Picking up a fan-favorite

This week I've started to watch a fan-cultivated show Community.  The NBC sitcom centers around an eccentric Spanish study group at a community college.  The show was created by writer Dan Harmon and premiered in 2009. The show focuses on comedian Joel McHale and his fellow group of actors getting into crazy situations, and often referencing and parodying pop culture.  I'm now on the 6th episode and enjoying it quite thoroughly.  Despite it's critical acclaims and cult following, the show is not very popular among viewership.  Ratings have been above 4 million viewers but did not reach much more than that.  This has caused much controversy over the show, since NBC would not proclaim the show a success, however it has a very big core fan-base that really enjoy the show. Season 4 which was scheduled to premiere in October was delayed to premiere in February and Dan Harmon stepped down as show-runner.  

I am enjoying the supporting characters more than I enjoy the main 2 characters.  Joel McHale (Jeff) who host's The Soup on E! is a hilarious comedian and I really enjoy him, but his character is not very likable, and he's sneaky and kind of mean.  His leading lady Gillian Jacobs (Britta) I do not find very likable either.  I find her snarky and annoying, and find it hard to connect with her.  Hopefully as the show goes on, these characters will grow on me.  The supporting characters are all wonderfully developed.  Of course Chevy Chase is a comic classic and can't do wrong, Danny Pudi and Donal Glover are remarkable, and Yvette Nicole Brown is hysterical.  My personal favorite is Alison Brie of Mad Men.  I find her character refreshing and love seeing her span of talents from a show such as Mad Men to a comedy like this one.

Their show is filmed in a single-camera format, and was even picked up into syndication in 2013 by Comedy Central.  It's been noted that some of the actors like to improvise lines while on set.  Chevy Chase has been particularly noted to improvise and Joel McHale and Donald Glover are known to like to come up with their lines as well.

What I really enjoy about this show is that it is based off of creator Dan Harmons actual life.  This is just like my ICTV show I created that is based off of my own life.  I was always told to "write what you know" so I was very pleased to see that other people follow that rule as well.  I'm sure it was a lot of fun to produce a national television show based off of your life.  I will continue to watch the show and maybe they will convert me to becoming a cult follower.