Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/donateidea Here's an idea: Community is a postmodern masterpiece. Though the TV show Community has never achieved huge ratings, it has a passionate cult following, including us here at Idea Channel. The show plays with genre and narrative in such a creative way that it brings to mind the cultural and artistic theory of Postmodernism. Previous TV series have been self-referential and culturally reflective, but none so successfully as Community. The show flips traditional expectations so consistently that it questions their importance in the first place. And it has brought the word "meta" into the cultural vernacular, to boot. Special thanks to @Beerandnosh for the opening line and other community joke references Links: Liam Dryden talks about shipping real people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0u_rKqqzFY Vice - 3D Printing Guns Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DconsfGsXyA The Jobs Act - CROWDFUNDING http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3606enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr3606enr.pdf Sources: Jean-Francois Lyotard - Post-modern Condition Christopher Butler - Postmodernism, a Very Short Introduction Nicholas Zurburgg - The Parameters of Post Modernism Roland Barthes - Image, Music, Text http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PostModernism http://scrawledinwax.com/2010/04/05/lady-gaga-community-and-the-thing-that-comes-after-postmodernism/ Music: Roglok: http://vimeo.com/musicstore/track/21166 Level 5: Room for the Homeless http://www.jamendo.com/en/list/a101325/level-5 Clockwork - Titan (geometry remix) https://soundcloud.com/wompworthy/clockwork-titan-geometry-remix Chiptune - Kenzalol https://soundcloud.com/chiptune/kenzalol Let us know what sorts of crazy ideas you have, about this episode and otherwise: Tweet at us! @pbsideachannel (yes, the longest twitter username ever) Email us! pbsideachannel [at] gmail [dot] com Idea Channel Facebook! http://Facebook.com/pbsideachannel Hosted by Mike Rugnetta (@mikerugnetta) Made by Kornhaber Brown (http://www.kornhaberbrown.com/) Want some more Idea Channel? Here's Last Week's episode: "Will Kickstarter Replace Hollywood?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCGaAIB9ncg Want another one? Here ya go: "Is Piracy Helping Game of Thrones?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U3RE_NB0EA Here's Some More:"Do Knock-Offs Prove the Value of a Brand?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWhf42Hdeq0