guilt ridden breakdown over a death that ''never even happened'']].
114** The final two lines of the [[LyricalDissonance (surprisingly dark)]] theme song, which are "I can't count the reasons I should stay, one by one they all just fade away", turn out to be prophetic, as in the final two seasons, a third of the cast members left one by one, which became a point of contention for a big portion of the fans.
115** Season 3 opens with a big musical number where all the characters sing about how they're gonna "finally be fine", which is then revealed as Jeff's ImagineSpot in regards to a year without Pierce. In the series finale, [[spoiler:when Jeff learns that both Annie and Abed are leaving while he is still stuck at Greendale, Annie tells him "you're gonna be fine, you know," to which Jeff bitterly replies, "I don't wanna be fine."]]
116** Some of the HilariousOuttakes that imply or [[BlackComedyRape act out]] sexual misconduct between the cast and/or crew come off as tasteless after the rise of the #metoo movement. It's also pretty clear that Gillian and Yvette don't really want to participate in these type of jokes but occasionally get pushed into playing along with the rest of the cast.
117** Various other pieces of information to come out after the show finished also make Harmon look like a complete asshole in his dealings with Chevy Chase, who was pilloried for his 'poor behavior' like leaving the set early, refusing to film scenes and his "use of a racial slur" that was apparently the "final straw" forcing him off the show. Those refusals were usually caused by Harmon not having done his job properly and leaving the scripts unfinished, causing the cast and crew to sit around doing nothing well after midnight, and where the racial slur was said in the context of Harmon pushing Pierce's character into an irredeemably awful racist, something Chevy didn't like happening.
118** Abed either has a breakdown or invites Evil Abed inadvertently into the timeline in Season 3 when it seems [[spoiler:Troy has to leave forever to join the AC Repair school]]. It gets worse in Season 5 when [[spoiler:Troy leaves for ''real'' to fulfill a requirement to earn Pierce's inheritance: sail around the world for a year. Abed has another breakdown that Britta has to fix, and spends the rest of the season trying to find a ReplacementGoldfish for his best friend. To make matters ''worse'', a FreezeFrameBonus reveals Troy and Levar Burton were captured by pirates. [[CruelTwistEnding Abed may never see his best friend again]]]].
119** Throughout "Lawnmower Maintenance and Postnatal Care", the majority of Britta's screentime is spent being judged for declining to reconnect with her parents and acting very bratty and childish. In addition to this, her reasoning isn't properly explained and the examples of the bad parenting she gives are certainly terrible, but undercut the reality by a mile. The biggest reason that Britta hates her parents is because ''[[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/yne9x/i_am_dan_harmon_creator_of_community_writer_of/c5x6asv/?st=jd0fvn82&sh=0ef08288 she was sexually assaulted by a man in a dinosaur costume as a child]]'' and her parents did not believe her. With the accusations of sexual harassment against Dan Harmon that would be made public just a few years later[[note]]Though he was smart enough to genuinely own up to his faults and eventually gave what was described as a sincere apology to the woman who accused him of said harassment on his ''Podcast/{{Harmontown}}'' podcast[[/note]], the decision to make Britta come off as childish and petty for harboring resentment toward her parents for not having supported her after being raped can't help but feel considerably more sinister and ill-intentioned.
120* HeartwarmingInHindsight:
121** "[[Recap/CommunityS1E22TheArtOfDiscourse The Art of Discourse]]" ends with a WhereAreTheyNow style scrawl showing what happened to the characters after the episode. Britta's reads "Britta Perry, proud owner, used iPod Nano, 2014." Season 5, set in 2014, shows us that she got that iPod from [[spoiler:Pierce, who after he died filled it with "music to take life less seriously by" because, as his will reads, her passion inspired him and he felt [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre she hated herself far more than she should]].]]
122** The Season 2 episode "Mixology Certification" came out long before Creator/DanHarmon's struggles with alcoholism became public knowledge. While this admittedly makes some of its moments (like the revelation of Shirley's past drinking problems) [[HarsherInHindsight considerably more sad and somber]], it also makes it all the more heartwarming when Troy ends the episode by choosing ''not'' to take a drink at midnight, instead leaving his drink on the bar while he exits the bar with his friends.
123** Abed for his birthday recreates ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre'' with Jeff in Season 2's "Critical Film Studies", saying he wishes the two of them spent more time together. Jeff reassures him they have each other's back and won't stop being friends. [[spoiler:In Season 6, Jeff coaxes a great [=B-movie=] out of a despairing Abed from 5 minutes of Chang footage, and Abed later comforts Jeff that his life won't be a waste if he's stuck at Greendale ([[MoodWhiplash even if he lacks]] Creator/{{Chris Pratt}}'s [[ItMakesSenseInContext CGI abs]])]].
124** "Remedial Chaos Theory" shows one timeline where Troy and Britta develop sparks after commiserating about Jeff being judgmental. [[spoiler:The Season 4 finale shows that in that timeline, Troy and Britta are HappilyMarried and report that they are starting a family. It's so sweet that both Evil Abed and Evil Troy [[PetTheDog legitimately congratulate them]]]].
125** Doubling with HilariousInHindsight: In [[Recap/CommunityS6E01Ladders "Ladders"]], Abed is the only member of the Study Group to actually sympathize with Frankie after the rest of the group turn their backs on her for just trying to bring a semblance of normality to Greendale. She in turn becomes a ParentalSubstitute, accepting his weirdness wholeheartedly and sometimes going MamaBear on his behalf. Come 2018, Creator/DannyPudi and Creator/PagetBrewster would voice Huey and Della Duck in the ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales|2017}}'' reboot as son and mother, respectively.
126* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct:
127** Creator/JoelMcHale is mostly known for his work as a comedian, but in the Season 4 Thanksgiving episode, he portrays a horrifying, heartbreaking scene with impressive sincerity. Jeff [[spoiler:tells his father that he faked appendicitis as a kid. When a girl wanted to see the scar, he ''cut himself with scissors'' to show her the evidence. Jeff still keeps the get-well cards because it's proof that someone once cared about him when even his own father didn't. He then shows his father and brother the scar, barely keeping it together]]. It's a real GutPunch, sold completely by [=McHale's=] acting.
128** On a similar note, Creator/GillianJacobs does an ''amazing'' job showing Britta's heartbreaking existential crisis in Season 5's "Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality". Notably, Creator/JohnOliver even indirectly lampshaded this when he later appeared on ''WebVideo/ComediansInCarsGettingCoffee'', commenting that during the scene with Professor Duncan driving Britta home, his character being seemingly disturbed and uncomfortable [[EnforcedMethodActing was actually genuine on his part]] as he was internally freaking out over how ''good'' Jacobs was and he was terrified about not being able to match her skill in the scene.
129* HesJustHiding: [[spoiler:Pierce]]. Understandable, considering [[spoiler:his fake heart attacks]] and [[spoiler:pretending he was dying to toy with the study group]]. Not to mention that [[spoiler:he actually ''did'' successfully fake his death in the Darkest Timeline, only to reveal that he was still alive after all]]. Many fans are holding out hope that he'll turn up again in the movie, if only for a cameo.
130* HilariousInHindsight:
131** Related to the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
132*** In "Football, Feminism and You", Jeff says that one of Pierce's mascot disguises looks like "a falcon with a gun." Creator/TheRussoBrothers (who worked on several episodes of the show, and one of whom -- Joe Russo -- directed this particular episode) later directed four MCU films, all of which feature the Falcon (who uses guns).
133*** "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" throws a TakeThat at the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, which sees Jeff and Annie insulting it. A little over a year later, Dan Harmon wrote some additional scenes for reshoots of ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', and [[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5azrwi/im_dan_harmon_executive_producer_and_star_of/d9kocdy/?context=3 even came out of the experience with nothing but positive things to say about both Marvel Studios and the MCU]]. Furthermore, there seems to be a minor meta-textual RunningGag of ''Community'' actors having cameos/starring roles in the [=MCU=] (usually in films directed by the Russo Brothers), with Creator/DannyPudi as a [=S.H.I.E.L.D.=] communications techie in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', Creator/JimRash as the Dean of [=M.I.T.=] in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Creator/DonaldGlover in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' as Aaron Davis, Creator/BrieLarson becoming the titular star of ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'', and both Creator/KenJeong and Creator/YvetteNicoleBrown appearing in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' (the former as a security guard and the latter as a [=S.H.I.E.L.D.=] secretary [[spoiler:for a military base in the [=1970s=]]]). And with ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' introducing the Multiverse and canonizing ''Film/SpiderMan2'', Creator/JoelMcHale's cameo as a banker in that film now counts as well. Additionally, Creator/KumailNanjiani would later star as Kingo as part of the EnsembleCast of ''Film/{{Eternals}}''.
134** In the Season 3 finale, Britta shows her unfamiliarity with the superhero genre by trying to proclaim that her favorite member of the X-Men is "X-Man". Fast-forward to 2021, and Creator/GillianJacobs would end up getting to voice the superheroine Atom Eve in ''WesternAnimation/{{Invincible|2021}}''.
135** From the [[Recap/CommunityS1E01Pilot pilot]], the jokes against Creator/BenAffleck can come across as this, given his subsequent critical success with directing ''Film/TheTown'' and ''Film/{{Argo}}'', the latter of which won him a ''second'' Oscar for Best Picture. Even at the time the first episode aired, Affleck had already earned acclaim for his direction and writing of ''Film/GoneBabyGone'', though that wasn't as high-profile as his later efforts.
136** In the Season 1 finale, Abed is using a banana to do impressions: (Banana on forehead- Banana Rhino. Banana over top lip- Banana Creator/SamElliott. ''Banana over eyes- '''Banana Creator/LeVarBurton'''''.) What makes it perfect is Troy being the only person who laughs at the last one.
137** Watching Dean Pelton completely fail at writing and directing a TV advert for Greendale becomes absolutely ''hysterical'' after Creator/JimRash became an Academy Award-winning screenwriter for his work on ''Film/TheDescendants''.
138** There's two in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E19BeginnerPottery Beginner Pottery]]":
139*** From an InUniverse perspective, [[spoiler: Pierce being clueless at sailing becomes even funnier when he later admits in "Cooperative Polygraphy" that he was ''supposed'' to sail around the world to earn his fortune, but instead cheated and stayed at the same island the whole time, meaning that he never really did much sailing to begin with.]]
140*** From a meta perspective, the crazy pottery teacher describing people acting out the SignatureScene from ''Film/Ghost1990'' as "ghosting" becomes ''much'' funnier after the term of "ghosting" would actually become online vernacular in the latter half of the [=2010s=] (namely, for a person cutting off all communication with a friend or the person they're dating with zero warning or notice beforehand).
141** As it turns out, ''Community'' wouldn't be the ''last'' Creator/DanHarmon-related [[WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty show]] to deal heavily in {{Alternate Timeline}}s populated by potentially "evil" variants of the main protagonists.
142** In "[[Recap/CommunityS4E05CooperativeEscapismInFamilialRelations Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations]]" Creator/JamesBrolin turns up as [[spoiler:Jeff's long-absent father]]. Just over a week earlier, he appeared on ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' as [[spoiler:Castle's long-absent father]].
143** From more of a BlackComedy standpoint, "We're Gonna Finally Be Fine" (the opening musical number from "[[Recap/CommunityS3E01Biology101 Biology 101]]" is Jeff daydreaming a musical style CrowdSong about how much better life's going to be without Pierce in the Study Group) became this after Creator/ChevyChase's departure at the end of Season 4 and Creator/DanHarmon returning as showrunner for Season 5 following his own departure a year earlier.
144** Season 3's "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" features a scene where Britta interacts with Troy's hero, Creator/LeVarBurton. Fast forward to 2020 and Creator/GillianJacobs ends up voicing a character in ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' and a La Forge doll can be seen in that same episode.
145** The jokes about Britta smoking pot as well as her hatred of the government makes the fact that in Colorado (the state the show is set in), marijuana is now legal and government regulated.
146** After defeating the Glee Club (based on the one from ''Series/{{Glee}}'') in Season 1's "Modern Warfare", Jeff yells "Write some original songs!" as a parting shot. This was done to criticize ''Glee's'' use of licensed songs. The year after "Modern Warfare" aired, it was announced that ''Glee'' would actually be doing an episode with original songs.
147** When Jeff runs into Alan in Season 2's "Accounting For Lawyers", he tries to explain his presence at Greendale by claiming to be a teacher. He then muses that's actually worse than the truth and admits he's really a student. In "Repilot", [[spoiler:Jeff becomes a teacher at Greendale.]]
148** TheTag in the Season 5 episode "[[Recap/CommunityS5E13BasicSandwich Basic Sandwich]]" basically being a huge TakeThat to NBC. With NBC's subsequent cancellation of the show and Yahoo picking the show up for a sixth season, it means ''Community'' essentially left NBC while flipping the bird and screaming "Fuck you!"
149** Early on, Annie is established as a recovering Adderall addict who once ran through a plate glass window while yelling "Everyone's a robot!" (as shown in a flashback in Season 4). TheTag for Season 6's "Laws of Robotics and Party Rights" has the committee conduct their meeting with everybody using telepresence robots. Yes, Annie. "Everyone's a robot!"
150** Professor Kane complains about how Legos stopped being about piles of bricks and have since become sets based on specific themes and pop-culture tie-ins. A few years later, Creator/AlisonBrie (Annie) voiced a character in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'' and Creator/JoelMcHale (Jeff) started to appear in commercials for ''VideoGame/LegoDimensions'', both of which are based around Lego's specific themes and pop-culture tie-ins.
151** At one point of "Accounting For Lawyers", Alan comments that he wants to eat Jeff's brains, then pretends to do so. Three years later, Alan's actor (Creator/RobCorddry) would play a zombie in ''Film/WarmBodies'' and eating brains becomes a plot point in that film. Furthermore, Annie becomes a zombie in "Epidemiology" which aired shortly before her actress, Creator/AlisonBrie, started dating Creator/DaveFranco. Franco also appears in ''Film/WarmBodies'' and his character [[spoiler: is killed by a zombie]].
152** During the ''Franchise/StarWars'' parody in "[[{{Recap/CommunityS2E24ForAFewPaintballsMore}} For a Few Paintballs More]]" Abed assumes for himself the role of the team’s Han Solo until the end of the paintball match. Flash-forward to 2016, when Troy’s actor Creator/DonaldGlover was cast as Han’s best friend Lando Calrissian in ''Film/{{Solo}}''.
153** "[[Recap/CommunityS5E08AppDevelopmentAndCondiments App Development and Condiments]]" shows Greendale becoming a futuristic dystopia where one's social status is defined by one's ratings in social media. This is even funnier to watch after ''Series/BlackMirror'' did [[Recap/BlackMirrorNosedive an episode]] about a CrapsaccharineWorld where the ''exact'' same thing happens, especially considering that in that episode, much like Jeff, the protagonist attempts to raise her rank but ends up being thrown in the deep end of the social ladder.
154** Troy's bewilderment (and mild jealousy) at Abed's side-adventures becomes this after Season 5 [[spoiler: when he goes on an adventure of his own, traveling around the world with his idol Creator/LeVarBurton]].
155** Evil!Jeff's comment that naming a sandwich the "[[PunnyName Troy-jan Horse]]" would just make people think horse meat was in it, from "[[Recap/CommunityS4E13AdvancedIntroductionToFinality Advanced Introduction To Finality]]". Between the episode being filmed in late 2012, and airing in May 2013, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_meat_adulteration_scandal the story broke in Europe that horse meat had been included in foods supposedly containing beef]].
156*** Consider also the MagicRealism dark satire film ''Film/SorryToBotherYou'', in which workers, especially black workers, are turned into horses for exploitation by their white bosses, published in 2018.
157** The group end up going to a convention for ''[[ShowWithinAShow Inspector Spacetime]]'', a ''Series/DoctorWho'' knock-off, and Britta notices that there was a female Inspector, to which Abed comments that no one liked her "not because they are sexist, she sucked." This was a number of years before ''Doctor Who'' cast Creator/JodieWhittaker as the first female Doctor, which came with its own fair share of controversy.
158** At the end of "[[Recap/CommunityS2E04BasicRocketScience Basic Rocket Science]]", Jeff semi-jokingly congratulates Troy for helping save themselves and Greendale by saying he would recommend him to NASA. Creator/DonaldGlover would later appear in ''Film/TheMartian'' as an astrodynamicist who is recruited to help NASA save Mark Watney.
159** Jeff's angst about ending up like Pierce or being nor much different than Pierce, now that Creator/JoelMcHale has played Creator/ChevyChase himself in ''Film/AFutileAndStupidGesture''.
160** "Comparative Religion" has Troy giving the "Creator/ForestWhitaker eye". When he does, he makes a face that is ''very'' similar to the face Donald Glover makes in his Music/ThisIsAmerica music video.
161** The fact that Creator/PatrickStewart was considered for the role of Pierce creates two examples in Season 2, both due to his portrayal of Jean-Luc Picard on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and that Creator/WilliamShatner played James T. Kirk on ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. First, in "Anthropology 101", Troy posts Pierce's comments on Twitter as "Old White Guy Says Stuff", a parody of ''Shit My Dad Says''. That same year, [[Series/ShitMyDadSays a television series]] based on that hit the air with Shatner playing the titular Dad. Then in "Epidemiology", Pierce attends the Halloween party as James T Kirk. If Stewart had been cast, this would have been either an ActorAllusion or hilariously ironic.
162** In "Geothermal Escapism", Britta complains that ''Teen Vogue'' sets a poor example for girls. The magazine began writing about feminist issues two years later.
163** In "[[Recap/CommunityS2E14AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons And Dragons]]", Troy says he'd like a tail because "people would know when [he's] happy". Almost 10 years later, he'd voice Simba in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing2019'', a character who, being a lion and all, not only has a tail but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZr-VTULYQ8 whose tail actually jumps up and down and wags whenever he's happy]].
164*** Not the only episode that looks weird now that Glover has voiced Simba. In "[[Recap/CommunityS2E01Anthropology101 Anthropology 101]]", Troy says he thinks all cats are female, which now comes off as hilarious considering he's voiced a ''male'' cat (albeit a lion rather than a regular housecat, but still).
165*** Plus there's the entire existence of "Annie's Boobs". Weird how he goes from owning a monkey [[http://www.roxy-cinemas.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/lion4.jpg to being advised by one]].
166** In "Advanced Criminal Law", Chang compares himself to Mr. Miyagi. In "Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing", he actually plays Miyagi in a stage production of ''Film/TheKarateKid''.
167** Britta's sub-plot in "Early 21st Century Romanticism" revolves around her befriending a girl named Page who she believes is a lesbian. In ''Film/LifePartners'', Gillian Jacobs plays a straight girl named Paige whose best friend actually ''is'' a lesbian.
168** In Season 2's "Intro to Political Science", it ends with a FakeShemp of UsefulNotes/JoeBiden sleepily saying he was dreaming of being President of the United States. Come 2020, Biden ''was'' actually elected to the office of the Presidency.
169** In "[[Recap/CommunityS3E01Biology101 Biology 101]]", Vice Dean Laybourne refers to the dean as a "happy pansexual imp", which is a [[AffablyEvil shockingly]] [[DepravedBisexual accurate]] description of [[WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss Blitzo]].
170** In the series finale, Abed [[spoiler:moves to L.A.]] because he got a job working on a show set in a video game studio. Years later, Creator/DannyPudi would be cast in ''Series/MythicQuest'', which is indeed set in a video game studio.
171** Abed being a huge fan of ''JustForFun/InspectorSpacetime'' (a fairly obvious AffectionateParody of ''Series/DoctorWho'') is extra funny when you know that Creator/DannyPudi went on to star in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' alongside Creator/DavidTennant, the Tenth Doctor himself.
172** "[[Recap/CommunityS5E03BasicInterglutealNumismatics Basic Intergluteal Numismatics]]" is an irreverent parody of dark mystery/thrillers about {{serial killer}}s where the central joke is that the villain commits thoroughly ridiculous crimes involving ''butts'', which the characters all treat completely seriously. [[Film/ButtBoy Sounds familiar...]]
173** Creator/MattWalsh portraying a Neo-Nazi garden keeper in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E07AerodynamicsOfGender Aerodynamics of Gender]]" is pretty funny to see in the 2020's, after ''another'' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Walsh_(political_commentator) Matt Walsh]] rose to prominence with the online right wing movement.
174** In the Season 1 finale, when Britta admits to Shirley that she slept with Jeff earlier that semester, she demands to know where and when it happened--and Britta sarcastically replies, ''"During paintball, in the study room, with [[TabletopGame/{{Clue}} Colonel Mustard]]."'' The final season would introduce Britta's father George Perry, played by Creator/MartinMull--who played Colonel Mustard in ''Film/{{Clue}}''.
175** In "Intro to Political Science", Abed nearly gets in trouble with the Secret Service for pirating the film ''Film/TheLastAirbender''. Over a decade later, Creator/DannyPudi would be cast in Creator/{{Netflix}}'s live-action ''Series/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' TV show.
176* HollywoodHomely:
177** There are a few jokes based around Britta not aging the best. In one episode, after telling [[TheCutie Annie]] that a bar won't check Annie's fake ID because pretty girls are good for business, Britta gets her legitimate ID scoured and double-checked after Annie is waved through without incident. Professor Duncan also tells Jeff that he's attracted to Britta because she's slightly past her prime and realizes that she's going to have to settle. The show also occasionally nitpicks her appearance, such as one joke that lampoons her "vacuous mannequin eyes." Of course, Creator/GillianJacobs is exceptionally attractive.
178** Zig-zagged with Annie, who was originally written to be somewhat plain in spite of being played by the attractive Creator/AlisonBrie. In the first couple of episodes, she's dressed very primly, and there are a few jokes revolving around the idea that she's not particularly good looking; the fourth episode, for example, has Professor Duncan giving her a BackhandedCompliment by [[SexinessScore rating her]] an "American 8, which is a British 10". The idea of her being unattractive is quickly abandoned, her look changes to emphasize her attractiveness, and her personality changes to be more sweet and adorable. By the end of Season 1 she's widely regarded as [[HeadTurningBeauty one of the most attractive women at Greendale]].
179* HoYay: [[HoYay/{{Community}} Has its own page]].
180* IdiosyncraticShipNaming: "Indyshipping" for Annie/Abed, based on the ''Franchise/IndianaJones''-themed gift Annie got for Abed in "Intro to Psychology".
181* IKnewIt:
182** Jeff [[spoiler:returning to Greendale as a teacher in Season 5]].
183** Pierce [[spoiler:suffering from a BusCrash after Creator/ChevyChase left the show.]]
184** Troy [[spoiler:being given Pierce's fortune and it being his reason for leaving Greendale.]]
185* InformedWrongness:
186** Jeff. Rightly asserting that Pierce is a bigoted manchild, whose horrible behavior makes the group exclude him, and anyone else would have kicked him out ages ago? He's wrong because Pierce's insecurities are an excuse to be a prick. Calling out Britta on once again wilfully making a fool of herself in a [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption farcical effort]] to save face? Discouraging poor decisions is being a bad friend. He wants to spend the odd occasion not cleaning up the groups mistakes? He's a selfish jerk. Despite going out of his way to be a great friend to every single member of the group countless times. The show is however smart enough to occasionally [[PlayedForLaughs use this to comedic effect.]]
187** The show also frequently makes the point that the problem isn't necessarily that Jeff's (supposedly) wrong as much as it is him frequently going about being right in the [[{{Jerkass}} most obnoxious]] way possible. To take the first example, while he definitely has a valid point about Pierce's {{Jerkass}} nature, Jeff's righteousness over Pierce would probably carry a bit more weight if Jeff himself didn't take plenty of opportunities to pick on and humiliate Pierce, thus encouraging his resentment. In the second example, Jeff doesn't just discourage Britta's poor decisions but actively takes smug and malicious pleasure in the prospect of Britta failing once again, and Pierce makes the [[JerkassHasAPoint entirely fair point]] that while Britta might indeed be in a mess of her own making, the fact that Jeff frequently and snidely belittles her to the point of using her name as a synonym for screwing up and failure hardly helps matters. And as for the third example, while Jeff definitely does help clean up the messes left by the study group, he's also caused plenty of trouble and misery for the group as well.
188** Ironically enough, Jeff does this to ''himself''. In Season 4, he angsts over [[spoiler:graduating and leaving his friends behind, and taking up a profitable lawyer job with his former partner who triples his salary on the spot. Jeff eventually comes to the conclusion that taking up the job would undo his CharacterDevelopment and decides to start a firm helping out the less-fortunate and being a Hero At Law. Mind that none of his friends are encouraging this decision and instead are throwing a party in his honor]]. The Season 5 premiere lampshades that this was a foolish decision, especially since [[spoiler:Jeff goes broke and takes up a teaching job at Greendale to pay the bills and help out the Dean]]. Even worse, many lawyers can tell you that [[spoiler:being a public defense lawyer with the government is a viable career move for those who want to do good so Jeff really shot himself in the foot]].
189* JerkassWoobie:
190** Jeff and Britta. While a lot of their problems are their own fault, it's made clear they're both incredibly insecure. Jeff has a plethora of DaddyIssues and his narcissism partly stems from being raised by his mother to believe he was the best at everything, only to have his whole world come crashing down once he realizes he's not. Britta's superiority complex and loud flaunting of political causes are revealed to be a front to mask some deep-seated esteem issues and crippling self-hatred, her attempts at becoming a therapist are routinely mocked by her friends, and her name is adopted in-universe as slang to describe making a mistake.
191** Pierce. While he is unquestionably a {{Jerkass}}, it's also made quite clear that he's desperately lonely and needy.
192** Chang, in Season 2. Yes, he was a SadistTeacher in Season 1 and continues to be a weirdo for most of the season, but he only wants to join the study group and is also quite pathetic.
193** The elderly gang of hooligans, the Hipsters, from "Messanic Myths and Filmmaking". After the car stealing incident, no one's family was willing to bail them out of holding. Simply put, no one wants to be near them because they're assholes but they're assholes because no one wants to be around them.
194* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Annie. It's quite telling that even discounting "[[Recap/CommunityS1E15RomanticExpressionism Romantic Expressionism]]", Annie has been shipped in-show with every member of the study group except for Pierce (who has explicitly stated that Annie is his favorite) and Shirley. It's canon that Annie had a crush on Troy in high school and for the first half of the first season, Annie and Jeff kiss in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E09Debate109 Debate 109]]" and "[[Recap/CommunityS1E25PascalsTriangleRevisited Pascal's Triangle Revisited]]" in addition to all their ShipTease, Annie and Abed ([[ItMakesSenseInContext as Han Solo]]) kiss in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E24ForAFewPaintballsMore For a Few Paintballs More]]", and Annie [[ItMakesSenseInContext starts to go in for a kiss with Britta]] in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E15Early21stCenturyRomanticism Early 21st Century Romanticism]]". And this for a girl they try not to sexualize too much.
195* MagnificentBastard:
196** [[LargeAndInCharge Robert Laybourne]] is the Vice Dean of Greendale Community College and holds the true power of the school. Witnessing Troy Barnes effortlessly repair an air conditioner, Laybourne tries to get Troy to join his Air Conditioning Repair School, even getting Dean Craig Pelton to help him accomplish his goal. Eventually Laybourne manipulates Troy and his [[HeterosexualLifePartners best friend]], Abed Nadir, against each other briefly destroying their friendship and [[Recap/CommunityS3E14PillowsAndBlankets creating a war]] engulfing Greendale. When Troy pleads with Laybourne to help him overthrow [[PsychopathicManchild Ben Chang]], Laybourne complies on the sole condition that Troy leaves his friends and join his annex. Finally successful in recruiting Troy to his school, Laybourne is killed by his second-in-command, [[TheStarscream Murray]], but Laybourne's influence inspires Troy to challenge Murray for the title of the "Truest Repairman", where Troy easily defeats Murray and gets Murray to confess to Laybourne's murder, with Laybourne's ghost appearing to show approval at what Troy has accomplished.
197** [[EvilCounterpart Stephen Spreck]] is the Dean of City College who seeks to destroy Greendale Community College. Convincing Annie to help him steal the Greendale space simulator by promising her a City College admission and when she later has a change of heart, Spreck merely states she is not City College material. He then returns in the two-part season finale, first setting up a fake ice cream company and then convincing the school to trash itself by offering up a $100,000 paintball prize. To ensure no student gets the prize he even sends in a ringer, and when that fails declares war on the school, [[NearVillainVictory coming very close to winning]]. While the study group were defined by their love for Greendale, Spreck was defined by his desire to destroy it.
198** "[[Recap/CommunityS2E09ConspiracyTheoriesAndInteriorDesign Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design]]": [[HiddenAgendaVillain Professor Sean Garrity]] is Greendale's charismatic drama teacher, who Dean Pelton approaches when he wants help in teaching Jeff about the dangers of academic fraud. For his part, Garrity creates a false identity, and a fake night school filled with non-existent courses, students and teachers. He then creates a false identity for his false identity, posing as Jeff's "Conspiracy Theories and U.S. History" teacher. After Jeff uncovers his true identity and decides to teach the Dean a lesson, Garrity complies and pretends to have been shot by Annie, resulting in a massive GambitPileup where Jeff, Annie, and Pelton think that one of them has really shot someone. After Officer Cackowski shoots him with a prop gun, Garrity reveals that he orchestrated everything to impart the lesson that guns, even prop ones, are not toys.
199* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/{{Community}} Now with its own page.]]
200* {{Moe}}:
201** Annie could give [[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya Mikuru]] a run for her money.
202** Abed most likely wasn't an intentional example, but his generally gentle and {{adorkable}} disposition (along with the increasing number of [[TheWoobie woobie]] moments he gets over the course of the series) can evoke this.
203* NightmareFuel: There's something deeply unsettling about "Greendale Babies", the ImagineSpot "happy place within a happy place" TV series Abed creates inside his head in Season 4. It's all cheery and bright, but it takes place in a confined room, and the premise seems to be that all our beloved characters are stuck in some sort of infinite childhood. Plus, you know, there's a stuffed Human Being plush.
204-->'''Abed''': Greendale Babies will be right back. Forever!
205** Don't forget about the ''"Human being"'' costume. Brrr...
206* NoYay:
207** "[[Recap/CommunityS1E17PhysicalEducation Physical Education]]" has a scene where Jeff has a pool match with his aging, overweight new billiards instructor. It features both of them getting naked and the instructor walking up to Jeff while both are still naked and then kissing him on the lips.
208** Surprisingly, Jeff and Annie can be this for some people. As noted above, the couple was a favorite throughout the series' initial run for a large portion of the fanbase, but new fans taking an ArchiveBinge of the show often find the couple uncomfortable at best due to the early show's clear portrayal of Annie as ''that'' much younger.
209--->'''Jeff''': [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/CommunityS1E13InvestigativeJournalism Annie's pretty young,]] [[MemeticMutation we try not to sexualize her.]]
210* OneTrueThreesome: A few fics have Jeff, Britta and Annie getting together.
211* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight: Creator/DanHarmon had little involvement with the fourth season, which is considered the show's worst season.
212* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: In the first few episodes, Britta seemed to be the typical ManicPixieDreamGirl-slash-WomenAreWiser love interest, which came off as pretty bland and cliched compared to the rest of the cast. As the first season went on the writers and actress started playing her as being SoUnfunnyItsFunny and {{Adorkable}}, with fans starting to find her a lot more likable as a result.
213-->'''Britta:''' Do you know sugar is like baby meth? That’s what my homeopath says.
214* RetroactiveRecognition:
215** While Creator/BrieLarson wasn't exactly unknown when she guest-starred in Seasons 4 and 5, her profile has since risen exponentially as a result of her UsefulNotes/AcademyAward-winning turn in ''{{Literature/Room}}''. This effect was magnified further by her performance as the titular character in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse tentpole ''[[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Captain Marvel]]'', which grossed over one billion USD worldwide in 2019 and got positive reviews from critics, making her by far the most popular actor to appear on the show.
216** Mel Rodriguez appears as a security guard a few years before becoming a recognizable actor on ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' and ''Series/TheLastManOnEarth''.
217** Creator/KumailNanjiani stars as Custodian Lapari in Seasons 5 and 6, but it wouldn't be until his starring role in ''Series/SiliconValley'' that Nanjiani's popularity would explode.
218** Creator/BritMarling appears in a Season 2 episode as Paige, the straight girl who befriends Britta because they both mistake the other for a lesbian. Marling would go on to become an indie film darling, co-writing and starring in the films ''Film/SoundOfMyVoice'', ''Film/AnotherEarth'' and ''Film/TheEast'' as well as the series ''Series/TheOA''.
219** Creator/JacobBertrand, who played Young Jeff in "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism", has gone on to play Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz on ''Series/CobraKai''.
220** Brendan Hunt, now better known as Coach Beard on ''Series/TedLasso'', appears as the hitchhiker who sings "Jesus Loves Marijuana" in "Studies in Modern Movement".
221* RootingForTheEmpire: [[spoiler:Evil Jeff isn't real]], but he makes legitimate points to Jeff when they confront each other. [[spoiler:All Jeff wanted to do is return to his law career, and he is ready to grow up while his friends are stuck going through the motions and using Jeff as emotional support. The Season 5 premiere proved that Evil Jeff was right when Jeff goes broke trying to do good and his friends want to reenroll at Greendale after their dreams fail]]. If not for [[spoiler:evil Jeff]] isolating Jeff from his friends, then he'd be completely right and sympathetic.
222* SalvagedStory: The episode "Repilot" dismisses the entirety of the widely-hated Season 4 (the only season not overseen by Creator/DanHarmon) by claiming that the school had suffered a massive gas leak, explaining everyone's inconsistent and decidedly OutOfCharacter behavior. Jeff explicitly calls out all the {{Flanderization}} the group has gone through, and the remaining cast members make effort to improve themselves as a result. Especially notable is Chang, who immediately drops his unpopular "Kevin" schtick and returns to being a SadistTeacher like he was in the first season.
223* TheScrappy: Britta's parents. The lazy {{Retcon}} that seems to have been applied to Britta's DarkAndTroubledPast of being molested as a child and her parents being InnocentlyInsensitive and GoodAllAlong did ''not'' go over well with the fans, and a combination of their annoyingly cheery demeanor and asking their abused daughter to ''forgive them'' and let them back into her life made them pretty instantly hated by most of the audience.
224* SeasonalRot: The first three seasons are near-unanimously considered to be prime ''Community'', with Season 3 as somewhat weaker than the first two but overall great, and Seasons 5 and 6 causing some division due to cast changes and a general shift in tone. Almost everyone agrees, however, that Season 4 is the low point, due to Dan Harmon's lack of involvement and failing to make use of the shortened episode count.
225* ShipToShipCombat: ''Community'' fans get along well generally, but there is some Britta vs. Annie sparring when it comes to who should end up with Jeff. If you root for Jeff/Britta as your OTP, Jeff/Annie shippers will have a field day ranting about how supposedly unlikable Britta is or how the duo lacks romantic chemistry. If you openly advocate Jeff/Annie, the BP&J shippers will declare their disgust with the age gap and claim that their massive differences could never be reconcilable in a relationship. Shippers of all other pairings seem to be much more civil.
226* ShipMates:
227** Fans of Jeff/Annie will often ship Troy/Britta, who in Season 1 were romantically linked to Annie and Jeff respectively in canon. On the flip-side, Jeff/Britta shippers will often ship Troy/Annie (or Annie/Abed), in order to keep Annie away from Jeff.
228** Annie/Abed fans have a slight problem doing this in a way that hinders their ship. If they ship Troy/Britta it leaves the Jeff/Annie ship open. If they ship Jeff/Britta it leaves the earlier Annie/Troy ship open. With [[spoiler:Troy/Britta being sunk]] and Troy's departure in the fifth season, it makes Jeff/Britta the obvious choice of ship mate pairing.
229* ShippingBedDeath: More than a few fans of [[spoiler:Britta/Troy]] ended up being disappointed when they actually got together because the writers seemed unable to do anything interesting with them. Considering they'd been getting ship teases from the first season, the fact that almost no one was sad they broke up is rather telling.
230* SignatureScene: "[[Recap/CommunityS1E23ModernWarfare Modern Warfare]]" and "[[Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory Remedial Chaos Theory]]" are easily the series' most highly regarded and well-remembered episodes, for encompassing everything that set the show apart from the standard sitcom and made it genuinely unique.
231** As far as individual scenes go, the Spanish rap from the [[Recap/CommunityS1E02Spanish101 second episode]], the study group considering one another as sexual prospects in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E15RomanticExpressionism Romantic Expressionism]]," the "Notches" gag from "[[Recap/CommunityS2E17IntroToPoliticalScience Intro to Political Science]]," and the ''entirety'' of Timeline 5 from "Remedial Chaos Theory" are all good contenders for this trope in regards to the series proper.
232* SpiritualSequel: "[[Recap/CommunityS5E05GeothermalEscapism Geothermal Escapism]]" is essentially one to the {{Paintball Episode}}s of past seasons, with a high-stakes school-wide competition being the main focus while also tying into a major ongoing plot arc (in this case, Troy leaving Greendale).
233* SpiritualSuccessor: Whenever the idea of a ''Series/{{Spaced}}'' American remake comes up, many bring up the fact that it would be a lot like ''Community''. Both shows are about a gang of weirdos coming together to [[CharacterDevelopment help each other grow]], both are thoroughly obsessed with pop culture and both have had exceptionally memorable {{Paintball Episode}}s.
234* {{Squick}}: In and out-of-universe, the study group is horrified and grossed out that Pierce's dad has an ivory toupee because he doesn't want a wig made of human hair. Jeff for his part [[spoiler:tries to refuse it when Pierce's dad leaves it to the one who killed him -- in this case Jeff gave a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Cornelius and made him suffer a fatal heart attack-- but Pierce insists to honor the terms of the will]].
235* StrawmanHasAPoint: Buzz Hickey is meant to be in the wrong when he advises [[spoiler:Jeff to not let Annie undermine his authority in class and use underhanded means to depower her]], but he's actually right. A student should not be lecturing a teacher on how to teach, especially when they are one anxiety attack away from a nervous breakdown. While Annie accurately pinpoints that [[spoiler:Jeff doesn't love his job and is wasting the students' time, Jeff starts teaching ''his'' way when she leaves the class in a huff]], and the students are impressed because Annie ''never'' loses an argument.
236* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
237** During the first Valentine's Day episode, Troy and Pierce dance with Chang to a song very similar to Music/TheBlackEyedPeas' "Boom Boom Pow."
238** The end credits theme is very similar to the Fine Young Cannibals song "Good Thing".
239* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The general consensus regarding the Dan Harmon-less Season 4. It should be noted, this was also the cast's reaction to the season, with Joel [=McHale=] leading them in getting Harmon rehired as showrunner for Season 5.
240** The loss of [[spoiler:both Pierce and Troy]] in Season 5, followed by the loss of [[spoiler:Shirley]] in Season 6 elicited this response from some people.
241* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
242** Todd is in a handful of episodes, a HandicappedBadass and OnlySaneMan who calls out the study group for being selfish, petty, and catty. He also is implied to be a {{Determinator}}. Even so, he is reduced to being someone the group hates for calling them out on their bull, who appears solely to react to them.
243** Gilbert is introduced at the end of Season 3 as [[spoiler:Pierce's half-brother, who wants the inheritance from their father. They start bonding after Pierce forfeits the money because he says Cornelius didn't treat him as badly as he treated Gilbert, and he always wanted a brother. Given he's a lawyer --thus he and Jeff have common ground-- Gilbert could have helped them catch Chang when the latter took over Greendale and help the study group with their lives]]. Sadly, [[spoiler:Gilbert only appears in a handful of episodes where he admits he is DesperatelySeekingAPurposeInLife because he spent it taking care of his father and he wants to take care of Pierce now]]. Though for what it's worth, [[spoiler:Pierce later dies having a good relationship with him so he wasn't alone in the end]].
244* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
245** Troy in one episode lies about being molested in drama class because he thinks he doesn't have a tragic backstory to share. But he ''does''; he sabotaged his football scholarship after Annie broke down in high school, saw Pierce's mother's corpse without warning, and lost his uncle that same year. Any of these stories would have been sufficiently tragic, since Britta was a witness to a lot of them.
246** After Season 2 ends with the big shake-up of Pierce [[spoiler:declaring he's finished with the study group, he's then welcomed back into the group]] in the very next episode.
247** Pierce seems to undergo some CharacterDevelopment in Season 3 when the gay community adopts Hawthorne Wipes as a product for them, and he decides to get involved until his father intervenes. [[spoiler:Nothing more comes of this; the company fires Pierce as soon as his father is dead and the campaign is over before it can properly begin]].
248** A few episodes of Season 3 seem to hint at Jeff suffering some kind of mental breakdown, but nothing ever comes of it until Season 4 when [[spoiler:the evil Study Group reappears as part of a potential hallucination]].
249** [[spoiler:Britta and Troy's]] relationship in the fourth season. After being established as a couple in the first few episodes, their relationship is barely mentioned before they break-up towards the end of the season, which arguably comes out of nowhere because the writers seemingly forgot they were dating for most of the season.
250** After setting Jeff up as a [[spoiler:Greendale teacher]] in "Repilot", only one episode of Season 5 actually focuses on Jeff [[spoiler:being a teacher]] (and that was the episode immediately after "Repilot"), leading some viewers to complain of a missed opportunity to explore [[spoiler:Greendale's eccentric teaching staff in the same way that the previous seasons had explored the eccentric student body]].
251** The same episode implied an OddFriendship was beginning to form between Abed and Shirley (two characters who almost never interact outside of the group). Nothing ever came of it.
252** When [[spoiler:Pierce dies]], you'd expect the lawyer in charge of the "lie detector" investigation would be Gilbert. It'd be hilarious to see his reaction to the funeral, to the [[spoiler:secrets that everyone is forced to spill per Pierce's LastRequest]], and learning about the test [[spoiler:to sail around the world, which Gilbert never had to do since Cornelius never acknowledged him as family]]. Instead, a new guy we've never seen before is the lawyer.
253** Troy joining the Greendale football team. It's the focus of an entire episode, and it could have fueled numerous future episodes poking fun at collegiate athletics and sports movies, but it's never even mentioned again (other than in "Interpretive Dance", where Troy mentions that his football coach encouraged him to take dance lessons). If nothing else, you'd think it might have figured into Greendale's rivalry with City College.
254** In "Intro to Felt Surrogacy", Jeff's "most terrible secret" turns out to be that he ended his relationship with a single mother because he couldn't handle being a stepfather, ultimately leaving her without a goodbye after [[DaddyDidntShow failing to show up at her son's baseball game]]. Their relationship easily could have been the focus of an entire episode (if not a whole multi-episode storyline), since it touches on Jeff's continuing struggles with [[ParentalAbandonment his father's abandonment]] and his fear of fatherhood in a very poignant way. Instead, it's just ''mentioned'' in a single verse of a musical number, with his girlfriend and her son never even showing up onscreen. They don't even get names!
255--->''"I found the perfect girl for me, and then I met her kid,''\
256''I said it didn't bother me, but truthfully it did.''\
257''I promised him I'd make it to a baseball game he had,''\
258''But I bailed and never called again,''\
259''[[NotSoDifferentRemark And now I'm just exactly like my dad]]."''
260* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: While Season 4 is generally agreed to have suffered from a noticeable decline in writing quality due to Creator/DanHarmon's firing, most fans agree that the main cast's acting remained remarkably strong in spite of it. In particular, Creator/JoelMcHale's performance in "Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations" is often cited as a highlight of his career.
261* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
262** The Season 2 episode "Intro to Political Science" revolves around then-Vice President UsefulNotes/JoeBiden giving a speech at Greendale, dating it to the [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama Obama]] years. Amusingly, though, the episode unintentionally predicted Biden being elected President in 2020.
263--->'''Biden:''' Y'know, I just had a dream that I was a regular President...
264** In Season 3, Annie explains to Jeff how to acquire and use emojis, which they both call "special icons."
265* UnpopularPopularCharacter:
266** Pierce and Chang. Both are often barely tolerated by the rest of the group, but they're popular characters with the fans (or at least some of them--see BaseBreakingCharacter above).
267** Britta as well. Although not exactly disliked by the study group, they frequently call her a killjoy and is widely seen as TheFriendNobodyLikes, and she's apparently not too popular with the rest of the Greendale student body, either. However, after moving past being a SatelliteCharacter and RomanticFalseLead to Jeff, she became very popular with the fans for her passion, goofiness, and nature as a JerkassWoobie:
268--->'''Vicki:''' You're the worst!\
269'''Britta:''' Okay, she is ''just'' saying that to fit in!
270** The study group in general appears to be this to some degree; they're very close-knit with each other and are, of course, very popular with the fans of the show, but there's some evidence to suggest that they're not that well liked among the student body at large in Greendale. Although given that they are very judgmental regarding who they socialize with and prone to grabbing the JerkassBall, it really isn't that hard to believe.
271** Dean Pelton is also a popular character with fans, but in-universe he's clearly not respected by his staff and the Study Group finds him irritating more often than not. It's made explicitly clear in "[[Recap/CommunityS5E02IntroductionToTeaching Introduction to Teaching]]" when the "Save Greendale" Committee is formed and their first order of business is to bar him from attending meetings. Frankie, despite her rule about being constructive, eventually breaks down after he spends thousands of dollars on Honda merchandise, and she lays into him with a 30 second long epic verbal smackdown for the Dean being an idiot, being "so stupid", and for not having any idea about how stupid he is.
272* TheUntwist: [[spoiler: Chang is lying about his [[InsistentTerminology "Changnesia"]]]] in Season 4.
273* VindicatedByHistory: ''Community'' was never really appreciated during its time on [=NBC=], being frequently ScrewedByTheNetwork and suffering from ever-decreasing terrible ratings among audiences. Nowadays, thanks to a combination of the series being put on first Hulu and later Netflix and new fans brought in from the widely popular ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' thanks to Creator/{{Dan Harmon}} having (co-)created both shows, ''Community'' is seen as a beloved CultClassic and one of the best television shows of UsefulNotes/TheNewTens.
274* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig Zagged]] for the Australian DVD release of Seasons 3 to 5. The series was broadcast with both a PG and M rating, meaning children are able to watch the episodes with some parental guidance. When the three seasons were released on DVD and online, it was classified with the ''very'' child-unfriendly MA 15+, which is an equivalent rating to ultra-violent media like ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto Grand Theft Auto]]''! Essentially, younger fans would not be able to buy any physical copies of the series. The reason why is due to the [[ClusterFBomb very foul-mouthed]] special features, including the commentary tracks.
275* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: Platonic and business examples:
276** The School Board members we see are two guys, both whom are not the brightest tools in the shed nor the nicest, and one is a proclaimed alcoholic. They are also utterly useless and serve as TheMillstone at best from Seasons 3 to 6. Yet, each time the Dean refuses to expose them as incompetent or press charges for [[spoiler:not realizing he had been kidnapped and replaced, forcing him to take charge of an "amnesiac" Chang who was said kidnapper, and leaving to die in an underground bunker with his favorite students after selling the university to Subway]]. He even says that's what Deans do: they cover up problems. It gets to the point where [[spoiler:the Dean tries to flee from them in Season 6 and they have to corner him to ask him to become the token gay board member]]. Why would you keep sticking your neck out for them, Dean?
277** The Dean himself, as noted in Seasons 5 and 6, having the former study group and Frankie bail him out on a regular basis. He has UltimateJobSecurity due to his big heart, but he is ridiculously incompetent, as shown by him accidentally causing a ZombieApocalypse by buying discount meat from a store. Even back in Season 1, Annie wanted to run a story about how the Dean texted only black students about a concert, with the latter's defense being that he had low cellphone data but had learned his lesson by getting an unlimited plan. Jeff only killed the story in the school paper because he was worried about Annie getting in trouble with the school administration and having the Dean breathing down his neck. While the study group made the right call in [[spoiler:saving him from Chang's imprisonment, since otherwise the school would have been blown up and no one deserves to be kidnapped for months on end]], it's hard to see why they keep helping him. In Season 5, Jeff finds out that [[spoiler:the Dean is shredding papers relevant to a student designing a dangerous bridge, and gets furious about him willing to overlook the moral hazard of a school that is more of a degree mill. The Dean claims he doesn't know how to be anything but a dean, and persuades Jeff to make him better by working as a teacher at Greendale. Needless to say, it doesn't take. And as the former study group agrees, hiring Chang ''again'' after lying about his credentials, becoming a de facto dictator who would blow up the school, and FakingAmnesia is downright mind-numbingly idiotic]]. Even Frankie at one point hits her RageBreakingPoint and gives the Dean a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how he's so stupid that he doesn't even know he's stupid when seeing he used the school budget to impulse-buy at least a dozen Honda vehicles. Why ''not'' replace him with something more competent?
278* TheWoobie:
279** Abed, particularly in "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas". Then the second half of Season 3 hits, exploring more of Abed we never knew. "Virtual Systems Analysis" has major insight to his issues.
280** Todd in "[[Recap/CommunityS3E03CompetitiveEcology Competitive Ecology]]". Possibly the nicest guy on the show and an Iraq War veteran to boot, he spends the entire episode as the study group's punching bag (he is even insulted by some of the nicer members like Troy and Annie), none of whom want to be lab partners with him.
281** The Dean can become like this, at times.
282** Professor Kane. He spent 25 years in prison for a crime it's implied he didn't commit, dealt with some horrible students, and quit after a nervous breakdown from the death of [[spoiler: Starburns.]] It gets worse when you find out [[spoiler: Starburns faked his death, meaning Kane quit over nothing.]]

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