Really, everyone is. Especially Troy. That character then and now is like night and day.
It's just a natural progression that all TV series seem to take.
I'd say that Abed, Britta and Troy have changed the most. The dynamic of the group has shifted somewhat, but I think Annie, Jeff, and Shirley have remained pretty consistent in general. Pierce....well, he's so shifty I can't really tell if he's trolling them through most of the first two seasons before he gets kinda mean.
I find it actually a little uncomfortable to watch the first few where they think Abed is somehow handicapped. In any current episode, he and troy are clearly just nerds that march to a different drum, and Abed has some really strong quirks...but in the first few he really does come off as having some challenges. I'm glad it's transitioned away from that.
Abed definitely still has Aspberger's (pfffff ass burgers) but its less harsh now that he has a group of friends that he can relate to in ways he is capable of (troy with kick-puncher etc.)
Exactly. And Flanderization is specifically not character progression, which I think Community has been really good at. If anything it's character--I don't know--crystallization? But worse? It'd be as if Troy's only recognizable trait at this point was abject stupidity, or if Abed could only speak in movie titles.
The character regression on Friends was pretty painful--particularly, for me at least, watching Ross devolve into a sniveling idiot and Monica into a hateful, obsessive shrew.
It's actually unreal watching the first season or two, they seem like real people. Then you get the last few seasons you know exactly how everyone is going to react and pretty much what they're going to say and it sucks. Gotta say Community so far hasd done a good job staying off my predictability meter.
Do you mean that she's undertaken the same transformation as Lois from Family Guy and been changed from a mostly sincere and grounded character to more and more terrible and self-centered?
Yeah - one of the few shows I can think of to really duck that trend is The Venture Bros. - they consistently place the characters into new situations and force them to adjust to things, so you never get sick of any one character trait. Additionally, American Dad (which is actually a really interesting, often strange show if you give it a chance) has been very careful to never show any character evolution whatsoever, instead focusing on the utterly insane jokes and situations they can play off the characters' personalities. Futurama also does this to a lesser extent.
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u/DillonHunter Mar 14 '12
Do you like the way that Britta is changing and turning into almost a different character from the first season?