NBC has a stellar Thursday night prime-time comedy lineup, and while you are most likely familiar with The Office, 30 Rock, and even Parks and Recreation, statistically you are probably not watching Community, a show about a fictional community college called Greendale. This is a shame, because it is a witty, thoughtful, and well-constructed show that is likely to appeal to the majority of HACC’s student body.

The premise is obviously a relatable one; Community follows a group of dissimilar students from different backgrounds who unite to form a study group for their Spanish class. The program comments upon and satirizes a number of aspects of community college, including hokey campus events, eccentric teachers, lax academic requirements, and questionable cafeteria food.

Though the show starts out as a fairly conventional (and admittedly mediocre) comedy, it soon develops a delightfully playful and unpredictable nature that helps it transcend its initial limitations. Many of the episodes adopt the characteristics of a particular genre or television frame and exploit its conventions for humor. “Modern Warfare”, an episode from the first season, uses a campus-wide paintball game to poke fun at action movies. “Contemporary American Poultry” is a perfect spoof/homage of mafia movies, complete with Scorcese-esque camera movements and soundtrack choices. “Epidemiology”, a Halloween episode from the second season, impressively manages to pull off a zombie story without taking the show out of its realistic comic universe.

The greatest strength of Community is its well-oiled and highly-relateable ensemble cast, which includes many identifiable archetypes found at HACC. Shirley Bennett, played by Yvette Nicole Brown, is the kind of good-natured middle aged single mom found in the front row of every single one of your classes. The eternally hilarious Chevy Chase plays Pierce Hawthorne, a curmudgeonly and flatulent retiree. Jeff Winger, played by Joel McHale of The Soup, is a recently disbarred lawyer returning to academia to re-earn his credentials (His degree was found to originate from the nation of Colombia rather than Columbia University, as he alleged). Annie Edison, portrayed by Alison Brie of Mad Men, is an over-achieving teacher’s pet doomed to community college after a high school study-drug problem. Danny Pudi plays Abed Nadir, an ambiguously autistic Polish/Palestinian pop culture buff. Troy Barnes, played by comedian/rapper Donald Glover, is a high school football star who simply has no other college prospects.

The show also features a number of talented supporting actors including The Daily Show’s John Oliver and Ken Jeong (of Hangover fame), who plays a Korean Spanish teacher. Notable guest stars include Patton Oswalt, Andy Dick, Jack Black, Betty White, Josh Holloway, and Tony Hale.

The show has a disparaging yet reverent attitude toward community college that strikes a chord. The characters repeatedly ridicule Greendale, but at the same time exhibit an undeniable pride in their less than Ivy League institution. These mixed feelings of embarrassment/self-hatred and dignified, fond acceptance might be familiar to many HACC students, especially those with friends and peers off at what some might call “real college”. Jeff Winger, the initial protagonist, when cornered by a former coworker on campus, claims to be a professor, then realizes this is more shameful than the truth, and reluctantly reveals his status as a student. However, two episodes later, he demonstrates genuine, if unconventional school spirit, by identifying Greendale as “a toilet”, but asserting “nobody craps in it but us.”

Community college is an undeniably unique experience. Few other pursuits in life throw together such a diverse collection of individuals and ask them to collaborate based on the flimsiest of common ground (the desire for self-improvement and academic achievement — pfft!) This brilliant show, while not always focused on such subject matter, wonderfully illustrates the sort of events that can only happen on the campus of a community college. These include a boating elective that consists of pretending to operate a mid-sized wooden ship parked out by the dumpsters, a class in which one’s grade is based on the ability to “seize the day”, and numerous absurd and bizarre dances, holiday parties, and miscellaneous mixers that unexpectedly create long-lasting fraternity and friendship.

A quote from the first episode succinctly conveys the mood of the show. “What is Community College?” asks Greendale’s dean as he fumbles with disorganized cue cards, “Well, you’ve heard all kinds of things; you’ve heard it’s ‘loser college’ for remedial teens, twenty-something drop-outs, middle-aged divorcees, and old people keeping their minds active as they circle the drain of eternity. That’s what you’ve heard, however… I wish you luck!”

The third season started on August 11th. Community runs every Thursday on NBC at 8:00, and each episode is available on Hulu.com the day after airing. Seasons one and two are available on DVD.