By Zack Gill
Staff Writer
The first season of NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” was a lazy copy-paste of “The Office” (from the same creators, to boot), with a somewhat charismatic performance from lead Amy Poehler.
In its second season, the show rose from its own ashes with better writing than “The Office” and work from an incredible ensemble.
After the uproar of the show’ replacement by NBC’s critically derided “Outsourced” in September, “Parks and Recreation” began its third season on Jan. 20, and with two episodes already aired, it looks to be even better than its stellar second season.
Amy Poehler plays Leslie Knope, an employee of the parks and recreation department in the fictional town of Pawnee. Over the past two seasons, she’s been attempting to build a new park with the assistance of her boss, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), an overly charismatic, womanizing employee Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), and her best friend Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones).
Season two spotlighted many supporting actors. The best storyline on “Parks and Recreation” has become the blossoming relationship between sardonic intern April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and homeless shoe-shiner Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt). With a romance more genuine (and less condescending) than Jim and Pam from “The Office,” Plaza’s sarcasm and Pratt’s excellent physical comedy constantly charm.
As new members of the “Parks and Recreation” cast, Lowe and Adam Scott portray auditors gauging the value of Pawnee’s parks department after the city goes bankrupt. Lowe’s portrayal of an overly enthusiastic, people-pleasing health nut is of Emmy caliber.
The two best performances on the show come from Poehler and Offerman. As lazy boss Ron Swanson, Offerman drolly delivers one-liners with excellent timing and commitment to character. It’s amazing to audiences that he can keep a straight face during them.
However, it’s Poehler as lead Leslie Knope that provides “Parks and Recreation” with its emotional center. With impeccable comedic timing developed through her years of improv experience, Poehler portrays Knope with an affectionate, sweet awkwardness that evokes “The Office” but feels significantly less mean-spirited.
Indeed, that’s where “Parks and Recreation” and “The Office” have truly begun to diverge. Many characters in “The Office” are cruel and, at times, flat-out unlikable, with recent seasons turning characters like Rainn Wilson’s Dwight into increasingly obtuse caricatures. “Parks and Recreation,” despite often being goofier than “The Office,” has consistently likable realistic characters.
“Parks and Recreation” has been slowly but surely surpassing “30 Rock” and “The Office” as NBC’s greatest half-houry comedy series. It’s also significantly warmer than “Community” and doesn’t need to rely on pop-culture puns nearly as often as other shows on the network.
“Parks and Recreation” is subtly warm and consistently hilarious. It airs on NBC every Thursday at 9:30 p.m.
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