Parks and Recreation – Season One
Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur.
Starring Amy Poehler, Chris Pratt, Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider, Louie CK, Nick Hofferman, Aziz Ansari, and Aubrey Plaza.
SYNOPSIS:
Leslie Knope, a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana, attempts to advance her career and make her town more beautiful by helping local nurse Ann Perkins turn a construction pit into a park.
The mockumentary format has definitely outstayed its welcome, and its inherent problems are all present in the first season of Parks and Recreation (why would people openly admit damaging personal secrets for a documentary? Why is the camera’s presence acknowledged only when the script demands it?). Still, the docu-style continues to prosper in the likes of Modern Family and The Office. Parks and Recreation, thankfully, is a notch above both – a warm-hearted and naturalistic sitcom that quickly establishes its voice in the meagre six episodes found in season one.
Originally conceived as a spin-off of The Office U.S., Parks noticeably carries some of the same DNA (though will later go on to become its own beast), but edges its predecessor by offering more laughs and a cast that’s less knowing and infinitely more charming. In fact, it’s the cast and the carefree (and part-improvised) atmosphere they inspire that elevates Parks and Recreation above most American sitcoms. Even if the storylines aren’t anything new, the actors bounce around too many zingers for you to care.
In the lead role, Amy Poehler sometimes edges cloying, and maybe too often approaches David Brent territory, but is as ultimately disarming as the rest of the cast. Poehler, here acting as producer as well as the central cast member, wants to offer the American comedy landscape the strong female character it was perhaps lacking.
Elsewhere, Chris Pratt is an obvious breakout as a hapless man-child, while it’s easy to see why there’s a cult surrounding Nick Offerman’s Ron Swanson – Offerman is superbly deadpan, delivering dialogue with all the panache of a true misanthrope. Paul Schneider is perhaps too good for a TV sitcom, as anyone who’s seen him in the likes of Bright Star will attest, but he makes his womanising city planner the most three-dimensional character on show. Aziz Ansari, though, is the most consistently amusing, given another deserved starring role following his turn in the under-seen Human Giant. He’s an Asian-American in a rare U.S. comedy that, shockingly, doesn’t fall back on casual racism for laughs.
There aren’t many episodes to choose from in this short first season, but finale Rock Show is the highlight, where Poehler and Schneider invest some genuine emotion and the series ends in the unhurried, unforced manner it does best. Like Community, another cult NBC comedy, Parks relies on the warmth of its characters and their relationships to keep us interested, and is refreshingly free of cynicism. Only six episodes in, Parks and Recreation makes its mark as a defiantly upbeat comedy about people power and the American can-do spirit.
Extras are few – there are deleted scenes and music videos, but no behind-the-scenes looks at the process of whittling 40 minute shows down to 20 minutes. The option to watch Rock Show in its extended form gives an interesting insight into what gets lost in the editing process, as well as a further glimpse at the cast’s expert improvisation skills. That the longer episode offers hilarious new moments of its own is a testament to both the actors and writers.
Brogan Morris – Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the young princes. Follow Brogan on Twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion.
Originally published April 1, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
