Trivia: Creator Dan Harmon was fired during season four and rehired for season five. Harmon attracted some controversy when he finally watched season four and made several vulgar jokes about it, as he felt it was like an "unflattering impression." He later apologized and stated that he had a lot of respect for the writers and season four showrunners for trying their hardest to replicate his work and keep the show alive, and said he thought many of the jokes and the Rachel character were great.
Asian Population Studies - S2-E12
Trivia: When Joel McHale says "nice sweater" to Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Malcolm says "thanks, my dad gave it to me." The sweater looks just like the sweaters Bill Cosby wore on the Cosby Show. Bill Cosby played Malcolm Jamal Warner's dad on that show. (00:17:21)
Trivia: According to Dan Harmon, a lot of Chevy Chase's dialogue in the series was based on things he actually said behind-the-scenes. He'd say something odd or nonsensical in conversation, Harmon and the writers would jot it down, and then they'd add it to the scripts during rewrites.
Trivia: When Shirley is the Captain in their sailing class, the collar device on her lapel is two silver bars. While that is the collar device of an Army Captain (O-3), it is only a Lieutenant in the Navy. A Navy Captain is an O-6 and wears a silver spread-eagle on their collar device.
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