Series One of my favorite TV casts.
Parks and Rec is in many regards a very flawed show. But it's also one of my favorites.
Leslie Knope is the overzealous, hypercompetent deputy director of the Parks and Rec department of Pawnee, Indiana, a small-minded city of people with no understanding of government.
Season 1 is rough. It tries to use the awkward mockumentary flavor of The Office but only by the end does it start to feel good. The characters feel undefined and far removed from who they'd become, but it's still worthwhile viewing if only for the contrast of how much it improved.
By Season 2 and 3, the show found its stride, shifting some characters around and making a great cast. Each character finds their own niche and each of them has their own lovable quirks. What really impresses me about the show is the way it explores pretty much every permutation of the cast dynamics, pairing off different characters and showing how they all manage to change each other for the better.
The plot of the show isn't exactly strong. Several ideas get brought up without follow-up due to the show's messy start, and the show ultimately does better work with its characters than its stories. There are still some good arcs of the show and the ending is a satisfying conclusion.
The political commentary of the show ages a bit sadly in its Obama-era optimism, since the show concluded before U.S. politics got a lot uglier, more polarized, and immature after 2016. The show portrays ugliness in Pawnee's setting, but the ultimate positivity it displays about government feels naive and bygone today. There are also some aspects of the comedy that age poorly. April is introduced in a relationship with a gay and bi man, only one of whom is attracted to her, which feels othering, Leslie starts off being culturally insensitive, and Tom Haverford's desperate flirting feels hard to stomach and his sympathetic elements land less strongly for it, especially after his actor fell into controversy for harassing behavior.
At the end, though, what leaves the biggest mark is the group of ten people at the heart of the story who are well explored and mostly lovable. This is a good comfort show.
Series Better than its parent show
So after having watched both Parks and its parent show The Office (US version, that is; will watch UK version eventually), I've come to the conclusion that Parks is the better show by a decent margin. Reasons why:
1. The setting and environment are more fleshed out. Pawnee is a character in its own right and the government setting adds new layers to the fold, giving Parks a variety of conflicts, characters, and storylines to draw from. Putting the Parks and Rec gang out into the community allows the viewers to actually explore the town and see the people. The citizens are also regularly brought into the picture through the public forum scenes, which further fleshed things out. While we got to see the corporate to regional layers of Dunder Mifflin and explored parts of Scranton, it never felt as richly detailed as a setting.
2. The characters and their relationships are much more dynamic. While The Office has plenty of lovable characters in its own right, some of them never felt like more than beyond a punchline (Creed, Meredith) or in some extreme cases fell victim to Depending on the Writer. (I've said this before on other places and I'll say it again here - I will never forgive the writers for how they butchered Andy Bernard in Season 9.) The Parks characters always felt more consistent with believable growth, especially April, Ben, Tom, and Chris, and while Michael may have been funny, he never was as strong as Leslie. Also, Leslie/Ben is a far better and more egalitarian relationship than Jim/Pam (while April/Andy (Dwyer) is like what Erin/Andy (Bernard) could've/should've been; breaking Erin/Andy up is another thing I hated about Season 9).
3. The humor is much warmer. Perhaps a holdover from the UK version, The Office sometimes veered into mean-spirited cringe comedy, especially where Michael (and to a lesser extent, Andy Bernard, especially in the ninth season) was concerned. Meanwhile, the optimistic sincerity of Parks helped set it apart from the glut of shows all about mining laughs from the characters' misery and misfortune. While there were those kinds of moments sprinkled in Parks, it never stayed down in the dumps for long, expressing a can-do spirit while The Office sometimes felt more resigned to the dumps.
Both shows are great and in my Top 20. They are smartly written and possess a raw, relatable realness. All great sitcoms have great characters and interactions. But Parks outshines Office in this regard. How often did Kevin interact with Kelly, or Stanley with Creed, or Meredith with Angela? It's possible that the writers of The Office wanted it that way, with the focus on a select few. Office has a very cliquey feel while Parks feels like a family. Beyond the jokes, there's a development that feels like you're a part of it. Office made you want to work at Dunder Mifflin. Parks makes you want to be part of Leslie Knope's team.
Series Great but not without it's problems
Parks & Recreation starts out rough, with Season 1 being pretty lackluster. It killed my interest in watching the show the first time I tried back in 2016, but I gave it a second chance. So you're better off watching the pilot episode and then skipping to Season 2.
Season 2 was mostly ok, but the show gets way better when Ben Wyatt and Chris Traeger join the cast. They round out the cast and act as fantastic foils to the rest of the cast. The main cast all have some great dynamics and for the most part, a lot of solid character development.
But the show has some massive problems:
- The Aesop Amnesia that several main characters keep indulging in. Leslie constantly needs to learn not to be a steamrolling Control Freak who thinks she knows best for everyone and Tom constantly keeps being a showboating dick at the expense of his friends.
- Season 5 and 6 kept recycling a lot of plot points and felt really lazy outside of some really great stuff like Leslie and Ben getting married and Ron's relationship with Diane and her kids.
- Tom is a fucking asshole and his constant sexual harassment of Ann and "YO WHAT UP I'M TOTES BALLER AWESOME WHAT WHAT YEEEEEEEEE I'M SO COOL" attitude is obnoxious along with constantly bullying EVERYONE in the cast with any real consequences he faces being quickly rugswept.
- Jean-Ralphio and his sister Mona Lisa are also just the worst. Credit to Aziz Ansari, Ben Schwartz and Jenny Slate for their acting, they successfully made characters I want to see thrown into a woodchipper feet first. Same with Jon Glaser and his portrayal of Councillor Jamm.
- April's "Ugh I hate everyone and everything" attitude got a little boring by the middle seasons after years of character development. She'd developed solid friendships and married Andy and still acts like she hates most of them in Season 7. I like her as a character but even the best Running Gag gets old.
- Garry/Jerry/Terry/Larry being constantly bullied by EVERYONE except Ben for no reason, even Leslie and Chris get in on it. I know it's meant to be funny, but it just isn't. The payoff at the end of Season 7 didn't negate how awful they were to him.
Season 7 fixed a lot of the problems I had with the show, but it's a very long path full of sharp jagged rocks and shards of broken glass.
Overall, it's worth giving a try but don't be shocked if you end up cringing or rolling your eyes at some of what is meant to be funny.