Report Cards Are In! (Grading This Season of My Favorite Shows)

I never worried about report card days in school. I knew, usually without fail, that I would see all A’s and B’s. I had never even gotten a C on a progress report or a report card until college (darn you, Microeconomics course!). I was always an overachiever and a perfectionist and, to be honest, I am still the exact same way today. Since kids all across the country are wrapping up their classes and getting ready for summer, receiving their report cards and taking their finals, I thought it only appropriate that I would present my TV report card for this season!

So below the cut, get ready to get graded: I scored the most recent seasons of some of my television shows, noted the best episodes of their season, and explained why these shows got the grades that they did. Cross your fingers and close your eyes, then open them and see this year’s TV report card.

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It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World (But It Would Be Nothing Without A Woman)

I feel like the majority of the stories that I post here begin with "I was talking to my friend Kim." But I was talking to my friend Kim recently about Community and some qualms we have been having with the writing. I told her that what the show truly needs is to return to a balanced writing staff a la season one with an equal number of both males and females. That led me down an interesting rabbit hole in attempting to discover exactly HOW many episodes per season of Community were written or co-written by female writers. After I made a rather startling discovery, I decided to apply this investigative work to more of my favorite network television comedies and made some more pretty starling discoveries, as well as developed a hypothesis based on my raw data. (Look at me sounding all science-y and stuff! You'd hardly know this was a writing blog.)

So, before I break down each show and its seasons, let me explain what you'll be reading and how I recovered the data/what it means:

The shows: I studied Community, New Girl, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and (to a lesser extent) The Mindy Project.

How I came up with the data: I researched the episodes in each season that have aired. (*Now updated since the seasons are over, to reflect the final percentages!) If a single episode was written solely by a woman or by a pair of women, I counted it as 1 point. My reasoning, of course, is that I am mostly focusing on the number of episodes penned by women. It doesn't matter if one or two or a hundred women write an episode: it counts as one episode. If a single episode was written by a writing team consisting of a male and female, I counted it as 1/2 of a point. I gave women like Annie Mebane and Amy Poehler credit if they wrote with a partner because, duh, they still wrote something!

What it all means: This data is obviously a baseline, not an end-all-be-all set of numbers. A variety of factors played into the percentages -- the number of episodes per season is, of course, a major factor. The larger number of episodes in a season, the less likely that there is a large percentage of episodes written by females (as sad as that is to type). Additionally, the size of the writing staff and the diversity among the staff plays a factor in the number of episodes written by women. Shows with a high turnover rate among the writing staff will also factor into this number. Again: it's not a conclusive set of data, but it's definitely interesting to watch the trend among certain shows rise and fall.

And now, without further adieu, let's take a look at some of the shows on my list!

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In Defense of Annie Edison

I am not, nor have I ever been a Carrie or a Miranda or a Samantha. I am a Charlotte, through and through. I’ve never identified with the Rachels or the free-spirited Phoebes – I’m completely and utterly Monica Geller, down to my last color-coded spreadsheet. And I’ll never be a Britta Perry or a Shirley Bennett, if we’re being honest. Though I have traits that both women possess, the fact of the matter is that I am actually an organized, driven, perfectionist, a reliable student and employee, and a romantic.

In other words, I am Annie Edison.

Annie Elizabeth (since her real middle name isn’t canon, it’s been established fanon that it is Elizabeth, so deal with it) Edison is one of my favorite female characters on television and there are a LOT of amazing female characters on television these days, for which I am thankful. But what really delights me about Annie as a young woman is that I relate to her, I admire her, and I root for her. In any television series (or movie, for that matter), there need to be characters that the audience consistently cheer on, ones that we desire to see succeed. And I desire that for Annie. She’s not without her faults, though, which is also what makes her a well-rounded character. Rather than portray the young academic woman as having her life completely and totally together, the writers and producers choose to highlight qualities and aspects of Annie’s character that make her likable, but also aren’t afraid to humanize her by making her annoy us or one of the other characters.

(As an aside, a lot of hardcore Annie fans like to hate on Britta – as do some Jeff/Annie shippers but that discussion will be saved for a little bit later – because there are qualities about the blonde that make her annoying or irritating, or because she antagonizes Annie. But what I think those people fail to remember is that ANNIE also isn’t perfect, is prone to judgment and mistakes, and though her manipulations and irritating habits may be more subtle than Britta’s or Jeff’s or Pierce’s, they’re no less frequent.)

It may seem baffling that I’m writing a post entitled “In Defense of Annie Edison” when I spent the last paragraph explaining how the character annoys and grates other characters and their nerves, but I think that, when examining a favorite character or favorite series or favorite pairing, it is necessary to not only explain what is right and good with them/it, but also examine why they are flawed. Because that’s the beauty of Annie, the beauty of Community, and the beauty of life in general: we’re all broken people in a broken world, but somehow when we’re around these weird, damaged people, we learn from them, we grow, and we make each other slightly less broken. Watching perfect people is boring – it’s dull and unexciting because there’s no way those people can ever grow or learn or change. They remain stagnantly perfect. But watching Jeff Winger grow from a selfish ex-lawyer into a humanized man who is (albeit) still broken but learning to love and feel again? Well that’s beautiful.

And watching Annie progress from an insecure, love-sick teenager into a young woman with heart and strength and determination is just as beautiful.

So here’s what I intend to accomplish with this blog post: I am not going to attempt to sway you into the belief that Annie Edison is the best character on Community. While she is certainly MY favorite character, I will not force you to subscribe to that same opinion. I WILL, however, spend some time examining: Annie’s development from the first season until the fourth season, the issues I have with the unevenness of the writing of her character, why I feel she is misunderstood and harshly judged in the fandom as a result, and why she deserves love, happiness, and the chance to be more than a stereotype. And maybe, if I’m up for it, I’ll talk about her relationship with Jeff.

Maybe.

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Jenn's Pick: Top 10 Episodes of "Community"

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I love Community. If you have ever doubted, even for a moment, that I do… well, picture me wildly gesturing to the entirety of this blog, mmkay? What’s difficult about a series like Community, however, is the process of narrowing down one’s favorite episodes. My top three favorite episodes of the-little-show-that-could are pretty much set in stone, but others fluctuate more wildly. There are so many wonderful stories and threads of stories that weave throughout the course of four years. And when you sit and contemplate which of these are “favorite”-worthy, it becomes quite difficult to narrow those choices down and squeeze them into ten slots.

I always have a tendency to over-think and over-analyze nearly everything in my life. It’s a great trait in certain circumstances, but rather detrimental in other aspects (such as attempting to choose your favorite episodes or moments of a television series). Nevertheless, I am ready for the challenge and will explain, throughout the remainder of this post, why I chose the ten episodes that I did! So if you’re ready, don that Greendale t-shirt and find your purple pens to make your own lists. Because we’re about to embark on a journey through MY ten favorite episodes of Community!

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Throwing Awards at Their Faces (Three Actors Who Deserve All the Nominations)

In a world of DVR, Hulu, and – in my case – television streaming, very few people concern themselves with watching television shows live these days. Families have commitments; children have sports practices or theatre rehearsal. College students are cramming for mid-terms or else procrastinating from cramming for mid-terms. And even nine-to-fivers cannot schedule their nights around television programming. We have busy lives and busy schedules, and sometimes (unfortunately) our favorite television shows suffer at the hands of the merciless but elusive Nielsen unicorns because we don’t watch “live.”

There are only three scripted shows that I make the effort to watch live each week: Community, New Girl, and Doctor Who. I’ll forgo watching How I Met Your Mother and then marathon in chunks. I used to skip weeks of The Office and be perfectly content. But the three shows I listed above, I will always make the effort to watch live. I’ll schedule my life around them (which… sounds pretty sad when I type it out like that, actually).

As all three have recently wrapped up their seasons, I thought it would be appropriate to talk a bit about actors within the shows that I feel deserve a lot more recognition and praise than they usually receive. I’m talking, of course, about actors Joel McHale, Jake Johnson, and Matt Smith. And I will be talking about them a LOT in this post – actually, I’m devoting the entire post to them – and how they each deserve to have all the awards thrown at their faces.

Well, not literally at their faces.

… You all know what I mean.

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My "Community" Testimonial

When you give an English major word limits, fun things happen. When you tell me to sum something up in 250 words or less, what I really hear is: “I challenge you to write your feelings in EXACTLY 250 words!” I’ll be honest – I was pretty disheartened about the fact that I couldn’t afford to take off work or drop money on a plane ticket and hotel to spend time across the country at the first ever Community fan convention. So many of my beautiful, wonderful friends were planning to attend and it broke my heart to know that I would be away from them. But then Kim, my beautiful tropical fish, informed me during our daily GChat (we’re productive workers, y’all) that those absent from CommuniCon might still have the opportunity to be heard during a fan testimonial segment. I struggled over what to write for a while.

How do you sum up your friendships, your memories, your joy, your frustrations about a series and all it’s gone through in a few paragraphs? How could I convey the utter joy that has been brought to my life thanks to so many amazing and wonderful people and their kind words and gracious friendships? Was there a way to express my overwhelming gratitude to a creator who read my writing? To a cast who tweets encouragement and support? To writers who make us laugh and who answer our questions and who show us love? Was it even possible, even for me?

The truth, really, is this: you all have changed my life, whether you know it or not. Jaime has become an even closer friend to me (and just when I thought it was impossible to love her any more than I had before!). I have gotten the opportunity to know the amazing woman I’m proud to call one of my close friends, Kim. Then there are people like Shannon, Shanleigh, Kerry, Mary, Chelsea, and Becca – women who make me smile, encourage me, and fill my Twitter timeline with bright things. There are people like Clinton and Mark who are always so incredibly encouraging, especially when I need it. There are superstars like Gillian, Catherine, Sarah, and Jen who lead our fandom into beautiful and wonderful things. There are great people like Sage, Michelle, Kate, Phoebe, Shawn, Jessica, Moff, etc. etc. etc. who I would not be the same without. I just… don’t know how to even formulate sentences that express how much I care about y’all. And I know it sounds silly to say that a television show has done this and I know people might think I’m crazy because I have a horde of Twitter friends who I’ve never actually met in real life but… I don’t care. Maybe I AM crazy but I’d never want to be anything else.

So below is what I came up with and what you heard if you attended CommuniCon today. It’s the most apt way to sum up my ~feels in exactly 250 words. And if I can’t say it today, when can I say it? I love you guys. Whether this is the last season, whether we get six seasons and a movie, or whether we finally meet eight years from now on the Hawthorne Wipe-Out water ride at the Community theme park, know this: you always have been and always will be special to me.

Webster’s Dictionary defines a “community” as… 

You didn’t think I would actually open with that, did you? I’ll attempt not to get too sentimental as I discuss my love for “Community,” but the truth is that I probably will anyway. I cannot help it, frankly, because this show has stolen a bit of my heart. And that bit is something I don’t intend on trying to get back. Because “Community” has done more for me as a writer and person than any show, ever.

These amazing people here – Kim, Shannon, Mary, Shanleigh, Catherine, etc. – and many more not in attendance have truly touched my life. That’s what “Community” has done – it has become an extension of itself, creating bonds between people who would have never been friends otherwise. I cannot properly articulate how this show has spurred me on. How I feel honored, really, to be able to blog and tweet about it. Because no matter what happens, “Community” is OURS – this little, seemingly insignificant show that no other network or the elusive Nielsen unicorn cares about? We do.

To Dan Harmon, to the brilliantly talented writers, actors, and producers who have spent months and years of their lives making this show – please just know this: it was worth it. And there’s a line in the musical Wicked that has always resonated with me: “Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But, because I knew you, I have been changed for good.” 

I have. I’ve been changed.

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#7DaysofCommunity - BONUS POST!

All good things must come to an end. Of course, it could also be argued that all bad things must come to an end as well, which is why today we are celebrating the end of a very long and very dark hiatus. That’s right, friends – in case you have lived under a rock for the past few months and aren’t aware – we all know that Community is returning to NBC tonight. Yes, we’re finally coming home to Greendale after our summer breaks (did it feel like summer just went on forever for anyone else?) and rejoining the Greendale Seven as they navigate through their senior year of college. There will be a lot of changes for our study group and our show this year, but – as Abed reminded us – we’re all together, which makes THIS the perfect timeline.

I wish I could put into words how much you all mean to me and how much this show has done for me. I wish there was some great gesture that I could perform that would make my appreciation abundantly clear. Even as a writer, sitting here, I am struggling to come up with adequate words to describe this show’s impact on my life. And it seems really trite and silly to most people when I explain how much Community has impacted me. It’s a television show, after all, they’d argue. But I have met so many amazing and wonderful people because of this show. And they’ve gone from being just people I live-tweet with or joke with to people who have woven their way into the fabric of my life. These are people I celebrate with, talk to on a daily basis… people who I vent to and cry to and laugh with. We’ve become an extension of Community in that we have BECOME a community. We all have different religious beliefs. We all look different. We all come from different familial backgrounds. Some of us are broken emotionally. Some of us have hurts and hang-ups and scars we don’t even want to talk about. Some of us feel like no one out there knows how we feel.

But we’re together. We help each other. We BETTER each other. We encourage one another, and yes, we do this with people we haven’t even met in person. Isn’t that just brilliant and beautiful? Here we are, complete strangers for all intents and purposes, but so deeply and emotionally connected that we go through life together. And yes, sometimes we fight. No, not everyone is close to EVERYONE else. We don’t agree on our favorite episodes or characters or pairings or seasons or writers. Some people blog about the show, some people tweet, some write fanfiction or draw art or write music or make videos.

And the most wonderful thing about it all? We’re doing it TOGETHER. And we’re doing it because of an idea a bunch of actors, writers, producers, and directors got together and brought to fruition. We’re doing it because Community IS our community.

But enough sentiment and sap, right? Let’s get to my extra-special bonus round of #7DaysofCommunity! One of the greatest people in the entire world, my writing partner and partner-in-crime and basically other half, Jaime, suggested something really challenging today for my question. What was it? Click and you’ll find out!

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 7

Earlier this week, I discussed one of my favorite non-Troy/Abed duos on Community. It does seem only fitting, of course, that I would discuss Troy and Abed at some point during this countdown. And never fear – that day is today!

What I really love about the Troy/Abed pairing (and, subsequently what happened with Jeff and Annie as a pairing) was that it was never supposed to happen. Pierce and Troy were supposed to be the budding bromance. And you can tell, in the pilot episode especially, that the writers and Harmon were planning to stay on course with that plan. But I love that when they noticed the chemistry between Donald Glover and Danny Pudi, they began to rethink their original plan. It would have been easy to try and force the Pierce/Troy friendship to work. After all, that was what was SUPPOSED to happen. The two were so similar in humor and worldviews in the pilot episode, after all. It was a wonderful, beautiful bold move to develop the bond between Troy and Abed. Similarly, when the writers noticed chemistry between Joel McHale and Alison Brie’s characters, they began to develop the Jeff/Annie dynamic more.

To be frank, for a relationship on television to engage viewers and keep them interested, there has to be an element of chemistry. I discussed romantic chemistry before in my posts, but a strong dynamic of comradery between characters is just as important, if not more so. I was asked a question today about the Troy/Abed dynamic, so let’s check out the question and my response, shall we?

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 6

Dan Harmon always said that his show was not a romantic show. That’s not to say, of course, that the show does not focus on romance in some aspect or another. But let’s be honest – Community is no Grey’s Anatomy. Romantic relationships, while always important, are not an integral part of the sitcom. What has intrigued me, however, is how they have played with and built up certain relationships over the course of three seasons, only to utilize them to develop individual characters more. What began as a show about Jeff pursuing Britta has become one about how six relationships can change a person’s heart and life.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Community refuses to focus on romantic couples or moments. Arguably some of the most emotionally heightened moments in the show take place between couples with a romantic interest or history together. Today’s post was probably the most difficult one to answer (and trust me when I say that, even as you read this, I’m STILL second-guessing myself!), but I was asked to focus on one romantic pairing in particular.

Who will I be talking about? Check below the cut and find out!

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 5

Each character on Community brings something special to the show. Think about it for a moment, would you? The little-comedy-that-could would just not have the same dynamic if there was no Britta Perry to be a buzzkill, or Annie Edison to help everyone pass their classes. Something would feel off if Pierce wasn’t present to make his brash, but always honest comments, or if Abed wasn’t there to provide rationality and balance. What would the series be if Troy didn’t have his fabulous one-liners, if Shirley wasn’t present to humble everyone, or if – God forbid – Jeff wasn’t there to set them right with a Winger speech?

But what’s great about Community as an ensemble series and as a series in general is that there are plenty of supporting-turned-important characters that make the series what it is. Thinking back to one of my favorite comedies ever, Friends, I have to ponder what the series would be like without Gunther. A character that originally started out playing a minimal role in the series ended up stealing nearly all of our hearts with his unrequited love for Rachel Green and hilarious subsequent hatred of Ross (or any other guy she was interested in).

Similarly, Community has characters like Leonard, Vicki, Starburns, (Fat) Neil, Quendra, Magnitude, Todd, Rich, Asian Annie, etc. who have made the series feel more complete – more whole, if you will. There is still the tongue-in-cheek joke that everything revolves around the seven study group members, but there is also an emphasis on fleshing out each of these minor characters.

And there is one character, in particular, that I was asked about in a question today. Who is it? Click below the cut to find out!

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 4

What I love about Community is that it is an ensemble-driven comedy. Sure, Jeff Winger is the head of the study group, but this show isn’t about one person. Not really, anyway. This show, much like Friends, is – at its core – about a group relationship between seven individuals. But what’s great about ensemble shows is this: you are left with a plethora of possible pairings that can be explored throughout the series. As I’ve mentioned before, Community has a number of go-to pairings (Troy/Abed, Britta/Shirley, etc.), as many ensemble shows do.

But what I love more than anything is when Community explores pairings that aren’t typically given screen time throughout the series. Even though I love the ensemble aspect (and my first and forever OTP will Study Group x Study Group) of this show, today’s question focuses on an individual pairing within the comedy.

So what pairing have I written about? Click below the cut for today’s question and answer! :)

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 3

There are a few things that are constants in the realm of Community – a few solid, consistent truths that we can always rely on. In fact, Abed mentions a few of these character-related truths in “Remedial Chaos Theory.” The audience (and characters, for that matter) can always count on Annie Edison to be driven and determined. It is who she is as a person. We can always count on Shirley to be kind and giving. We know that Troy will do anything for his friends. We understand that Pierce will be the one member to make the most offensive, offhanded comments and jokes. Abed will always be the most perceptive, Jeff will continue to try and protect his friends… but also himself. And Britta? Well, Britta is a toss-up.

But we won’t be talking about character development and growth in today’s #7DaysofCommunity celebration. At least, not specifically. There is another aspect of Community that, in its consistency, has become a familiarity and an expectation throughout the series. What exactly is this constant variable? Click below the cut to continue!

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 2

Welcome to #7DaysofCommunity, Day 2! I’m really glad that you all seemed to enjoy yesterday’s post. In case you missed it, you can find it by clicking this pretty link. :) And, in case you are new to this blog, you should know that every Friday I post my blog-reviews of the episodes of Community. And when I say blog-reviews, what I really mean are analyses (at least, that’s what they have been dubbed). I thoroughly enjoy taking 3,000 words’ worth of notes every Thursday night and staying up a bit late just so I can analyze the episode that aired.

But enough about the blog-reviews (which you should definitely check out, I mean I’m just saying…); let’s move onto our question and answer of the day, shall we? Click below the cut to see what Community-related question I was asked today and what my response is.

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#7DaysofCommunity - Day 1

Well, folks. It’s ALMOST here.

That’s right – October 19th is just a mere week away and that means that Community is almost back in its 8PM timeslot on NBC. Really and truly, we’re coming back home. In celebration of the little-show-that-could’s return, I decided to spend the week leading up to the premiere doing something special for you all each day. After all, YOU are the real reason I am even writing this blog. And this show is what brought us all together. It’s only fitting that I should celebrate somehow!

I asked last week for you all to tweet, DM, or comment on a post and give me some Community superlatives you’d like to see answered each day. I got a lot of great suggestions and narrowed them down to seven – one per day – to answer!

Ready to kick off the week? Click below the cut to find the answer to my first question!

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"Community" Special Announcement!

Community is almost back, y'all! And this means one thing: this blog will be hopping for a week-long countdown to the February 7th premiere. What exactly will happen each day of the week leading up to the season four return is pretty simple. And it's all controlled by YOU.

Here's how everything will go down:

Beginning tonight (January 27th), through Wednesday (January 30th), you all get the opportunity to list Community-related superlatives that you'd like to see covered on the blog. You have until 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday in which to nominate these categories.

What are Community-related superlatives, you ask? These are categories you desperately want to know my answers to and can be topics such as: Favorite Season, Favorite Chang Pun, Most Epic Winger Speech, etc. (Be creative, be fun, and suggest as many as you would like!) On January 31st, exactly one week until Community's premiere, I will select seven of the best categories and answer one per day in a blog post.

So how, exactly, do you nominate categories? Simple! Tweet (@notajenny), DM, e-mail, or drop a comment on this post nominating a category. I'll pick the seven best categories and answer them throughout the week. So what are you all waiting for?

NOMINATE, AWAY! :)

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The Great Divide (Or "Why Does Everyone Hate The Big Bang Theory"?)

It’s a Thursday night and I’m curled up in pajamas recovering from the flu, sipping tea and flipping through the channels on my television set. My favorite comedy hasn’t returned to NBC yet, so 8PM is an open timeslot. So I switch over to CBS and watch the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory to fill the void. Later, as I unwind before heading to bed, I flip forward a few channels to TBS where re-runs of the comedy air back-to-back. And I laugh as the episode where Sheldon manages to successfully condition Penny and her behavior using chocolate candies is on. A few nights earlier, I watched an episode featuring the now-famous Sheldon Cooper song “Soft Kitty” (a song inscribed on the t-shirt Heather got me for Christmas this year).

If this sounds sacrilegious to you, given my noted love of Community, then my post tonight will probably either infuriate you or help you see the light. Because my first question of the night is really this: since when did being a fan of The Big Bang Theory and a fan of Community become a mutually exclusive ordeal? Do you know how chastised I feel for being a TBBT fan within a circle of Community lovers? And why is that so? Is it possible that both are good shows? Could it be that The Big Bang Theory is only an incidental enemy of the-little-show-that-could and not an intentional one? And really, why is EVERYONE watching the CBS sitcom and forgoing Community on a weekly basis?

(I may not be able to answer all of these questions, but you can bet that I’m going to try!)

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