Basic Genealogy 

It's Family Day at Greendale. Pierce tries to build a relationship with his stepdaughter, but she has eyes for Jeff instead. Britta gets in trouble with Troy's Nana, and Shirley's kids cause problems for Abed's father.

Director:

Ken Whittingham

Writers:

Dan Harmon (created by), Karey Dornetto

Stars:

Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Joel McHale	...	Jeff Winger
Gillian Jacobs	...	Britta Perry
Danny Pudi	...	Abed Nadir
Yvette Nicole Brown	...	Shirley Bennett
Alison Brie	...	Annie Edison
Donald Glover	...	Troy Barnes
Ken Jeong	...	Ben Chang
Chevy Chase	...	Pierce Hawthorne
Jim Rash	...	Dean Pelton
Lauren Stamile	...	Professor Michelle Slater
Iqbal Theba	...	Gobi Nadir
Fran Bennett	...	Nana
Kwesi Boakye	...	Elijah Bennett
Tom Yi	...	Rabbi Chang
Katharine McPhee	...	Amber

Storyline

It's Family Day at Greendale Community College and the gang's families come to campus to join in the fun. Meanwhile, Jeff agrees to help Pierce connect with his stepdaughter Amber. Things take an interesting twist when Amber shows an interest in Jeff.

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Plot Keywords:

vending machine | men hugging | butterfly bandage | pulling down pants | bank check | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 March 2010 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Krasnoff Foster Productions, Harmonius Claptrap, AGBO

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the DVD commentary for this episode, guest star Fran Bennett was in reality an influential acting coach for series star Alison Brie.

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Goofs

When trying to shoo Jeff away from Amber, Pierce tells Jeff that there are 5 billion other women in the world. There are less than 3 and half billion women in the world.

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Quotes

Britta Perry: Troy didn't tell me you were such a knockout.
Nana: What do you mean by that?
Britta Perry: Oh, come on. I'm sure you've broken a few hearts in your time.
Nana: Oh. Tell me, how many men do you think I've laid with?
Britta Perry: [Britta's eyes go wide]
Nana: Who are you?
Britta Perry: I'm Britta and I have offended you and I am sorry. Is there anything I can get you?
Nana: Yes. Get me a switch.
Britta Perry: A what?
Troy Barnes: She's not family, Nana. You can't make her get a switch.
[...]

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Connections

References Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

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Soundtracks

Greendale is Where I Belong
Performed by Ludwig Göransson

User Reviews

In honor of "Community"- a review of every episode. (S1;E18- "Basic Genealogy")

(This is the eighteenth part in an ongoing series, in which I am writing brief reviews of each and every episode of Dan Harmon's beloved cult- comedy "Community." Originally conceived as a response to NBC's cancellation of the series before it was revived for its final season on Yahoo.)

One of the more important Pierce-centric episodes in the first season of "Community", "Basic Genealogy" is unfortunately a tad flat in comparison to the excellent earlier installments of the season. While it does indeed still excel at times thanks to the trademark humor and wit that makes "Community" such an infectious watch, it just feels as though the elements at play don't properly work together, leading to an inconsistent and troubled tone. The result... a middling and sadly mediocre episode in the otherwise excellent series.

It's family day at Greendale Community College, and Pierce (Checy Chase) hopes to impress his visiting step-daughter Amber (guest star Katharine McPhee) by roping Jeff (Joel McHale) into a scheme to try and build himself as more important and impacting a presence than he really is. However, things take an amusing turn when Jeff finds himself highly attracted to Amber, causing some tension. At the same time, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) runs afoul Abed's (Danny Pudi) father (Iqbal Theba) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) finds herself in a quandary after accidentally offending Troy's (Donald Glover) abusive grandmother. (Fran Bennett)

While the episode boasts a handful of highly amusing and wacky comedy set-pieces that inject a much-needed sense of humor, I can't help but feel that everything occurring is a tad too disconnected. It features more a jumbled mish-mash of amusing vignettes than a well thought- out and compelling storyline, causing a bit of a rift as an audience member. Its repeated attempts at manufacturing drama also often fall flat because it so randomly jumps back and forth between ongoing subplots, you never get more than a moment or two with any specific character at a time.

It really is a shame, as this is an invaluable opportunity for Pierce to be showcased and to grow as a character- something that I found doesn't happen too often, as he is generally saddled as little more than a comedic foil in many episodes. Chase is a brilliant and talented performer, and his perfect comedic timing is something of a revelation, so it's just so disappointing than when he finally gets an episode to be the more-or-less main focus, it's such an uninspired effort. Thankfully, this is remedied in future episodes, where he is given more room to stretch his legs both comically and dramatically... it's just a shame we have to wait a bit longer for that to happen.

"Basic Genealogy" is one of the lesser efforts in season one. It squanders potential consistently, and is really only worth watching for the occasional joke or far-out physical comedy gag. I give it a middle of the road 6 out of 10.