While I could get a more accurate read on how I felt about the series overall by averaging my 110 individual episode ratings, that's far too much work to do manually when I'm supposed to be relaxing with some entertaining TV.
Community is an absolute roller coaster ride, on multiple levels.
First, because of the obvious: As with any sitcom, the "funny quotient" and other aspects of writing quality fluctuate greatly between episodes. Some will have you struggling to avoid falling off your chair; others will have you struggling to stay awake. This is expected.
Second, because of stylistic touches: When Community dives into a conceptual episode, it goes deep. They don't necessarily all hit, but even the ones I don't like (whether because I dislike the genre being spoofed, or the alternative production style, whatever) must be respected for their commitment to the gag.
Third, because the show's entire tone shifts from year to year, mostly in the latter seasons. Honestly, once I got past Season 3, most of the remaining episodes were a bit of a slog. This seems to be a common sentiment among fans—one that the show itself lampshades, especially when it comes to the "Year of the Gas Leak" (Season 4). I'm fairly completionist about my TV, and it takes a lot to make me drop a show midway, but if Season 5 hadn't shown some improvement I very well might have bailed early. A few scattered oases of "the old Community" kept me going through the end.
Finally, the show started switching out core cast members about halfway through. Between failing to work out some offscreen drama involving a certain actor, losing multiple actors to outside career and family constraints, and temporarily replacing the series' creator as showrunner (you guessed it, that was Season 4), Community spent most of its latter half trying to reacquaint the audience with its characters every season. That's not an easy task even in the best circumstances, and it was made harder by the show's season length getting slashed almost in half around the same time as cast members started being replaced.
Make no mistake, though: The show is good… at first. It's worth watching. Early Abed is still one of my favorite characters, but so is Professor Hickey—and until halfway through, there is no Buzz Hickey.
If you're not a completionist: You'll do yourself a favor if you just watch the first three seasons, maybe hand-pick a few of the highest-rated episodes from the latter three seasons just for flavor, and then skip to the Season 6 finale (which, despite the unevenness of that final season, is fairly solid).
If you want the bad and the good together: Go ahead and watch it all. You'll probably find stuff to like in the "bad" seasons, like I did.
If you're a completionist: You'll probably muddle through just as I did. Once you're into Season 4 and beyond, be ready to take however much attention you usually devote to watching TV and give half of it to something else: work, a game, a book, etc.; or do what I did and use Community as a backdrop for eating lunch/dinner.
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2020-12-01T02:51:03Z
Average season rating: 7.0
While I could get a more accurate read on how I felt about the series overall by averaging my 110 individual episode ratings, that's far too much work to do manually when I'm supposed to be relaxing with some entertaining TV.
Community is an absolute roller coaster ride, on multiple levels.
First, because of the obvious: As with any sitcom, the "funny quotient" and other aspects of writing quality fluctuate greatly between episodes. Some will have you struggling to avoid falling off your chair; others will have you struggling to stay awake. This is expected.
Second, because of stylistic touches: When Community dives into a conceptual episode, it goes deep. They don't necessarily all hit, but even the ones I don't like (whether because I dislike the genre being spoofed, or the alternative production style, whatever) must be respected for their commitment to the gag.
Third, because the show's entire tone shifts from year to year, mostly in the latter seasons. Honestly, once I got past Season 3, most of the remaining episodes were a bit of a slog. This seems to be a common sentiment among fans—one that the show itself lampshades, especially when it comes to the "Year of the Gas Leak" (Season 4). I'm fairly completionist about my TV, and it takes a lot to make me drop a show midway, but if Season 5 hadn't shown some improvement I very well might have bailed early. A few scattered oases of "the old Community" kept me going through the end.
Finally, the show started switching out core cast members about halfway through. Between failing to work out some offscreen drama involving a certain actor, losing multiple actors to outside career and family constraints, and temporarily replacing the series' creator as showrunner (you guessed it, that was Season 4), Community spent most of its latter half trying to reacquaint the audience with its characters every season. That's not an easy task even in the best circumstances, and it was made harder by the show's season length getting slashed almost in half around the same time as cast members started being replaced.
Make no mistake, though: The show is good… at first. It's worth watching. Early Abed is still one of my favorite characters, but so is Professor Hickey—and until halfway through, there is no Buzz Hickey.
If you're not a completionist: You'll do yourself a favor if you just watch the first three seasons, maybe hand-pick a few of the highest-rated episodes from the latter three seasons just for flavor, and then skip to the Season 6 finale (which, despite the unevenness of that final season, is fairly solid).
If you want the bad and the good together: Go ahead and watch it all. You'll probably find stuff to like in the "bad" seasons, like I did.
If you're a completionist: You'll probably muddle through just as I did. Once you're into Season 4 and beyond, be ready to take however much attention you usually devote to watching TV and give half of it to something else: work, a game, a book, etc.; or do what I did and use Community as a backdrop for eating lunch/dinner.
Rating statistics on a per-show or per-season basis would make a great Trakt feature, though. Maybe even a VIP perk?
At any rate, there's a VIP forum thread for it: https://forums.trakt.tv/t/average-ratings-for-seasons-entire-series/1902?u=dgw (please vote if you can!)