I Can Count The Reasons

Pretty stupid anti-Community piece by Larry Fitzmaurice in GQ.  As far as I can gather, these are his complaints:

--The characters are "severely flawed human being."

That's one of the better things about this show--that it is original enough not to make everyone conventionally sympathetic, like most sitcoms do.  And yet you still like them. The show's title has always been both ironic and heartfelt.

--The character keep doing the same things over and over.

There's an amazingly huge variations of plot and style on this show, but having consistent characters (who do occasionally grow) is a feature, not a bug.

--The show's fans are absurdly obsessive.

This isn't even a criticism of Community, so there's no need to respond.

--The show plays to the obsessions of the fans.

It's hard for me to judge how the show would seem to an outsider, but most sitcoms require at least a few views before you get into the swing of things.  Still, I think anyone could pick a couple random episodes of Community and enjoy them.  The plots and the jokes are based on character and situation, not generally stuff only understood by the in-group.  In fact, a few months ago I showed some friends who'd never watched any Community the recently aired "Remedial Chaos Theory" and they liked it quite a bit.

--Community, underneath the flash, is formulaic.

I can't understand this argument.  Any show that has the same setting and characters each week will have to follow a certain amount of formula, but Community stretches the boundaries more than almost any sitcom I can think of.