As a community college administrator, I was all set to dislike the new show “Community” but then I read the interview (posted below) with the creator and after watching the show I’m not offended at all, but intrigued. It’s not as funny as I would like but I think it shows promise. Chevy Chase’s character is the best one so far, in my opinion. In fact this show may be a proponent to the best kept secret of a community college which is the relationship building aspect and the notion that one size does not fit all. Joel McHale declared in the first episode that, “If I wanted to learn something, I wouldn’t have come to community college.” Well, I see that as a set up for the whole show as we watch these characters learn a lot about themselves and their potential. So I’m going to give this show a chance to fully develop before I judge it one way or another!
The following news article is reprinted from the Community College Times:
Q&A with Dan Harmon, creator of ‘Community’
By CCTIMES, Published September 10, 2009
CC Times: What made you decide to use a community college setting for the sit-com?
Four or five years ago, I took a few classes at Glendale Community College in California. I was acing my biology exams, which a few classmates noticed, so they kind of cornered me during a smoke break and asked if I would study with them. Like the Joel McHale character in the show, I’m kind of a self-centered jerk, but it would have been too awkward to say “no,” so there I was, late at night, in a library study room with these strangers. And then, we all got a handle on the material we were studying, all at the same time, and I got this weird feeling, because I had never connected with strangers. I had never been part of a “community.” And then I thought, “I should sell this as a TV show for a bunch of money,” because I’m a self-centered jerk.
CC Times: What role will the college itself (its administrators, policies, etc.) play in the program? Or will it be more simply a setting, like in other sit-coms set at a high school or college?
It’s definitely just a setting. All shows are just sticking a bunch of people in a jar and shaking it. Sometimes the jar is a spaceship, or a desert island or a school, but it’s not what’s really important. That’s why I wanted to call the show “Community” and not “Community College.” That being said, the shape of this jar is a community college, and I am definitely using the school itself—including the administration of it—to shake the jar. For example, the dean of Greendale is a university graduate that seems to think his job is to put Greendale Community College on the map, and a certain percentage of stories are motivated by his misguided ambitions.
CC Times: You have talked with some community college officials about the show. What were those discussions about? Were they offering technical suggestions for the program?
Like you, they just wanted to know if we were going to make fun of them.
We shoot some of our exterior scenes on a local city college’s campus. The officials of that college had an understandable need to be sure they weren’t taking part in something that “makes fun of community colleges.” And there’s a huge organization of like 1,200 community colleges whose representatives called our producers to ask, of course, “Are you making fun of community colleges?” And I think you’ll be asking me that question later in this interview, so I’ll let the suspense build until then.
CC Times: Why did you decide to set the college in Colorado?
I think it was when the wardrobe lady asked me where the story was happening because she needed to know if people should be wearing mittens or shorts. I’m hoping we’ll be able to see and feel the seasons changing throughout the year, so I picked a spot somewhere in the middle of the country.
CC Times: What are you pulling for the show from your experience attending a community college?
Certainly the emotional component that I touched on earlier—there’s a feeling of actual “community” that I don’t think can exist in any other kind of school. Some people are rounding out their lives, some people are building a future, but unlike at a university, you’re not going to find anyone wandering a community college campus saying, “I don’t really know what I want from life, I’m just here because I want to take the path of least resistance.” A lot of people are on “missions” at a community college.
CC Times: The show’s characters—and the faux college’s Web site—were realistically developed in that they represent transfer students, high school students, older learners and others who reflect the community college student body. Was that pulled from your experiences at a community college?
The fact that in a community college, the student sitting next to you could be absolutely anyone was very inspiring to me, and I wanted to take full advantage of it by assembling a diverse group, each with very different reasons for enrolling at Greendale, but there was no particular category of student at the college I attended that I adapted into a character for the show.
CC Times: Being a former community college student, are you sensitive to any particular issues regarding community colleges, such as the stereotype that they offer low-quality education? How will you handle those issues on the show, if at all?
I wasn’t aware of any issues regarding community colleges when I was attending one. But when I was researching community colleges to write the pilot, I became aware, for the first time, of the “movement” to bring more four-year degrees to colleges with open admissions. I also became aware of the less-vocal but more-powerful counter-movement to deny community colleges four-year degrees. At first glance, and also at second glance, it sure seems like pretty blatant policing of an entrenched but unacknowledged class system. Rich people only want other rich people to have access to rich people’s careers. I’d like to shine a light on that at certain points during the series. Of course, I have to find a funny way to do it.
CC Times: As you know, some community colleges are sensitive to such perceptions. A few have already said they don’t want anything to do with “Community,” while others are taking a more wait-and-see approach, even hosting viewing parties for the initial pilot. What would you say to folks to alleviate their concerns that two-year colleges are not the “target” for the show?
Come on, is there really a community college out there that has declared they don’t want anything to do with my TV show? That’s kind of awesome. Did the administrator stand on the quad and read the announcement from a scroll? I will assume that the concerns I’m alleviating are of the more reasonable nature, such as people hoping, for the good of community colleges, that Greendale Community College will not be a total dump where all the teachers are stupid and the roof is leaking. It’s not.
Now, I will say this, because I am more interested in telling stories than I am interested in selling community college: Joel McHale’s character does rag on Greendale now and then. He considers himself above it. But it’s quite clear to the audience that his character is wrong to judge Greendale that way. Greendale is an underdog school. Like most of the characters in our ensemble, it’s not heavily funded nor highly regarded by the world around it. But the bottom line is, when you’re watching the show, you’re glad those people are there, and you’re rooting for the college. And you want to be there taking classes. So, it’s essentially a half hour commercial for community college. And that, coupled with Obama out there calling it the “backbone of the nation,” is definitely not going to discourage enrollment or morale.
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