09-25-2014, 04:47 PM
It would have worked better if the guys had been students. But I think the weird rivalry with 'Community' rather shut off various avenues in the writers' minds. Otherwise, having them loose in a college with random strange things happening in the background of their lives would have been fun. More robots running amok than accidental portals, maybe, but rooted in their work and interests, not in things that could be happening anywhere.
I also think they could have done more with Penny this way. The 'lack of sets' really doesn't hold up on inspection - just having her returning home in strange outfits from auditions/rehearsals would work. Same way there could be just walk through sightings of odd friends and colleagues. Having her entirely sucked into the creepy, crappy, dull little existence of now makes the show look even more flat and artificial. A world that exists of the same half dozen people in one small location endlessly caught in a destructive apathy smacks of Harlan Ellison.
I also think they could have done more with Penny this way. The 'lack of sets' really doesn't hold up on inspection - just having her returning home in strange outfits from auditions/rehearsals would work. Same way there could be just walk through sightings of odd friends and colleagues. Having her entirely sucked into the creepy, crappy, dull little existence of now makes the show look even more flat and artificial. A world that exists of the same half dozen people in one small location endlessly caught in a destructive apathy smacks of Harlan Ellison.