In the lead-up to the highly-anticipated return of Community, Hulu will be running three animated promotional shorts featuring everyone's favorite study group. The three parts of Abed's Master Key will begin airing Wednesday, March 7th with each new short premiering on consecutive days. Each promo will run two minutes in length and the actors will lend their voices to their animated characters. In the Abed's Master Key, "Dean Pelton hires Abed as his temporary assistant. Entrusted with a Greendale Master Key; Abed abuses his power to help his friends, and after Britta confronts Abed, she heads down the same dark path." It's like those damn chicken fingers all over again. Or having Abed snipe at bitchy girls. Or letting Abed shoot a film for Shirley's church. New plan: never give Abed any power whatsoever.
Hit the jump for a sneak peek at the promos and for the press release. Community returns to NBC on Thursday, March 15th at 8/7c.
Here's the promo for the promos:
‘COMMUNITY’ CAST GETS ANIMATED
FOR NBC.COM AND HULU
Three New Animated Promotional Shorts Premiere Daily Starting March 7
Critically Acclaimed Comedy Series Returns to NBC Line-up Thursday, March 15 at 8/7c
Culver City, CA -- March 3, 2012 - The cast of “Community” is getting animated in new short form programming that is set to debut Wednesday, March 7 on the free, ad-supported Hulu; the Hulu Plus subscription service and NBC.com, with new shorts appearing on consecutive days. The three promotional shorts, titled “Abed’s Master Key” parts I, II & III, feature the animated alter-egos and voices of the “Community” series regulars and run approximately two minutes in length. Dave Seger (“Ikea Heights”) & Tom Kauffman (“Ikea Heights”) wrote the animated shorts.
In the three-part sequence of “Abed’s Master Key,” Dean Pelton hires Abed as his temporary assistant. Entrusted with a Greendale Master Key; Abed abuses his power to help his friends, and after Britta confronts Abed, she heads down the same dark path.
“These animated shorts are a vital component to our multi-pronged campaign aimed at driving awareness to the show’s return to NBC on March 15,” said Chris Van Amburg, senior vice president of U.S. marketing, Sony Pictures Television. “The ‘Community’ actors and team were eager to lend their voices and support to an effort intended to engage their loyal fan base that has rabidly kept the show thriving via flash mobs, fan art, viral videos, dedicated fan sites and on Facebook and Twitter.”
On Thursday, March 15 at 8/7c, “Community” returns to the NBC lineup with the episode, “Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts,” in which Andre (Malcolm Jamaal Warner) and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) plan to remarry, throwing Annie and Britta into wedding-planning mode. Jeff, meanwhile, prepares a speech while Troy and Abed practice acting normal. Elsewhere, Pierce and Shirley present a sandwich-shop proposal to Dean Pelton.
Created by Dan Harmon ("The Sarah Silverman Program"), "Community" is a smart comedy series about a band of misfits who attend Greendale Community College. At the center of the group is Jeff Winger (Joel McHale, "The Soup"), a fast-talking lawyer whose degree has been revoked. With some help from his fellow classmates, Winger forms a study group who eventually learn more about themselves than their course work. Also among the series stars are comedy legend Chevy Chase ("Chuck"), Gillian Jacobs ("The Book of Daniel"), Yvette Nicole Brown ("Rules of Engagement"), Danny Pudi ("Greek"), Alison Brie ("Mad Men"), Donald Glover ("30 Rock"), Ken Jeong ("The Hangover") and Academy-Award® winning screenwriter Jim Rash.
