Can a positive critical re-evaluation and heightening buzz help a struggling series when Emmy season rolls around? NBC is about to find out when it sees how voters respond to “Community.”

“As our season progressed, critics were starting to say nice things about our show,” series creator Dan Harmon notes.

Already, the number of critics enthusiastically jumping on the show’s bandwagon over the course of the season has helped secure the low-rated sitcom — starring Joel McHale and Chevy Chase as students at a mediocre community college — a second-season renewal.

“There wasn’t a great ratings story for the show, but increasingly, there was a lot of online chatter and critics standing up for the show,” says Jeff Ingold, Executive Vice President, Comedy Programming, NBC and Universal Media Studios, in charge of comedy development. “That helps in keeping a show strong in terms of how it’s perceived by the network. Hearing from objective third parties can keep these shows alive while waiting for audiences to find them.”

Read the full story on Variety

Vulture’s Emma Rosenblum talks to Joel McHale of both Community and The Soup fame about transitioning from host to actor, filming the paintball episode, and obtaining his physique:

On landing an acting part on a sitcom:

Yeah, how did that happen? No, seriously, I’d always been looking for a sitcom — that was the whole reason I went on The Soup, for it to do the same thing for me as it did for Greg Kinnear, or at least if I could have 5 or 10 percent of his career, I’d be happy. And rarely do scripts make me laugh out loud, but there were a number of jokes in the Community pilot script that did that. Actually, I was on a plane, reading the script, and there was a guy watching that movie, What Happens in Vegas, that Ashton Kutcher movie, and he was getting mad at me because I was getting loud — laughing and interrupting his romantic comedy. So I thought that was a good sign.

On making the paintball episode:

I think it took about eight days to shoot 23 minutes of footage. You’d walk into the cafeteria, and they’d turned it upside down; there was a fire in it. And it was the most physical episode I’ve done, with the jumping and the stunts; it was like a boyhood fantasy of being in an action movie. They hired a paintball company and brought them in to shoot up the place. They just kept handing us loaded paintball gun after loaded paintball gun.

On buffing up:

I just starved myself and started doing push-ups every night. I didn’t have time to go to the gym, and I just chased my kids around. It was like when Rocky chased the chicken, in Rocky I, that’s basically what I was doing with the kids. And I just started doing push-ups as much as I could, ’cause knowing I was going to be naked, I didn’t want to be embarrassed. I think I ended up losing ten or fifteen pounds. I starved myself and ate hard-boiled eggs and salad. They also spray-tanned me because my skin is nearly translucent white.

Read more at http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/05/joel_mchale_on_community.html

Community‘s Joel McHale and Modern Family‘s Sofia Vergara will announce the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards Nominations with Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Chairman-CEO John Shaffner at 5:30 a.m. PST (8:30 a.m. EST) on Thursday July 8. The awards themselves will air live coast-to-coast on August 29 (8-11 p.m. EST) on NBC.

Source EW

TV.com has an interview with Jeol McHale. Here are some of the highlights:

TV.com: Tonight’s episode, “Modern Warfare,” looks A-MA-ZING.
Joel McHale: It was the most ambitious television I’ve ever made in my life. We took eight days to shoot a 23-minute show. We basically shot an action movie. Justin Lin, who directed Fast & the Furious and who is now directing the new Highlander, directed it, and there are explosions and jumps and stunts and leaps. It all revolves around a paintball war on campus, and it was the most fun I’ve ever had shooting anything. I got to live my boyhood dream of being a Bruce Willis Die Hard character. The episode moves along so fast and it’s so action-packed, that if you’re really tired, it will wake you up.

Wow, I thought the mafia movie spoof you did two weeks ago went fast.
This week makes the food fight from last week’s episode look slow. Every scene is an action scene, it’s great.

Congratulations on the renewal, by the way; it’s well deserved. But let’s say Community goes onto Season 7 or whatever, how are we going to keep Jeff in college?
That’s a good question. I don’t know, because I’m not writing them. Dan Harmon, who kind of wanders our set like a homeless person—I’m not kidding, he looks like one because he wears the same clothes and he doesn’t shave—I know he has a plan. He’s got the vision, and I don’t question it, because he’s Dan, he’s the mad genius. I trust him implicitly on the scripts. Some of the ideas he’s come up with, from the chicken fingers to the food fight, all those things have come out of his brain. I trust him.

Joel McHale has booked his first movie since his turn leading the ensemble cast of NBC’s “Community.”

The actor is in final negotiations to play a key role in the New Regency’s comedy “What’s Your Number?” Mark Mylod is directing the Anna Faris starrer, being produced by Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson of Contrafilm.

Source: THR

Ken Jeong shows off his dance moves with Heidi Klum.

The Teen Not-For-Profit DoSomething.org has teamed up with Sprint to encourage teens to stop Texting & Driving via Thumb Wars campaign; PSA stars Joel McHale and Ken Jeong

New York, NY (April 19, 2010)–With car crashes being the leading killer of teens in the US, it’s impossible to ignore the issue of texting & driving any longer. DoSomething.org and Sprint, through the Sprint Foundation, announce the launch of a campaign to combat this growing issue. “Thumbs Wars: Teens vs. Texting & Driving” empowers teens to join the fight, get their friends involved, and report back on how they’re taking a stand against texting & driving.

The campaign launches today and will run through the summer. During that time, teens can visit ThumbWars.org to learn how to help increase awareness about this important issue. On the site, teens can also order “thumb sock” to prevent them from texting & driving and enter a bumper sticker design contest to spread further awareness.

Funny men Joel McHale and Ken Jeong, co-stars from NBC’s hit series “Community,” star in the PSA , where they start a thumb war and encourage teens to join the fight against texting & driving. You can view the PSA atThumbWars.org.

“Texting & Driving is one of those issues that everyone knows is a problem, but few are actively doing something to stop it,” says Aria Finger, CMO at DoSomething.org, “We wanted to come up with a fun way for teens to get involved on this issue that would still make a real impact and put a stop to this dangerous practice.”

“In 2005, Sprint started a great nationwide program – Focus on Driving – with educators and law enforcement to educate young drivers on the importance of attentive driving,” said Debby Ballard, director of community relations for Sprint. “Five years later, as texting and other wireless activities have become a daily part of our lives, Sprint is proud to join DoSomething.org in this critical next step to get more teens engaged on the benefits of safe driving habits.”

Teens are encouraged to use thumb socks to spread awareness for the campaign through a variety of ways including giving them to their friends, keeping them in their car as a reminder, hosting a Thumb War tournament about the cause, or updating their Facebook profile with a photo of them wearing the thumb socks.

For more information on how teens are taking action, visit ThumbWars.org or DoSomething.org.

Source: NBC

For television you might need naked bodies to be good looking, but for movies… Not so much!

The Star-Telegram has an interview with Danny Pudi, who plays pop-culture savant Abed on NBC’s Community. Here are some of the highlights:

On what Pudi knows that Abed doesn’t:

I grew up a huge baseball fan and sports fan. I remember just memorizing baseball cards and statistics as a kid. I’d get the newspaper every day with my grandma, and I’d read the newspaper’s sports section every day, and just kind of memorize statistics. I grew up in Chicago during a beautiful time in terms of sports, where Michael Jordan was winning championships left and right, and I’m a White Sox fan, so it was a great time to memorize statistics and stuff.

On how people react to Abed:

It’s kind of fun to be the voice of so many people. I’ll meet people all the time who’ll say, “Dude, I know someone just like [Abed]!” Or “I’m that guy! I quote movies all the time!” People will quote movies to me on the street sometimes, and I’ll just have to be like, “Yep! Totally!” Even though sometimes I don’t even get ‘em. Because I’m not Abed — but I am Abed. I think everyone can say that they know someone [like him], and I think there’s a little bit of Abed in everyone.

On whether appearing on a show with the very tall Joel McHale makes him feel short:

He doesn’t make me feel short, but he does make me feel like less of a man [laughs]. Joel McHale is, I think, 6-foot-4, and so is Chevy Chase. I’m 6-foot, which is great. One of the things people say often to me on the street is “Wow! You’re much taller than I expected!” Because of my frame — I’m kind of wiry and gangly, and I look like an Indian Gumby — my frame is way smaller than Joel or Chevy’s. Those guys are like real men. I’m kind of like a boy, though. I am married, though. And I think my wife’s happy.

We hope you enjoyed last night’s episode – we really missed Community.

NBC has three mini episodes for us in which Annie’s instituted a policy of 90 second study breaks to keep the group focused.
Enjoy!

Mini Episode #1
It’s time for a 90 second study break…stop using your brain.

Mini Episode #2
Another 90 second study break gives the group a chance to have a little fun.

Mini Episode #3
Stupidity comes at all ages.