Something subtle I love about the characterisation of community is that Abed's love of movies and TV, though his main interest, is not a FUNDAMENTAL character trait. It is something he has cultivated.
There are times that his character is stripped back for some reason, like when he has a hangover in season 1, where he actually forgets the specifics of his media knowledge for a time. He still has the impulse to reference, but it evades him, so we see a bit more of the underlying behaviour. How this is something used to communicate easier, to reach something easy to say. Jeff asks him something, he doesn't know what to say, so he goes for 'movie reference'. In this moment, he is shown to be even more similar to Jeff, one has quotes and the other has snark, and in this moment both are imperfect at maintaining those acts.
Or times when he finds a method he finds superior, like the chicken fingers, or the meow meow beanz, and so he leaves referential communication behind. Because it isn't actually about movies and TV, as much as he loves those things. It's about his desire for connection. He wants to relate his thoughts and feelings to others, so the idea of being 'like everyone else' is intoxicating to him.
In any other show he would be the meta reference guy and little more. How often do we see a character's interests or abilities turned into a personality trait? For example, in Big Bang Theory how often do we see who Sheldon is behind his scientific interests and intelligence? It sends the message that what we love, the skills we have, those are things we have found and built, they are able to change and likely will. There is more beneath that, reasoning as to WHY those things drew us in. A desire to understand or connect or control, whatever it is that you REALLY want. And that is what drives a person.
The same could also be said for Shirley's religion, Jeff's sarcasm, Annie's academics, Britta's activism, and Pierce's... I don't know, inclination to offend? This was also true for Troy and sports, but he left that behind pretty quickly, so he is actually a really good example, though he centred himself around his friendship with Abed instead, which is a lovely connection, but is a mask of its own. We see Jeff struggle to let go of his insincerity, and at times succeed only to take it back up as a shield. We see Shirley sometimes look past her religious values to support her friendships, but she always returns to her church. Annie comes to terms with not being on the smartest path, especially after it drove her to destruction before, but she will always push to learn and achieve. Britta is more complicated, as her changes seem more external as she pushes for the same kind of moral superiority (a mirror to Shirley in that way). And Peirce... Well he passes away, but there are brief sparks of temporary improvement and then severe relapses.
All the other temporary members have similar mechanisms. Hickey isolates himself but is shown to have more connections and interests under the surface that he ruins through hostility. Elroy places his words under a smooth veneer. Frankie seeks to manage and control.
None of these mechanisms to interact with the world and the people around them are bad (apart from Pierce and Hickey. They are actively hurtful in their methods. I Do Not like them.) but they are only fronts for the real person beneath.
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