United States of Tara

Three seasons of this Diablo Cody half hour was probably just right. I’m not a fan of series existing in perpetuity, but that doesn’t mean I’m not sad to say farewell to the Gregson family after three seasons. That’s part of why I have been hoarding the last episodes, waiting for a time when I can fully enjoy them. But over the years, this perfectly cast family drama took a more honest, unflinching look at suburban family life than we’ve seen on TV anytime in recent memory, and certainly in a comedy. (Modern Family is enjoyable, but tends toward idyllic).

Matriarch Tara’s dissociative identity disorder could easily serve as a metaphor for whatever is messed up about your family. Max goes out of his way to be the good guy, sometimes to the point of desperation. Kate is a smart, scrappy young adult flailing in search of a place in the world. Marshall is the most no-nonsense, believable gay teen to ever appear on TV, I think, which is a much more meaningful representation than Flaunting It or the Very Special Episode approach.

Everyone has problems, and everyone has probably called their mom crazy. But this is a family that truly seems to love one another at the end of the day, no matter what other insanity has gone on in or around their household. Maybe it’s the modern corollary to Ozzie and Harriet?

Is Elijah Wood seeing things? (Ray Mickshaw/FX)

Wilfred

Elijah Wood and Jason Gann are channeling Calvin and Hobbes in this FX comedy based on an Australian series. Wood is the unemployed Ryan, who bonds with his neighbor’s dog when she asks him to watch Wilfred for her. But Ryan sees Wilfred as a life-size pot-smoking, boozing, philandering man in a dog costume, with whom he can interact and who is often getting his human companion into trouble.

Each episode’s title is taken from a philosophical quotation and boiled down to a fundamental concept that is then illustrated by Wilfred’s generally devious behavior. His schemes are usually executed under the guise of improving Ryan’s life, and they predictably backfire, causing Ryan to look even worse in the eyes of his peers.

The show doesn’t seem to take a firm position on the nature of Ryan’s relationship with Wilfred. Is he crazy? Is it real? There are hints and red herrings strewn about, but the truth remains elusive, even to the extremely curious Ryan, whose murky past may hold some clues to the show’s mythology. What can I say? I like my comedies dark.

12 Favorite Comedies of 2012
2 Broke Girls/30 Rock | Awkward./Community | Happy Endings/It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia | The Larry Sanders Show/Louie | Modern Family/Parks and Recreation | United States of Tara/Wilfred

Modern Family

There was something special about this extended family when they burst onto the scene a few years back. It’s the stuff sitcom franchises are made of, and once audiences get a taste of it, they’ll let you sail along for years and into the syndicated sunset (suggested marketing campaign: “I’m an MF‘er”) on the faith they had in those strong early episodes. Modern Family is not a great series, but it is a good one, and it fills a niche that was empty for several years prior to its arrival.

You can’t fault a writers room for trying to give audiences what they’ve demonstrated they want. But after two Emmy wins for best comedy, Modern Family has been coasting for most of its third season, too often falling prey to its own tempting formulas and devices. There is so much organic material to be mined here that when they reach for outlandish contrivances they’re leaving a lot of their own potential unfulfilled.

But I didn’t put this show on my list to beat it up. I can’t stay mad for long, and one of my favorite parts of this show is the deeply rooted family dynamics that separate blood relatives Jay, Claire, and Mitchell from those that were married or born into the family. While I take issue with the TV Academy’s insistence that this is best comedy on TV, it is certainly firmly entrenched in the middle of the pack, where it will likely remain until it becomes unprofitable.

Season's greetings from the cast of "Parks and Recreation." (Chris Haston/NBC)

Parks and Recreation

I didn’t want to like Parks and Recreation. But thanks to a friend’s recommendation and the fact that all the episodes were on Netflix streaming, I watched the six-episode first season in a couple days and was hooked. Which is weird looking back, because the first handful of episodes were dark and the show was still evolving into its eventual self. The second season maintained a steady rise in quality, character development, and humor.

But the third season, which aired last spring, is masterful, beginning to end. From the Harvest Festival story arc to April and Andy’s surprising relationship (I especially love their alter egos, Janet Snakehole and Bert Macklin) and the brief but memorable onscreen escapades of a tiny horse named Li’l Sebastian, the show had me alternately in tears and stitches. The characters felt fully formed (even Rob Lowe’s Chris, who I pretty much hate), the stories funny and relatable. The heart of this comedy is healthy and steadily beating, and it runs on an essential optimism and the belief that its characters can all be friends without diminishing the scripts’ opportunities for conflict.

Every minor character in Pawnee and every miniscule detail of the town’s ludicrously American history builds into a tapestry of a real place. It’s a shining example of finding the relatable in the specific, and this feels like a rich, lived-in place, where people work in an office and get along most of the time. Leslie’s ongoing political ambitions seem bound to continue to drive the show’s current fourth season, and while I can’t vote for her in an election, I’d like to cast my vote for this as one of the finest shows of the year.

12 Favorite Comedies of 2012
2 Broke Girls/30 Rock | Awkward./Community | Happy Endings/It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia | The Larry Sanders Show/Louie | Modern Family/Parks and Recreation | United States of Tara/Wilfred

The Larry Sanders Show

I know Sanders has been off the air since 1998, but somehow I managed to make it to 2011 without ever watching it. For someone who loves TV about TV, I can’t really explain how this happened, but I have to thank IFC and Netflix for rectifying it in spades this year. I’m sure I stumbled on it during its original run, but I can’t imagine that my elementary school self would’ve been able to appreciate it as well as I can today.

The cast is impeccable, with Rip Torn and Jeffrey Tambor elevating everything and everyone around them. But the show’s confidence in itself is impressive, especially for the era. Credit that to Shandling’s own comic sensibility and career trajectory. The show’s conceit lay with its conceited title character, whose barely existent self-confidence juxtaposed with Hank’s unvarnished opportunism created much of the show’s tension and subtext.

And if you had more than a passing interest in pop culture in the ’90s, the show’s cameos, asides, and references play more as  time capsule than as outdated. 2010′s Leno-Conan debacle probably helped to make Sanders relevant once again, but the show has more than earned its reputation on its own merits, and I’m glad I got to enjoy all 89 episodes in 2011.

Louie

Louis CK in "Louie." (FX)

Louis CK’s FX show defies easy categorization, and that’s part of what makes it a case study in the future of television. Produced on a shoestring budget with almost no network oversight, it is essentially a one-man band delving into any topic that strikes its auteur’s fancy that week. I came to the show this year, in its second season, and was treated to a panoply of subjects and styles over 13 episodes.

While preparing for a first date, Louie witnesses a freak decapitation on the street. After a rough night on stage, he gets career advice from comic legend Joan Rivers. He attempts to introduce his young daughters to their aging great aunt, who dies during their visit. One installment was an extended essay on masturbation, while another dealt with the crushing weight of unrequited love.

Like life, the show is a mixed bag of topics, emotions, and encounters. But the throughline is Louis CK’s unique perspective on whatever events happen to unfold. FX seems pleased with the show’s buzz, but even if it doesn’t last forever, the bold comedian’s recent online concert experiment is evidence that he has a fan base and can make entertainment in whatever format and for whatever duration he so chooses. The truth really will set you free, even in the malicious wonderland of entertainment.

12 Favorite Comedies of 2012
2 Broke Girls/30 Rock | Awkward./Community | Happy Endings/It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia | The Larry Sanders Show/Louie | Modern Family/Parks and Recreation | United States of Tara/Wilfred

Happy Endings

I have to thank ABC Family for marathoning the entire first season of Happy Endings on a random Friday this summer. That binge opportunity gave me the chance to devour episodes and get to know the characters while ignoring the show’s early hiccups. Comparisons to Friends are valid, but they’re not necessarily the ones that lie on the surface.

Granted, they’re six young people in the big city, and two are siblings. And Alex’s decision in the pilot to leave Dave at the altar is similar to Rachel’s cold feet back in the ’90s. But the real Friends corollary at play in Happy Endings is that the cast members have chemistry as a group and in any constellation of pairs the writers can devise.

At least half the cast has bounced around other projects without managing to find a good fit. If the show’s fall run is any indication, they’ve also found a hit here. And that makes me smile, because while the show’s million jokes a minute style relies too heavily on pop culture references for it to age especially well, it’s loads of fun in the now.

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Kaitlin Olson steals the show in another episode of "Sunny." (Patrick McElhenney / FX)

This show managed to fly under my radar for six seasons on FX. But this summer, I shotgunned almost every episode thanks to its increased exposure in syndication on Comedy Central. I tend to find the Seinfeld comparisons lacking, though Sunny surely follows the selfish tradition set forth by Larry David and company.

Your appetite for this show can be gauged by a single defining episode, which I happened to catch in the first week I was sampling repeats. That episode, “Dennis and Dee Go On Welfare,” tells you not only everything you need to know about these misanthropes, but also whether your sense of humor aligns with their desperate antics. From the opportunistic plot to scam the welfare system to the siblings’ harrowing descent into full blown crack addiction, that half hour may still reign as the series’ best.

I have to give the show some serious credit for its deft use of ’80s music over the years, and stunts like Fat Mac or Mac and Charlie crashing Dee’s car to fake their deaths balance out the less palatable bottle episodes. My favorite episode this fall was “Sweet Dee Gets Audited,” and as far as I can tell, no one on television has better delivery than Kaitlin Olson saying, “Goddammit.”

12 Favorite Comedies of 2012
2 Broke Girls/30 Rock | Awkward./Community | Happy Endings/It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia | The Larry Sanders Show/Louie | Modern Family/Parks and Recreation | United States of Tara/Wilfred

Continuing in alphabetical order, two more of my favorite comedies from 2011. Both shows deal with the travails and social landscapes of educational institutions.

Awkward.

I’m not sure what prefacing this by admitting that I still watch Teen Nick’s Degrassi will do for my credibility. But there you have it. Awkward., MTV’s half-hour soap, has a lot in common with Teen Nick’s bread and butter: it’s earnest, current, and refuses to talk down to its audience. Jenna’s journey through the halls of high school, however, seem better navigated with a self-deprecating sense of humor (and some wicked slang), whereas Degrassi is much more reliant on Taking It Seriously, and every installment is a Very Special Episode.

There are some intriguing mysteries running through Awkward.‘s first 12 episodes. Who wrote Jenna a harsh letter taking her to task for her worthless social stock? Will she end up with the guy she likes, who wants to keep her on the DL, or the guy who likes her, whose own girlfriend is not thrilled with his wandering eye? It sounds cliché, but the breezy season arc comes off as fresh, especially if you’re inclined to ignore some of the more cartoonish folks in Jenna’s world. If you’re looking for something light you can catch up with during the holidays, you could do much worse.

Community

Joel McHale in 'Community.' (Jordin Althaus/NBC)

I’m not above admitting that my initial interest in this show was an excuse to look at Joel McHale for 22 non-Soup minutes each week. Then my DVR got crowded a month into this show’s first season, and I threw it overboard. But it continued to generate enough buzz that I added it to my DVR last spring, in time to catch up on most of season 2 throughout the summer, and to devour each season 3 episode with anticipation. I’ll admit that it’s an acquired taste.

What Community has going for it is ambition. It sets a high bar for itself every week, taking creative approaches to storytelling, sometimes just for their own sake, but often in service of its characters. From the annual paintball showdowns to the transcendent “Remedial Chaos Theory,” which featured multiple alternate timelines of the same evening’s events, there are always plenty of layers to peel back.

And no matter what song and dance plays out for the first 20 minutes, it usually comes together in an unexpectedly affecting way. The thing about ambition is that it doesn’t always work out. Not every Community is a winner, but they’re swinging for the fences, and they’re connecting much more often than not. I can’t think of another show for which I would have willingly sat through an entire episode that was just a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Come back soon, Community.

12 Favorite Comedies of 2012
2 Broke Girls/30 Rock | Awkward./Community | Happy Endings/It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia | The Larry Sanders Show/Louie | Modern Family/Parks and Recreation | United States of Tara/Wilfred

'30 Rock' returns to NBC in January 2012.

The 12 Comedies of 2011

It’s the end of another year. Holiday spirit may or may not be in the air, it’s the six weeks of the year that grocers stock eggnog, and everyone is making a list of their favorite entertainment articles from the last 12 months.

I’m bucking the tradition of a rigid “10 best series” approach and focusing on 12 comedies I couldn’t get enough of this year. That’s not because there weren’t plenty of outstanding dramas; there always are. But I experienced a TV comedy renaissance this year, and in addition to being thoroughly entertaining, many of these 12 shows play a part in reevaluating our rigid definitions of comedy and drama. Should we be thinking more Shakespearean, where comedy or tragedy is just an indication of the type of ending you can expect?

I’ll leave these heavy questions for another day and instead lay forth my favorite half-hour series of 2011 (or that I enjoyed primarily in 2011), in arbitrary alphabetical order.

2 Broke Girls

I liked Whitney Cummings’ standup, and I’m impressed with anyone who can get two shows on the air in one development cycle. Though I think the overall critical derision of Whitney is a bit much, that show doesn’t do anything for me. 2 Broke Girls, on the other hand, hits me where I live, which is modestly, and in the lower middle (if not upper lower) class.

Probably not since Roseanne has a show so aggressively tapped into economic hardship as a plot driver, and that’s probably a factor in the show’s success. I can’t defend the racist caricatures the titular girls work with at the diner or the constant barrage of vagina jokes, but Max and Caroline’s financial struggles are eminently  relatable to, dare I say it, the 99%.

30 Rock

Tina Fey’s masterwork is getting on in years, but this year it proved that creativity often thrives under a constraint. With Tracy Morgan sidelined for multiple episodes due to a health issue, the show was forced to write around him. And in so doing, it managed to be hysterical and deeply profound.

Aaron Sorkin helped Liz grapple with her career trajectory, Sherri Shepherd continued to probably not be in on the joke with her Queen of Jordan reality show arc, and in the suddenly timely Kim Jong-Il episode, Liz accepted that she is not the master of her fate, while Jack did a duet with Condoleezza Rice.

The show’s fall hiatus to accommodate Fey’s maternity leave coincided nicely with the show’s syndication debut, and now I’m all set for the sixth (possibly final) season, kicking off January 12, 2012.

12 Favorite Comedies of 2012
2 Broke Girls/30 Rock | Awkward./Community | Happy Endings/It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia | The Larry Sanders Show/Louie | Modern Family/Parks and Recreation | United States of Tara/Wilfred

Brothers are doing it for themselves. (Danny Feld/NBC)

It’s not a secret that NBC has a viewership problem, but the good news for the few but faithful who are still watching is that it’s got some gems hiding in plain sight.

You can’t talk about Parenthood without addressing its enormous cast of 15 regulars, not counting all the recurring guests. It’s a strength that can work for the show, because if you aren’t invested in this person’s story, there’s bound to be another one going on for you to get wrapped up in.

It can also turn into a liability. Writing for that many characters means it’s impossible for you to serve everyone, every episode. Teenage Drew and grandma Camille have done their share of riding the bench, but they certainly haven’t been lonely there.

Lauren Graham’s character Sarah has been a weak link, flitting between boyfriends and careers, never seeming to quite find her place. This season has at least given her character some ongoing story threads, but her performance here doesn’t achieve the empathy that others manage, and it has been holding Sarah back. Her current love triangle and standoff with her father seem to overcome or at least tackle some of these obstacles, so maybe there’s hope.

But she’s an exception. With so many moving parts and constantly shifting family dynamics, this show manages to connect more often than it whiffs. That’s thanks to solid writing that seems to know where it’s going. In season 2, tensions culminated around a satisfyingly fraught Thanksgiving dinner that set the course for the rest of the year.

For season 3, baby drama abounds, as Julia and Joel move toward adopting a baby from a young girl working the coffee cart in Julia’s office. This has much potential for schlock, but the story slowly wins you over by having a sense of humor about it (one episode was called “Hey, If You’re Not Using that Baby”) and allowing characters to raise perfectly valid objections and concerns about this wacky plan.

The other new addition to the Braverman clan is Nora, just born to Kristina (Monica Potter), who is struggling with postpartum depression as her eldest daughter gears up for college and her husband Adam is busy with his new business. Potter’s performance this year has been masterful and understated, and I’m fully prepared for her to be criminally ignored  by next year’s Emmy nominations, in the tradition of FNL-era Connie Britton or Gilmore-era Graham.

From her devastating “breakup by proxy” scene with Hattie’s boyfriend Alex (Michael B. Jordan) to her quiet desperation as her in-laws and relatives descend on the new baby, she is delivering on every front. It’s nice that a family soap blessed with such a deep bench also offers them the material to make the show sing.

This burgeoning cast also gives writers the chance to shuffle the deck and create unlikely pairings. When Asperger’s-afflicted Max gets detention at school, it’s newly independent older cousin Amber who ultimately manages to connect with him, leading to a satisfying moment during the family reunion for Nora’s birth.

Dax Shepard as Crosby has been another surprise, as many have already noted. His interplay with older brother Adam as they embark on a new business venture has been overshadowed by his own struggles as a dad sharing custody and desperately holding on to his relationship with the son he only recently discovered he had.

As for Adam, teaming him up with Crosby does a lot to solve the problems with his previous job as a shoe company executive. It seemed implausible or at least unprofessional that family members would materialize unannounced at his office for counseling or favors each week. Now that the brothers are running a recording studio together, family drop-ins are at least more believable, if still not always organic.

Creating a rich family of characters and developing the realistic conflicts between them is a tall order. But this is a writers room that has not backed down from the challenge. And to their credit, when they have to make a choice between making a big scene for TV or executing it in a realistic way, they choose verisimilitude just about every time.

The joys of parenthood and family are found in the small moments, after all.

PARENTHOOD season 3
Tuesdays, 10p/9c, NBC

Behind every successful woman... (Amazon)

The personal is political, and vice versa, for the hard-working women and men of The Good Wife. After three seasons of masterfully blending the procedural and the serial, it’s time for this show to cash in with an off-network syndication deal.

It’s a well-written, engaging, critically acclaimed show with an all star cast. It’s topical, culturally relevant, and unafraid to assail the hypocrisy of human nature, especially in matters of gender politics, capitalism, and public policy.

But there’s a twist: it’s too serial and not procedural enough that standalone episodes make good repeat viewing. CBS has been quick to sub in reality shows or other programming instead of TGW reruns. This problem could explain why no cable network has jumped in to acquire the show for syndication. Though it likely wouldn’t begin airing until 2013, it’s standard practice for buyers to snap up popular shows years before they make their syndicated debuts.

One benefit of these deals is they ensure the continued production of new episodes, because the studio knows they have a deal in place to make their investment back. For serialized shows, there’s one place in particular that’s become a popular landing strip: Netflix.

In recent weeks, baby network The CW struck deals with streaming services Netflix and Hulu to provide all its shows a non-exclusive home after their initial broadcasts. This solves a problem for The CW, as Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva explains:

“[T]he CW airs serialized young-skewing dramas. They don’t repeat well, leading to stretches of dismal ratings for the network with no originals and generating virtually no syndication value for the CW co-owners CBS and Warner Bros….”

This flies in the face of CBS CEO Leslie Moonves’ long-held belief that offering episodes of currently airing network shows hurts not only their syndication value but also their profitability during their initial runs. If viewers can choose to stream episodes, commercial-free in the case of Netflix, what incentive do they have to tune in? There’s an argument to be made that it’s no coincidence that CBS has been so profitable in recent years.

But this CW deal shows that maybe Moonves is willing to make deals on a case-by-case basis, if the price is right. And there’s precedent for a well-regarded, stylish, serialized workplace drama being sold to Netflix via offnet syndication. It happened this year with Mad Men.

Facing similar concerns about the more traditional cable or broadcast syndication outlets, Lions Gate took Mad Men to a place where new audiences and old fans could consume the show at their own pace, while still commanding in the neighborhood of $1 million per episode in an exclusive deal. That’s a fair price, and it’s on par with what the show was likely to command if it found a cable suitor instead.

Netflix is coming off of the darkest days in its history, having taken a drubbing from customers, investors, and the press over its recent pricing changes. But it’s got a long-term game plan with new or renewed content deals for The CW, ABC, and NBC Universal, and the launch of its first original acquisition, House of Cards, in 2012.

As Andreeva points out in that same analysis:

The broadcast network business was built on close-ended procedurals that repeat well to allow nets to maintain stable ratings levels throughout the year and producing studios to sell those shows in broadcast and especially cable syndication for top dollar. Then streaming services like Netflix came along where serialized dramas whose syndication value is almost non-existent are far more attractive.

CBS will likely renew The Good Wife for a fourth season when May 2012 rolls around. The show’s ratings aren’t great, but its prestige is worth having around. And it’s a much easier sell when the network, which has a financial stake in the show, knows it can expect to make its money back. Mr. Moonves, if no cable suitors are forthcoming, and it appears they aren’t, why not cut a deal with your new friends at Netflix?

There’s nothing wrong with procedurals and sitcoms; they’re the bread and butter of the business. That’s why syndication models are designed around them. But shows like Mad Men and The Good Wife are a meatier meal best enjoyed on demand, and platforms like Netflix give them an opportunity to be profitable, which means many happy returns for content owners, distributors, and consumers. It’s win-win.

THE GOOD WIFE season 3
Sundays, 9p/8c, CBS

Rosie stands up. (George Burns/OWN)

Like many a gay growing up in the ’90s, I rushed home every afternoon to take in the spectacle of The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Having followed her career since then—The View, a rocky variety special, satellite radio—I was hopeful but not holding my breath for her new evening hour on OWN, The Rosie Show.

Most of my initial concerns were based on press reports. Originally the show was conceived as The Oprah Show, hosted by Rosie O’Donnell, with serious, single-topic hours. Later interviews hedged, promising one celeb per hour. But by its debut, the show had given way to an entertaining variety hour not unlike the original ’90s flavor so many loved, now inoffensively gayer.

Much to my delight, Rosie and her crew quickly settled in to their new home at Harpo, and the show was firing on almost all cylinders by the end of its first week. My only complaint was the off-putting original announcer, now replaced by sunny recently unemployed audience member Hollee, a much better fit.

It seems like Rosie has the final say on just about everything. She frequently admits to running long during the standup/audience interaction monologue. She brazenly cheats for losing contestants during each night’s game segment. And given her extensive experience in live broadcasting, she’s comfortable letting interviews go wherever the conversation takes them.

Rosie is down to book engaging guests, whether or not they have something to promote. This has led to some great chats with folks like Wanda Sykes, Valerie Harper, and Sara Ramirez. It’s also led to some awkward moments, like her recent chat with Tracy Morgan. But she always remains calm, handling celebrity bumps in the road just as she does dud audience members. She riffs when she can, and she keeps the show moving.

But this young show had a major WTF moment Wednesday night when Rosie welcomed standup comic and former Grace Under Fire star Brett Butler. I was actually excited for this interview, having been a fan of that show as well.

Butler is no stranger to struggles with addiction, which in fact was a topic conversation among the three ambling segments in which she appeared. Her deer-in-the-headlights demeanor could easily be attributed to someone who’s been out of the spotlight for over a decade.

Things got off to a rocky start when a disoriented Butler sat down and observed of the audience, “Look at all the bright colors. And on their clothes too.” It was one of many time when the audience, in studio and at home, couldn’t decide if it was meant to be a joke and decided not to laugh, just in case.

The rambling conversation loosely touched on Butler’s sudden rise to fame through that ’90s sitcom, also visiting her struggles with addiction, subsequent retreat from public life, and supposed recent return to the stage. (The clips on OWN’s website do a yeoman’s job of extracting some cogence out of the freewheeling 15-20 minute conversation, but conveniently fail to represent the overall tone of the chat.)

Several moments in the interview veered into incoherent babbling territory, and Butler ignored or cast off every rope O’Donnell attempted to toss her. At one point, O’Donnell admitted that she booked Butler after chatting with her on Twitter, only to later discover that she’d been communicating with an impostor.

That’s probably because Butler was too busy communicating with the spirit world, because she announced that she is now an involuntary psychic. And guess what? You might be too.

Being open to such things isn’t too tall an order for an audience who watched Oprah preach from this same studio for years. But in this context, everything just felt uncomfortable. It’s a reminder that live TV flails as often as it succeeds, even in the capable hands of a pro like Rosie.

I’m still watching The Rosie Show, and its entertaining moments far outweigh its unwatchable ones. This is the kind of talk show DVRs were invented for. And now I know to keep an eye out, because the next train wreck could already be barreling down the tracks.

THE ROSIE SHOW
Weeknights, 7p/6c, OWN

I wonder what happened in all those other timelines? (Lewis Jacobs/NBC)

This week’s episode of Community is a great example of when the show’s bold experiments are so successfully executed that everything goes perfectly. It was the best of all possible timelines, no?

In light of that, it’s worth taking a look at this Wired profile of the show’s creator, Dan Harmon. Among other revelations, you’ll learn how writing the show helped Harmon realize that he probably has Asperger’s.

One thing that strikes me about Community, and that I imagine some folks find inaccessible, is that it’s so inventive that the only recognizable thing from episode to episode is the basic plot formula: something threatens the study group’s dynamic.

That’s because every storyline is subject to an eight-step process Harmon calls an embryo, and that he searches for in every movie, song, and TV show he comes across. Here are the steps:

1. A character is in a zone of comfort.
2. But they want something.
3. They enter an unfamiliar situation.
4. Adapt to it.
5. Get what they wanted.
6. Pay a heavy price for it.
7. Then return to their familiar situation.
8. Having changed.

There’s even an example embryo photographed in the writers room that seems to allude to Shirley’s pies in “Remedial Chaos Theory.” In case you missed it, I’m including the episode here.

COMMUNITY season 3
Thursdays, 8p/7c, NBC