http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Community

— Abed "I can tell life from TV, Jeff. TV makes sense, it has structure, logic, rules, and likable leading men. In life, we have this. We have you."

Advertisement:

Community is an Ensemble Cast Sitcom, created by Dan Harmon. It first aired on NBC from 2009-2014, then was promptly Uncancelled and streamed a sixth and final season on Yahoo! Screen in 2015.

Joel McHale stars as Jeff Winger, an Amoral Attorney who got caught playing fast and loose with the truth... this time in regards to his college degree. In an attempt to get a legitimate(ish) degree without doing any work, he's enrolled in the local community college. He quickly attempts to get in good with Britta (Gillian Jacobs), a girl from his Spanish 101 class, by pretending to be a "board-certified Spanish tutor" who can help her study. Things go awry, however, when she invites their mutual acquaintance, the socially challenged Abed (Danny Pudi), to their fake study group. Abed, in turn, invites some of their other classmates — ex-high school football star Troy (Donald Glover), compulsive overachiever Annie (Alison Brie), single mother Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), and not-quite-as-smart-or-with-it-as-he-thinks moist-towelette magnate Pierce (Chevy Chase) — leading to the organization of the cast's Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.

Advertisement:

Each season features the study group taking a class together with some sort of underlying theme. In the first season, it was Spanish and was built around the study group members learning to communicate with each other; in the second season, it was Anthropology, which highlighted the group growing into a tight-knit "tribe"; and in the third season, it was Biology, feeding into the group struggling with their capacity to evolve. The fourth season was History, with the group coming to terms with their pasts but also realizing how much they've grown. The fifth season revolves around the characters returning to the school after some time having failed to make much of their lives outside the school, and decide to form the "Save Greendale" committee in order to both improve the school overall and to find meaning in their lives. The sixth season had a "moving on" theme, acceptance both of where you are and of change and the realization that it's okay for things to end.

Advertisement:

The show's humor is driven by the character interaction, supplemented by rampant lampshade hangings. As a side effect of this, the trope examples will be very quote-driven.

Dan Harmon - whose work ethic and perfectionism had made for constant battles with the network, the production studio, and star Chevy Chase (who infamously left a hate-filled tirade on his voicemail) - ultimately got fired off his own show at the end of the third season, replaced by producers Moses Port and David Guarascio (known for Just Shoot Me! and Happy Endings). After the fourth season, the show was renewed and Harmon hired back as showrunner for season five. Chevy Chase had left at the end of season four, leaving the show bringing in Jonathan Banks guest-starring as an unofficial replacement, and Donald Glover departed after five episodes for personal reasons . NBC officially canceled the show after season five, but was picked up by Yahoo Screen! for a sixth season. Yvette Nicole Brown left to focus on taking care of her ailing father (ultimately guest-starring in the season's premiere and finale) Keith David and Paget Brewster were added to the cast for the sixth season as new main characters, but only billed as supporting players in the show's credits.

For the longest time, fans held out hope for "six seasons and a movie." In spite of the low television ratings, notoriously Troubled Production, firing-then-rehiring of its creator, departure of three cast members and raising the profile of several actors/resurrecting careers, the show got to end on its own terms on June 2, 2015 , though the people involved are still pushing for a chance to do the long-awaited film.

The writers of the show are aware of this very wiki, (Dan Harmon has been quoted on Twitter as having used to be on TVTropes "Religiously,") and often use it for research .

The show also has its own Community Tumblr . Vote here for the best episode.

Community contains examples of:

open/close all folders

A-E

F-K

L-P

Q-S

T-Z