The 15 Worst Community Episodes Ever According To IMDb

Community is a show that went through a lot of changes over its six-season run. It started off as a charming but familiar sitcom about the misfits at a community college. As the show went on, it began getting more ambitious with its storytelling and creativity. After several behind the scenes changes, the show finally came to an end in 2015.

Some of the episodes of Community will go down among the most entertaining and inventive moments in television comedy, but not all episodes are so highly regarded. The IMDB ratings for every episode of the show proves there were a few times they failed to connect with fans. Here are the worst episodes of Community according to IMDB.

Updated May 27th, 2020 by George Chrysostomou: With the cast of Community reuniting for a table read of a fan favorite episode, it seemed appropriate to revisit what are considered to be the worst episodes of the show. 

15 Grifting 101 (Season 6, Epsiode 9)

The art of the grift was a lesson that Professor DeSalvo thought he could teach the students of the Community college. Of course, he was a con teacher, but the students wouldn’t let him get away with it.

When a crazy plan comes together there’s a lot of fun to be had at guest star Matt Berry’s expense. However, without any bigger themes here and a few lacking jokes, this failed to quite live up to some of the other episodes of the show.

14 Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)

Every pilot episode of every show is lacking some of the charm that the rest of the seasons have. It’s the nature of a pilot, it literally is there to help the writers and actors find their voices.

Of course, the pilot of this show saw the group come together for the first time, with Jeff Winger quickly becoming the leader of the group. It’s fun to see the magic for the first time, but these characters weren’t fully formed yet.

13 Basic RV Repair And Palmistry (Season 6, Episode 10)

A giant hand, Abed’s attempt to turn it into a road movie, and a long troublesome journey to deliver this strange object result in this episode becoming stuffed with different plot points.

While there are some truly hilarious moments and the big hand is pretty iconic, there’s so much going on here that it fails to stand up to some of the more focused adventures the group has been on.

12 Intro To Knots (Season 4, Episode 10)

The holiday themed episodes of the show are usually a lot of fun. Unfortunately, with a lack of sing-alongs and puppets, this was not quite up to scratch.

While setting the episode around a game at a Christmas party is pretty fun, the central plot to try to impress a teacher for better grades is a little overused; although the brief trip into the Darkest Timeline was certainly a great twist.

11 Lawnmower Maintenance And Postnatal Care (Season 6, Episode 2)

The funniest moments of this episode come from the Dean trying to navigate the virtual reality. But while that was truly hilarious, there’s not a lot more to this episode.

The side plot about Britta’s parents secretly helping her out didn’t really do much for the other characters. It’s a shame that the episode built so much around the virtual adventure without involving the rest of the group.

10 Competitive Wine Tasting (Season 2, Episode 20)

In “Competitive Wine Tasting”, Jeff becomes obsessed with finding out why a beautiful woman chose to be with Pierce instead of him. Meanwhile, Troy tries to empress Britta and the rest of his acting class by making up a traumatic story about his past.

This is one of the few early episodes on this list and what we get from the show is certainly not bad, it’s just too much. The whole thing feels overstuffed with neither storyline getting enough time for its big moments to really land. Plus, Anne and Shirley get nothing to do.

9 Advanced Safety Features (Season 6, Episode 7)

The sixth and final season of the show saw a lot of changes with original cast members leaving and new actors coming in to fill the void. It worked out okay, but at times it felt like miles away from the Community we knew and loved. This episode was a prime example of that.

The episode follows Britta reconnecting with an old flame who is working as a guerilla advertiser for Honda. It’s a pretty lazy main storyline and a rather gross display of product placement which makes it an easy episode to dislike.

8 Advanced Documentary Filmmaking (Season 4, Episode 6)

This is the first episode on the list from Season 4, and as you’ll see with the rest of the list, it wasn’t a very popular season. The episode uses the gimmick of hard-hitting documentaries when the school rallies around Chang and helping him with his amnesia.

While the format has potential, the episode oddly does nothing with the documentary concept. It almost seems like they keep forgetting that’s what they’re doing for this episode. Instead, we’re stuck with the ridiculous “Changnesia” storyline.

7 Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations (Season 4, Episode 5)

Community often has a lot of fun with holiday episodes which is why this one was such a letdown. The group splits up for the holiday with Jeff and Britta going to confront Jeff’s father (James Brolin) while the others spend an awkward day with Shirley’s relatives.

The prison break parody at Shirley’s house feels forced to the point that they have to actually acknowledge that it is forced. Meanwhile, the pivotal meeting of Jeff should feel like a big moment but is just kind of dull.

6 Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy (Season 2, Episode 18)

After Shirley and Chang have an unexpected tryst, Shirley there is a possibility that he might be the father of her baby. As Chang tries to turn himself into a model father figure, Britta finds out a dark secret about Troy and Abed’s new friend.

This is one of those examples of an episode where the subplot is more interesting than the main plot. The hijinks with Chang are very sitcom-like and ultimately uninteresting. Britta’s doomed romance with Lucca is more fun, even if the genocide jokes are pretty dark.

5 Conventions of Space and Time (Season 4, Episode 3)

Inspector Spacetime, the show’s fictional Doctor Who-like character, has been a fascination of Troy and Abed’s for a while. This episode finds the gang attending a convention for the show with Abed making a new friend.

The main storyline about Troy and Abed’s relationship feels like it’s just going through the motions. It is at least more interesting than the subplots with Jeff and Annie’s make-believe, and Shirley and Pierce participating in a focus group.

4 History 101 (Season 4, Episode 1)

This is the first episode of Season 4 which is the first season without creator Dan Harmon who was fired. Unfortunately, his absence is very much felt throughout this odd and awkward season. This first episode in which the group tries to get into a coveted class highlights those issues.

The whole thing feels like a show trying and failing to copy what made early Community so fun. All the elaborate gimmicks and zany humor feel slightly off and moments feel forced in attempting to recapture the magic.

3 Alternative History of the German Invasion (Season 4, Episode 4)

The study room has been the main setting for the show from the beginning. It’s like the coffee shop in Friends or the bar in Cheers. So when some German students decide to invade the study room and take over the table, things get ugly.

While there are some fun and interesting ideas about how the main study group is perceived by the rest of the school, the story around it is weak. The German’s are cartoonish to the point of being annoying and the episode introduces the ridiculous and dull Change storyline.

2 Intro to Felt Surrogacy (Season 4, Episode 9)

Community gained popularity for its wild and highly entertaining theme episodes. These inventive episodes played around with the style of the show to give new and interesting adventures. This episode is what happens when those gimmicks fail.

The idea of making an episode using puppets as the main cast sounds like a good idea, but that seems to be where the creativity stopped. The storyline and jokes are dull and ultimately pointless. It feels like nothing more than an excuse to try something new.

1 Economics of Marine Biology (Season 4, Episode 7)

Though rated the lowest of all the episodes, there is nothing in this episode that is very off-putting like some of the others. However, there is also not a lot to love either. It’s sort of just a middle-of-the-road episode that didn’t need to exist.

The storylines involving the wild lengths the Greendale goes to in order to secure a rich potential student, as well as Jeff’s unexpected connection with Pierce. The whole thing results in a fine but unambitious episode that could be from any other show around.

About The Author

Colin McCormick
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Colin McCormick is a Senior Writer with Screen Rant and has been a proud member of the team since 2019. In addition to his work as Screen Rant, Colin is also a writer of News, Feature and Review pieces at Game Rant. Colin has had a long passion and obsession with movies going back to the first time he saw The Lion King in theaters. Along with movies, Colin stays up-to-date on the latest must-see TV shows. While he loves to find interesting projects in any kind of genre, he has a special movie of crime stories that are infused with a little dark humor much like the work of his favorite author, Elmore Leonard.

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