Parks and Recreation

[Hondo]

The topic sorta came up a time or two in the Office thread, so to not hijack that thread, I'll start a new one.

Parks and Recreation has more or less become my favorite show on television. Hands down. From the actors to the well-written scripts, it's surpassed all other sitcoms and redefined the "mockumentary" genre.

I remember back when NBC announced an Office spinoff with Amy Poehler attached. I cringed at how awful that sounded. Another Office? Blah. Especially with Poehler, who I'll admit I wasn't a fan of AT ALL. I didn't (and still don't) dig the SNL-style of humor. And the thought of her playing a Michael Scott-esqe doofus really turned me off. Ultimately, they decided against the Office-spinoff format and decided to create a all-new show (although Rashida Jones was cast, who played Karen Fillipelli on The Office, albeit to play a different role.) But I decided to watch it anyways that first season. And while it wasn't overly-incredible, it wasn't too bad.

But the second season is when everything came together (much like the US version of The Office). If you get the opportunity, buy Season 2, it's some of the best stuff I've ever seen.

Poehler's Leslie Knope is almost the opposite of Michael Scott. She's got common sense (for the most part), but is usually so passionate about her work that it sometimes clouds her decisions and judgement. And she manages to NOT do it in an SNL sort of way, which is a HUGE relief. She's taken the character and made it her own.

The rest of the supporting cast is talented and hilarious as well, but my favorite character of all (and the breakaway show-stealer) is Ron Swanson, the Parks Director and Leslie's boss. He's a staunch Libertarian, and therefore hates government (which makes his government job all the more ironic). In Season 1 he was more written to be the foil to Leslie's enthusiastic attitude, but in Season 2 was written as a more likeable character. His character takes an already good show and pushes it into the upper echelon.

[Flins.]

Logged in just to share my love of this show and Ron Swanson!

I don't watch a lot of American comedies, but this really is one of my favourite shows. I agree with Hondo in that the first season isn't as great as the second, it seemed more Leslie Knope orientated initially. Which was still entertaining and funny, but when they fleshed out the 'side' characters in the second series it just became so much better. Swanson is such a great character, and he plays well off of Knope.

The only character I'm not a fan of is Tom, purely because I've seen Aziz Ansari in other stuff and it seems he is just playing the only character he knows how. He does have his funny moments though.

Some add-on Swanson vids:

[Hondo]