Greendale Lineage

1. Slater

Troy arrives as the former high school football star whose standing comes from sports. The Character Map records Harmon's first picture of the part, a young Woody Harrelson, and his plan to pair Troy with Pierce.

2. Troy and Abed, from Joe and Matthew

A critic saw the pairing in the first season. Reviewing "Romantic Expressionism" for The A.V. Club on February 5, 2010, Emily St. James compared Community's early casting discoveries to NewsRadio's second season and wrote, "Joe and Matthew was sort of the proto Abed and Troy."

Her sentence pairs the two duos and leaves the individual matches open. The premise map matches Joe with Troy and Matthew with Abed on episode evidence. The review also closes the Character Map's open item on a public source for the pairing.

NewsRadio gives the pair side plots of their own. Matthew begs, "Joe, teach me how to gamble," and the lessons leave him owing $5,120 and then $10,240 ("In Through the Out Door," February 4, 1996). Jimmy books them into an Ultimate Fighting bout, where Joe says, "I don't wanna hurt him" ("4:20," April 29, 1998). Joe teaches Matthew and Max "Joe-jitsu" with a padded suit ("Padded Suit," April 13, 1999). Beth and Joe "set up a little mock-interview situation" for Matthew, and it turns into "This is NASA" ("Retirement," April 27, 1999).

Community moves that side universe to the center of the show, with Inspector Spacetime (S3E1) and the pillow and blanket war narrated by Keith David (S3E14). Scrubs' J.D. and Turk supply the emotional register of the pair on the Character Map.

3. The repairman

The gift starts as a joke. In "English as a Second Language" (S1E24) Troy fixes the bathroom sink, a Good Will Hunting parody urges him to use his gift, and he stays in college because a degree widens his options (TV Tropes recap).

Season 3 turns the joke into prophecy. Vice Dean Laybourne tells him, "You are the true repairman, Troy," and credits him with fixing the men who fix air conditioners [S03E22:L41]. The prophecy reads, "The true repairman will repair man" [S03E22:L44]. When the chaplain reports that Laybourne "inhaled a lethal dose of Freon" [S03E22:L72], Troy doubts the accident, since Laybourne "was the best": "That's kind of a rookie mistake" [S03E22:L101]. He declares himself "the truest repairman" [S03E22:L150] to force the Sun Chamber duel, and when the Annex wants its own frozen punishment for Murray, he insists, "take him to the police. He murdered someone" [S03E22:L191].

NewsRadio's Joe already carried the dangerous side of the gift. In "Led Zeppelin II" (April 28, 1996) the building installs new security cameras, and Joe confesses to Dave, "I was trying to sabotage the security cameras and I screwed up, and I wired them the wrong way." The same episode gives him a theory that the staff are "subjects of some grand social experiment." In "Copy Machine" (April 8, 1998) Ted from Accounting dies after his tie catches in the copier, Joe admits, "I modified the document feeder so it would collate faster," and he starts "flushin' my tools down the toilet."

Both repair stories tie a technical gift to a death by machine and a question of blame. Joe blames his own modification. Troy calls a mentor's fatal accident a rookie mistake, and it proves to be murder.

4. The fire

"Intro to Felt Surrogacy" (S4E9) gives Troy a secret from the same bundle. In the puppet confessions he sings, "I caused the Greendale fire of '03. Fifty-five acres went up in ablaze all because I burned an ant hill" [S04E09:L231]. Earlier in the episode Garrett runs in to announce, "There is a fire in the cafeteria!" [S04E09:L185].

Both shows give their practical guy a fire he caused and a scene where he confesses it. Joe's fire comes from a repair he meant as sabotage. Troy's comes from one small childish act that burned 55 acres.

Who stands where

3. Lisa's record and Annie's prescription pad

Andrea's polygraph in "Super Karate Monkey Death Car" (S4E4, November 4, 1997) brings out Lisa's record. Between 17 and 19 she was "arrested seven times." She stole a car because hers broke down and she was afraid of being late for the SATs. She broke into a library because her home copy of The Federalist Papers was abridged. Her federal offense is a post office break-in, made to see whether her college acceptance letters had arrived.

Andrea keeps her, praises her honesty, and confides an arson of her own from "just last year."

In "Heroic Origins" (S4E12) Abed sits in a therapist's office and tells the doctor that someone has stolen the prescription pad. The Community Wiki names Annie as the thief, and the episode adds the line "You're the one who got me busted for drugs." The same episode shows the Adderall party where she runs through a glass door.

A 2019 review at The Avocado made the first link in a footnote, comparing Annie to "a young Lisa Miller" who ran into trouble with the law "in the pursuit of academic achievement."

6. Frankie has already done the list

"Ladders" opens by crediting Annie with leading the effort that saved Greendale from 534 critical emergencies. Annie then brings Frankie an idea about de-electrifying the pool. Frankie says it has been dealt with and reads down her own list of solved problems, "Done, done, deloused, appraised, defused, rebuilt," through "underway" and "exhumed."

In season five Annie handed out the packets of problems. In season six the consultant holds the list, and its items are already done or underway when Annie arrives with hers.

7. Both consultants come between the young woman and the leader

Andrea's investigation follows Dave's break with Lisa and ends with Lisa in Dave's job. In "Wedding Videography" (S6E12) Frankie tells Annie that they share a dragon, and "Its name is Helping Others." Frankie adds, "And then we need to get you away from Jeff," and asks how that is her business.

Joshua Alston's A.V. Club review of May 26, 2015 says the Jeff and Annie flirtation, a thread that "frequently seems like it was abandoned," gains new credibility when Frankie takes notice of it.

Each consultant singles out the younger, capable woman. Andrea turns Lisa's break with Dave into a new chain of command, and Frankie tells Annie she needs distance from Jeff.

8. Attachment, and what the scripts say about sexuality

Andrea's attachment to Lisa builds across the arc. She calls the two of them "buddies" and drops Lisa's serious polygraph questions "since we're friends," and Lisa blurts "I stole a car!" anyway. She confides her arson to Lisa alone. In "French Diplomacy" she sobs that she doesn't "know where we stand," and after the breakup she offers herself as the friend Lisa needs, "That's how friendship works."

Lisa names the pattern from her side. Andrea is "not my best friend," and Andrea only "thinks she's my best friend, which is what makes her crazy." No line in the four NewsRadio dialogue files names Andrea's sexuality, so a crush reading rests on Lauren Graham's performance and this page keeps it labeled as a reading.

Season six puts the question into dialogue. In "Basic Email Security" (S6E6) the group runs a betting pool on Frankie's sexual preference, and Jeff has "300 bucks" on "chapstick lesbian." Frankie answers that her sexuality "is of zero concern to my job," and she tells Annie she read her entry too, per the Community Wiki transcript.

9. The Annie line, in order

Jessie Spano supplies the pills and the pressure. Lisa Miller supplies adult competence and crimes committed for grades and college letters. Andrea's arc supplies the transition, where an efficiency review hands the capable young woman her boss's job. Annie spends season five running the committee and bending rules to finish, and Frankie arrives in season six as the professional form of that work.

On the Character Map this retires Frankie's "future shadow" label. Frankie reads as the endpoint of Annie's developmental line, with Andrea as the older model.

The older test: “Jessie's Song”

In Saved by the Bell's "Jessie's Song" (season 2, November 3, 1990), Jessie takes caffeine pills to keep up with midterms and her singing group. Slater tells her, "Jessie, those pills are dangerous," and she snaps, "Mind your own business!" When she breaks down, Zack cancels her performance and calms her down, and Jessie goes to counseling (Saved by the Bell Wiki).

The tiny man

Pierce breaks both legs double-bouncing on an illegal trampoline in "Aerodynamics of Gender" (S2E7). At the end of the episode the painkillers show him a tiny pilot, played by Andy Dick, who tells him "it's okay to exceed the recommended daily dosage."

Jeff refuses

In "Early 21st Century Romanticism" (S2E15) the scene opens with "We gotta do something about those painkillers," and Annie keeps asking the room, "Intervention?" (Community Wiki). The danger gets waved off with "He's recovering from broken legs" and "He's almost through his prescription," and Jeff says, "Count me out." The group puts it back on him: "He listens to you." Jeff decides, "You know what Pierce probably needs more than anything? Some space," and the talk ends in a fight about the Barenaked Ladies.

The tiny man returns with a harder pitch, "the prescription is almost done," and "if doctors are so smart, why are there millions of them?" The TV Tropes recap sums up the choice he offers, the pills or his friends. Pierce takes the pills and ends the night alone on a park bench, and Jeff texts the group an apology.

Pierce collects

"Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" (S2E16) opens on the consequence. Pierce gathers the group "to exact my revenge," and Abed, filming, admits, "I feel bored by Pierce as a subject. But I'm excited about the narrative of the documentary format."

Jeff tries to settle it early: "Pierce, we're sorry we didn't respond quickly enough to your pill addiction. Is there any chance that apology is enough?" Pierce answers with the one subject Jeff claims not to care about: "I found your father."

Jeff insists his father is "not coming," and when asked, "Then why aren't you leaving?" he says, "Because I don't care and I'm not gonna let him think that I care." Pierce later narrates his own arc: "I set out to take revenge on Jeff Winger, to scare him with the ghost of his father. Instead, I took over the role of his father. Helped make him a better man."

What the casting adds

Andy Dick played Matthew on NewsRadio, and Phil Hartman played Bill. In the premise map Matthew descends to Abed and Bill feeds Pierce. So the actor behind Abed's ancestor appears inside Pierce's head urging more pills, and one episode later Abed films Pierce's crisis and calls him a boring subject.

The public history behind that casting is documented. Brynn Hartman killed Phil Hartman and then herself in May 1998, and the coroner found alcohol, cocaine and the antidepressant Zoloft in her system (Deseret News, CNN). In July 2007 Jon Lovitz said, "Phil told me that they had a Christmas party and Andy was doing cocaine and he gave it to Phil's wife Brynn, who had been sober for 10 years" (CBS News). Dick has denied ever giving her cocaine, and Lovitz later apologized for the comment (Vice).

Critics caught both layers. Reviewing "Aerodynamics of Gender" on November 5, 2010, Emily St. James wrote that Dick's appearance "continues my 'Community is a secret remake of Newsradio' theory, which makes no sense at all." A Pajiba essay carries the title "The Sickest, Most Twisted Meta Joke of the Six-Season Run of 'Community.'" Intent stays open. The accusation was public in 2007, and Dick was cast in 2010.

The leader's test

Zack passes the older test late, canceling the performance and calming Jessie down. Jeff is chosen because Pierce listens to him, refuses, and pays through the one wound he says doesn't matter. The Zack descendant fails Pierce by avoidance, and the Matthew descendant fails him by filming.

The directors

Joe and Anthony Russo directed the Arrested Development pilot and the Community pilot (Looper, via the Character Map). Joe Russo directed "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" (S2E14, February 3, 2011) and "Debate 109" (S1E9, per its production script).

Cross has described the Russos as the directors "who really created that docu style of directing and shooting," and Hurwitz as a planner who "had ideas for episode 48 that would be in play in episode 4. He had the long game in mind" (Spark and Fire interview).

The creator in the same season

TV Guide reported both Arrested Development guests in one announcement on November 11, 2013, Hurwitz as "Greendale's ultimate party animal" and Cross as Hank Hickey. Mitch Hurwitz plays Koogler in "App Development and Condiments" (S5E8), whose tag announces that "Mitchell D. Hurwitz IS Koogler" (TV Tropes recap). The DVD commentary for that episode lists Yvette Nicole Brown, Mitchell Hurwitz, Harmon, Rob Schrab, Jordan Blum and Parker Deay (Community Wiki).

Hickey's voice becomes writing

Hickey promises, "if we lose, I'm gonna punch each of you in the heart," and boasts, "I've punched about a thousand hearts in my life" (S5E10). Abed's cop script appears in "Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality" (S5E7), where the hero is named Police Justice, and the TV Tropes recap for "Intro to Recycled Cinema" (S6E8) credits Hickey with helping on it. There Abed says, "I had a former cop help me with dialogue," and the next line is "I'm gonna punch you in the heart."

The “Huzzah” signal, measured

Annie leads a round of "Huzzah" after a speech about fathers and sons (Community Wiki), calling back Troy's "Huzzah! Is that right?" [S02E14:L140] from the first game. The Community Wiki also reads the word as a Tobias Fünke nod. Across the 53 Arrested Development episodes on disk, "Huzzah!" occurs once, in "Bringing Up Buster" (S1E3), right after Tobias talks his way into directing the school play.

The station sale

In "Station Sale" (January 7, 1996) Jimmy announces, "I'm selling the station," and the staff answer with chants of "No sale!" Greendale faces its own sale to Subway in "Basic Sandwich" (S5E13).

What-if episodes that keep the jobs

"Space" (May 21, 1997) opens by asking, "What if NewsRadio took place in outer space?" Joe is woken after "Eighty-three years" to "fix the atomic reactor core," and the station ends up on a self-destruct countdown. "Sinking Ship" (May 12, 1998) sets the staff on the Titanic, with Joe vouching that the "radio station/luxury liner is unsinkable," Joe taking the order "Joe, engines full stop," and Matthew assigned to "iceberg watch." "Daydream" runs its parodies off the broken thermostat.

Community keeps its people recognizable through the same kind of transplant, in the timelines of "Remedial Chaos Theory" (S3E4), the Ken Burns frame of "Pillows and Blankets" (S3E14) and Abed's laugh-track happy place in "History 101" (S4E1).

Joe and Matthew as recruits

In "Zoso" (February 25, 1996) Bill has convinced a date he is British: "Look, she thinks I'm British, okay?" Matthew coaches him that "in England they use pounds, not dollars," and Bill introduces "my mate, Joe." The pair gets pulled into a colleague's scheme as a unit.

Joe's cameras

Joe keeps building cameras. In "Presence" (April 14, 1996) the staff watch Jimmy's poker game through a camera hidden in a Boba Fett doll, and asked where he found one small enough, Joe says, "I made it," and of the parts, "I made them."

In "Apartment" (January 12, 1999) he launches "the 24-hour break room Internet-cam," and the break room turns into a scripted show. The staff play melodrama because "We're spicing it up for the camera," and Matthew, cast as the alien, explains, "When Joe first approached me to play the role of Alien, I was skeptical myself, until I read the script."

Casting friends in a homemade production is an Abed habit. Traits cross between the two descendants of the pair, so the Joe line and the Matthew line share material.

Gifts as tests

In S2E16 Pierce bequeaths a blank check to Britta, a tiara to Annie, a meeting with LeVar Burton to Troy and a meeting with his father to Jeff (TV Tropes recap). Each gift tests the person who receives it. The Jimmy James side of this habit stays an interpretation until a matching NewsRadio episode is cited.

Jeff

Abed builds his Jeff impression from "Ten percent Dick Van Dyke, 20 percent Sam Malone, 40 percent Zach Braff in Scrubs, and 30 percent Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry," and the one ingredient questioned is "Zach Braff?" (S1E17). The Zack Morris and Sam Malone charm of the early seasons turns toward Dave Nelson's job, managing a group that keeps exceeding his control.

Annie

Annie starts from Jessie Spano's pills and pressure, takes on Lisa Miller's competence as her work widens, and on the Character Map also runs a Buffy line from Cordelia to Willow to Dark Willow. The Planbee section follows her from Lisa's record through Andrea's arc to Frankie.

Britta

The group's judgment of Britta becomes a verb. "She Britta'd it," and then "You Britta'd 'Britta'd'" (S3E5), and in "Herstory of Dance" (S4E8), "She straight Britta'd this." In that same episode Sophie B. Hawkins arrives thanks to "a wise old man who was the official supplier of moist towelettes to the Lilith Fair between 1997 and 1999," and Jeff hears, "Cut her some slack, Jeff."

Abed

Abed casts Annie and himself as Chandler and Phoebe (S1E4) and takes Radar to Jeff's Hawkeye (S1E13), both on the Character Map. He reads his own ancestry out loud, which lets the fiction perform the comparison this project makes from outside.

Chang

Chang changes institutional jobs from season to season, and his constant is the new slot. The map's Kirk comparison from Gilmore Girls is about that function.