The first season of the television

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 ...

series ''

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 ...

'' originally aired from September 17, 2009, on

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 ...

to May 20, 2010, in the United States. The first three episodes aired at 9:30 pm ET before being moved to 8:00 pm ET. The show was picked up for 22 episodes in October 2009, and an additional 3 episodes were ordered later. The show focuses on

disbarred Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduc ...

lawyer Jeff Winger, and his attempt to get a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

at a

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

, while he forms a bond with his

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

study group A study group is a small group of people who regularly meet to discuss shared fields of study. These groups can be found in a high school or college/university setting, within companies, occasionally primary/junior school and sometimes middle sc ...

Cast

Starring

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 ...

Jeff Winger Jeffrey Tobias "Jeff" Winger is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American television sitcom ''Community''. He is portrayed by Joel McHale and first appeared in the pilot episode of ''Community''. Jeff was created by producer ...

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 ...

Britta Perry ''Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon that ran for 110 episodes. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit study group. In the pilot, the main cast ...

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 ...

Abed Nadir Abed Gubi Nadir is a fictional character on the NBC/Yahoo! Screen sitcom series ''Community'', created by Dan Harmon and portrayed by Danny Pudi. Abed is a student at Greendale Community College and one of the first members of the show's centr ...

Yvette Nicole Brown Yvette Nicole Brown (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress. She starred as Shirley Bennett on the NBC sitcom ''Community'', as Dani in the 2015 reboot of '' The Odd Couple'' on CBS, and as Dina Rose on the ABC sitcom '' The Mayor''. Br ...

Shirley Bennett ''Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon that ran for 110 episodes. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit study group. In the pilot, the main cast ...

Alison Brie Alison Brie Schermerhorn (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress, writer, and producer. She earned recognition for playing Trudy Campbell in the drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), and had her Breakthrough role, breakthrough starring ...

Annie Edison ''Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon that ran for 110 episodes. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit study group. In the pilot, the main cast ...

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 ...

as Troy Barnes *

Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong ( ; ; born July 13, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' ...

as Señor Ben Chang *

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 ...

Pierce Hawthorne ''Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon that ran for 110 episodes. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit study group. In the pilot, the main cast ...

Recurring

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

Dean Craig Pelton ''Community'' is an American television sitcom created by Dan Harmon that ran for 110 episodes. The show, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, depicts the on-campus exploits of a close-knit study group. In the pilot, the main ca ...

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British and American comedian who hosts ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' on HBO. He started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom and came to wider attention for his work ...

as Dr. Ian Duncan *

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 ...

as Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne *

Richard Erdman John Richard Erdman (June 1, 1925 – March 16, 2019) was an American character actor and occasional film and television director. He appeared in more than 160 films and television productions between 1944 and 2017, mostly in supporting roles ...

as Leonard Briggs *

Erik Charles Nielsen Erik Charles Nielsen (born May 8, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. Early life Nielsen was born in West Sayville, New York. He is of Danish descent. Nielsen graduated from Palm Bay High School in 1999. While attending Boston University, ...

as Garrett Lambert *

Lauren Stamile Lauren Stamile (born September 12, 1976) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Nurse Rose on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC series ''Grey's Anatomy'', Michelle Slater on the National Broadcasting Company, NBC series ''C ...

as Professor Michelle Slater *

Eric Christian Olsen Eric Christian Olsen (born May 31, 1977) is an American actor, writer and producer. He is known for his portrayals of Investigator Marty Deeks on the CBS television series '' NCIS: Los Angeles'', Austin in the film '' Not Another Teen Movie'', ...

as Vaughn Miller *

John Michael Higgins John Michael Higgins (born February 12, 1963) is an American actor, comedian and game show host whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's '' The Late Shift'', and a starring role in the ...

as Professor Eustice Whitman *

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 ...

as Gobi Nadir * Craig Cackowski as Officer Cackowski * Bill Parks as Eric Wisniewski * Dominik Musiol as Pavel Iwaszkiewicz * DC Pierson as Mark Millot * Meggie McFadden as Linda Greene

Guest stars

Jack Black Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for roles in family and comedy films, in addition to his voice work in animated films. His awards include a Children's and Family Emmy ...

as Buddy Austin ("

Investigative Journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

") *

Blake Clark Blake Clark is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known as Chet Hunter on '' Boy Meets World'' and Harry Turner on '' Home Improvement''. Clark has voiced Slinky Dog in the ''Toy Story'' franchise starting with 2008's '' Toy Sto ...

as Coach Herbert Bogner ("Physical Education") *

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is most known for his comedic leading roles in the Fox series '' Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth, and as Gary Walsh on the HBO series '' Veep''. For the ...

as Professor Marion Holly ("Beginner Pottery") *

Anthony Michael Hall Anthony Michael Hall (born Michael Anthony Thomas Charles Hall; April 14, 1968) is an American actor, producer and comedian. After his film debut in ''Six Pack (film), Six Pack'' (1982) and a supporting role as Russell "Rusty" Griswold in ''Nat ...

as Mike Chilada ("Comparative Religion") *

Sharon Lawrence Sharon Elizabeth Lawrence (born June 29, 1961) is an American actress. From 1993 to 1999, she starred as Sylvia Costas in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC drama series, ''NYPD Blue''. The role garnered her three Primetime Emmy Award nomina ...

as Doreen (" The Politics of Human Sexuality") * Greg Cromer as Rich Stephenson ("Beginner Pottery") *

Lee Majors Lee Majors (born Harvey Lee Yeary; April 23, 1939) is an American actor. He portrayed the characters of Heath Barkley on the American television Western series '' The Big Valley'' (1965–1969), Colonel Steve Austin on the American television sc ...

as Admiral Lee Slaughter ("Beginner Pottery") *

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 ...

as Amber ("

Basic Genealogy "Basic Genealogy" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series ''Community''. It aired in the United States on NBC on March 11, 2010. Plot During Family Day at Greendale, Pierce (Chevy Chase) tries ...

") *

Jerry Minor Jerome Charles Minor Jr. is an American actor, comedian and writer known for his comedic roles in numerous television programs such as '' Mr. Show'', ''Saturday Night Live'', '' Trigger Happy TV'', '' Delocated'', ''Brickleberry'', '' Unbreakable ...

as Jerry the Janitor ("

English as a Second Language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

") *

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–2023) as adult ...

as Nurse Jackie ("Home Economics") *

Lisa Rinna Lisa Rinna (born July 11, 1963) is an American actress, television personality and model. She portrayed Billie Reed on the NBC daytime soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'' and List of Melrose Place characters#Taylor McBride, Taylor McBride on Fox B ...

as Mark's mother ("

The Art of Discourse "The Art of Discourse" is the twenty-second episode of the first season of the American comedy television series ''Community''. It aired in the United States on NBC on April 29, 2010. Plot Abed (Danny Pudi) shares with the group his film-insp ...

") *

Owen Wilson Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has frequently worked with filmmaker Wes Anderson, with whom he has shared writing and acting credits on the films '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and ''T ...

as Other Study Group's Leader ("Investigative Journalism", uncredited cameo)

Episodes

Production

Casting

Dan Harmon Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC sitcom ''Community (TV series), Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast ' ...

emphasized the importance of the cast to making the premise of the comedy work. "Casting was 95 percent of putting the show together," he said in an interview. He had worked with several of the cast members earlier; Joel McHale, John Oliver, and Chevy Chase all had cameo roles in episode 9 of ''Water and Power'', the short film series produced by Harmon for

Channel 101 Channel 101 is a non-profit monthly short film festival in Los Angeles, which has a sister festival in New York City, Channel 101 NY. Channel 101 is a creation of Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab in which participants submit a short film in the forma ...

. Actor Chevy Chase had long been a favorite of Harmon. Though principally not very partial to sitcoms, Chase was persuaded to take the job by the quality of the show's writing. Harmon saw similarities between Chase and the character he plays on the show. Though Chase has often been ridiculed for his career choices, Harmon believed this role could be redeeming: "What makes Chevy and Pierce heroic is this refusal to stop." Harmon had to warn Chase against playing a "wise-ass" the way he often does in his roles, since the character of Pierce is a rather pathetic figure who is normally the butt of the joke himself. McHale, known from the E! comedy talk show ''

The Soup ''The Soup'' is an American television series that aired weekly on E! from July 1, 2004, until December 18, 2015, as a revamped version of ''Talk Soup'' that focused on recaps of various popular culture and television moments of the week. Th ...

'', was also (like Chase) impressed by Harmon's writing. He commented that "Dan's script... was so head and shoulders above everything else that I was reading." McHale appealed to Harmon because of his likeable quality, which allowed the character to possess certain unsympathetic traits without turning the viewer against him. For the role of Annie, Harmon wanted someone who would resemble Tracy Flick,

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Reese Witherspoon, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Aw ...

's character from the 1999 film ''

Election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

''. Originally the producers were looking for a Latina or Asian Tracy Flick. Instead they ended up casting

, known from her role as Trudy Campbell on ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

''.

Development

The premise of ''Community'' was based on Harmon's real-life experiences. In an attempt to save his relationship with his then-girlfriend, he enrolled in Glendale Community College northeast of Los Angeles, where they would take Spanish together. Harmon got involved in a study group and, somewhat against his own instincts, became closely connected to the group of people with whom he had very little in common. "...I was in this group with these knuckleheads and I started really liking them," he explains, "even though they had nothing to do with the film industry and I had nothing to gain from them and nothing to offer them." With this as the background, Harmon wrote the show with a main character largely based on himself. He had, like Jeff, been self-centered and independent to the extreme before he realized the value of connecting with other people. About the creative process behind the writing, Harmon says that he had to write the show as if it were a film, not a sitcom. Essentially, he says, the process was no different from the earlier work he had done, except for the length and the target demographic.

Reception

Critical reception

The show's reviews for season 1 have been mostly positive, scoring a 69 out of 100 with critics on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the season has an approval rating of 90% with an average score of 7.5 out of 10 based on 42 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Snarky and fast-paced with a surprisingly tender undercurrent and an engaging cast, ''Community'' is one of the best new comedies of the season." Notably, David Bushman (Curator, Television) of the

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City with a branch office in Los Angeles. It is de ...

called ''Community'' the best new show of the fall season. Jonah Krakow of

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

gave the first season an 8.5 saying "Given the way ''Community'' eventually ramped up and delivered some amazing stories in the second half of the season, I'm extremely excited about what's to come for Season 2."

Awards and nominations

*The show received a nomination for "Favorite New TV Comedy" at the 36th People's Choice Awards. *

Justin Lin Justin Lin (, born October 11, 1971) is a Taiwanese Americans, Taiwanese-American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. His films have grossed over $3 billion USD worldwide . He is best known for his directorial work on ...

received a nomination for "Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series" at the

41st NAACP Image Awards The 41st NAACP Image Awards ceremony, presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), honored outstanding representations and achievements of people of color in motion pictures, television, music, and literat ...

for "Introduction to Statistics".

Nielsen ratings

The first season averaged 5 million viewers with a 2.4 rating in the 18–49 demographic and ranked #97 for the season.

DVD release

The first season of ''Community'' was released on DVD on September 21, 2010. The DVD contains all 25 episodes on four discs plus special features. Special features on the DVD include: *Commentary on every episode. Participants include creator

; cast members

and

; directors Anthony Russo, Joe Russo and Adam Davidson; and writers Andrew Guest, Lauren Pomerantz, Hilary Winston, Karey Dornetto, Chris McKenna and Emily Cutler. *Outtakes *Season one cast evaluations *Season one highlight reel * "Creative Compromises" featurette * "Advanced Criminal Law" alternative scenes *Three mini episodes * "Kickpuncher" comic book

References

External links

* {{Community (TV series) Community (TV series) seasons 2009 American television seasons 2010 American television seasons