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Parks And Recreation, the show about you already know everything it’s about starring you already know who it stars, premiered last night. (If you missed it, the full episode is on Hulu.) It seems like the general consensus is “This pilot wasn’t straight-up hilarious or ground-breaking but it wasn’t bad, and the characters show potential” along with the usual worries about where the show can go with its premise. It seems like we all want this show, and the actors and writers behind it, to succeed. Personally, I thought the funniest part of the pilot was Rashida Jones’s character’s boyfriend and his “itch stick,” and the funniest main character was Aziz Ansari as Tom, Amy Poehler’s “redneck” colleague. And I think we all breathed a sigh of relief (and laughed) when it became clear that Leslie Knope isn’t the little miss perfect she seemed in the show’s promos. I mean, she couldn’t be, for the show to work, but it was still a relief when it was revealed that she gets trashed at office parties, and is crazy obsessed with a coworker who forgot about their one-night-stand, like when we found out Tracy Flick slept with her teacher.
I’m still a little dubious about the premise — I know it’s unimaginative, but I find local government to be immensely boring. (Yes, more boring than a paper company…in England, or a spinoff of a show I loved about a paper company in England, smartalecks.) But I think with the talent involved, the show will do well if they’re allowed to take risks the way The Office has. Speaking of, did anybody notice that last night both The Office and Parks And Recreation featured the pixelated crotch nudity of their respective main characters? Synergy! So, comment party: what did you guys think?
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i hold out hope, in large part due to the boss who loves bobby knight and wants to privatize parks and recreation to make it work like a chuck e. cheese.
that guy is amazing and has SO much potential.
Rashida Jones is pretty.
…pretty HOTT
and I just read her interview on avclub…
She’s pretty HOTT and SMARTT to boot.
i thought the show was good. not as many laugh out loud moments like the office or 30 rock, but its only the first show. the funniest bit had to be the end with the shotgun
i got a degree in urban planning so i’m very familar with the show’s premise (local government enivronment). some of the jokes may not seem as funny if you are not familar with it
I thought it was alright. I want it to be successful too, mostly because there haven’t been a lot of clever comedies out there on the tube lately… I wish Amy’s character was a little more original though. There’s only so much room for a Michael Scott on Thursday nights.
Rashida Jones is on the top rung of my boner ladder and I thought Aziz Ansari was great. I will give it a chance.
I thought it was pretty funny, but Leslie Knope seems a bit too much like a female Micheal Scott to me. I did like the other characters, though. And the dialogue is hilarious, duh. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about as far as the plot goes. I could easily see a park project like the one in the show being carried on for years.
Also, my favorite part of the pilot was the public forum. Pissed-off old people=hilarious.
Could someone explain the first sentence of this post to me? I almost understand it, but I think it is in need of some extra punctuation. (I’m not trying to facetious or a dick. I am genuinely confused.)
i think it makes more sense if you take out the word “it”
Haha, I took out “it” and did some other stuff to the sentence. It’s still dumb but at least somewhat grammatically accurate.
Why is it so much like The Office?
I laughed. I will probably watch again because I want it to work, like you guys. If you ask me though, the stand out premier of the night was SouthLAnd.Iit was AMAZINNGGG!!
The format was far too similar to The Office… documentary-style on a boring profession with shaky, linger awkwardness. What’s Park and Recreations spin on the formula?
First off, yay for hulu (and me living in a country where i can watch it). I definitely chuckled watching the episode, but it does seem a bit Office-y. Specifically, i could do without the people eye-rolling at the camera. That said, I think Amy Poehler is very funny in this, and I would love to see it stick around for awhile.
As a side note, i got excited for a second when it showed that the show takes place in Pawnee. I thought, “Hell yeah, Oklahoma is getting some representation in the TV sitcom world!” Soon, however, I came to the sad realization that it is Pawnee, Indiana. Well, fuck you Indiana. Pawnee, Oklahoma is much more legit than you will ever be. You all sent your Native Americans away (to Oklahoma), so you lose any right to name cities after them.
I think it will get better once we get to know these characters more, the episode did good job at introducing us to Leslie Knope. She’s likable, but I’d like to get to know the rest of the cast, and more Aziz’s Tom.
Leslie Knope is different from Michael Scott. She’s dumb like Michael Scott but she’s way nicer.
I thought the second episode of the Office was the funniest thing on of what I saw last night.
There were a few LOL moments but overall kind of ‘meh’. I think it could have potential but we’re all rooting for it more than it deserves because Amy Pohler’s the star. She has a look on her face like ‘there’s not much to do with this material, but I’m trying’.
dear nbc: enough with the mockumentaries and comedy based on ineptitude. There’s no reason this show should be a fake documentary, and I get it, they’re bad at their jobs. Wooooooooooooooo.
meh, can we please talk about Party Down instead? Its a Much funnier new show and Paul Rudd’s one of the writers.
I reeeally hated Party Down. The ‘theme’ seems to be “It sucks being an a struggling creative in LA” but then ALSO “if you’re NOT a struggling creative in LA then you’re a fucking loser.” It felt like an obnoxious naval gazing indie movie with the production values and jokes of a web show that only shoehorns in some comedy so it’s not just a show about a bunch of whiney jerks.
I normally give shows about five episodes before I make a judgement on it (unless the pilot is absolutely awful). Plus, as an intern in local government I have a character I can immediately identify with.
I did enjoy the scene where we saw the town mural.
Those other penises will haunt me forever.
Especially one certain one.
1. I assume that P&R exists in the same “world” that The Office does, it is the same documentary company and the characters could meet. But they shouldn’t, ever.
2. If P&R finds any plausible way for Will Arnett to guest star, then I approve.
Uh, not really. Rashida Jones plays another character in The Office along with the one in P&R. Also, these people live in rural Indiana, so very little chance of anyone meeting.
It has potential. I mean the pilots for The Office and 30 Rock were both weak, this show’s was much better than either one of those.
The “meh” of the night belonged to Crash: The 2nd Series… I mean Southland. It could have been either generic or a snoozefest yet it bravely chose to be both.
I thought it was alright, but it had a tone that was closer to My Name is Earl than The Office. Of course, The Office this season has also become annoyingly broad. Still, the cast is great, especially Amy Poheler and Rashida Jones.
Truth be told, I’m annoyed by every network comedy that isn’t 30 Rock.
For a pilot, it was good. But after watching the Office, then this Office-like show, then the Office again, I was really sick of the Office.
Also, I like Aziz a lot, but every time he did the look to the camera like Jim does, I sort of cringed. The show really needs to seperate itself from the Office, if that’s even possible.
On a different note, SO MANY SOUTHLAND COMMERCIALS. I always laugh at that baby they pick up that’s just chilling on the street though.
“Being a cop means (this).” … “Are you a cop?” (5 second ‘smell the fart’ acting) “Yes.”
It suddenly made me realize there’s this whole genre of “mockumentaries about people with delusions of grandeur where characters struggle to control how they look to the viewer” ie, The Comeback, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Pilot Season, Summer Heights High, and of course The Office. And I LIKED all of those things. But each time they did one of those kinds of jokes in Parks and Recreations, I realized I had seen it before in a similar type of show. And I didn’t laugh. ALSO, I feel like Amy Poehler isn’t as good as Steve Carell as making her self-deprecation feel genuinely accidental. She kind of feels like a hammy improv sketch character who is taking it down a notch for the sake of the genre. But whatever the dude she slept with is hot and so is the broken-legged boyfriend, I’ll watch another episode.
Aziz FTW
I loved the Ian Roberts cameo (my brother had told me that he was fat now, but I didn’t know to what extent it had gone) and I hope there are plenty more UCB cameos, like how Arrested Development had all those Mr. Show cameos.
Despite the resemblance to The Office, I’m going to give Parks & Rec a million chances, because right now The Office is going into scary territory.
I actually think the new plotline on The Office has completely reinvigorated that show and gotten it out of its lull. Especially now that they’ve dropped the romances/love triangle stuff.
I totally agree with you on the romance thing. I’m hoping they don’t make the Erin-Andy-Dwight thing into a love triangle. I like the idea of Andy and Dwight being frienemies.
But I’m afraid that spending time on the Michael Scott Paper Company will take time away from the secondary characters in Dunder Mifflin that I love so much. And Michael’s inexplicable success is starting to become really annoying to me–like how several weeks ago how the Scranton branch was doing really well while all the other branches were all floundering in the current economic crisis.
And I don’t know, this season seems all over the place. First Pam’s in art school, then she fails out, then Ryan’s back, then Ryan’s gone all of a sudden, then there’s that whole 2-episode arc about going to find Holly except that just ends and there’s no follow-up, and now Michael’s starting his own paper company. It feels like they’re just writing each episode with no consideration for what will happen a few episodes down the line. This season needed something to tie it all together.
I totally agree with you on the show being a mess this season, something that could have been avoided if the shows had been edited better (seriously, the deleted scenes actually make some moments make more sense). Just saying that they seem to have realized the problems the show was having and have slowly but surely been fixing it.
It may not be groundbreakingly unique in its format and humour, but it’s better than most other sitcoms. I’m guessing the writers are gonna keep with the Office-humour for a while to reel in viewers, but there’s a lot of potential.
Also: Party Down is FUNNY.
There were some genuine LOL-moments in there. I’m hoping it improves and becomes consistently hilarious, a la season 2 of the Office. Aziz is the Best.
It’s better than most sitcoms, and it would take less effort to turn off my tv after 30 Rock, so I’m in.
The giant poster of Bobby Knight and Aziz’s line about trying to get his boss to “fax a fruit-roll up” show that Parks has alot of potential. I think it is going to be pretty great.
Let’s face it. The Office has jumped the shark and Parks and Recreation is just more proof of how desperate NBC is for a hit. P & R should have all the elements in its favor, there’s just one problem. These cast members aren’t at their funniest doing Jim-like glances at the mockumentary camera. Azi Ansari is funniest when making insider jokes about indie rock bands, Amy Poehler is funniest when pretending to be a girl scout on a sugar high. Now, put these talented comedians into roles where they’re stuck in an OFFICE and forced to deliver stale one-liners at each other and we’ve got a recipe for suckage. As for The Office, the show really hasn’t been funny for much of this season, and last night was really the nail in the coffin for NBC as a whole. Heroes hasn’t been good in approximately two seasons (assuming any of us thought it was good in the first place), ER finally went off the air, all of the aforementioned Office/spin-off blech of last night, Jay Leno, etc. 30 Rock is the only thing that can save this sinking ship. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Liz Lemon & Co, despite being one of my favorite shows on television ever, have been somewhat uneven this season. What’s a network to do? Maybe when Conan gets back he’ll make channel 4 a bit more enticing…
Did nobody else get a serious kick out of Ryan watching the commercial for “Montgomery Flea Market”? I was very amused.
Yes! I thought Lindsay would have mentioned it.
Seems like it should be funny, but it is not.
Maybe not a fail, but a solid D-
It was good. I was impressed. I loved the part when Leslie was talking about her memoirs. Great stuff. The other shows last night weren’t so great, though.
the phrase “Jumped the Shark” has jumped the shark.
I thought it was a pretty mediocre show. I had a couple of laughs in the 30 minutes, but for the most part it wasn’t great. I think Amy Poehler’s character is a little too Michael Scott and I thought the conservative city councilman was a not-too-subtle poke a Conservative ideology in general. The show felt like watching an episode of the Office only not in Scranton. I did find Aziz funny (and Rashida looked better tonight than I thought she did in The Office), but it wasn’t very good. Though I had some lukewarm feelings about the American Office when I first watched that as well so I guess I’ll give the show a chance, although I think they need to develop their own identity.
i want aziz to be his intern character from scrubs.
People keep saying Leslie is Michael Scott, but I think she’s more Andy Bernard.
The pilot was pretty good as far as pilots go, but I’ll be stunned if the show survives a whole season. It has a steep hill to climb. And I agree that The Office is off-the-rails this season. They are not treating their characters well (specifically, Michael).
What does FTW stand for?
There’s this thing called the internet, maybe you should try looking there.
I liked it, but didnt think it was great. But, that said, I actively disliked the pilots of both The Office and 30 Rock, and love what those shows became, so I’ll keep watching.
I’ll be honest, I barely chuckled. I’d like to see how the Rashida Jones character will make sense as a regular. I’ll watch a couple more episodes.
Anyone gave Harper’s Island a try? Kind of so-so, will give it a chance as well. Southland wasn’t bad either, at least it’s not in the Law & Order category, could be interesting.