"Investigative Journalism" is the thirteenth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

''. It aired in the United States on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

on January 14, 2010.

Plot

The group returns from their winter break and finds that a new student named Buddy ( Jack Black) has inserted himself into the study group. Buddy proves to be a burden to the group, accidentally kicking Jeff in the nose, making abrupt comments when they try to study, and overall messing with the flow of the group. Eventually, the group decides Buddy must leave the group. When the group tells this to Buddy, he refuses to leave, and Jeff drags him off outside (Buddy's pants being ripped in the process). Eventually, Jeff decides that he thinks Buddy should be allowed to join the group if he pleases, and the group changes their minds votes to allow Buddy to join. After telling Buddy, he reveals that they were his safety study group, and he joins another study group, (led by

Owen Wilson Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and '' The Royal ...

) which he claims to be cooler. Meanwhile, Dean Pelton (

Jim Rash James Rash (born July 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He portrayed the role of Dean Craig Pelton on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Bes ...

) makes Jeff ( Joel McHale) the new editor of the Greendale Gazette Journal Mirror, where Annie (

Alison Brie Alison Brie Schermerhorn (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress. Her breakthrough came with the role of Trudy Campbell in the drama series '' Mad Men'' (2007–2015), which won her a Screen Actors Guild Award. She gained recognition fo ...

) discovers a story about Dean Pelton's racial profiling in the school. Jeff tries to convince a resistant Annie to drop the story, although she ends up abandoning it, realising how trivial it actually is. In the end tag, Troy ( Donald Glover) and Abed (

Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor i ...

) are interviewed by Star-Burns (

Dino Stamatopoulos Konstantinos Pollux Alexandros "Dino" Stamatopoulos (born December 14, 1964) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He has worked on TV programs such as ''Mr. Show'', '' TV Funhouse'', '' Mad TV'', '' The Dana Carvey Show'', ''Late Show wi ...

) for possible membership in the cool group. Pierce (

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...

) shows up and berates them for their disloyalty. After they walk away Pierce asks if the group has decided on his own membership, which Star-Burns declines.

Cultural references

Abed compares Jeff to the ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. Th ...

'' character

Hawkeye Pierce This is a list of characters from the ''M*A*S*H'' franchise, covering the various fictional characters appearing in the novel '' MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors'' and its sequels, the 1970 film adaptation of the novel, and the televisio ...

, and himself to the character Radar. The episode also parodies that show's ending credits, including the same tune.

Continuity

*Flashbacks to previous episodes such as " Advanced Criminal Law" are shown.

Reception

Around 5.42 million Americans watched "Investigative Journalism". Emily VanDerWerff of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' rated the episode A−, saying it was "yet another really great episode in a very consistent run the show's been on lately."

References

External links

"Investigative Journalism"
at

.com * {{Community (TV series) Community (season 1) episodes 2010 American television episodes Television episodes about journalism