# App Development and Condiments
**"App Development and Condiments"** is the eighth episode of the fifth season of the American comedy series *[Community](https://www.edgepedia.org/community-tv-series)*, first aired on March 6, 2014. In it, Dean Pelton invites two app designers to beta test a new social networking application, MeowMeowBeenz, at Greendale Community College; the app lets users rate one another from one to five, and the campus rapidly reorganizes into a caste system ruled by those rated five.[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/318/community/episodeguide) • [2](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/MeowMeowBeenz)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Episode | Season 5, episode 8 of *Community*; aired March 6, 2014[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/318/community/episodeguide) |
| Writing and direction | Written by Jordan Blum and Parker Deay; directed by Rob Schrab[3](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/community/5/8/) |
| Central device | MeowMeowBeenz, a beta-tested app that ranks users from 1 to 5; by the eighth day of testing a new society had formed on campus with the app as its foundation[2](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/MeowMeowBeenz) |
| Notable guest cast | Eric Wareheim, Tim Heidecker, Steve Agee, Brian Posehn, Jen Kirkman, and Mitchell D. Hurwitz as Koogler[3](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/community/5/8/) • [4](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/Preston_Koogler) |
| Reception | Humor Index score 80.6, ranked #41 of 110 *Community* episodes, with an IMDb rating of 8.9[3](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/community/5/8/) |
| Cultural echo | Its ratings-app dystopia closely anticipates the *Black Mirror* episode "Nosedive", which aired two years later[5](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/news/black-mirror-season-3-episode-nosedive-community-meow-meow-beanz-a7376651.html) |
## Plot
The episode opens with a personal conflict: the Save Greendale committee discusses Jeff's upcoming dinner party, and Shirley is offended to learn she was not invited, since Jeff knew she had a standing engagement with her son that night.[6](https://glidemagazine.com/115470/community-breakdown-app-development-condiments/) Against this backdrop, Dean Pelton allows two designers to beta test MeowMeowBeenz, a mobile app that lets users give one-to-five ratings to anyone else who has it, in the manner of rating a restaurant or bar.[1](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/318/community/episodeguide) • [7](https://tvovermind.com/community-5-08-review-app-development-condiments/)
The campus becomes obsessed within a day. As ratings rise and fall, users' real-world standing changes with them: Shirley publicly humiliates a student who gives her a four, lower-ranked students begin performing chores and favors for the popular ones, the fives control practical details such as the campus air conditioning, and [no-go areas](https://www.edgepedia.org/no-go-area) and security-enforced segregation appear.[2](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/MeowMeowBeenz) • [8](https://cometothepedlar.home.blog/2020/09/11/television-community-app-development-and-condiments-dir-rob-schrab/) By the eighth day of testing, a full society has formed with the app at the base of its tenets, the fives dressed in white robes and lower ranks in muted factory-worker colors.[2](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/MeowMeowBeenz) • [9](https://aiptcomics.com/2014/03/11/community-review-season-5-episode-8-app-development-and-condiments/)
**Character arcs.** Shirley manipulates her way to the top with cupcakes and veiled threats and becomes one of the ruling fives, joined by Koogler, Chang, Abed, and Professor Hickey.[10](https://www.drunkmonkeys.us/television/2015/12/21/community-app-development-and-condiments) • [4](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/Preston_Koogler) Jeff, determined to prove the system stupid, works his way up to a five to unseat Shirley and take down the order from inside.[10](https://www.drunkmonkeys.us/television/2015/12/21/community-app-development-and-condiments) Abed is initially delighted because the app "takes everything subjective and unspoken about human interaction and reduces it to explicit, objective numbers," but he grows underwhelmed by life as a five.[11](https://www.highlandernews.org/12679/community-app-development-and-condiments-review/) Britta rails against the very concept of people's worth resting on others' ratings; her calls for revolution are ignored until she delivers them with mustard smeared on her face, which makes her easier to listen to, and she leads a "Review-lution" that briefly takes over.[7](https://tvovermind.com/community-5-08-review-app-development-condiments/) • [10](https://www.drunkmonkeys.us/television/2015/12/21/community-app-development-and-condiments) • [6](https://glidemagazine.com/115470/community-breakdown-app-development-condiments/) In the end Jeff persuades everyone to delete the app, the campus returns to normal, and Jeff and Shirley repair their friendship.[11](https://www.highlandernews.org/12679/community-app-development-and-condiments-review/) • [12](https://nicegirlstv.com/2014/03/07/community-app-development-and-condiments/)
## Production and writing
"App Development and Condiments" was the first episode credited to Jordan Blum and Parker Deay, both formerly of *American Dad!*, and it carried the tone and structure typical of that show: an unassuming start that gradually, then completely, transforms into a new normal.[13](https://jmunney.com/2014/03/07/community-episode-review-5-8-app-development-and-condiments/) Rob Schrab directed.[3](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/community/5/8/)
The episode's visual and tonal parody draws on 1970s dystopian science fiction, above all the 1976 film *Logan's Run*, with its vaguely Roman aesthetic and colorful future clothing, along with references to *[Zardoz](https://www.edgepedia.org/zardoz)*, *1984*, and *[The Hunger Games](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hunger-games-film)*. Reviewers noted that the dystopian society was assembled on a community-college budget largely by draping sheets over the set, which fit the parody's makeshift look.[14](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/community-app-development-and-condiments-review/) • [10](https://www.drunkmonkeys.us/television/2015/12/21/community-app-development-and-condiments) • [15](https://www.razorfine.com/television-reviews/community-app-development-and-condiments/)
**Koogler.** The episode introduced Preston Koogler, a middle-aged Greendale student in sunglasses and a Hawaiian lei who behaves as if still in his twenties, played by Mitchell D. Hurwitz, the creator of *Arrested Development*. Koogler reaches five status, joins the ruling clique, and suggests the fives keep the lower ranks content by entertaining them; the character returned in the season six episode "Modern Espionage".[4](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/Preston_Koogler) The episode closes with a spoof trailer in the style of an old-timey crazy college comedy, which reviewers singled out as one of the series' best credit tags.[16](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/community-season-5-episode-8-review-app-development-and-condiments/)
## Reception
Critical response was largely positive, though not uniform. Den of Geek called the episode the series "at the very peak of its power," combining high-concept escalation, character interaction, and zeitgeisty satire.[16](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/community-season-5-episode-8-review-app-development-and-condiments/) The MeowMeowBeenz hashtag trended worldwide during broadcast, which the same review read as a sign the episode had landed despite the season's low ratings.[16](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/community-season-5-episode-8-review-app-development-and-condiments/) Other reviewers were more reserved: one ranked it among the season's low points while still scoring it 7 out of 10 and praising its 1970s dystopian set design and audio cues, and ScreenAnarchy found the homage experiment amusing but not fully landed.[17](https://gooreviewsonline.com/2014/03/07/gr-dailies-community-app-development-and-condiments/) • [18](https://screenanarchy.com/2014/03/review-community-s5ep08-app-development-and-condiments-gets-dystopic.html) On aggregate measures it scores 80.6 on the Humor Index, #41 of 110 episodes, with an IMDb rating of 8.9, and it is the highest-rated episode credited to Parker Deay at 8.239/10.[3](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/community/5/8/) • [19](https://episodehive.com/writer/parker-deay)
## Comparison with "Nosedive"
The episode is frequently compared with "Nosedive", the third-season premiere of *Black Mirror* broadcast in 2016, which likewise imagines a society governed by a ratings app in which social standing and privileges are set by scores others assign. *Community* aired the premise two years earlier, and the similarity was widely noted when "Nosedive" premiered; the writers of "Nosedive" were [Charlie Brooker](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlie-brooker), Michael Schur, and [Rashida Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/rashida-jones), and whether they knew of the *Community* episode was not established.[5](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/news/black-mirror-season-3-episode-nosedive-community-meow-meow-beanz-a7376651.html) A 2020 retrospective argued that *Community* accomplishes in a single short episode what the more elaborate *Black Mirror* takes more space and budget to achieve.[8](https://cometothepedlar.home.blog/2020/09/11/television-community-app-development-and-condiments-dir-rob-schrab/)
## References
1. [Community Episode Guide, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/318/community/episodeguide)
2. [MeowMeowBeenz, Community Wiki (Fandom)](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/MeowMeowBeenz)
3. [App Development and Condiments, The Humor Index](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/community/5/8/)
4. [Preston Koogler, Community Wiki (Fandom)](https://community-sitcom.fandom.com/wiki/Preston_Koogler)
5. [Black Mirror season 3 episode 'Nosedive' is very similar to Community episode 'App Development and Condiments', The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/tv/news/black-mirror-season-3-episode-nosedive-community-meow-meow-beanz-a7376651.html)
6. [Community Breakdown: App Development and Condiments, Glide Magazine](https://glidemagazine.com/115470/community-breakdown-app-development-condiments/)
7. [Community 5.08 Review, TVovermind](https://tvovermind.com/community-5-08-review-app-development-condiments/)
8. [Television: Community, App Development and Condiments (dir. Rob Schrab), Come To The Pedlar](https://cometothepedlar.home.blog/2020/09/11/television-community-app-development-and-condiments-dir-rob-schrab/)
9. [Community Review: Season 5, Episode 8, AIPT](https://aiptcomics.com/2014/03/11/community-review-season-5-episode-8-app-development-and-condiments/)
10. [Community: App Development and Condiments, Drunk Monkeys](https://www.drunkmonkeys.us/television/2015/12/21/community-app-development-and-condiments)
11. [Community: App Development and Condiments Review, The Highlander Newspaper](https://www.highlandernews.org/12679/community-app-development-and-condiments-review/)
12. [Community: App Development and Condiments, NiceGirlsTV](https://nicegirlstv.com/2014/03/07/community-app-development-and-condiments/)
13. [Community Episode Review: 5.8, Jmunney's Blog](https://jmunney.com/2014/03/07/community-episode-review-5-8-app-development-and-condiments/)
14. [Community: App Development And Condiments Review, Den of Geek](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/community-app-development-and-condiments-review/)
15. [Community – App Development and Condiments, RazorFine Review](https://www.razorfine.com/television-reviews/community-app-development-and-condiments/)
16. [Community season 5 episode 8 review, Den of Geek](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/community-season-5-episode-8-review-app-development-and-condiments/)
17. [GR Dailies: Community – App Development and Condiments, GOO Reviews](https://gooreviewsonline.com/2014/03/07/gr-dailies-community-app-development-and-condiments/)
18. [Review: Community S5EP08, ScreenAnarchy](https://screenanarchy.com/2014/03/review-community-s5ep08-app-development-and-condiments-gets-dystopic.html)
19. [The Best Episodes Written By Parker Deay, Episode Hive](https://episodehive.com/writer/parker-deay)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Seasons, episodes, and installments › Episodes and serial chapters › Individual episode articles › General episode articles › Comedy and comedy-drama episodes*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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