Entertainment

Cutting class on ‘Community’

NBC’s much-hyped new sitcom, “Community,” about a study group at a third-rate community college, is like attending a fourth-rate school and still pulling only a “C.”

The series, which has so much promise (and promised so much), is long on smug self-satisfaction and short on big laughs.

The show is set in a Spanish study group, formed by Jeff (Joel McHale), a disbarred lawyer who never went to college in the first place. Jeff’s hot for Britta (Gillian Jacobs), who, between saying, “douche” several times, manages to declare that Jeff only formed the group because “he wants to get in my pants.” It’s like being trapped in a “Summer’s Eve” ad.

Anyway, because she doesn’t want her pants gotten into, Britta invites other classically clichéd students to join. There’s Shirley, the black single mom (Yvette Nicole Brown); Pierce, the white CEO retiree (Chevy Chase); Abed, the socially awkward son of Palestinians (Danny Pudi); Annie, the WASP naif (Alison Brie); and Troy, the African-American jock (Donald Glover).

Unlike really good politically incorrect comedy that outsizes racial stereotypes, this one skirts the edges of actually creating racial themes with dia- logue like black Troy telling white Jeff, “You seem pretty smart. You got a sports coat!”

Then, there’s the inside-TV jokes such as the cafeteria lady calling Jeff “Sine-field” (a ref to the show which debuted in that spot in 1990) and Troy calling Jeff “Seacrest,” a ref to the standing joke on McHale’s last show, “The Soup.”

Chevy Chase pratfalls his way through bits like trying to put a hot dog on a bun and constantly sexually harassing single-mom Shirley — even though you’d suspect a retired CEO would know better.

There’s a dean who makes announcements on a karaoke machine and another dean who was once defended by Jeff back in his shyster lawyer days on a bad chalupa charge (I swear).

On the upside there’s the Spanish prof, Senor Chang, played by a very funny Ken Jeong, the best-drawn character on the show.

Episode 2 is much better than Episode 1, but not so much better that I’ll spend four minutes DVRing Episode 3.