Two weeks ago in my article “6 Things I Accomplished My Freshman Year” I talked about how I finished the series "Parks and Recreation" recently. I said that I would probably write a “review” for my next article. Well, that didn’t happen. But now seems like a good time to talk about my thoughts on the show.
This comedy, which ran from 2009 to 2015, revolved around the Parks and Recreation Department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) is the Deputy Director of the department who dreams of making her town the best that it can be. After meeting Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) who is a concerned citizen looking to get a large, rocky pit behind her house filled in, Leslie decides to do whatever it takes to make the pit into a park. Throughout the series, Leslie’s main conflicts are with Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), the Department Director, as well as people throughout the local government. Other main characters include Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate, and Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer.
The show is similar to - and very early on, was potentially going to be a spin-off of - one of NBC’s other hit comedies, "The Office." It even carried elements of the show over, featuring the “talking head” segments where the characters would speak directly to the camera in a documentary style. Once the main characters had been fleshed out, multiple celebrity guest stars were added and occasionally received recurring roles. These celebrities include Megan Mullally as Tammy Two, Lucy Lawless as Diane Lewis, Paul Rudd as Bobby Newport, and Ginuwine as himself.
"Parks and Recreation" is one of my favorite television shows of all time. The overall arcs, like the rock pit and the power of local government, as well as the simple, multi-episode plot lines were all mostly believable, although definitely with drama added to make everything more comedic. (See Season Four’s election arc which featured a dim-witted rich kid and a porn star, among others, running for City Council.)
Although it is very much its own show, like I said previously, it is very similar to "The Office." However, I was more entertained by "Parks and Recreation" than I was with "The Office." Parks seemed more light-hearted and optimistic. Furthermore, neither Poehler nor Offerman’s characters were as dimwitted as Steve Carell's Michael Scott. These were both big factors in why I was able to finish Parks by binge-watching in a matter of three months rather than the year and a half it took me to finish "The Office."
I was a little worried about watching the show because one of the things I look for in a show (especially one that has been on for so long) is that I know who the actors are beforehand. The only one I had ever really seen before was Rashida Jones who was on "The Office" for one season and I had almost forgotten about her. I also sort of knew who Amy Poehler was, but had never really seen anything that she starred in besides "Mean Girls." However, I took a chance on the show and now love every single cast member. My favorites would probably be Aubrey Plaza because April was the dark, pessimistic character who did actually care about some things and Chris Pratt because he was the goofball that wanted everyone to be happy.
Overall, I would say that "Parks and Recreation" is in my top five television shows that I’ve seen. The writing was excellent and had me laughing in every episode. The cast created wonderful characters that I will not soon forget. I look forward to seeing what’s next for the cast now that this show has ended.
