A few new details from E!:

You should watch the great pilot and then forget the rest of the series happened.

The provided explanation was completely inorganic. The episode would have been much better if Abed outright said it was a success and they were trying to recreate the magic rather than contorting a wacky explanation.

I was going to compare it purely in terms of story construction and tone, and the difference between it and the modern conception of the show.

I'll concede the point, although the show does use the college differently to how it does in previous seasons.

Only Biology 101, Global Conflict, Competitive Ecology and Documentary Filmmaking Redux had much to do with the community college. In addition, the Chevy Chase interview was done as production was wrapping, so he's filmed 9 episodes we haven't seen.

I doubt their contract with Sony forces them to air The Firm.

On Saturday, NBC's elaborate Ford infomercial Escape Routes got a 0.2 rating, while The Firm pulled 0.3. Admittedly, against NCAA basketball, but that's still incredibly poor.

I'm not arguing it'll get the same sort of coverage, but I think you're vastly underestimating the public's love of celebrity gossip.

Played correctly, this could be a very good thing for the show.

Not quite, because the point of Paradigms of Human Memory is that it doesn't repeat previous plotlines, despite using the clip show format.

Key production staff moving to a conceptually similar show?

The problem with Kenneth was never Jack McBrayer, it was stale writing, an issue they have mostly fixed this season.

I liked the idea of the show repeating itself, but otherwise the episode was utterly generic, repeating multiple stale plotlines, and was badly executed, being unusually slow paced and all-over-place.

Supposedly the male 18-34 demographic is the most valuable to advertisers because it's the most difficult one to reach.

That makes Community NBC's #2 scripted show of the week, behind Smash Monday after the Super Bowl.

I think The Office could have made it work.

I've decided that Community isn't for me anymore. It's become wacky and cartoonish in tone and I'm simply not enjoying the new episodes.

I only listed network shows.

Fair enough, I guess, but this little exchange has made me dislike the episode even more, thanks to the realisation that one of my biggest problems with the whole episode was added entirely in post-production and could have been excised wholesale.