Community aired from 2009 to 2015, mainly on NBC. It centers around a group of community college students who become unlikely friends when forming a Spanish study group. Stars of the show include Atlanta's Donald Glover, Ken Jeong, and Alison Brie. Despite the typical sitcom setup, Community is anything but that. Movie references are littered throughout the show, with whole episode homages to films and other shows like My Dinner with Andre, Goodfellas, and Glee. The show also often delves into other genres, with animated episodes, documentary spoofs, and wars playing out on campus.

Its signature reativity and individuality allowed the show to develop a cult following — though not one large enough to save it from the constant threat of cancelation. NBC ended up canceling the show after five seasons of low ratings and the final season aired on Yahoo’s streaming service. Fans of the show adopted the catchphrase “six seasons and a movie,” and despite the arduous journey, it seems the prophecy is coming true. Peacock announced that they will be releasing a Community movie in 2023, but it remains uncertain whether or not the full cast will return. Prospects are, however, looking good, with creator Dan Harmon saying that Glover is "down to clown" (via Variety). With this on the horizon, let’s take a look at which of Community's six seasons is the best.

6 Season Six

The Cast of Community in Season Six
Yahoo

By the time Community reached its sixth season, a lot was different. The group had all graduated from college and had returned as staff or students once again. Also, several cast members, including Chevy Chase, Donald Glover, and Yvette Nicole Brown were no longer featured on the show. Paget Brewster and Keith David did an admirable job of joining the cast as Frankie Dart and Elroy Patashnik. Although both characters were charming and funny, the show had simply changed by this point. The sixth season did have a lot of really great moments as a result of the freedom granted to creator Dan Harmon by Yahoo. Some highlights include a guest starring role from Matt Berry and an incredible series finale that sees the group pitching their ideas for a seventh season.

Related: Community: Best Supporting Characters in the Series, Ranked

5 Season Four

The Cast of Community in Season Four
NBC

The fourth season of Community is infamous among fans of the show as it was the season when creator Dan Harmon had been fired from the show. Season 4 follows the group's senior year, and it's the last season of the show in which all of the group members are students. There is a noticeable dip in quality for this season as a result of Harmon's departure: the homages are not as detailed and the plots are not as creative. Joel McHale, who plays Jeff, told The New York Times that "the show has always been in [Harmon's] head. That's where it lives." After this season, the year is referred to in the show as "the gas leak year," acknowledging the slightly uncanny feeling it had. The peak of this season comes from the episode "Basic Human Anatomy," a Freaky Friday homage that shows off the acting chops of the actors.

4 Season Five

The Cast of Community in Season Five
NBC

With Dan Harmon returning for Season 5, Community picked up again. The writing is back in peak form, and the cast seems more excited about the work. Chase's departure didn't have a huge impact on the characters' dynamics, with Jonathan Banks filling the void left behind well. There is a series of three perfect episodes that will restore your faith in the show after the fourth season, beginning with a Hannibal spoof, going on to the group taking polygraph tests, and ending with an episode where they play the floor is lava. The episodes maintain great creativity throughout the season, which is only let down by the departure of Glover and the slight shift in the atmosphere created by Jeff being a teacher.

3 Season One

The Cast of Community in Season One
NBC

Community's first season doesn't take long to get weird. Already in the third episode, we see a short film made by Abed that features other members of the group unknowingly portraying his parents. However, it's the last few episodes of the season where the show really starts to take shape. The episode "Contemporary American Poultry" is a stylized Goodfellas homage, complete with voiceover. Later, "Modern Warfare" finds the whole campus looking like an apocalyptic warzone when it gets taken over by a paintball game taken too far. These episodes made the show what it is by taking its preexisting humor to an extreme. The only thing holding back Season 1 is that the characters haven't reached their fullest, most developed selves quite yet.

Related: Community: The Funniest Episodes of the Series, Ranked

2 Season Two

Donald Glover in Community
NBC

On the arrival of Season 2, Community had hit its stride. This second season is packed full of elaborately planned and carefully carried out bits that continue to surprise the audience. A Halloween episode with a rabies outbreak is soundtracked exclusively by ABBA's greatest hits, a pencil being stolen by a monkey and the group turning on each other, and the group getting trapped in a KFC-themed spaceship simulator are some real treats. Every aspect of these episodes evidently has so much thought put into it that the show is impossible not to love. There is even a guest starring role for Betty White in the first episode of the season.

1 Season Three

The Cast of Community in Season Three
NBC

In first place is Season 3. This season is home to potentially the most iconic episode of the entire show, "Remedial Chaos Theory." At a housewarming party, the group must decide who will go down to collect a pizza order and to do so they roll a die, with each number coordinating with a person. This action opens up six different timelines for how the events of the episode would play out, and we see each of these strands become more and more chaotic. It's unlike any other episode of TV and epitomizes the joy of Community. However, this season is more than just one episode: there is also a dark Glee spoof, a Law and Order-style investigation of a yam murder, and a war over blanket forts.