Remember when The Office was funny?
OK it's been running so long no one remembers. It was about 6 seasons ago.
Do you miss that work humor? The humor that hits home to your boring dead-end office job? That gives you a peek into a world you wish your workplace was like then you look at it deeper and find out it kinda is?
Have no fear, Parks and Recreation is here to pick up the slack.
With a hysterical cast and great writing, this show has been pure gold since Episode 1 of Season 2. What catches you by surprise is the amount of emotion they put into the relationships and inner workings of a small town's Parks department. Using the exact set up as The Office, each character represents a type of person. Let's look at the characters.
Ben-Nerdy Overachiever who peaked too early in life and now works for city governments
April-Bitchy and aloof intern who actually cares more than she admits
Ron-The detached director who thinks government is useless
Andy-the lovable crazy guy who doesn't realize how much he can contribute
Leslie-the overzealous, dedicated, meticulous person who holds everything together
Chris-The overly optimistic boss
Donna-the sassy black woman
Jerry-the office punching bag
Tom-The guy who puts up a fancy front and talks a huge game but really has nothing behind it.
Anne-The best friend of the overzealous person who volunteers at everything but doesn't actually work there.
Ok some of those are crazy specific, but you can see the archetypes there.
The wackiness of the crazy situations this crew gets into, and must find their way out of, is usually pretty funny itself. But then you have the personalities clashing and being stuck together (Tom loses access to electronics and Ron tries to cure him of his disease), and it turns into something amazing.
The show satirizes Federal issues on a "local" level. Usually they show how ridiculous the debate is as when things happen, it becomes almost too easy to see which "side" is less insane. Its scary how perfectly they show the issues. I haven't seen satire this good since South Park's heyday.
The highlights for me are Ron and Chris (played by Nick Offerman and Rob Lowe). While they're polar opposites of each other, I'm kind of jealous of both of their life philosophies. Ron has some of the greatest one liners and life advice on the show and Chris is just so cheery in all situations you kind of have to wonder if there's not something to his positive outlook.
I just watched season 5 hence the review. There's been no drop in quality for me. They've done really well to keep the characters progressing and giving them chances to grow. They may not always last, but that's life sometimes.
So final verdict: everyone needs to watch this show. Now. I know season 1 sucks. Its only like 6 episodes, just get through it then bask in the glory of this show.
Bringing you all the bacon and eggs I have
-Oz
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