Community's 'triumphant' return: Worth the wait?

Three-and-a-half months after NBC's critically-adored comedy aired its last episode, the show finally returns to largely glowing reviews — and its best ratings this season

NBC's "Community"
(Image credit: Lewis Jacobs/NBC)

It's been a rough three-and-a-half months for fans of NBC's cult hit Community. The network unceremoniously put the compulsively quirky sitcom on an "indefinite" hiatus in December, inciting a fierce backlash among its small, yet passionately vocal fanbase. Community finally returned Thursday night with an episode that revolved around the impending remarriage of wholesome-and-bubbly Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) to her ex-husband Andre (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), and the nuptuals' effects on her community college study group. The episode, the most watched of the season, delivered a 47 percent ratings increase over the show's most recent outing. Was it worth the wait?

It was brilliant: Community's "triumphant" return exemplified the sharp writing and the "manic imagination that sustains the show," says Hank Steuver at The Washington Post. In one of the best moments, Andre barges into the community college's food court with an entourage dressed in '90s-era Boyz II Men outfits and proposes to Shirley: "Babygirl, I have loved you since there was a Soviet Union and only one Damon Wayans." The line demonstrates the mix of highbrow-lowbrow humor — "the language of the permanently-distracted Generations X, Y, and whatever" — that defines the show's brilliance.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us