History YMMV / ParksAndRecreation

* DidNotDoTheResearch[=/=]TheyJustDidntCare: Or something like that, regarding Indiana election law. The City Council election appears to be non-partisan, which is common for local elections in most states...but Indiana isn't one of them. All municipal elections in Indiana are partisan.

* AcceptableTargets: Tom's South Asian background is the subject of much japery, and even Leslie can't seem to get it through her head that he's a US-born citizen. But no one ever breathes a word about Donna or Ann being black.
** Arguably could be a reflection of real life. In many areas outside of cities, the largest minority (if there are any) until recently would be black, whereas South Asians are still pretty rare.

* FridgeLogic: Chris doesn't allow employees to date but is perfectly fine with Andy and April getting married.
** Chris only has a problem with an employee dating a subordinate.
* GrowingTheBeard: Season 2 is generally considered better than the first season. [[spoiler: Ann and Andy's relationship is over and the plotlines expand beyond "the pit."]]

* TheWoobie: You can't help but feel sorry for Ben in "The Harvest Festival" when people won't leave him alone about Icetown and then he leaves and tells Leslie that he's probably the source of the Curse and it's all his fault that Lil' Sebastian ran away and the power went out.
* YourMileageMayVary: Some viewers wrote the show off as a lesser clone of ''TheOffice'', but the show has still attracted followers who are getting more interested as the show develops.

* {{Expy}}: At the beginning of the series, before CharacterDevelopment set in, the main cast were clearly based on characters from ''TheOffice'':
** Leslie is Michael Scott
** Ann is Pam Beasly
** Ron is Dwight Schrute
** Mark is Jim Halpert
** Andy is Roy Anderson
** Tom is Kelly Kapoor
** April is Angela Martin (with some Ryan Howard mixed in)

** Tom is Ryan Howard (with some Andy Bernard mixed in)

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Andy, who went from an insufferable JerkAss to an adorable but simple ManChild.

* TheCSIEffect: In "Greg Pikitis", Leslie keeps talking about how they can test evidence for Greg's DNA only for Dave to repeatedly shoot her down by meekly pointing out that they don't actually have a lab and so forth.

* MemeticBadass: Ron '''Fucking''' Swanson
* PortmanteauCoupleName: When discussing the relationship between Mark Brendanawicz and Ann Perkins, Tom chooses to go with the name "Ann-danawicz", rather than the alternative: "Merkins".

* ValuesDissonance: Present in-story with the office murals, which proudly depict various sordid events in the town's history that are shocking by today's standards. Leslie shows them off with some embarrassment.
** "She was one of the first feminist leaders in Pawnee! She was the first to dare wearing pants on a Sunday, she spent 30 years in prison for that."
** "In 1867, the progressive Reverend Turnbill officiated a wedding between a white woman and a Wamapoke Indian chief. The secret ceremony was beautiful and romantic. But then word got out and the reception was a bloodbath. Fortunately, there were two survivors. Unfortunately, they were both horses."
** It's actually easier to point out on a map of Pawnee the spots where an Indian massacre DID NOT take place

** It's actually easier to point out the spots on a map of Pawnee where an Indian massacre DID NOT take place

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: "[[IWasBornReady I was born ready.]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBBh7KKD-Hc I'm RON FUCKING SWANSON.]]"
** Leslie, delirious with flu and barely able to walk, escapes from the hospital to give a ''masterful'' speech to the Pawnee Chamber of Commerce drumming up support for a community project. The awesomeness is in no way diminished by her immediately, upon the speech's conclusion, becoming completely incoherent again.
** Ron Swanson telling off Tammy in "Ron and Tammy 2".
--> '''Tammy:''' You're not even a man anymore. I faked four of the seven orgasms last night.\\
'''Ron:''' So did I.

* EarWorm: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI7f4CgATiE&feature=related The theme music]]. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmGxu3FtEYo&feature=related It makes babies happy]].

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: The end of 'Christmas Scandal' as the whole cast lights up the Christmas Tree in Lot 48, [[spoiler:April gets a hug from Andy, and Leslie gets a gift from Ron.]]
** Ron, who hates government and opposes all that Leslie stands for, telling the state auditors that they couldn't fire her and insisting that they fire him instead:
--->'''Ben''': Every department's losing a Leslie Knope.\\
'''Ron''': No Ben, they're not. No other department has one to begin with.

* CrackPairing: Andy and April come off as this at first, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: "[[IWasBornReady I was born ready.]] I'm RON FUCKING SWANSON."