Movie #3 of 2021: Serenity (2005) When the show Firefly was canceled — before the planned end of its first season, after airing its episodes all out of order — it left a lot of plotlines open and a lot of strengths on the table. Fans were outraged, and as the series gained further followers …
Tag Archives: rewatch
TV Review: Community, season 6
TV #31 of 2021: Community, season 6 The mantra for Community fans clamoring for renewal was always, “Six seasons and a movie!” after a hopeful throwaway Abed line about the ultimately short-lived series The Cape. The sitcom too fell shy of that goal — technically I suppose a revival film someday wouldn’t be so surprising, …
TV Review: Community, season 5
TV #28 of 2021: Community, season 5 This is a year for the sitcom that’s clearly in transition, with the return of showrunner/creator Dan Harmon after a season off, the departure of two original cast members, and a few necessary tweaks to the general premise. The solution to the question of how one still tells …
TV Review: Community, season 4
TV #26 of 2021: Community, season 4 I’d probably agree with the popular consensus that this is the weakest stretch of Community, but it’s honestly not that big a step down from the chaotic year before. Fans were reasonably upset that showrunner / creator Dan Harmon had been fired — not knowing then how abusive …
TV Review: Community, season 3
TV #24 of 2021: Community, season 3 This stretch of Community is its most serialized yet (and possibly ever; I don’t recall the later stuff too clearly). That’s always impressive in a sitcom, and it adds a nice sense of momentum to the year as various arcs unfold. Of course, the downside is that fewer …
TV Review: Community, season 2
TV #21 of 2021: Community, season 2 A big step up from an already-great first year, albeit not quite the flawless season I thought I remembered and wish it could be. The characters and serialized plotlines are each more complex, and Pierce’s turn as an overt villain in particular is a superb escalation which feeds …
TV Review: Community, season 1
TV #15 of 2021: Community, season 1 This is an interesting season to approach on a rewatch, even after so long away. Like many sitcoms, the series takes a while to settle into its rhythms and find its distinctive style, and so a lot of the earlier stuff doesn’t quite feel like the Community that …
TV Review: The Office, season 9
TV #57 of 2020: The Office, season 9 This final season recovers substantially from the weaker entries that it follows, and improves further as it approaches the catharsis of the series ending. At the end of the day I still don’t know if I can say that it’s great — this is, after all, the …
TV Review: The Office, season 8
TV #54 of 2020: The Office, season 8 The first stretch of this show without original star Steve Carell is a real mess, immediately confirming that the producers had no idea who would be taking over for his character as branch manager when they ended the previous season on that cliffhanger of interviews. And that’s …
TV Review: The Office, season 7
TV #51 of 2020: The Office, season 7 Theoretically I suppose a modern audience could approach this year of The Office not knowing it was Steve Carell’s last, but since it was crafted by the writers and understood by contemporary viewers as such, I think that remains the key lens with which to consider it. …
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