The combination sounds like a joke with an incredible punchline: "A Jewish girl, an agnostic, a Christian, a Muslim, an atheist, a Jehovah's Witness, and a level five "Laser Lotus" Buddhist join a study group for a Spanish class at a community college..." With diversity like that, Community has essentially been the perfect personification of one of those "Coexist" bumper stickers, except that it's actually humorous.

Since 2009, NBC has taken a chance on Dan Harmon's quirky/revolutionary/meta-comedy Community, and allowed the most clever and innovative TV show a weekly spot in primetime. Unfortunately, when you set out to do something like that, not everyone is going to "get it," and while the show boasts one of the most rabid and obsessive fan bases on TV today (think Arrested Development meets Firefly), it also had some pretty poor ratings and has been flirting with cancellation since its second season.

With its third season on the air, it looked like the ratings dip would be the death of the "Greendale Seven" halfway through the season, but after massive battles taking place in the blogosphere and campaigns to save the show, fans received their reward with a full twenty-two episode season that would have gone past Sweeps Week, if not for showing the final three episodes on the same night. With the end imminent, they got to say a final farewell and wrap up the series, but news surfaced that the show would be signed on for at least thirteen more episodes in Season Four, and creator Dan Harmon was being reduced to a consultant so a new direction could be attempted.

Season Three was not without its problems, but there were some definite bright spots to the escapades of TV's finest study group. After a return to form on the first episode, with a song and dance number that sarcastically promised "we're gonna seem like a mainstream dream and be appealing to all mankind," the tone got noticeably darker. It all begins with a housewarming party where Jeff lets fate decide who gets the pizza by rolling a die, splitting their reality into six different timelines, including the one where we first meet "Evil Abed." Troy and Abed's friendship suffers from living together, and a few episodes take Abed's coping mechanisms a bit too seriously, but there is still plenty of fun to be had.

The theme episodes are where Community has always shone brightest. In Season Three, we get to see an incredible Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now homage to filmmaking, a fully animated 8-bit video game episode, a Law & Order mystery, and a zany Ken Burns-style documentary of the pillow and blanket fort battle. Spoofs abound as well, but never quite as well as in "Regional Holiday Music" which is one of the most clever parodies I've seen, lampooning Glee, and tying it all together as a musical with a message.

The success of the show depends highly on the camaraderie of the study group, their friendship on screen, as well as their offscreen chemistry. In today's melting pot society, seeing the seven of them not only coexist, but thrive in friendship and love, is actually an inspiration, even when humor is one of the main objectives. In fact, sometimes it's just that extra dash of humor that is needed to cement those bonds, and the best example is the aforementioned Christmas episode. While past Holiday specials from previous seasons of the show included coming together in spite of their differences in Season One, and rallying around Abed in his time of need in the claymation Christmas episode, this season solidifies them as a family.

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