30 Rock and Community

As far as the production goes for both of these shows, I feel like Community uses more of an artistic approach and is focused on how the characters interact with each other.  I like this because it shows how a lot of people in the real world act without masking it with fake situations and other things that just don't seem probable to the viewers.  I also like how the scenes are more focused on more than one or two characters, and instead are used with two characters and up in each shot.  The way that 30 Rock's production goes, is that there are a lot more cut scenes and uses of flashbacks and stories that have already previously happened that the viewer doesn't know about.  These seem to be based off of television cartoons in the same vein as Family Guy.  Also, I feel like the humor is different in both of these shows.  30 Rock seems to have more one liners, while Community seems to have more funny situations happen.

30 Rock seems to have a lot more references to the "real" outside world rather than Community does as far as intertextuality does.  I feel like Community is more focused on the story lines that are included in the script and use little outside resources to add in some comic relief every once and awhile.  I think this is a good idea, because it attracts the audiences more to the shows plot line, than to something else that is happening that isn't related to the show.  On the other hand however, the way in which 30 Rock incorporates more intertextuality into their show, makes it a lot funnier and works very well for the kind of humor that they are attempting.  All in all, I think that the use of intertextuality in sitcoms is a good and bad thing, based on what kind of show it is used in.  I feel that it works great in 30 Rock, but not as much in Community.

My Choice-  What I liked about both of these shows is how they both seem to incorporate stupid humor in with real life situations.  It's almost like being able to watch something that could happen to someone without anything bad actually happening in real life.  Both of these shows would not be what they are if it weren't for the different kind of humor that they both use.  Another thing I like, is that 30 Rock incorporates a lot of different celebrities, such as Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, Tracy Morgan and Oprah Winfrey.  Community does this as well, incorporating Chevy Chase, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and Drew Carey.  The fact that both of these shows can use so many different celebrities as guests on their shows, really shows that they know what their doing and are both unique enough to have celebrities want to come and do guest spots on their shows.