Parks and Recreation: Season One

 

 

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"This is where the rubber of government meets the actual road of human beings." Or not.

Being produced by the same people as the gutsplitting "The Office" gives mockumentary/comedy "Parks and Recreation" a lot to live up to. Fortunately its first season is a solid little intro to a promising series -- the first couple episodes are a bit scattershot comically, but it really takes off by the middle of the season. And Amy Poehler is nothing short of amazing.

Ambitious Leslie Knopes (Poehler) is a middle-level, rather clueless manager in the Parks and Recreation department. When a nurse named Amy Perkins (Rashida Jones) tells her of a vast abandoned pit that caused her loutish boyfriend Andy to break both his legs, Leslie smells an opportunity.

Her goal: fill in the pit and turn it into a nice little park "even if it takes two months" (as Amy puts it). So she forms a little committee including Ann, the cynical, lecherous Tom (Aziz Ansari), her indifferent crush (and onetime fling) Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider), and perpetually bored college intern April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza); their committee is overseen by anti-government government official Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman).

Unfortunately, they have some problems on the way: Attempts to canvass supporters go awry when Leslie ends up alienating a bunch of people, and Pawnee Journal reporter gets ahold of some very unflattering information about the project (including that Andy was drunk when he fell in the pit). Then Leslie's attempts to get some clout at her mother's award ceremony go painfully awry (along with her fashion sense), and trying to join the boys' club leads to an alcohol scandal courtesy of the wine-guzzling April. And Andy's first post-cast rock concert is disrupted by love life problems that lead to a nasty breakup.

"Parks and Recreation" takes a couple of episodes to warm up to its full comic potential, since the first couple episodes are sort-of-funny-but-not-hilarious, and sprinkled with mockumentary dialogue. Halfway through, the writers really hit their stride, and the show becomes very funny.

It's got the mockumentary mix of awkward situations (Leslie and an embarrassed Ann being mistaken for lesbians) and weird dialogue delivered with a straight face ("I'd go to a banquet in honor of those Somali pirates if they served bacon wrapped shrimp"). And it's got lots of hilarious jokes that are played absolutely straight at all times, such as the macabre and disturbing historical murals that fill the town hall ("That's the great thing about Indians back then -- they used every part of the pioneer"). You don't see most of them coming (example: a pro-park person who is gradually revealed to be a sicko pervert).

Amy Poehler is absolutely brilliant as Leslie, a clueless but kind woman, who vastly overestimates her own importance and that of local government. Sometimes Leslie crosses the line between naive and dumb, but Poehler makes her likable and passionately conscientious. And she can say the weird stuff ("To this day, I am haunted by those remaining penises") with a straight face.

She also has a very good supporting cast, particularly Jones as the straight-woman who is just immersing herself in the world of politics, Chris Pratt as the lazy Andy, and the deliciously barbed woman-chaser Tom. But some of the characters aren't really fleshed out in full -- April has no dimensions beyond bored snotty teen, and Mark only really gets some good development in the last episode.

"Parks and Recreation: Season One" starts off rather slow for a few episodes, but it has plenty of promise and loads of funny ("This is a childrens slide. You're not allowed to sleep here"). And it shows signs of getting really, really good.

Love the show, the price was great so I would have been silly not to get it. But there were only 6 or so episodes on this disc, I guess that's due to how the show aired. Just wasn't expecting it. It would have been usefull to have a running time of the disc or number of episodes posted in the info section.

I bought this for my mom. She's watched 1 epsiode so far and enjoyed it. The only thing I wanted to comment about was that there's only 6 episodes in the first season. I wasn't aware of this when I purchased the DVD, so I think the price is a bit high for only 6 episodes.

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4.0 out of 5 stars great show!
Awesome show. Original and funny. Great for the whole family. One of the few shows we can all watch and enjoy- from the adults to the tweens. Worthwhile purchase.

Published 7 months ago by kateychic

2.0 out of 5 stars Six, 20 minute episodes, should not be sold separately as a whole season
With only 6 episodes "season 1" should have been paired with "season 2". I feel like I was taken advantage of. Poor way to make extra money. It was okay but season 3 is better.

Published 9 months ago by Chris S

2.0 out of 5 stars has it's moments
Not as funny as I thought. Amy Poehler is hilarious and carrys the show. Amazing how quick it was to watch the whole season waiting for it to turn into something more then just... Read more

Published 13 months ago by joe swanson

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