I thought the truest line was Chevy Chase’s character to Joel McHale’s: “You remind me of myself when I was your age.” McHale’s character is totally a 1980s Chevy Chase character.
I thought McHale’s response was even better"
“I deserved that.”
Worst part: the John Oliver plotline was indicative of very lazy writing.
Oliver’s character has absolutely no reason to help McHale, let alone steal/risk his job for him. Most college freshmen would figure out that Oliver wouldn’t even know most of the other professors (and McHale’s been’ to law school so he’d know it from there regardless of what his undergrad experience was), and that even if he knew them he wouldn’t have access to their test answers, plus most professors like most high school teachers change up their tests from time to time for precisely this reason.
Add to this that McHale represented him on a DUI case in 2002 but was apparently paid for it and thus there’s no favor owed either side, and that was 7 years ago. Since the charges were dropped any attempt to blackmail him since would require McHale revealing attorney-client privilege which would get him disbarred in a heartbeat. He doesn’t offer Oliver anything by way of bribery to warrant risking his career (and after 7 years he’d be tenured/vested/all that) by stealing the answers for him, yet just assumes that Oliver is going to help him out of the goodness of his heart. Then Oliver asks for/receives McHale’s car knowing McHale is going to find out very quickly he’s been had. While it had it’s comic moments I thought it was a sideplot that sorely needed tweaking.
Another laziness: they’re in Spanish at Junior College. How long can a Spanish class last? Some of the students will drop out/flunk/take another professor- good for weeding the initial herd, but bad for any longevity.
When I read Chevy Chase was going to be in the cast I assumed he’d play a professor or a dean, which I could totally see. He has the intelligence/obnoxiousness/and obnoxious-intelligent charm that so many professors his age have, he’d be perfect. Instead he’s an obviously extremely well educated and well-to-do person who’s going for enrichment courses to… a junior college.
And that’s another thing: they make continual jokes about the admission standards/academic standing of the community college (which will not endear them to the community college community, not that this will have many effects on its ratings one way or the other). However, the campus they show is beautiful; the library very modern with a huge private study room- I’ve worked at “name” institutions that weren’t as nice. They should make it more of a strip mall feeling.
And a single Spanish class is going to last a semester. While this is good for thinning the herd, it’s not a good device for keeping the show going as students will scatter to the winds; even those who pass and take Spanish 2 will probably do so at other times and the like and none of them would be required to take more than two semesters of Spanish at a junior college so that’s one TV season. Again- the format needs tweaking.
Personally I’d make it more of a Community College Paper Chase knockoff- with lots of jokes to the audience about how Ivy League it’s not- with Chevy as the professor. I think it’d work much better.
I think this was just an example of how clueless he can be despite his obvious intelligence at reading people and responding to their needs/expectations. We all know that John Oliver has no compelling reason to help him–it’s clear that Oliver wasn’t some browbeaten guy who had no choice but to cave to McHale’s obvious greatness. It was a ridiculous request and clearly McHale wasn’t going to listen to reason on the subject because, as he said, he learned at an early age that he could manipulate people until the “truth” was no more than his own desires. So Oliver agreed to do it with the intention of setting him up, not because he McHale was right and Oliver owed him something.
If they’re getting their General Ed requirements out of the way, it’ll be easy enough to have them all taking an Algebra class together or something.
I don’t see the problem here. If he’s not interested in getting another degree, he’s lonely (been married 7 times and can’t make it work), and he’s bored, why shouldn’t he take a cheap class or two at the community college? I didn’t catch where the show was set, but in California, community colleges are pretty highly regarded and a large number of people get their GEs at a CC before transferring directly to one of the UC campuses. Which leads me to…
I work at a CC right now that has campuses throughout northern Utah and nearly all of them are either brand new or recently renovated. So they have the beautiful libraries, the big windows, the brand new computer labs, the flat screen televisions, and technology upgrades in each class room. My experience with California CCs is pretty similar. I’ve never been to one that resembles a strip mall. Not saying that all CCs everywhere are nice or new, but what was on the show is not at all outside the boundaries of reality.
That’s an easy thing to work around. The Spanish class ends and they all end up in Algebra together in S2. Or McHale meets new people with each new class and it’s like a real campus where people cycle in and out of each other’s lives.
The spanish class is just how they all meet . There’s no need for them to always be in the same class. They’re a “community” now.
Did you see the part where Oliver never actually gave McHale any test answers?
Bingo. McHale’s character was helping out Chase’s character and the high school jock with actual problems they had. I have a feeling that the show will show them becoming more and more a “community” through studying and helping each other in other aspects of their lives.
Myabe you missed it, Sampiro, but John Oliver did not really give McHale the answers. It turned out to be a book of blank pages with one word on the last page reading Booya!.
He was pranking McHale, not helping him.
I assumed that Chase’s character’s motivation for going to juco is to meet young women.
Would a state bar really suspend someone because their bachelor’s degree turned out to be invalid? :dubious: Assuming his law degree was legit and he passed the bar exam why would they care? Or would (could) his law school rescind his JD because they found he lied about ungrad?
There was a federal judge around here (who retired only relatively recently) who had no bachelor’s degree. He had a couple of years of college, but then WWII started and off he went. When he returned, he got his JD without ever finishing his bachelor’s (and without any concealment or deception about that fact). Things were different back then, but the bar never complained.
You’re located in Virginia, right? Even today, you don’t need a degree – from college or law school – to register with the bar and practice.
Plus how would you get into law school without a valid undergrad degree? McHale’s character is in his 30s; there would have been all the usual transcripts requests and letters of reference when he applied.
You sound like you have Assburgers.
It’s a Thursday night comedy show. Adjust your Suspension of Disbelief meter accordingly.
He faked having a bachelor’s degree by applying via an online degree mill in Colombia. That way, he could say with a straight face “I got my degree from Colombia”.
I would guess the bar would have more problem with the ethics violation than the lack of qualification.
I think there are another couple of states that allow anyone who can pass thier bar exams to practice law, despite lack of university degree OR formal law school training.
I guess they figure if you have enough knowlege to pass the test that certifies lawyers, it dosent matter how you came about the information…
I worked at a law firm where one of the partners got investigated for lying about his undergrad college honors. That’s not what did him in though, it was lying about work hours and overbilling clients. I think if you’re going to lie to become a lawyer, you’re likely to lie whilst being a lawyer.*
- Well, more than normal in the profession…
In the movie Catch Me If You Can the antogonist (Leonardo DiCaprio) became a lawyer by studying for the bar exam and passing without any formal education. It is based on a true story and I believe it was in the state of Louisiana…in the 60s.
Thursday night assburgers… mmmm. Memories.
I did see the John Oliver double-twist et al, but I still disagree (courteously). It seemed contrived and rushed to me. YMMV.
Yeah, lying about your undergrad degree would likely violate the ethics portion of the bar.
In addition, some states DO require a bachelor’s degree. Georgia, where I am a member of the bar, requires you to have a bachelor’s and J.D. to be a member of the bar. Some states do not.
The question is which state is “Community” supposed to be in.