"Basic Genealogy" is the eighteenth

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a serial (radio and television), series intended for radio, television or Streaming media, streaming consumption. Etymology The noun ''episode'' is ...

of the first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

of the

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

Community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

''. It aired in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

on March 11, 2010.

Plot

During Family Day at Greendale, Pierce (

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...

) tries to re-connect with his step-daughter Amber (guest star

Katharine McPhee Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25, 1984) is an American actress and singer. In May 2006, she was the runner-up on the fifth season of ''American Idol.'' Her eponymous debut album was released on RCA Records in January 2007, and debuted at n ...

) who becomes attracted to Jeff (

Joel McHale Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and television presenter. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger, Jeffrey "Jeff" Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV seri ...

). Britta (

Gillian Jacobs Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for playing Britta Perry in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), Mickey Dobbs in the Netflix romantic comedy series '' Love'' (2016–2018), and Mar ...

) gets spanked with a switch (beating stick) by Troy's Nana (

Fran Bennett Fran Bennett (August 14, 1937 – September 12, 2021) was an American actress, known for her works in theater and on television. She portrayed the role of Mother Olivia Jefferson in a re-creation of the pilot episode of ''The Jeffersons'' in ' ...

) and Shirley's sons cause havoc for Abed's father (

Iqbal Theba Iqbal Theba ( ; born 20 December 1963) is a Pakistani actor, known for his recurring role as Principal Figgins in the show ''Glee''. Early life Theba was born in Karachi, Pakistan. He belongs to the Sindhi-speaking Theba tribe. Theba attend ...

). In the end tag, Troy (

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...

) and Abed (

Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor and director. 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 Supp ...

) are trapped in the student lounge vending machine.

Production

As made clear by their respective production codes, this episode was filmed before the episode ''

Physical Education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

'' but aired after it. Jeff makes a comment to Leonard in that episode about attending family day, which occurs in this episode. As with all of their ''Community'' releases,

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and Mill Creek

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

feature the episodes in their airdate order rather than production order.

Reception

Around 4.7 million Americans watched "Basic Genealogy".

Emily VanDerWerff Emily St. James (formerly Emily Nicole VanDerWerff; born November 30, 1982) is an American critic, journalist, podcaster, and author. She primarily writes about television. She has written for '' Vox'', ''The A.V. Club'', ''The Guardian'', the ...

of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an 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 created in ...

'' was disappointed in the episode and rated it a B. She said that this was the "first week where the sentimental moments and the hugging and the 'You can be a good person, Jeff Winger!' pep talks felt like they sort of overwhelmed some of the other elements of the show that I typically enjoy" and singled out guest star Katharine McPhee for an inconsistent performance.

References

External links

"Basic Genealogy"
at

.com * {{Community (TV series) Community season 1 episodes 2010 American television episodes Television episodes about families Television episodes directed by Ken Whittingham Television episodes written by Karey Dornetto