I’ve never watched a single episode of NBC’s Community; I couldn’t even tell you what it’s about without looking it up first.

I do know that it certainly has its loyal fans, some I follow on Twitter or who are Facebook friends, because whenever it’s on the air, my social networking news-feed is heavy on conversation focused on the series.

I also know that there are a couple of black folks in its starring cast, namely Donald Glover and Yvette Nicole Brown.

And we can now add a third black character to the series, as Michael K. Williams will be joining the cast for at least three episodes this fall.

He’ll play a biology professor, says New York mag.

And how/why was Williams chosen for the part?

The series creator Dan Harmon told New York mag: “The general idea with this season is to add … a certain amount of groundedness and reality to the series. Because the detractors of our show complain that there’s a distancing that takes place because we have such a silliness and far-fetchedness … So I asked myself, ‘What is the opposite of that?’ And it’s certainly The Wire. I [recently] watched all five seasons, and I wanted to bring a little bit of that mentality and apply it to the Community recipe… I would hope to have him in many, many [episodes]… We’re really excited.“

Ok. I guess I need to first watch Community to fully grasp his vision here.