Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps - S3-E5
Trivia: This episode features a pay-off for a joke that was established in the first two seasons. In season one, the character Professor Slater mentions the name "Beetlejuice" while trying to recall Britta's name. In season two, Britta refers to Jeff's underwear as "stripey Beetlejuice numbers" during a conversation. And in this episode, Annie says that Britta has the "Beetlejuice" soundtrack on her computer. As Annie says the name, the character Beetlejuice is visible briefly walking by a window in the background, his name having been said three times. (In the film "Beetlejuice", he is summoned once his name is spoken three times).
Trivia: The character Annie Edison was originally written to be either Asian or Latino, but Alison Brie did so well in her audition that she was cast. The character of "Annie Kim" (sometimes referred to as "Asian Annie") is essentially an inside joke, as she is an Annie-Edison-like character portrayed by an Asian actress as Annie was originally conceived, and serves as a "rival" to Edison throughout seasons 3-6.
Analysis of Cork-Based Networking - S5-E6
Trivia: Actress Paget Brewster appears in this episode as an IT lady named "Debra Chambers." Brewster was eventually cast as a different character during season six named "Frankie Dart." In one season six episode, the character Dart mentions being unable to get ahold of the school's IT worker- a very subtle joke in reference to the character she played a year prior.
Trivia: Co-star Chevy Chase was reportedly sometimes difficult to work with on-set, as he didn't understand the show's style or humor. He also repeatedly clashed with series creator Dan Harmon over creative differences, leading to a number of high-profile public feuds during production of the first three seasons. As a result, Harmon was fired from the show and didn't participate in Season Four. Chase decided to leave the show at the end of Season Four, and Harmon was subsequently rehired as the rest of the cast rallied behind him and demanded he be allowed to return. Nevertheless and despite their differences, Harmon gave Chase a prolonged cameo in the season five opener "Repilot," as the two had settled their conflicts in the meantime and he wanted to give Chase something of a proper send-off. Chase reportedly even later asked to return to the show for its sixth and final season, but ultimately was unable to, as his character had been "killed off" to explain his absence in season five.
Trivia: Creator Dan Harmon based the show on a real experience he had. He attended a community college with his girlfriend and took a Spanish class with her, in an attempt to mend their failing relationship. Harmon based the cynical character Jeff Winger on himself, while the character Britta Perry was based on his girlfriend at the time - a strong-willed but occasionally naive idealist. The other members of the group are all partially based on people Harmon met in Community College, except for Abed, who is based on a comedian and writer he knows.
Trivia: Throughout the series, there have been several hints that the character Britta has a dark backstory - particularly with very subtle repeated references to a "transient" in a dinosaur costume who attended her eleventh birthday, and how she doesn't trust her parents. For years, fans theorized that Britta was groped or otherwise molested at her eleventh birthday by a man dressed up as a "birthday entertainer" in a dinosaur costume and this is what caused the rift between she and her parents, as she blames them for failing to protect her. Series creator Dan Harmon later confirmed this theory in a Reddit "Ask me anything" session when asked by a fan. Kind of makes the fact she's the most picked-on of the study group a bit more tragic, huh?
Trivia: The pilot is dedicated to the memory of famous comedy filmmaker John Hughes, who had recently passed away. Hughes' films, such as "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles", were big inspirations on the series and creator Dan Harmon.
Biology 101 - S3-E1
Trivia: Not really a mistake, but something amusing to watch for. During the big opening musical number, watch Britta's face closely when Chang runs in. Right as he runs by her, her eyes squint in pain for a very brief instant and she reflexively mouths the word "Ow!" It's hard to see what's going on because it goes by quick, but it looks like the actor portraying Chang either accidentally kicked her in the shin or stepped on her foot as he ran in, and she reacted.
Paradigms of Human Memory - S2-E21
Trivia: In a very subtle nod to co-star Donald Glover's rap act "Childish Gambino", the song that Duncan is playing on the piano during the "Glee" parody is actually the same tune as Glover/Gambino's song "Not Going Back."
Analysis of Cork-Based Networking - S5-E6
Trivia: The news ticket at the bottom of the screen briefly reads "Lavar Burton and non-celebrity captured by pirates in the Gulf of Mexico." This is a joke reference to the fact that in the previous episode, Troy left to go on a year-long sailing voyage alongside Lavar Burton. This is also the last hint the series gives to Troy's fate, as outside of some references, we never find out what happened to him or if he completed his voyage. (Creator Dan Harmon wanted Troy to come back in season six, but Troy's actor Donald Glover decided against it, feeling he had taken the character as far as he could).
Intro to Recycled Cinema - S6-E8
Trivia: At one point, a pile of old video-tapes of the show "Doctor Who" are briefly visible. This is an interesting nod, as throughout the run of "Community", there is a "Doctor Who"-like show entitled "Inspector Spacetime" that is seen or referred to numerous times, while "Doctor Who" was basically never referenced up until this episode. (Presumably for rights reasons.) So evidently, in the "Community" universe, both shows exist and compete with one-another.
Trivia: The scene showing the cafeteria roof collapsing and the subsequent building of support columns to support its weight is actually a bit of a tricky move on the part of the show's creators. Season Six was produced by a different company than the first five seasons, and as a result, all of the sets needed to be rebuilt in a new studio. Unfortunately, the only set big enough for the cafeteria had columns throughout, which weren't present in the original set. They wrote the roof collapse as a way to explain this, and then used it as the basis for an episode - Greendale trying to make sure it can be properly insured in case of emergencies.
Trivia: Series co-star Yvette Nicole Brown originally intended to appear in the sixth season, but had to bow out suddenly after her father fell deathly ill. Nevertheless, she was able to free up just enough time to appear in the opening and closing episodes of the season in cameos.
App Development and Condiments - S5-E8
Trivia: The character "Koogler" is portrayed by Mitch Hurwitz, the creator of another beloved cult-sitcom, "Arrested Development." A year prior, "Community" creator Dan Harmon had appeared in season four of "Arrested Development" in a cameo role, and Hurwitz returned the favor.
Trivia: Troy's reference to Zach Braff being "ungrateful" for only appearing in the first few episodes of Season 9 of "Scrubs" is actually a cheeky inside reference to the fact that Troy's actor, Donald Glover, was only in the first five episodes of Season Five. Glover left the show because he had a number of side-projects he wanted to focus on, including his musical career and eventually creating the acclaimed series "Atlanta."
Critical Film Studies - S2-E19
Trivia: Abed mentions being an extra on the show "Cougar Town," and inadvertently soiling his pants out of nervousness. Abed actor Danny Pudi actually did appear in a cameo in the season two finale of "Cougar Town", which aired two months later. Although his cameo isn't quite as described in "Community", Pudi is visible in the background of one scene in-character as "Abed", and attention is drawn to him when he dramatically runs away at the end of the scene. (Likely because he soiled himself as described in "Community.").
Trivia: The name for this episode is a play on words of "Law and Order" creator, Dick Wolf.
Trivia: KFC was very supportive of the episode, which features a fictional children's "Space Shuttle Simulator" that was allegedly endorsed by KFC in the 1980's. The only slight tension caused by the episode is that the simulator would technically have been sponsored by KFC at a time where it was still referred to as "Kentucky Fried Chicken" (a name the company has tried to distance itself from since adopting the acronym "KFC" in the 1990's, in order to not exclusively be associated with unhealthy fried food), although the company ended up allowing their original name to be used in the episode to avoid anachronisms.
Trivia: Reportedly, the Subway restaurant company was supportive of the show using the sandwich shop in Season 3, despite the company being depicted as corrupt and megalomaniacal, even "buying out" a person's life in one episode to serve as a constant spokesperson.
Trivia: A joke early on in the show created the tagline "Six seasons and a movie!" (A phrase the character Abed often says referring to shows he wants to last.) While originally not meant to be more than a gag, fans of the show adopted the line, and since it has become a sort-of unofficial slogan for the series, to the point that the hashtag "#sixseasonsandamovie" appeared during the season three finale, and another hashtag reading "#andamovie" appeared at the end of the series finale in season six. Series creator Dan Harmon has stated that it is a personal mission of his to eventually get a "Community" movie made to fulfill the wishes of the fans, though he has stated he wants to take a multi-year break, and would only make the movie when he "really missed" the characters and could insure most of the original cast would be able to come back.
Answer: It was part of the plot that when the boiled yam was dropped it looked like it was stepped on (which it never was). So there was no way to tell the difference between the flesh being soft because it was boiled or because it was stepped on (in the show that is, I don't know if one could tell the difference in real life). Plus, the rest of the yam wasn't boiled, so there was no evidence the yam was sitting in boiling water.
Bishop73