One of the saddest aspects of any entertainment medium is that it’s a business first and an art form second. That puts television, specifically network television, in a bit of a bind. Executives are more likely to favor repetitive crime dramas than shows that push boundaries. Viewers don’t like change; they like their respective shows and want them to stay that way forever. Simply put: Nobody watches some of the better programming currently on TV, and if that doesn’t change, some truly great shows won’t be around much longer. I’d like to call your attention to two of them.

NBC’s ‘Community,’ currently in its third season, functions off of a simple premise. Seven misfits attend Greendale Community College together. That can sound boring, but the loose structure lets the show get away with a lot. Each episode shifts genres and satirizes previously established conventions and clichés. Some of the show’s razor-sharp parodies include action movies, zombie and horror films, fantasy epics, westerns, Christmas Claymation specials and, in its most recent episode, film noir. It also doesn’t hurt that the seven cast members are hilarious in their own right. Joel McHale of ‘The Soup’ and Chevy Chase may be the more recognizable talents, but the rest of the cast performs at an extremely high level.

Following the ‘Community’ timeslot on NBC is the equally stellar ‘Parks and Recreation,’ developed by the same creative team that gave audiences ‘The Office.’ But ‘Parks and Recreation’ revitalizes the mockumentary format. The audience follows the titular parks and recreation department of a local government in fictional small town Pawnee, Ind. Though the first season of the show was a mess, now ‘Parks and Recreation’ is operating at full speed thanks, in part, to its amazing ensemble cast. The hilarious Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari and Rob Lowe truly embody very quirky characters that play off each other so well. Then there’s Ron Swanson, the director of the department, and a welcome addition to the list of greatest sitcom characters. The mustachioed Ron is a fierce libertarian who hates the very government he works for. Perhaps the manliest man ever to exist, he invests his money by burying gold around the town, has two ex-wives named Tammy and eats almost nothing but red meat.

Granted, all these accolades could be rained upon a plethora of shows, but what makes these two in particular so great is their serialization. Every episode factors into the next one. Unlike other sitcoms that hit the reset button every week, ‘Community’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’ let each episode build onto the previous one. Each tells a different story, but a larger arc ties the whole season together. Characters change, actions have consequences and the fictional world those characters inhabit grows. There is almost a mythology to Pawnee and Greendale, with hundreds of well-shaded details.

Despite the critical acclaim and loyal fan base behind both these shows, the ratings just aren’t coming in. Both shows average just about 4 million viewers, with that number quickly fading. If the viewership follows this trend, NBC is more than likely to cancel both these shows by the end of the year.

There are numerous reasons for this. Chiefly, NBC has the two shows in a timeslot competing with rating juggernauts ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘The X Factor.’ Also, ‘Community’ can be an especially alienating show, as its humor is pop culture-heavy and tends to skewer TV conventions. It is television for people who love television. However, ‘Park and Recreation’ does not have this pretention problem. That show is downright loveable, and there is no reason why so few people watch it.

Putting the burden of a show cancelation on an individual is extreme, but even one viewer can make a difference. ‘Community’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’ need help, so watch these great shows. Talk them up among friends. And maybe we can enjoy just one season more of laugh-inducing, joyous television in a slowly graying schedule of homogenized shows.

jswucher@syr.edu

Published on October 9, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jeff: jswucher@syr.edu