'Vacation' Reunion... Sort of.

I just recently posted about a re-boot of the Vacation series that would focus on Rusty Griswold, the son in the original series, and his family. Unfortunately, there's been no discussion of Anthony Michael Hall, the original Rusty returning to play the role, and it's a damn shame because his scenes with Chevy Chase in the original were hilarious.

But if you are pining to see the two of them on screen together nonetheless, check out Community tonight on NBC. Chase appears on the series as a regular - and is hard on the come back trail delivering consistently funny performances - and tonight the guest star is none other then Anthony Michael Hall. Community is easily the best new comedy series of the year in my opinion, and is part of a revitalized Thursday night lineup for NBC, joining The Office, 30 Rock and Parks & Recreation (which after a disappointing first season is absolutely killing it this season.) Chase and Hall haven't shared the screen together since 1982 when they shot Vacation, but here's hoping that tonight's show sparks the chance for Hall to return to the series in the new proposed Rusty-centric re-boot.

Hall will play a campus bully during his guest spot, and while much of the nostalgia of his appearance will obviously be linked to his on-screen reunion with Chase, it sounds like he will be sending up another one of his famous flicks, The Breakfast Club. Community, about a rag-tag group of mismatched friends that often hang out in a study hall, already often echoes that classic high school flick, but the fact that Hall's bully character wears fingerless gloves - like Breakfast Club bully Bender, played by Judd Nelson - seems like an obvious wink.

NERDY NOTE: I'm not sure what the original source is for the black & white picture at the top of this post, but I've never seen it before. It's the cast of the original film photographed in a plane. This is strange because they never appeared in an airplane in the first film (which was about a road trip) but the fact that they are all wearing Wally World hats suggests this might have taken place at the end of the movie, after their visit to the theme park. Perhaps it's take from a deleted scene that hasn't appeared on any of the DVD releases.