It just struck me recently and I’m sharing.
As a millennial who enjoyed these shows as a young(er) adult … I cherished them both, and at the time probably like 30 Rock more, and probably would have said that it’s “the better comedy”.
Over time though I’ve noticed I basically don’t really think about 30 Rock … frankly I almost certainly think about Seinfeld more … but Community has “seeped in” to my TV subconscious fabric.
If I were to re-watch either right now, it’d be Community hands down. It’d be heart warming and comfortable and, I suspect, more relevant or still meaningful. By comparison, I wouldn’t be surprised if 30 Rock would feel more dated, “noisy”, and kinda culturally narrow and specific in a not-coincidentally SNL-like way.
30 Rock may still be “the better” TV Comedy (whatever that means). But it was written by a TV writer about making TV in New York, while Community was written about TV and its fans, IE “us”, living in any random city.
Interestingly, Harmon would probably agree.
Like I said, I probably would have thought the same … but I’m no longer sure.
Like reflecting on all the meta things Community did, which I think count as “jokes”, are pretty good and the sort of thing 30 Rock never really touched. The whole Law and Order episode, EG, was ridiculously good! Now maybe that doesn’t count as a joke … but it’s certainly a form humour that I personally found epic and masterful … a parody that is so heartfelt and accurate that you could be convinced you’re watching the original except for how absurd it is to be embedded in a college context. Again, probably not what you meant by “jokes”, but I don’t think it’s just about the character-driven writing … there was an approach to humour in Community that tried to go beyond “jokes” in a way that maybe has more mileage over time than 30 Rock’s more jokey style.
Just speculation of course … I haven’t rewatched these recently at all … in fact the point is to reflect on the impression left over time rather than their actual real-time qualities.
Yeah 30 Rock is rapid fire, like The Simpsons or Airplane! It’s so dense with jokes and they are of a very high quality that sometimes you’ll be laughing so hard you miss the next one. Community is more about needling at tropes and formulas and really just deconstructing what a TV show even is or can be. It’s a different beast entirely, and I love it too (except for the gas leak of course)
It’s funny with the gas leak … I remember not really minding it at the time … but I’m not sure I can remember any of it!