The premise
NewsRadio is the organizing premise, the hypothesis that started the project, and it holds the strongest cast-level correspondence in the current scoring. Every show is scored by the same declared method.
- Dave Nelson to Jeff
- Joe Garrelli to Troy
- Matthew Brock to Abed
- Lisa Miller to Annie
- Beth to Britta
- Catherine Duke to Shirley
- Bill McNeal to Pierce
- Jimmy James to Pierce and Dean Pelton
Every evidence row carries one of six labels. EpisodeCommentary heardProduction recordPersonnelPublished reviewInterpretation
Commentary heard directly counts as evidence under its own label, with or without a transcript online.
Saved by the Bell and NewsRadio into Greendale
The current focus is the line from Saved by the Bell and NewsRadio into Community. A commentary heard directly confirms one point of that lineage. It is recorded under Commentary heard, it is not linked, and it anchors that single point rather than the whole argument, which the rows below carry on their own evidence. Every link below is new to this project unless its row says otherwise, and each is tied to dialogue, recaps, episode records or credits that the build checks on both sides. Commentary heard
The earlier finds, including "Jessie's Song", "The Zack Tapes", "Daydream", "Copy Machine" and "Station Sale", are on the Greendale Lineage page. The Planbee handoff and the Annie line from Jessie to Frankie are on that page too.
No line of Community dialogue names either show, WNYX, Bayside or their lead characters. In Wikipedia's episode credits, Jeff Melman is the only director or writer on both a Saved by the Bell production and a Community episode, no NewsRadio director or writer is credited on Community, and seven NewsRadio guest stars plus one regular, Andy Dick, turn up at Greendale.
Shared performers and production bridges
| Who | Older show | Community |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Melman | Directed the TV movie Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas (1994). | Directed "Remedial Chaos Theory" (S3E4). Why it matters: he is the only director or writer credited on both a Saved by the Bell production and a Community episode, so the lineage runs through the crew and not only the cast, and the episode he directed is the one where Community splits its ensemble into seven timelines. The show's most formally ambitious hour was handed to the one person who had already worked on Bayside. PersonnelProduction record |
| Tiffani-Amber Thiessen | Kelly Kapowski on Saved by the Bell, then Foxy Jackson on NewsRadio, the new assistant Joe is smitten with ("Assistant", February 16, 1999). | No Community role. She joins the two older shows through Joe, Troy's ancestor. Why it matters: she is the single performer who ties Saved by the Bell directly to NewsRadio, and the character she plays there is the woman Joe falls for. The connection between the two older shows therefore lands on the exact character Troy grows into, so the Bayside side of the family tree enters NewsRadio through Greendale's future repairman. PersonnelEpisodeInterpretation |
| Andy Dick | Matthew Brock on NewsRadio. | The tiny pilot in Pierce's painkiller visions in season 2, credited as Helicopter Pilot/Tiny Man. Why it matters: he is the only NewsRadio series regular, rather than guest star, to appear in Community, so the strongest single casting link between the two shows runs through the actor who played Matthew, the ensemble's odd one out. He arrives at Greendale inside an older comic character's drug hallucination. Personnel |
| French Stewart | Brent, the "weird" new temp Matthew feels threatened by ("Mistake", May 14, 1997). | Vinnie, the look-alike agency boss Abed owes three grand ("Contemporary Impressionists", S3E12). Why it matters: both roles put him opposite the ensemble's odd one out as a threat. On NewsRadio he is the new temp whose strangeness unsettles Matthew, and at Greendale he is the man Abed is in debt to. The same performer plays the outsider who destabilises whichever character occupies that seat. PersonnelEpisode |
| David Cross | Mr. James's nephew Theo ("Houses of the Holy", March 10, 1996) and David from Dave's college a cappella group ("Chock", January 13, 1998). | Hank Hickey ("Advanced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons", S5E10). Why it matters: both shows cast him as the difficult younger male relative of an older authority figure. On NewsRadio he is Theo, the station owner's nephew, and at Greendale he is Hank, Buzz Hickey's estranged son. The role is the same family position twice, and in both cases the older man's standing in the group is what the younger man comes to test. Personnel |
| Patton Oswalt | Guy in "The Trainer" (December 19, 1996), the episode where the WNYX staff discover a secret about Dave's past. Ben Stiller guests in the same episode as Vic. | Nurse Jackie in "Home Economics" (S1E8) and "The Psychology of Letting Go" (S2E3). Why it matters: the NewsRadio episode he appears in is the origin of the boss-knows-too-much material, where the staff learn something about Dave he had kept from them. That is the structure Greendale gives the Dean, who holds information about Jeff and the study group he should have no access to. Personnel |
| Paul F. Tompkins | The justice of the peace in "Wedding" (March 2, 1999). | Robert, the fellow sci-fi fan Abed talks with in "Mixology Certification" (S2E10). Why it matters: both roles are the outside adult who briefly legitimises something the ensemble cannot settle by itself. On NewsRadio he holds the legal authority that makes a marriage real, and at Greendale he is the stranger in a bar who takes Abed's obsession seriously and treats it as worth an adult conversation. Personnel |
| Brian Posehn | Brian in "Chock" (January 13, 1998) and a fan in "Super Karate Monkey Death Car" (November 4, 1997). | Bixel in "App Development and Condiments" (S5E8). Why it matters: he is the only performer here who appears in two NewsRadio episodes that both have Community counterparts on this page. "Super Karate Monkey Death Car" is the polygraph episode paired with "Cooperative Polygraphy", and his Greendale role sits inside the MeowMeowBeenz episode paired with "Rose Bowl". His casting lands twice inside pairings the map already carries. Personnel |
| Michael McDonald | A guest star in "Airport" (February 19, 1997). | Ronald Mohammad in "Basic Story" (S5E12). Why it matters: his Community role sits inside the episode where Greendale is to be sold and replaced by a sandwich university. That is the Community half of the institutional-sale story NewsRadio tells in "Station Sale", so he appears at the exact point where each show threatens to take the building away from its ensemble. Personnel |
| Wayne Federman | Randy Stark in "Freaky Friday" (April 20, 1999). | The Dad in "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" (S6E13). Why it matters: the NewsRadio episode he appears in is the body-swap story that Community remakes deliberately as "Basic Human Anatomy", where Troy and Abed perform a Freaky Friday switch on purpose. His Greendale role is in the series finale, so his two appearances bracket the lineage at the NewsRadio original and at Community's last episode. Personnel |
NewsRadio episodes that reach Greendale
| NewsRadio | Community | What carries over |
|---|---|---|
| Super Karate Monkey Death Car November 4, 1997 | "Cooperative Polygraphy" (S5E4) | An outsider puts the whole ensemble through a polygraph. Andrea, the efficiency expert, tests the WNYX staff, Joe steals a copy of the test and Lisa's criminal record comes out. Pierce's will orders a private inquest, and the study group must pass a polygraph to be cleared of his murder before anyone receives a bequest. Episode |
| Balloon March 25, 1998 | "Cooperative Polygraphy" (S5E4) and "Geothermal Escapism" (S5E5) | A rich man fakes the voyage, and the next generation is made to do it for real. Mr. James announces he will circle the world in a hot-air balloon to prove his machismo to the other billionaires, then fakes the flight from a soundstage on the tenth floor, with Joe, his flight technician, running the deception and Dave sworn to secrecy. Pierce's will sets Troy the same voyage, the test Pierce's own father set him at 23, and Pierce says outright that he cheated it, so the will assigns someone to travel with Troy to verify that he does not. Significance: the inheritance is the fraud and its correction. Both shows tie wealth to a masculinity test the patron failed in private, both hand the technical work to the practical member of the ensemble, and Community closes the loop by making the younger man perform, under supervision, the journey the older man faked. Jimmy feeds Pierce in the premise map, and Joe feeds Troy. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Xmas Story December 19, 1995 | "Cooperative Polygraphy" (S5E4) | The rich man's gifts skip the odd one out. Mr. James buys sports cars for everyone on the staff except Matthew, who gets tapes, and Pierce's will hands Abed, Matthew's descendant, nothing beyond the sperm every member receives. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Bill Moves On September 23, 1998 | "Cooperative Polygraphy" (S5E4) | The ensemble comes back from a funeral for a character whose actor is gone. NewsRadio's staff return from Bill's memorial service after Phil Hartman's death, and the study group returns from Pierce's funeral after Chevy Chase left the show. Bill feeds Pierce in the premise map. EpisodePersonnel |
| The Real Deal May 7, 1997 | "Pillows and Blankets" (S3E14) | A radio host brands his show with a rhyme on his own name. Bill hosts The Real Deal with Bill McNeal on WNYX, and Neil, now a campus radio DJ, signs off as "real Neil with pipes of steel." TV Tropes reads the sign-off as a shout-out to Bill's show. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Planbee September 30, 1997 | "Ladders" (S6E1) | A hired outsider arrives to put the place in order. Mr. James brings in Andrea, an efficiency expert, to bring order to WNYX, and the Dean brings in Frankie as an "administrative consultant" after a roof collapses. Frankie proposes cutting classes such as Ladders. Both owners leave the room right after the introduction, Jimmy on a piranha joke and the Dean on a fake phone call. Episode |
| Rose Bowl February 5, 1997 | "App Development and Condiments" (S5E8) | Coworkers grade each other. Dave agrees to let the staff review each other, and MeowMeowBeenz turns ranking classmates into a class war. Episode |
| Who's the Boss? January 20 and February 3, 1998 | "Competitive Wine Tasting" (S2E20) | Both shows ask who the boss is. NewsRadio's two-parter makes Bill the boss to punish him and then puts Dave and Lisa to a staff vote, and Abed's class on Who's the Boss? ends with his proof that Angela was the boss. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Catherine Moves On November 25, 1997 | "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps" (S3E5) | An episode built from each character's version of events. The staff offer their versions of how and why Catherine quit, colored by their own perceptions, and Britta has the study group tell scary stories to see how everyone reacts. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Our Fiftieth Episode April 2, 1997 | "Curriculum Unavailable" (S3E19) | A member of the ensemble is headed for a mental institution. An argument over a traffic ticket gets Bill committed to a mental hospital, and Abed, given the choice between therapy and jail, goes with the whole group to a psychiatrist who decides he should be committed. Episode |
| Twins March 12, 1997 | "Remedial Chaos Theory" (S3E4) | The oddball gets a double. Matthew's "identical twin" brother Andrew visits, played by Jon Stewart, and the darkest timeline produces Evil Abed. Why it matters: each show doubles the same seat, the socially unreadable member of the ensemble, and uses the double to show what that character would be without his restraints. The Community half was directed by Jeff Melman, the one person credited on both a Saved by the Bell production and a Community episode, so the device and the crew link arrive together. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Noise October 21, 1998 | "Lawnmower Maintenance and Postnatal Care" (S6E2) | A gadget hooks the boss. Dave and Jimmy get addicted to Joe's white noise box, and the Dean gets lost in a virtual reality system until Jeff finds its inventor, Elroy, who recombines Troy and Abed on the shadows list. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Hair February 9, 1999 | "Debate 109" (S1E9) | Hypnotism as a cure. Joe hypnotizes Jimmy to cure his fear of hippies, and Pierce hypnotizes Britta to stop her smoking. The Greendale Lineage page ties the same scene to the hidden messages of Saved by the Bell's "The Zack Tapes", so the scene has a parent in each older show. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Jail November 4, 1998 | "The First Chang Dynasty" (S3E21) | A usurper takes the institution once its leader is locked away. Jimmy is arrested as the hijacker D. B. Cooper and Johnny Johnson replaces him, looking to make it permanent, and Chang kidnaps the Dean and swaps in a Doppeldeaner. Episode |
Saved by the Bell episodes that reach Greendale
| Saved by the Bell | Community | What carries over |
|---|---|---|
| The Will S4E14 | "Cooperative Polygraphy" (S5E4) | A bequest turns the friends on each other. A beloved alumnus leaves Bayside $10,000 and the boys and girls fight over it, and Pierce's will sets the study group bickering through a polygraph inquest. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Glee Club S2E18, December 23, 1990 | "Regional Holiday Music" (S3E10) | The gang is pulled into the glee club for a big performance. Bayside's gang joins the glee club to reach a competition in Hawaii, and the Dean and Mr. Rad try to get the study group to fill in for Greendale's Glee Club at the Christmas pageant until its members give in one by one. Episode |
| Clip shows "Isn't It Romantic?", "Best Summer of My Life" and "The Time Capsule", season 4 | "Paradigms of Human Memory" (S2E21) and "Curriculum Unavailable" (S3E19) | The clip show. Saved by the Bell's fourth season runs three, and "Best Summer of My Life" became one after Kelly and Jessie left, which met the show's contract with NBC. Community parodies the form with a clip show made entirely of new footage and spoofs it again a season later. EpisodeProduction recordInterpretation |
| Rockumentary S3E22, November 30, 1991 | "Pillows and Blankets" (S3E14) | A famous voice narrates the gang's story as a documentary. Casey Kasem tells the rise, fall and rise again of the Zack Attack, which turns out to be Zack's dream, and Keith David narrates the pillow and blanket war as a Ken Burns film. Episode |
| Day of Detention S4E8, October 3, 1992 | "Pilot" (S1E1) | Saturday detention, the Breakfast Club setup. Zack's radio contest collides with a Saturday detention that ends up holding the whole gang, and in Community's pilot Abed says the study group is kind of like Breakfast Club. EpisodeInterpretation |
| The Last Dance S3E1, September 14, 1991 | "Debate 109" (S1E9) and after | The younger student falls for a man named Jeff. Kelly takes a waitress job at The Max, falls for its older manager Jeff Hunter and ends her relationship with Zack, and Annie kisses Jeff Winger at the end of their debate, the start of a pull that runs through Community. EpisodeInterpretation |
| House Party S2E5, October 6, 1990 | "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism" (S3E9) | Something precious breaks and the gang tries to replace it before the owner finds out. Saved by the Bell runs this plot twice in season 2, with Screech's mother's Elvis statue in "House Party" and the school's camera in "Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind". When Annie breaks Abed's autographed Dark Knight DVD, Troy asks her how many sitcoms have done the "secretly replace a broken, priceless item" thing. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Rent-a-Pop S2E7, October 20, 1990 | "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" (S2E16) | A fake father works the scheme. Zack hires an actor to play his dad for Mr. Belding, and Pierce pretends to be Jeff's estranged father from inside a limo. Episode |
| Earthquake! S4E21, November 21, 1992 | "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" (S2E22) | The gang delivers a baby when no help can come, and the baby is named for a helper. Zack and Tori deliver Mrs. Belding's baby in a stuck elevator after an earthquake and the Beldings name him Zack, and with no ambulance available Abed talks Britta through delivering Shirley's son, whom Shirley names Ben for Chang because he helped bring him into the world. Episode |
| Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind S2E12, November 23, 1990 | "Intro to Political Science" (S2E17) | A government agent fixes on the group's oddball. A special agent becomes convinced Screech is an alien, and Abed sabotages Greendale's stop on the vice president's tour to seem more dangerous to Agent Vohlers. Episode |
| No Hope with Dope S3E21, November 30, 1991 | "Digital Exploration of Interior Design" (S3E13) and "Advanced Safety Features" (S6E7) | The network or the sponsor walks into the plot. NBC chairman Brandon Tartikoff appears as himself to make Bayside's anti-drug commercial, and Greendale's Subway and Honda placements become storylines. EpisodeProduction recordInterpretation |
The build confirms 146 anchor phrases behind these 35 rows, from the NewsRadio and Community dialogue, the TV Tropes recaps, the Saved by the Bell Wiki and Wikipedia's episode lists, and it fails if a row loses its evidence on either side.
Five kinds of ancestry
A Greendale character can take personality from one older show, a relationship position from another, a seasonal job from a third, and grow through several roles over the run. The show also keeps shadows of its own characters.
Personality ancestry
Who a character resembles across the whole run.
Example: Buffy to Britta
Relationship ancestry
A position held opposite one other character.
Example: Angel and Buffy to Jeff and Annie, and Dave and Lisa to the same pair
Seasonal or functional slot
A job in the story that changes hands from season to season.
Example: Buffy's rotating Big Bads to Chang
Developmental ancestry
One character moving through several older roles over time.
Example: Troy, from A.C. Slater to Joe Garrelli, and Annie, from Cordelia to Willow to Dark Willow and from Jessie Spano to Lisa Miller to Frankie Dart
Shadow
An alternate, suppressed, future or replacement version of another character.
Example: Annie Kim to Annie Edison
Troy's line
Slater stage InterpretationProduction record
Troy arrives as the former high school football star. Harmon first pictured a young Woody Harrelson for the part and planned Troy and Pierce as the show's Beavis and Butt-Head pair.
Troy and Abed stage Production recordInterpretation
Donald Glover and Danny Pudi's real-life friendship turned into comedic chemistry, shown off in the Spanish rap of the series' very first tag, and the show moved Troy from Pierce to Abed. The older models here are J.D. and Turk, and Joe and Matthew.
The repair gift Episode
"English as a Second Language" (S1E24) reveals Troy's natural plumbing talent. Abed borrows the best-part-of-my-day speech from Good Will Hunting to push him toward plumbing, and Troy refuses and stays in school. On NewsRadio, Joe builds the camera hidden inside a Boba Fett doll himself ("Presence", S2E19, April 14, 1996).
Repairman stage Episode
Troy trades his place in the study group for the Air Conditioning Repair Annex's help in "The First Chang Dynasty" (S3E21). In "Introduction to Finality" (S3E22) Vice Dean Laybourne tells him, "The true repairman will repair man."
The fire Episode
"Intro to Felt Surrogacy" (S4E9) gives Troy the Greendale Fire of '03, 55 acres from one burned anthill. On NewsRadio, Joe starts the station fire by miswiring the new security cameras he meant to sabotage in "Led Zeppelin II" (S2E21, April 28, 1996).
Exit Episode
Pierce's will leaves Troy his Hawthorne Wipes shares on the condition that he sail Pierce's boat, the Childish Tycoon, around the world ("Cooperative Polygraphy", S5E4), and in "Geothermal Escapism" (S5E5) Troy sets sail with LeVar Burton, assigned by the will to make sure he doesn't cheat.
NewsRadio pairs
| NewsRadio | Greendale | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Dave and Lisa | Jeff and Britta | The concealed workplace relationship travels here. Dave and Lisa keep the affair off the record, "what if we just decided to keep this a secret," then apologize to the staff "for lying about our affair," and Community hides its own version until the reveal that "Jeff and Britta are having secret sex" [S02E21:L77]. Significance: the secrecy is the inherited machine, not the couple. It carries the same costs in both shows, a colleague who learns first, a staff that feels lied to, and a pairing that never becomes public. Lisa's own line runs to Annie through competence, achievement and rule-breaking for grades, and Dave's runs to Jeff, so one NewsRadio pair feeds three Greendale characters along two different routes. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Joe and Matthew | Troy and Abed | Joe teaches Matthew gambling until double or nothing leaves him owing $5,120, then $10,240 ("In Through the Out Door", S2E13). In "Space" (May 21, 1997) Joe triggers the self-destruct and Matthew kicks out the life-support cord, and in "The Injury" (June 5, 1997) the two compete to grab a coffee cup off a hallway light fixture until Matthew hurts his hand. Joe casts Matthew "to play the role of Alien" in a scripted show for his 24-hour break room Internet-cam ("Apartment", S5E12), trains him in Joe-jitsu ("Padded Suit", S5E19), and with Beth stages a mock job interview for him that turns into a pretend NASA interview ("Retirement", S5E21). Emily St. James's February 5, 2010 AV Club review of Community's "Romantic Expressionism" called Joe and Matthew "sort of the proto Abed and Troy", pairing the two duos without matching individuals. EpisodePublished review |
| Jimmy and Matthew | The Dean's cell | "Freaky Friday" (S5E20, April 20, 1999) has Jimmy and Matthew switch jobs for a day, and the map's Dean cell averages Jimmy at 4 with Matthew at 3.5. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Catherine and Joe | Open | Their on-screen flirtation implies a Shirley and Troy counterpart, and the map doesn't place one yet. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Jimmy and Andrea | The Dean and Frankie | The owner brings an outside woman into a failing workplace and walks out as soon as the staff start asking questions. Jimmy exits on a piranha joke in "Planbee" (S4E2), and the Dean fakes a phone call in "Ladders" (S6E1). The row records a scene role, and the cast scores stay as declared. EpisodeInterpretation |
| Andrea, Lisa and Matthew | Frankie, Annie and Abed | Andrea fires Matthew and gives Lisa Dave's job across S4E2 to S4E5. Frankie wins Abed over and leaves after dismissing him in S6E1, and she later tells Annie to get away from Jeff in S6E12. EpisodeInterpretation |
Buffy, corrected
Britta is Buffy. Annie is Willow, starting as Cordelia in the rivalry with Britta, and the slow reveal is Annie as Dark Willow. Jeff starts as Angel in the forbidden romance with Annie and becomes Spike later, so those stages count in sequence. Chang holds the rotating Big Bad slot because his role changes the same way.
| Slot | Mapping | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff | Angel 5, then Spike 5 | Sequence | 5 |
| Britta | Buffy 5 | Personality | 5 |
| Abed | Anya 4.25 | Personality | 4.25 |
| Troy | Xander 4 | Personality | 4 |
| Annie | Cordelia 5 early, rivalling Britta, then Willow 5, with Dark Willow as the slow reveal, plus Buffy's place in the romance opposite Jeff | Sequence and relationship | 5 |
| Shirley | Joyce 4 | Personality | 4 |
| Pierce | The Mayor 4.5 | Personality | 4.5 |
| Dean | Giles 4 | Personality | 4 |
| Chang | The rotating Big Bads 5 | Function slot | 5 |
Shadows and succession
Community keeps doubles, futures and replacements of its own characters. Late regulars count on the Greendale side as a succession layer, so NewsRadio's Max Lewis matches Hickey, who arrives in Pierce's old slot in season 5.
Annie Kim to Annie Edison
Alternate, then rival, then replacement
Introduced in "Geography of Global Conflict" (S3E2) as Annie's multicultural evil twin with the same high school GPA, back in "History 101" (S4E1), and in "Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing" (S6E4) she replaces Annie as Daniel in The Karate Kid.
Episode
Beth and Sandi to Britta, Annie and Annie Kim
Distributed rivalry
NewsRadio builds the doubling machine first. Beth says Sandi stole her high school sweetheart, "not to mention my hairstyle, my mannerisms, and my eclectic, some say daring, sense of style," calls her "a copycat" who "wants to be me," and tests it by feigning interest in Matthew to see whether Sandi follows. Community splits that machine in two. The romantic half runs between Britta and Annie, who follow each other through Vaughn and Jeff. The academic half runs between Annie and Annie Kim, the "multicultural evil twin" with the same high school GPA who eventually replaces her outright. Significance: this gives Annie Kim an older television ancestor for the exact job she performs, and it shows one older mechanism arriving in two halves rather than one character, which is the model this map argues.
EpisodeInterpretation
Pierce to Jeff
Future shadow
The ending Jeff fears if vanity, manipulation and the fear of becoming irrelevant win out.
Interpretation
Frankie to Annie
Professional endpoint
Frankie arrives as an administrative consultant in "Ladders" (S6E1) and already holds the list of problems Annie chased through season five. Andrea's arc on NewsRadio is the older model, where an efficiency review hands Lisa her boss's job. In "Basic Crisis Room Decorum" (S6E3) Frankie calls her apparent psychic streak an illusion created by being extremely prepared, and in the same scene she is told she sounds like Jeff, answers that Jeff said she sounds like Abed, and wonders whether Britta hears Chang. The Greendale Lineage page carries the full line.
EpisodeInterpretation
Hickey to Pierce's slot
Succession
Buzz Hickey arrives in season 5 after Pierce leaves and appears in 11 of its 13 episodes. On NewsRadio, Max Lewis arrives in season 5 as Bill McNeal's replacement, so Max's reverse match is Hickey, rated 5 for ensemble function, with personality closer to 2.5 to 3.
EpisodeInterpretation
Elroy to Troy and Abed
Recombination
Elroy and Jeff pull the Dean out of a 90s VR system in "Lawnmower Maintenance and Postnatal Care" (S6E2), and Elroy and Abed find a birds' nest in the router in S6E4.
EpisodeInterpretation
Chang to The series itself
Role shadow
A character whose job changes whenever Greendale needs a new one, from teacher to student, guard, ruler, actor and tolerated outsider.
Interpretation
The working index
These are working index scores, rounded to whole numbers because M*A*S*H, South Park, Gilmore Girls and How I Met Your Mother have reverse rosters whose per-regular ratings are not all exposed here.
| Rank | Show | Working index | One-to-one match (rank) | Empty slots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NewsRadio | 4.3 #4 | 1 | |
| 2 | Scrubs | 3.7 #11 | 2 | |
| 3 | Buffy | 4.5 #2 | 0 | |
| 3 | Arrested Development | 4.6 #1 | 0 | |
| 5 | It's Always Sunny | 2.7 #16 | 4 | |
| 6 | Saved by the Bell | 3.2 #12 | 3 | |
| 6 | M*A*S*H | 4.1 #6 | 1 | |
| 8 | South Park | 4.5 #3 | 0 | |
| 9 | 30 Rock | 4.1 #6 | 1 | |
| 10 | Frasier | 2.9 #14 | 3 | |
| 10 | 3rd Rock from the Sun | 2.9 #13 | 3 | |
| 12 | WKRP in Cincinnati | 3.8 #8 | 1 | |
| 13 | Taxi | 2.6 #18 | 4 | |
| 13 | Spin City | 3.7 #9 | 1 | |
| 15 | Seinfeld | 3.7 #9 | 1 | |
| 15 | Gilmore Girls | 4.2 #5 | 0 | |
| 15 | How I Met Your Mother | 2.6 #17 | 4 | |
| 18 | Cheers | 2.8 #15 | 3 | |
| 19 | Friends | 2.3 #19 | 4 |
Casting and TV knowledge inside Greendale
Each row gives the scene, then the layer outside it: the actor's other roles, the network, the production, or a later callback.
| Where | In the scene | The outside layer |
|---|---|---|
| S1E4 "Social Psychology" | Abed casts Annie and himself as Chandler and Phoebe, a pair that never really had stories together. | Abed reads his own friendship through Friends, NBC's biggest sitcom, and the map later sends Phoebe to Abed. EpisodeInterpretation |
| S1E9 "Debate 109" | Pierce's hypnotherapy to stop Britta smoking uses gorilla as the wake word, and Britta turns out to be pretending. | Season 6 comes back to the word through Honda's guerrilla marketing, a guerrilla spelling joke, and Britta calling herself a Level 7 Susceptible. EpisodeInterpretation |
| S1E12 "Comparative Religion" | Jeff fights Mike, a bully played by Anthony Michael Hall. | Hall played the brain in The Breakfast Club, the film the pilot uses to frame the study group, so eleven episodes later the casting flips his archetype. EpisodePersonnelInterpretation |
| S1E13 "Investigative Journalism" | Jeff plays Hawkeye, Abed asks to be called Radar, calls it a character reboot and gives Jeff a pep talk on leadership, and Jeff turns out never to have watched M*A*S*H. | The episode itself supplies two cells of the map, Hawkeye to Jeff and Radar to Abed, and both score 5. EpisodeInterpretation |
| S1E17 "Physical Education" | Abed builds his Jeff impression from Dick Van Dyke, Sam Malone, Zach Braff and Hilary Swank, then practices seduction on Annie as Don Draper. | Alison Brie was playing Trudy Campbell on Mad Men, Abed repeats the Draper impression in S3E19 with Annie visibly affected, and the Jeff recipe names two map cells, Sam Malone and J.D. EpisodePersonnelInterpretation |
| S2E7 "Aerodynamics of Gender" | Andy Dick turns up as the little man inside Pierce's miniature spy plane. | Andy Dick played Matthew on NewsRadio, and Emily St. James's AV Club review said the cameo continued her "Community is a secret remake of Newsradio" theory, which she wrote makes no sense and comforts her at night. Published reviewPersonnel |
| S2E8 "Cooperative Calligraphy" | Abed calls the missing-pen lockdown a bottle episode and says he hates them, and Jeff cancels his date by phone because he is doing a bottle episode. | The group uses a production term for a cheap one-room episode as everyday vocabulary, inside an episode built that way. EpisodeInterpretation |
| S2E12 "Asian Population Studies" | Jeff compliments Andre's sweater, and Andre says his dad gave it to him. | Malcolm-Jamal Warner played Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, where his TV father's sweaters were the famous costume. EpisodePersonnel |
| S2E16 "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" | Britta offers LeVar Burton her $261 to change his flight so Troy gets more time with him, and LeVar calls her a very generous friend who is really stupid with her money. | LeVar plays himself and asks whether he is known from Star Trek or Reading Rainbow. His read on Britta matches S1E3, where she paid for Abed's film class and Shirley praised her follow-through, a scene LeVar never saw. EpisodePersonnelInterpretation |
| S2E19 "Critical Film Studies" | Abed tells Jeff he panicked as a background extra on the Cougar Town set, got through the take by becoming a local he named Chad, and pooped his pants when the scene ended. | Danny Pudi then turns up in a real Cougar Town episode, Busy Philipps and Dan Byrd appear in Community's season 2 finale, and Bill Lawrence set it up. Lawrence created Scrubs, number two on the index. EpisodeProduction recordPersonnel |
| S2E20 "Competitive Wine Tasting" | Garrity excuses an easy resolution by telling the class they are actors and the story matters less than their time in the spotlight, and Abed takes a class on Who's the Boss and answers its central question. | Kevin Corrigan's drama teacher is back from S2E9, and his speech says out loud what a crowded episode does with its last minutes. EpisodePersonnelInterpretation |
| S2E21 "Paradigms of Human Memory" | In a clip-show flashback, Abed answers Jeff's prediction that The Cape will last three weeks with six seasons and a movie. | The Cape was a one-season NBC show. The line became the fan slogan, NBCUniversal tied it to the Peacock movie, and Cape regular Keith David later narrates Pillows and Blankets and joins the cast as Elroy. EpisodeProduction recordPersonnel |
| S2E23 "A Fistful of Paintballs" | Abed reads the Black Rider as network TV good-looking. | Josh Holloway was Sawyer on Lost, so Abed describes a casting category as something visible inside Greendale. EpisodePersonnelInterpretation |
| S3E12 "Contemporary Impressionists" | Abed owes three grand to a celebrity impersonator agency, so the group takes impersonator jobs to pay it off. | The agency boss is a French Stewart look-alike played by French Stewart, Harry on 3rd Rock from the Sun, another show on the index. EpisodePersonnel |
| S3E13 "Digital Exploration of Interior Design" | A student named Subway enrolls so Subway can open in the cafeteria. | Subway paid for the placement, and director Dan Eckman said they had complete freedom in how to put the brand in the story. Season 6 brings Subway back as Rick and warns Britta never to say the name without compensation. EpisodeProduction record |
| S3E14 "Pillows and Blankets" | Keith David narrates the pillow and blanket war as a Ken Burns documentary, and Jeff asks him whether he was in The Cape. | He says no. He was a Cape regular, and three seasons later he joins the cast as Elroy, in the same world that once recognized him as Keith David. EpisodePersonnelInterpretation |
| S3E17 "Basic Lupine Urology" | The yam murder plays as Law and Order, and Professor Kane tells Jeff, "A man's gotta have a code." | Kane is Michael K. Williams, whose code line echoes Omar on The Wire, and the botanist is Leslie Hendrix, Law and Order's medical examiner. EpisodePersonnel |
| S5E1 "Repilot" | Abed explains repiloting and notes Zach Braff was in only the first six episodes of Scrubs season 9, and Troy is furious at Braff for leaving. | Donald Glover leaves after five episodes that season. The same episode asks how Britta became the group's airhead, tells Troy his entire identity has been consumed by his relationship with another man, and names season 4 the gas leak year. Scrubs' Travis Schuldt and Eliza Coupe had already played Greendale roles, Subway in S3E13 and Special Agent Robin Vohlers in S2E17. EpisodePersonnelInterpretation |
| S5E6 and S6E4 | Paget Brewster plays Debra Chambers, the head of I.T., in S5E6, then Frankie, and in S6E4 Frankie complains that her emails to the IT lady bounce back in Aramaic and that calls end in a whistle that makes her nose bleed. | TV Tropes reads the joke as the show acknowledging that one actress played both women, and nobody on screen names Brewster. EpisodePersonnelInterpretation |
| S6E6 "Basic Email Security" | When Frankie and Elroy learn Chang used to teach at Greendale, Chang says he hasn't been well utilized since. | The line works as a character complaint and as a verdict on how the show used Chang after his Spanish teacher start. EpisodeInterpretation |
| S6E7 "Advanced Safety Features" | Rick, the former Subway, returns to guerrilla market Honda, the Dean is a Level 7 Susceptible, Britta calls herself one about Rick, and when Britta names what Rick is doing he says she isn't allowed to know that. | The episode is itself paid Honda placement, so Rick explains to Britta what the episode is doing to its viewers, and the guerrilla spelling joke calls back to Britta's S1E9 gorilla wake word. EpisodeProduction recordInterpretation |
| Victorious, "Helen Back Again" | Yvette Nicole Brown plays Helen in her only Victorious episode. | Helen is the character Brown played on Drake and Josh, carried onto a Nickelodeon show that aired alongside Community. EpisodePersonnel |
| Pilot and Victorious | The pilot has Abed comparing the study group to The Breakfast Club and Britta answering that they are in a library, and Dan Harmon's pilot script is dated January 28, 2009. | Victorious aired its Breakfast Club parody, The Breakfast Bunch, on January 28, 2012, three years to the day after the script's date. EpisodeProduction record |
| Victorious, "April Fools' Blank" (2012) | Jade speaks her own stage directions, a director hurries André to the next scene by calling his actor's real first name, Leon, and Rex freezes the frame to announce the commercial break. | BuddyTV's 2012 review said the April Fools episodes of Victorious and iCarly felt more like NBC's Community than typical kids' TV. EpisodePublished review |
| Production | The Russo brothers directed both the Arrested Development pilot and the Community pilot. | Harmon has described using a 30 Rock style undercut, and Donald Glover came to Troy from the 30 Rock writers' room. Production recordPersonnel |
Working notes
Transcript check, September 15, 2026
Every row labeled Episode, and every lineage row, was checked against the Community dialogue for all 110 episodes, the speaker-labeled transcripts, the TV Tropes recaps, the NewsRadio dialogue, saved wiki pages and Wikipedia's episode lists. The build confirms 270 anchor phrases in 119 files across 77 rows, and it fails if a checked row loses its anchor or a phrase stops matching its file.
| Row | What the record establishes |
|---|---|
| Troy and Abed stage | a real-life friendship turned comedic chemistry, shown off in the Spanish rap of the first tag |
| The repair gift | Abed's Good Will Hunting speech pushes plumbing, and Troy refuses |
| Repairman stage | Laybourne says it, after Troy's S3E21 deal with the Annex |
| Exit | Hawthorne Wipes shares on the will's condition, with LeVar assigned to check Troy doesn't cheat |
| Annie Kim | the same high school GPA as Annie |
| S1E4 | never really had stories together |
| S1E13 | Abed asks to be called Radar |
| S1E17 | the impression again in S3E19, with Annie visibly affected |
| S2E8 | Jeff cancels his date by phone during the lockdown |
| S2E12 | S2E12, and Jeff gives the compliment |
| S2E16 | a very generous friend who is really stupid with her money |
| S2E19 | he panicked, became Chad for the take, and pooped his pants |
| S2E21 | a clip-show flashback |
| S3E13 | director Dan Eckman said they had complete freedom |
| S5E1 | Troy's identity consumed by his relationship with another man |
| S5E6 and S6E4 | S6E4, the IT lady, a whistle that makes her nose bleed |
| S6E6 | haven't been well utilized since, said when Frankie and Elroy learn he taught |
| Pilot | the aired pilot has it, and Harmon's script is dated January 28, 2009 |
| Planbee | The Dean says "I have brought her on as an administrative consultant" in "Ladders." The CFO wording comes from TVmaze's episode summary. |
Held up under the check: Annie Kim replacing Annie as Daniel, Jeff asking the narrator about The Cape, Abed's network TV line, Britta's Level 7 remark, the guerrilla spelling joke, Garrity's return from S2E9, Hickey in eleven of thirteen episodes, Matthew kicking the life-support cord, and Harmon's 30 Rock undercut.
How the working index is computed
Community Fit averages the nine Greendale slots. A cell with several approved names averages them. A source character used in more than one slot keeps its strongest use at full value, its second at 95 percent and its third at 85 percent. Tied uses share the average of their multipliers, so column order has no effect, and relationship positions don't count as a second use.
Source Fit averages each declared regular's best Greendale match on a separate reverse pass. Late Greendale regulars count through the succession layer, as Hickey does for NewsRadio's Max Lewis, and stage calls count at their stated rating, as Cordelia does for Buffy.
Working index is the harmonic mean of the two, scaled to 100 and rounded here.
Recomputing from the full map reproduces every published Community Fit score except Scrubs, which the tie rule moves from 4.62 to 4.61, and its index stays 93. Buffy's published 4.31 came from its map before the correction, which still reproduces it, and the corrected mapping replaces that row.
Each index is rounded once, from its exact harmonic mean, using Source Fit from the reverse roster where it is known. That puts Cheers at 80 from 80.47, where rounding the published 80.5 gave 81.
Reverse Source Fit ratings, fifteen rosters
| Show | Regular | Best Greendale match | Rating | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NewsRadio Nine regulars, with Max Lewis matched to Hickey through the succession layer. | Dave | Jeff | 5 | from the map |
| Beth | Britta | 5 | from the map | |
| Matthew | Abed | 5 | from the map | |
| Joe | Troy | 5 | from the map | |
| Lisa | Annie | 5 | from the map | |
| Catherine | Shirley | 5 | from the map | |
| Bill | Pierce | 5 | from the map | |
| Jimmy | Pierce | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Max Lewis | Hickey | 5 | succession match | |
| Scrubs Seven regulars. | J.D. | Jeff or Abed | 5 | from the map |
| Turk | Troy | 5 | from the map | |
| Elliot | Annie | 5 | from the map | |
| Carla | Shirley | 5 | from the map | |
| Cox | Dean | 3.5 | from the map | |
| Kelso | Pierce | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Janitor | Chang | 5 | from the map | |
| Arrested Development Maeby's 4.0 only fits the quarter-point scale with the Narrator on the roster. | Michael | Jeff | 4 | from the map |
| Lindsay | Britta | 5 | from the map | |
| GOB | Chang | 5 | from the map | |
| Buster | Troy | 4 | from the map | |
| George Michael | Annie | 4 | from the map | |
| Maeby | not in the map | 4 | back-solved | |
| Lucille | Shirley | 4.5 | from the map | |
| George Sr. | Pierce | 5 | from the map | |
| Tobias | Dean | 5 | from the map | |
| Narrator | Abed | 5 | from the map | |
| Buffy Cordelia is rated 5 as Annie's first stage, the same as Angel and Spike for Jeff. | Buffy | Britta | 5 | from the map |
| Willow | Annie | 5 | from the map | |
| Xander | Troy | 4 | from the map | |
| Giles | Dean | 4 | from the map | |
| Cordelia | Annie, first stage | 5 | stage call | |
| Angel | Jeff, first stage | 5 | stage call | |
| Spike | Jeff, later stage | 5 | stage call | |
| Anya | Abed | 4.25 | from the map | |
| It's Always Sunny Roster inferred: the five regulars reproduce the published score. | Dennis | Jeff | 5 | from the map |
| Dee | Britta | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Charlie | Abed | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Mac | Dean | 5 | from the map | |
| Frank | Pierce | 5 | from the map | |
| Saved by the Bell Kelly's 3.5 is the only quarter-point value that reproduces the published score. | Zack | Jeff | 5 | from the map |
| Kelly | not in the map | 3.5 | back-solved | |
| Slater | Troy | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Jessie | Annie | 5 | from the map | |
| Lisa | Shirley | 5 | from the map | |
| Screech | Abed | 4 | from the map | |
| Belding | Dean | 5 | from the map | |
| 30 Rock Pete, Frank and Cerie come to 10.75 together on the published score. | Liz | Annie | 4.75 | from the map |
| Jack | Jeff | 5 | from the map | |
| Tracy | Troy | 5 | from the map | |
| Jenna | Dean | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Kenneth | Abed | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Pete | not in the map | hidden | not exposed | |
| Frank | not in the map | hidden | not exposed | |
| Toofer | Annie | 4 | from the map | |
| Cerie | not in the map | hidden | not exposed | |
| Frasier Roster inferred: the five leads plus Bulldog reproduce the published score. | Frasier | Jeff | 5 | from the map |
| Niles | Annie | 5 | from the map | |
| Martin | Troy | 4 | from the map | |
| Daphne | Shirley | 4 | from the map | |
| Roz | Britta | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Bulldog | Chang | 3.5 | from the map | |
| 3rd Rock from the Sun Roster inferred: these six regulars reproduce the published score. | Dick | Jeff | 4.5 | from the map |
| Sally | Britta | 5 | from the map | |
| Tommy | Abed | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Harry | Troy | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Mary | Annie | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Nina | Shirley | 3.5 | from the map | |
| WKRP in Cincinnati Roster inferred: the eight regulars reproduce the published score. | Andy | Jeff | 4.5 | from the map |
| Johnny Fever | Britta | 4 | from the map | |
| Les | Abed | 4 | from the map | |
| Venus | Troy | 4 | from the map | |
| Bailey | Annie | 5 | from the map | |
| Jennifer | Shirley | 4 | from the map | |
| Herb | Pierce | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Carlson | Dean | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Taxi Seven regulars, and Bobby and Latka come to 7.0 together on the published score. | Alex | Jeff | 5 | from the map |
| Elaine | Britta or Annie | 4 | from the map | |
| Jim | Abed | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Tony | Troy | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Louie | Pierce | 5 | from the map | |
| Bobby | not in the map | hidden | not exposed | |
| Latka | not in the map | hidden | not exposed | |
| Spin City Roster inferred: these eight regulars reproduce the published score. | Mike | Jeff | 5 | from the map |
| Carter | Britta | 4.5 | from the map | |
| James | Troy | 4 | from the map | |
| Nikki | Annie | 4 | from the map | |
| Janelle | Shirley | 3.5 | from the map | |
| Mayor Winston | Pierce | 4 | from the map | |
| Paul | Dean | 4 | from the map | |
| Stuart | Chang | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Seinfeld Roster inferred: the four leads reproduce the published score, and Estelle, Frank, Peterman and Newman are recurring. | Jerry | Jeff | 4.5 | from the map |
| Elaine | Britta | 5 | from the map | |
| Kramer | Troy | 4 | from the map | |
| George | Annie | 3 | from the map | |
| Cheers Norm and Rebecca come to 6.5 together on the published score. | Sam | Jeff | 5 | from the map |
| Diane | Britta or Annie | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Carla | Shirley | 4 | from the map | |
| Norm | not in the map | hidden | not exposed | |
| Cliff | Abed or Chang | 3.5 | from the map | |
| Coach/Woody | Troy | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Frasier | Pierce | 4 | from the map | |
| Rebecca | not in the map | hidden | not exposed | |
| Friends Rachel's 3.5 is the only quarter-point value that reproduces the published score. | Rachel | not in the map | 3.5 | back-solved |
| Ross | Pierce | 2.5 | from the map | |
| Monica | Annie | 5 | from the map | |
| Chandler | Jeff or Annie | 4 | from the map | |
| Joey | Troy | 4.5 | from the map | |
| Phoebe | Abed | 5 | from the map |
M*A*S*H's B.J., Mulcahy and Henry and Gilmore Girls' Luke, Sookie and Richard have no rating in the map, and South Park's four boys and How I Met Your Mother's five leads average above their published Source Fit, so those four reverse rosters stay provisional until each regular's rating is exposed.
The full map with cell math
Each cell shows names, Match strength on a five-point scale, any reuse penalty, and the value the working index uses. Match strength measures how strongly a source character fills a Greendale slot, a separate question from how well evidenced the claim is. Darker cells score higher.
| Show | Jeff | Britta | Abed | Troy | Annie | Shirley | Pierce | Dean | Chang | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NewsRadio | Dave 5 | Beth 5 | Matthew 5 | Joe 5 | Lisa 5 | Catherine 5 | Bill 5 + Jimmy 4.5 = 4.75 | Jimmy 4 x0.95 + Matthew 3.5 x0.95 = 3.56 | Matthew 2.5 x0.85 = 2.13 | 4.49 |
| Scrubs | J.D. 5 x0.975 = 4.88 | Elliot 4.5 x0.95 = 4.28 | J.D. 5 x0.975 + Turk 4 x0.95 = 4.34 | Turk 5 | Elliot 5 | Carla 5 | Kelso 4.5 | Janitor 4 x0.95 + Cox 3.5 + Kelso 3.5 x0.95 = 3.54 | Janitor 5 | 4.61 |
| Buffy | Angel 5, then Spike 5 (sequence) | Buffy 5 (personality) | Anya 4.25 (personality) | Xander 4 (personality) | Cordelia 5 early, rivalling Britta, then Willow 5, with Dark Willow as the slow reveal, plus Buffy's place in the romance opposite Jeff (sequence and relationship) | Joyce 4 (personality) | The Mayor 4.5 (personality) | Giles 4 (personality) | The rotating Big Bads 5 (function slot) | 4.53 |
| Arrested Development | Michael 4 | Lindsay 5 | Narrator 5 | Buster 4 | George Michael 4 | Lucille 4.5 | George Sr. 5 | Tobias 5 | GOB 5 | 4.61 |
| It's Always Sunny | Dennis 5 | Dee 4.5 | Charlie 4.5 | Mac 4 x0.9 = 3.60 | Dee 3.5 x0.95 = 3.33 | Mac 4 x0.9 = 3.60 | Frank 5 | Mac 5 | Charlie 4 x0.95 = 3.80 | 4.26 |
| Saved by the Bell | Zack 5 | Jessie 4.5 x0.95 = 4.28 | Zack 4.5 x0.95 + Screech 4 = 4.14 | Slater 4.5 | Jessie 5 | Lisa 5 | Belding 4.25 x0.95 = 4.04 | Belding 5 | Screech 2 x0.95 = 1.90 | 4.32 |
| M*A*S*H | Hawkeye 5 | Margaret 3.5 x0.95 = 3.33 | Radar 5 | Trapper 4 | Margaret 4.5 | Potter 4 | Winchester 4.5 | Klinger 4.5 | Frank 5 | 4.43 |
| South Park | Stan 3.5 | Kyle 5 | Kenny 4 | Butters 4.5 | Wendy 5 | Sheila 4.5 | Cartman 5 | Garrison 4.5 | Randy 4.5 | 4.50 |
| 30 Rock | Jack 5 | Liz 4 x0.95 + Jenna 4 x0.95 = 3.80 | Kenneth 4.5 | Tracy 5 | Liz 4.75 + Toofer 4 = 4.38 | Angie 4 | Jack 4 x0.95 = 3.80 | Jonathan 5 + Jenna 4.5 = 4.75 | Duffy 4.25 | 4.39 |
| Frasier | Frasier 5 | Roz 4.5 | Daphne 3.5 x0.95 = 3.33 | Martin 4 | Niles 5 | Daphne 4 | Frasier 4.5 x0.95 = 4.28 | Niles 4.5 x0.95 = 4.28 | Bulldog 3.5 | 4.21 |
| 3rd Rock from the Sun | Dick 4.5 | Sally 5 | Tommy 4.5 | Harry 4.5 | Mary 4.5 | Nina 3.5 | Dick 4 x0.95 = 3.80 | Harry 3.5 x0.85 = 2.98 | Harry 4 x0.95 = 3.80 | 4.12 |
| WKRP in Cincinnati | Andy 4.5 | Johnny Fever 4 | Les 4 | Venus 4 | Bailey 5 | Jennifer 4 | Herb 4.5 | Carlson 4.5 | Les 2.5 x0.95 = 2.38 | 4.10 |
| Taxi | Alex 5 | Elaine 4 x0.975 = 3.90 | Jim 4.5 | Tony 4.5 | Elaine 4 x0.975 = 3.90 | Elaine 3.5 x0.85 = 2.98 | Louie 5 | Louie 3.5 x0.85 = 2.98 | Louie 4 x0.95 = 3.80 | 4.06 |
| Spin City | Mike 5 | Carter 4.5 | James 3.5 x0.95 = 3.33 | James 4 | Nikki 4 | Janelle 3.5 | Mayor 4 | Paul 4 | Stuart 4.5 | 4.09 |
| Seinfeld | Jerry 4.5 | Elaine 5 | Kramer 3.5 x0.95 = 3.33 | Kramer 4 | George 3 | Estelle 4 | Frank 4.5 | Peterman 4 | Newman 4.5 | 4.09 |
| Gilmore Girls | Lorelai 4 | Jess 4 | Rory 3.5 | Lane 3.5 | Paris 5 | Mrs. Kim 4 | Emily 4.5 | Taylor 4.5 | Kirk 5 | 4.22 |
| How I Met Your Mother | Barney 5 | Robin 5 | Ted 4 | Marshall 4.5 | Lily 4.75 | Lily 4 x0.95 = 3.80 | Barney 3 x0.95 = 2.85 | Ted 2 x0.95 = 1.90 | Barney 2.5 x0.85 = 2.13 | 3.77 |
| Cheers | Sam 5 | Diane 4.5 x0.975 = 4.39 | Cliff 3.5 x0.975 = 3.41 | Woody 4.5 | Diane 4.5 x0.975 = 4.39 | Carla 4 | Frasier 4 | Frasier 3.5 x0.95 = 3.33 | Cliff 3.5 x0.975 = 3.41 | 4.05 |
| Friends | Chandler 4 x0.975 + Joey 4 x0.95 = 3.85 | Phoebe 4 x0.95 = 3.80 | Phoebe 5 | Joey 4.5 | Monica 5 + Chandler 4 x0.975 = 4.45 | Monica 4 x0.95 = 3.80 | Ross 2.5 | Phoebe 2.5 x0.85 = 2.13 | Ross 2 x0.95 = 1.90 | 3.55 |
Settled questions
- Cordelia. Rated 5 as Annie's first stage, rivalling Britta, the same rating as Angel and Spike for Jeff.
- Buffy. Back in the working index at 92, tied for third with Arrested Development, with Source Fit 4.66.
- Relationship positions. They describe a pairing and don't count as a second use of a character, so Buffy's Community Fit is 4.53.
- Tie rule. Tied uses of one character share the average reuse multiplier, so column order has no effect. Scrubs moves from 4.62 to 4.61 and stays at 93.
- Max Lewis. On NewsRadio's roster through the succession match to Hickey, rated 5 for ensemble function, and NewsRadio's Source Fit stays 4.94.
- Rounding. Each index is rounded once, from its exact value, so Cheers reads 80 from its exact 80.47 rather than rounding twice through 80.5.
- Reverse concentration. The one-to-one match is the concentration check on both sides, since no character fills two slots and no slot takes two characters.
- Reverse ratings. Exposed for fifteen rosters, every one the published scores pin down.
- Documentation. The AV Club line calling Joe and Matthew the proto Abed and Troy, "The Injury", both April Fools' Blank details and the review comparing Victorious and iCarly to Community now carry sources.
- NASA interview plot. Found in the dialogue for "Retirement" (S5E21): Joe and Beth stage a mock job interview for Matthew that turns into a pretend NASA interview.
- Matthew's debt. The dialogue for "In Through the Out Door" has $5,120, then $10,240, which replaces the wiki's $20,000.
- Black Rider line. The S2E23 dialogue reads network TV good-looking.
- Episode numbering. Space and The Injury are cited by air date, since NBC held The Injury until after the season 3 finale.
- Proto pair review. Emily St. James wrote it on February 5, 2010, and her sentence pairs the two duos without matching individuals.
Still open
- Four shows' reverse ratings. M*A*S*H, South Park, Gilmore Girls and How I Met Your Mother still need each regular's reverse rating exposed, so those rosters stay provisional.
- Catherine and Joe. No Shirley and Troy counterpart is placed.
Sources
- quotes.net, Abed's Jeff impression (S1E17)
- quotes.net, Chandler and Phoebe (S1E4)
- IMDb, Investigative Journalism quotes
- IMDb, Physical Education trivia
- Wikipedia, Comparative Religion
- IMDb, Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking quotes
- Paste, the Cougar Town crossover
- NBC Insider, six seasons and a movie
- Collider, Josh Holloway in A Fistful of Paintballs
- Time, Malcolm-Jamal Warner
- Wikipedia, Contemporary Impressionists
- Wikipedia, Digital Exploration of Interior Design
- IMDb, Pillows and Blankets trivia
- IMDb, Leslie Hendrix in Basic Lupine Urology
- YARN, Repilot Scrubs line
- ScreenRant, Paget Brewster's two characters
- Wikipedia, Basic Email Security
- Wikipedia, Advanced Safety Features
- Wikipedia, English as a Second Language
- Community Wiki, Introduction to Finality transcript
- Wikipedia, Intro to Felt Surrogacy
- Wikipedia, Geothermal Escapism
- SlashFilm, Troy and Pierce as Beavis and Butt-Head
- TV Tropes, Community trivia
- ScreenCraft, Community pilot script (January 28, 2009)
- Wikipedia, Victorious
- Wikipedia, List of Victorious episodes
- Victorious Wiki, Helen Dubois
- Victorious Wiki, April Fools' Blank
- BuddyTV, why adults should watch Victorious and iCarly
- Looper, the Russo brothers
- Community Wiki, Jonathan Banks
- AV Club, Emily St. James on Romantic Expressionism
- AV Club, Emily St. James on Aerodynamics of Gender
- Wikipedia, List of NewsRadio episodes
- IMDb, NewsRadio Led Zeppelin II
- WNYX Newsradio Wiki, In Through the Out Door
- NewsRadio Wiki, The Injury
- IMDb, NewsRadio The Injury
- AV Club, NewsRadio Padded Suit
- IMDb, NewsRadio Space plot
- NewsRadio Wiki, Lisa Miller
- NewsRadio Wiki, Catherine Duke
- Looper, the NewsRadio cast and Max Lewis
- Greendale Lineage, the companion evidence page
- AV Club, Dan Harmon walks through season 2
- Wikipedia, Community season 5
- Community Wiki, A Fistful of Paintballs
- Community Wiki, Pillows and Blankets
- Community Wiki, Cooperative Calligraphy
- Community Wiki, Buzz Hickey
- Wikipedia, List of Saved by the Bell episodes
- Wikipedia, NewsRadio
- Wikipedia, Community season 1
- Wikipedia, Community season 2
- Wikipedia, Community season 3
- Wikipedia, Community season 6
- Saved by the Bell Wiki, episode pages
- TV Tropes, Community series page
Local files: dialogue files for all 110 Community episodes in ~/Projects/tv-scripts/text, the speaker-labeled Fandom transcripts and the S1E9 production script in ~/Projects/tv-scripts/text_speakers, the TV Tropes recaps and trivia in ~/Projects/tvtropes-pull/text, dialogue files for all 97 NewsRadio episodes in the Greendale Lineage evidence folder, and saved Community Wiki and NewsRadio Wiki pages in ~/Projects/_outputs/community-character-map/evidence, which also holds 125 Saved by the Bell Wiki episode pages, dialogue for Saved by the Bell's first 14 episodes and Wikipedia's NewsRadio article and episode lists for all three shows. The anchors in the builder name the exact file behind each row.