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March 28, 2024, 12:48:26 PM

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Parks and Rec is brilliant

Started by AsparagusTrevor, April 08, 2018, 02:36:04 AM

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AsparagusTrevor

My wife and I have started a rewatch on Parks and Rec and it's reiterated to me how brilliant a series it is.

Although I'm a huge fan of black comedy and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia more than satisfies that itch, P&R is a light show which still manages to be witty and also manages to make me feel better just by hearing the theme tune. Plus, Chris Pratt is very talented, musically and comedically, and Rashida Jones is ridiculously attractive.

Basically everyone needs to watch Parks and Rec.

amputeeporn

Got fooled into thinking this with GF for first couple series, then realised I was watching a romantic comedy that was all about how great friends they all were - and that neither myself nor GF had laughed in many, many episodes. Not finished it and won't.

AsparagusTrevor


amputeeporn

For me just goes off a cliff after two series.

Goes from funny to likeable. Fucking annoyed with comedy being likeable these days. It's easy - just emulate the perceived values of your viewers and comfort them, which this starts to do at that point and kicks into overdrive later on.

Started to get a very 'we are comforting you' vibe from this and was not laughing. My two cents, which are by no means the universal experience.

Z

I don't think it has any truly outstanding season but between seasons 2 and 4 there's a lot of very good bits. The links with the best of the Office (US) and King of the Hill are very clear and the cast is mostly great, but the niceness thing is already an issue by then.

It becomes infuriatingly nice after that, starts to feel extremely insincere; coupled with the Jerry bullying it leaves a really horrible taste.

Twed

Would rather be friends with The Gang than any of these horrible cunts.

ajsmith2

I prefer The US Office by a milion miles. Parks and Rec is obviously very very funny and accomplished and that, but it's like this much twee-er concentration of The Office formula,  rounding off all the irregularities and naturally evolving character interplay that for me makes The Office a lot more enduring - I think many of The Office regulars being unknowns and people with no conventional comedy background has a lot to do with this.

To me. the treatment of the group 'losers' Toby and Jerry sums up the difference in the approach of the two - In The Office, only Michael is a complete dick to Toby, and there's a lot of nuance to how the rest of the cast interact with him; in PaR it's this big knowing wink to the audience thing where everyone is a dick to Jerry and that's the natural law of the show; they even have a bit with Ron talking to camera pretty much explaining the set up theyre going for with the Jerry character.

I also think it's a show that's aged particularly quickly and badly over the last few years given the recent changes in political and social attitudes from both left and right. It really exudes a cosy Hollywood liberal consensus of the kind that's been blown apart of late; odd to think that the last series is set in a future 2017 as imagined from 2015, when no one could have conceived of Tr*mp or tons of other stuff that changed in the interim.

AsparagusTrevor

I've never actually watched any of The Office US version, I'm guessing if I like Parks & Rec I'll like that?

ajsmith2

Quote from: AsparagusTrevor on April 08, 2018, 10:38:41 AM
I've never actually watched any of The Office US version, I'm guessing if I like Parks & Rec I'll like that?

Definitely give it a go; the humour style is very similar but it's quite a bit looser and imo less formulaic than PaR. I put off watching it for years cos I thought it would be a retread of the UK version, but I didn't realise that the story goes off on its own direction from episode 2, and that it has probably the richest ensemble cast of any sitcom ever. I'm a diehard who loves it all, but the general opinion is that it goes off the boil about 5/6 seasons in, but definitely check out the early run. Rashida Jones is a regular in season 3 as well, so you'll prob want to get that far at least.

The US Office is great and gets a LOT better after the first season. Andy Bernard is one of my favourite sitcom  characters, once they figure out what to do with him. In his first few appearances (season 3?) he's like a complely different person. The programme soars once you reach prime Nard Dog. Beer me that CD.

pigamus

I got as far as Lesley going to Washington, then got bored and stopped watching. There were some truly great bits along the way though.

I liked it but it's not something I'm gonna rewatch constantly like The Office which is a level above. It definitely peaks around season 3 or 4 when Chris and Ben first show up, after that it runs out of steam towards a bizarre final season which I wasn't keen on. Way too many half baked ideas and 'look it's the future' shit.

Dog Botherer

Liked it a lot on my first watch, but like others have said it's aged very very poorly in the current political climate. There are still some great aspects to it (I absolutely love Ben, not entirely sure why but everything about his character tickles me) but so many characters are already empty caricatures of themselves after a couple of seasons. Plus the Jerry shit never worked, I have no idea how anyone ever thought that was a good idea.

The Office (US) is vastly superior, no question.

ASFTSN

Everyone's quirky and brilliant and great and everyone can eventually become happy and achieve everything they want and it it's all fine and we all love everyone we work with and it's fantastic.


SavageHedgehog

While I agree with the general sentiment that it was a bit sappy, and aged quite poorly very quickly I would say that it might have been a bit ahead of the curve in taking pot shots at MRAs* and to a lesser extent obnoxious jock/bro radio hosts. The pay-off of Lesley's career as a congressman was also quite refreshing.

*Having said that in looking up when this was I found this contemprary article which accused them of soft-blowing the issue and describes it the show as a whole as an "innocuous middlebrow liberal group hug".

Paul Calf

Starts out great, but is subject to the usual American illness that means it has to be squatted on until it stops shitting gold. We watched it from soup to nuts, and the last third passed in a blur.

It basically takes 125 episodes to tell a 50-episode story.

Quote from: AsparagusTrevor on April 08, 2018, 10:38:41 AM
I've never actually watched any of The Office US version, I'm guessing if I like Parks & Rec I'll like that?

Mike Schur was head writer on The Office S2-S4 - you can easily skip the first season altogether, though it's almost found its feet by S1e06.

Gulftastic

I didn't mind the Jerry bashing as the joke of him having an idyllic life outside of the department was always funny. They shouldn't have done the 'biggest penis I've ever seen' line though. That was pointing at the joke. It was much better that there be no explanation for his gorgeous wife other than she just loved the big doofus.

Neville Chamberlain

I'd like to watch Parks & Rec again, properly this time. Only saw bits and bobs of and loved what I saw, but it never became a regular watch for me. I guess moving abroad when it was on didn't help, either.

And yes, the US Office is brilliant.

phantom_power

Schur is on a roll as well because The Good Place is great as well.

Personally I like the feel-good nature of his shows and how they are generally not cruel and look for the best in people and have people trying to be better, as epitomised in The Good Place.