When Yahoo picked up Community, it seemed fitting that this weird little show would land in the most unlikely and random place. I hadn’t heard of Yahoo’s free video service, but I thought it was a smart marketing decision to pick up Community and boost Yahoo Screen’s numbers with one of sitcom television’s most outspoken and loyal fan bases.
Now the show’s 6th season (a milestone I honestly never thought the show would reach) is here. The first two episodes premiered today with new episodes made available each Tuesday. All of which are available on a free app from a site that gave me my first email address almost two decades ago. Continue reading →
Yesterday NBC released a trailer for Season 5 of Community
It’s no secret that Community has had its fair share of struggles and controversy in the past. It’s never had impressive ratings (or average ratings for that matter,) there have been issues with cast members (notably Chevy Chase,) it lost its showrunner and creator at the end of the third season, and all of these issues culminated in a disappointing season 4. In fact, disappointing doesn’t really describe it well enough. So one can’t really be blamed for looking forward to Season five of Community with more than a bit of apprehension. Continue reading →
Pilots are interesting beasts in the television world. They’re used to convince a studio to shell out more money for more episodes. In order to do that, a pilot needs to succeed on several more fronts of storytelling than any other single episode. A pilot needs to introduce the major characters of a series in an engaging, often standalone, story that will leave the audience clamoring for more.
Furthermore, a good pilot needs to rely on a strong cast to build a rapport in a short period of time. Writers working on pilots also have to gauge possible long-term onscreen relationships completely blind of actors’ chemistry. Because of these factors, I live by one steadfast television-viewing rule:
Never judge a show by its pilot.
But some series have such strong pilot episodes that you can and should judge them on the pilots. And so, here I have compiled a list of some of my favorite pilot episodes. They aren’t necessarily my favorite shows ever, and they aren’t exactly the best episodes of said shows. These episodes are just the most engaging series-starters that I’ve seen. They also introduce the characters and story arcs in a highly satisfying way.
You can click the episode titles in the list to buy them digitally on Amazon.
I watched Force Majeure back in 2018 and didn't care for it all that much. Downhill makes me want to revisit and re-evaluate Force Majeure.Downhill really isn't terrible. It just feels hollow. It only touches on the theme of fragile masculinity without making it a focal point of the movie, which is a big misstep. The relationship between Will Ferre […]
It's the kind of movie that thinks it's being clever despite not trying hard at all to do it. I appreciate the variety, I guess, but the tonal shifts among the different fantasies just made the whole movie feel like it was working through a genre identity crisis. The way the story tries to tie things together was a bit haphazard but better than not […]
Well-meaning and sugary sweet, but doesn't really have much of anything really profound or interesting to say. Allison Janney and the mean troop just go through the motions of being antagonists for the misfit characters. It's also got one of the strangest "group unites in an act of solidarity" scenes I've seen.Full review: https://ob […]
Weird Valentine's Day viewing. Sure. But man, talk about a 180. I saw Snowpiercer 5.5 years ago in suboptimal conditions on zero sleep.Revisiting it now, in a better frame of mind and in the as aftermath of Parasite, I can see the things that should have worked for me when I saw it in 2014. The world building and class system social commentary is a work […]
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is Netflix’s charming teen romance film based on the first of Jenny Han’s trilogy of novels. In adapting the story to film, screenwriter Sofia Alvarez and director Susan Johnson pack the ethos of classic John Hughes films into a modern teen world. They do so in an earnest and unironic way that feels refreshing in an age of c […]
