Terrible Television » Jeff Winger

Community Episode 11: Freaky Friday

misslinda — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:29:22 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.survivingcollege.com

The group gets a history assignment: Pick any moment from history and tell the story in the form of a banner. Chevy Chase says something that nobody listens to because nobody cares what Chevy Chase says. Jeff needs the assignment to be “doable and passable,” nothing more. Annie has lots of ideas involving decoupage, paint, and glitter.

It’s the anniversary of Britta and Troy’s first date. But Troy cares more about his anniversary with Abed because one year ago, they watched Freaky Friday…and they try to do the whole switching places thing but it doesn’t work. Or does it….The next morning, Troy’s acting a little bit Abedy, and Abed is acting a little bit Troyesque. After taking a moment to inspect the goods, they start the day in bizarro world.

When Troy and Abed arrive in the study room, they explain what happened with the whole switcheroo thing, and, like Chevy Chase, nobody cares. In order to switch back, they will need to recreate yesterday, which means finding the lost Freaky Friday DVD.

Britta calls Troy and Abed out on their story by going on her anniversary date with Faux Abed, who’s supposedly Troy. Then, they have “the talk.” About their relationship. Britta finds it easier to talk to Abed about Troy, so it helps that Troy is Abed. Then Troy, as Abed, breaks up with Britta, who is Britta.

Meanwhile, Dean Pelton tricks Jeff into switching bodies, and the results are rather amusing. Faux Troy has a talk with Jeff, who is now real Jeff again? Or is this Dean Pelton pretending to be Jeff? Somehow, Faux Dean Pelton is really Jeff. So there are two Jeffs? But this Faux Pelton must be Jeff because he says, “I’m at Greendale, stuck in the body of a man who could be Gollum.” Plus, Annie is oddly attracted to him.

Jeff, who may or may not be Dean Pelton, tells Faux Troy that Real Troy needs to show Britta that he cares. So Faux Troy finds Faux Abed, and they switch back to their own bodies (checking the goods for authenticity again). Then, the really real Troy tells Britta that he wanted it to work so badly…but they’re better in the friend zone. It’s okay, though. No really. They hug it out and everything.

While everyone was out Freaky Fridaying, Chevy Chase made all of the history banners. And, Dean Pelton says “having Jeffrey inside of me” about twelve times too many. But in the end, everyone is who they are supposed to be, and with who they are supposed to be with. I think.

Community Episode 9: Puppet Theater

misslinda — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:18:14 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.survivingcollege.com

The gang sits around their table, shocked, nervous, and out of sorts. Dean Pelton does not enjoy the awkward silence and demands an explanation. Annie says it’s too embarrassing. So…puppet therapy! Everyone gets a puppet made in his or her likeness, and this is the best thing I’ve ever seen on this show. Except for Chevy Chase, who is in the woods, and don’t ask because nobody wants to talk about it. Ha, Jeff’s puppet is topless and ripped.

Oh yay! The rest of the show is acted out in puppets! Abed and Troy are playing Study Group Bingo. When people say the predictable things they say, “square!” The group realize that they’re stuck in a rut, and there’s a yammering of other things people get stuck in: elevators, marriages, bottom of wells, your own emotions…..

They need a Ferris Bueller-style adventure, and the puppets break into song, which is surprisingly refreshing and makes me wish that the rest of the series was a puppet musical. The group decides to go on a hot air balloon ride but forgets the hot air balloon guide on the ground. Pierce starts “helping” by sending them even higher, and not in the good way. Eventually, they start to go down (also not in the good way), and land calmly and uncrashingly in a forest.

Lost references, prison, something about Blue Man Group, and they run into…Others! Or, a man in a flannel shirt who just so happens to be a Greendale graduate. He leads them in a song about how hard it is being a student in Greendale. Then, magical berries and wiggly special effects. Shirley explains that the devilberries freed their minds…and skin.

It’s puppet confession time, and Shirley tells everyone about leaving her kids alone in the grocery store all night because she thought that she saw Andre with another woman. Nobody remembers Shirley telling that story, and as Troy says, “those berries made us real talky, but not real listeny.” They’re in the clear! No need to be embarrassed. Except…Shirley.

Because Shirley has told her embarrassing secret, everyone tells theirs to make her feel a little bit less horrible. Here are their secrets:

Winger: She met the perfect girl, and then met her kids. He ignored them.
Britta: She is an activist but never voted except for the Voice
Annie: She struggles in History and let the professor rub her feet in exchange for answers
Troy: Burned down Greendale
Chevy Chase: He never slept with mumble mumble mumble.

Annie realizes that Abed failed to tell his secret to the group. But, since he never told a secret in the woods, he gets to keep it inside. Also, Britta’s secret is judged the worst. Finally, Dean Pelton does awful things to the Jeff Winger puppet.

Photo: www.nbc.com

Community Episode 7: Whale Watching

misslinda — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:44:09 +0000

Reprinted with permission from www.survivingcollege.com

Dean Pelton wants our favorite students’ help recruiting Archie, who, in college terms, is a “whale.” That means he has low intellect, high lack of ambition, and limitless parental support. Greendale needs a whale because they are low on funds and cannot afford more than one dead pigs for the biology department. But, they need to keep the plans from Chevy Chase because he it when other people get attention. Jeff wants to help hunt the whale because Chevy Chase won’t be there, and nobody wants to be around Chevy Chase. Are you sensing a theme here? Involving the general dislike of Chevy Chase? Yes? Good.

Shirley and Troy sign up for what they think is P.E. class, but it’s really P.E.E. class: Physical Education Education. It’s a class to learn how to teach physical education to physical education students. Since it doesn’t actually involve any physical activity, Shirley quickly rises to the top of the class. She excels in the crucial skill of ranking students in order of ability, whereas Troy gets picked last because he is the worst student in P.E.E. class.

To test their skills, the P.E.E. teacher has drama students play the role of P.E. students in a locker room. Shirley has natural disciplinary skills. Troy, on the other hand, gets tossed in a locker. Nobody deserves to be mocked for being mock locked in a mock locker, so Shirley helps Troy become a better P.E. teacher by teaching Kevin how to play sports and drink from a water fountain.

Chevy Chase crashes the party planning committee, so Jeff takes a hit and distracts him with a whole day together. They go for a shave, and Jeff realizes that shaving your own face is for suckers when there are people to do it for you. The shave ends with a snifter of brandy, and it turns out that Chevy Chase isn’t such a bad guy after all. He just wanted to get Jeff alone to deal with his father issues. But just as the unlikely pair starts to bond, Chevy Chase finds out that Jeff was only humoring him. Thankfully, good old-fashioned male bonding is hard to squelch, and it looks like Jeff and Chevy Chase will be spending more time at the barber shop, together.

To attract the whale, Dean Pelton offers Half Pikes And Half Pipes class with Professor Shaun White. City College gave Archie a scooter, so Greendale have to give him something even better. Annie suggests drugs, but they settle for telling him about Bikini Class 101 and throwing him a party complete with strippers and a balloon drop.

Archie is impressed and decides to attend Greendale, but Annie is not feeling good about what they’ve done. And when Archie tries to take another student’s catchphrase, Dean Pelton draws a line in the sand. As it turns out, being treated like a normal guy is all Archie ever wanted. Why do I get the feeling we just gained another cast member?