OK, here’s what we know: Dan Harmon, the creator of Community, 
Season three of Community, which seems like it began 17 years ago, due in no small part to a hiatus that momentarily shook the world (a.k.a. the Internet), began with a song. Well, to be fair, it actually started with Jeff literally soaring above the clouds, but semantics.
I’m usually not a fan of a show trying to replicate its success. By that I mean, I typically don’t like it when a show takes a story or a concept that it’s already had success with, and does it again. For instance, Community’s two-part second season finale, “A Fistful of Paintballs”/”For a Few Paintballs More,” pales in comparison to season one’s “Modern Warfare,” something that Abed alluded to in last night’s “Curriculum Unavailable,” a sort-of sequel of “Paradigms of Human Memory.” (Keeping up?) The original fake clip show episode, “Paradigms,” is one of my favorite episodes of the series, and once I caught on to what “Curriculum” was doing, I was worried. It didn’t help that it seemed like Abed, a character I’ve found increasingly irritating this season, and his crazy town banana pants ways were going to be the focus of the episode.
It’s not that Community hasn’t been very funny the past few weeks, but — actually, it hasn’t been. I professed my disappointment with last week’s “Virtual System Analysis,” an episode that I thought didn’t succeed because there was no The Scene. It needed something to tie everything together, a centerpiece, a Lebowski rug, and that never happened. “Basic Lupine Urology,” too, doesn’t have a single Scene, either; the whole damn episode is The Scene. And it was great.
When Dan Harmon and the cast of Community spoke at a PaleyFest event in March, right before the show returned from its hiatus, they spoke about their anxieties for “Virtual Systems Analysis.” They didn’t know what the episode was until post-production, both in terms of Danny Pudi and Alison Brie not being able to visualize their special effects scenes, and what the general story would end up looking like. Harmon said it would either be the best or worst thing in TV history. Their nervousness makes sense now after seeing it: it’s an episode that makes little sense out of context (kind of like Inception, which Abed-as-Troy really doesn’t get), and that’s what separates Community from nearly every other sitcom, for better or worse, on now — and why its ratings will never really improve. We’ve grown accustomed to being able to turn on the TV, see Seinfeld or Friends or The Big Bang Theory on, and pleasantly relax into an episode. Most sitcoms are designed with this in mind; you should be able to join at any part, and be able to enjoy it just as much as someone who’s been watching the entire time. 
How you feel about last night’s episode, “Origins of Vampire Mythology,” likely depends on how much you agree with Chevy Chase. As you’ve probably heard by now, Mr. Chase: not a big fan of Community. His biggest cranky coot complaint, outside of his jokes don’t make it into the show, is that Dan Harmon and his editors feel the need to tack a sentimental ending onto all of their episodes. He hates this “heart over humor” development, a sitcom “trend” that’s existed for, oh, 50 years. 
Columentary (title sadly not pending) is a weekly feature, in which I’ll listen to the commentary track of a sitcom, and divulge, through pretty pictures and less pretty words, the behind-the-scenes secrets the creators, writers, and cast discuss about their show. If you've ever questioned why Roseanne had that Godzilla toy, this is for you.
“Do people go to classes?”
Have you ever wondered how the low-budget Mystery Science Theater 3000 was able to afford the rights to so many movies? Probably not, but just humor me here. Take the film Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, for instance. You’d assume it cost MILLIONS for Tom Servo to make fun of the American classic — but you’d be wrong. The movie fell into the public domain, and therefore, was (and still is) free to use. (That’s why you rarely hear “Happy Birthday to You” in TV shows; it’s copyrighted and costs a shit ton of money to use.)
Columentary (title sadly not pending) is a weekly feature, in which I’ll listen to the commentary track of a sitcom, and divulge, through pretty pictures and less pretty words, the behind-the-scenes secrets the creators, writers, and cast discuss about their show. If you've ever wondered about that one guy who once starred in that thing, but whom everyone loves because he's such a nice guy on set, this is for you.
“I loved 1984, I think kids should be forced to read it.”
To many, Eugene Levy is Jim’s Dad, and Jim’s Dad only. Not a cast member of the brilliant SCTV or as a mainstay in Christopher Guest’s filmography, but as the father of the guy who once fucked a pie. It makes sense, though. While a majority of the original cast from the first three American Pie films left the franchise after 2003’s American Wedding, Levy continued to appear in each subsequent straight-to-DVD installment, from 2005’s Band Camp to 2009’s The Book of Love, with 2006’s The Naked Mile and 2007’s Beta House sandwiched in-between. I hadn't seen any of the non-theatrical films, so on the eve of American Reunion, which brings the whole original gang back together again, including Levy, I decided to watch them, to figure out what the hell Jim’s Dad has been up to without Jim. 
Columentary (title sadly not pending) is a weekly feature, in which I’ll listen to the commentary track of a sitcom, and divulge, through pretty pictures and less pretty words, the behind-the-scenes secrets the creators, writers, and cast discuss about their show. If you've ever wondered how many leg chairs Eddie from Frasier humped, this is for you.
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'SNL' Review: Kristen Wiig Disappoints with More of the Same
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