"Community" is cynical yet likable
"Look closely, and you’ll see hints of NBC’s once-decent reputation lingering in the fog of forgettability," Matthew Gilbert says of NBC's new comedy. He adds: "One of the pleasing things about 'Community' has to do with what it is not. The show doesn’t fit into any of the more familiar half-hour comedy formats on network TV right now – family sitcoms, workplace-family sitcoms, or friends-in-the-city sitcoms. It isn’t entirely formulaic. What else isn’t it? Another reason to moan about NBC’s fading quality."
"Community" feels like a long cellphone ad // This should make McHale a rom-com star
Bracingly funny, mercilessly snarky // NBC may have struck gold, or chuckle dirt
"Community" will make you actually laugh out loud // Not as funny as "Parks and Rec"
Joel McHale seems bored with his lines in some scenes // Too much self-satisfaction
"I was delighted to go in and say, 'Please hire me,'" says Chevy Chase
McHale credits to "The Soup" for getting him big auditions
"Fringe" fine-tunes itself in Season 2
As Blair Brown, who plays Nina Sharp, puts it, “The second year is much tighter. The writing is wittier, more complicated but also there’s clarity to the stories and character. And we are all speaking with quite different voices. The rhythm of show is clear now.” Lance Reddick adds that "Fringe" didn't find its voice until Episode 10. “We were trying to hedge our bets and trying to be too many kinds of shows at once," he says. "I’m not saying we got rid of the procedural element because each episode still is on a case – a case in terms of the quote-unquote police work — but it’s not formulaic, not like the early episodes. What keeps the show most watchable is the fact that it is character-based.”
"Fringe" has become one of the great character dramas // Kinks have been worked out
