Tag Archives: Parks and Rec

Earlier in the week, I took a big shot at NBC due to their decision to make Parks and Rec a midseason replacement next year in favor of the horrendous looking Outsourced (anyone else cringe during that commercial for it last night?), but I think I’ll do it again. Good job NBC, you’re going to bench you best comedy, which is already in production of its second season. That’s right, NBC renewed a show early to put it into production early, and now they’re going to let the episodes they’re filming RIGHT NOW sit for SEVEN MONTHS. As I said during the Conan Debacle, it’s no surprise you’re in last place.

Now that that’s out of my system, let’s talk “Freedy Spaghetti.” When we last left Pawnee, President Bartlett had decided to call the Republican Speaker’s bluff and the government was shut down completely. As a result, state auditors Ben and Chris are visited each day by Leslie, despite her status as non-essential personnel. Making matters worse for our Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation, she isn’t seeing her friends, the people of Pawnee are furious that they can’t use the parks and have to have their kids in their homes, and Mark has taken an offered buyout and is leaving city hall to pursue work in the private sector. Leslie gets pushed over the edge though when the budget crisis causes the cancellation of a concert by Freddy Spaghetti, a children’s singer that does songs with pasta in them (“Penne and the Jets” was my favorite).

Not to be deterred, Leslie rounds up the Parks Department and Anne, and manages to get the concert set up on the Lot Formerly Known as The Pit. Little does she know however that in city hall, Ron, who was previously thinking of ways to slash the city budget for his personal delight, is vigorously defending Leslie’s job which Ben wants to do away with. It’s here that he lets slip the fact that Leslie is setting up the concert on her own. This rattles Ben, but Ron gets there first to warn Leslie, who stands up for their work, saying it was all done with donations.

The only problem? When the concert was canceled, Freddy Spaghetti booked another gig. At a library. Not to worry, there’s Andy’s band, Mouse Rat! They can just substitute “sex” or “pickle” in the song “Sex Hair,” and they’re set! The problems are solved for about 30 seconds, when Any promptly crashes his new motorcycle and breaks his hand. It appears that Leslie is going to have to go on for the crowd, when out of nowhere, Freddy Spaghetti shows up and tells her Ben offered to pay for him, and since it was more than those bastards at the library, he was happy to do it. For the second episode in a row, Ben and Leslie put their differences aside and realize that the other is just trying to prove they can do their job as best as possible.

On the romantic front, April is still pissed at Andy from her birthday, and when he finally tells her that he likes her in a “romantical” kind of way, she says she likes him too, but they can’t go out, not if he still has any feelings for Ann. Anneherself is busy rejecting the advances of Chris, telling herself its because she always does something crazy after a break up, which sorta makes sense I guess? Anyway, when Andy is in the hospital, she gets sentimental and kisses him, something she immediately regrets. Upon hearing the news of the accident, April rushes to the hospital, tells Andy she was wrong, that they can go out, and they share an awkward but really sweet kiss. Unfortunately, poor Andy does the right thing by telling her about Ann’s kiss, and April runs out on him. Tom meanwhile is very happy with his new girlfriend Lucy, but his world kind of falls apart at the end when he discovers that Ron has slept with his ex-wife. That’s cold Swanson.

The episode ended on a bit of a sweet note, as Mark and Leslie share a moment at The Lot, but in a much more bittersweet way than the one they shared at the Pit last season. Mark gives his vote of confidence in Leslie and leaves her with a set of plans for a park to go on The Lot. It was a sweet ending for a manic episode and season, and a nice goodbye for the departing Paul Schneider.

Overall, “Freddy Spaghetti” felt a little rushed (perhaps the online “producers cut” will fix that, much as the one for last week did), but it was a good episode of a show that a year ago was largely unimpressive. The change that Parks and Rec went through this season has been noted virtually everywhere, but it’s worth noting again how great it became. It’s finally didn’t have a “whoa!” moment like Community, but there’s a lot set up for next season that will really great to see. Parks and Rec for me has become what The Office was in it’s second and third season: and ensemble comedy that has as much heart and emotion as it does laugh out loud humor. It’s going to be a very long wait before we go back to Pawnee, but in the meantime, share Parks and Rec with your friends to help out the best comedy on TV.

Other Notes:

- Ron’s gunshot ringtone was amazing. I loved how amused he was at everyone’s terror.

- A chicken leg wrapped in bacon is called a Swanson.

- “What am I going to do with my kids, keep them in my house?  Where I live?”

- “Suck it, Paris, France!”

- One last Jerry joke before the season ends, and it was a good one.

- Favorite moments of the season? I couldn’t think of just one…I’ll share some in the comments section, and you should too!

Michael’s Score: 81

TUiW Grade: A-

Here it is folks, the first episode with Rob Lowe and Adam Scott! NBC has been touting the arrival of Lowe over the last two weeks, but it turns out, at least in this first episode, that it was Scott who was getting the bigger role. That didn’t matter as much to me as the question of how the show would do with integrating the new characters without messing up the winning formula they figured out this season. I wasn’t too worried after Michael Shur and Gregg Daniels seamless did the same for The Office in its third season. Good news: it worked out better than imagined.

“The Master Plan” revolved around two overlapping plots: the arrival of two state auditors (Lowe and Scott) and April’s 21st Birthday. The arrival of the auditors instantly frustrates Leslie, who thinks they’re going to come in and slash everything and fire everyone, as thought that fills Ron with giggling glee. While Lowe is the charming, handsome health supplement lover that points and makes eye contact to try and remember people’s names, Scott’s Ben is a more serious guy that blames the faulty Pawnee government for all the problems. Leslie lashes out at him harshly for asserting such a thing as Ron wonders what’s a “non-gay way to ask him to go camping with me.”

April’s 21st Birthday is a moment that she and Andy accept her as an adult, which means they two could get together. Andy has always seemed to be the one that was resistant to the idea, so knowing that he actually did like April was kind of sweet. Meanwhile, Ann and Mark have officially broken up, and though she’s glad for that fact, she also seems a little bummed that it didn’t work out. Tom too has a lot hedging on the party, as he’s invited several girls with the hopes that he’ll hook up with one of them.

The party doesn’t quite pan out the way that anybody wants it to. April and Andy have a tentative hello that seems to indicate things will go in the right direction, but then a really drunk Ann grabs Andy and starts talking to him about their relationship. April sees this and in the same jealousy we saw at the telethon, grabs the douche-supreme Jean Ralfio, which clearly does the trick on Andy, though both he and April end up pretty sad about it. Tom is striking out with every girl he’s brought with him, and as I said, Ann is really really drunk. It was finally a chance for Rashida Jones to get some big comic moments this season. I’ve felt she’s the most underused character on the show, and I was glad to see her get a really funny moment. If all of this weren’t bad enough, Leslie tells Ben to get out, and for the second time is really mean to him.

The next morning everything is vastly more complicated. Ann apparently made out with someone, but can’t remember who (her brief scare that it was Jerry was hilarious), and Leslie has to face the facts with Ben. After berating him again, they go out for a beer (at 10:30) to figure stuff out. Ben reveals who he really is: a guy who became mayor of his small Wisconsin town when he was 18, and subsequently ran it into the ground. Ever since, he’s been working as an auditor to try and prove he can be responsible when running a government, something Leslie can get behind, so she drops her beef.

April is still pretty upset about the whole deal with Andy, and there’s a great scene where Ron tries to comfort her despite neither of them wanting that to happen, and somehow there’s an understanding that was some great silent comedy between Nic Offerman and Aubrey Plaza. Andy too is a little heartbroken, as he plays his song for April, “November,” which was incredibly sweet, even though it was in Andy’s usual Dave Matthews style. Tom is the one that truly comes out on top, as he meets a cute bartender, Lucy (Natalie Morales), when he goes to settle his bar tab from the night before, and they share a few laughs over awkward, inappropriate sex jokes. He successfully asks her out, and it’s all capped off by a goofy excited smile from Aziz Ansari that absolutely killed me.

Back at City Hall, Ann discovers it was Rob Lowe who she made out with. Though he definitely was excited about seeing her again, she appeared to be super embarrassed about the whole thing. Leslie and Ron go in for their meeting with the auditors, and though they’re submitted a pretty good proposal for cutting the budget, they found out the government of Pawnee is being shut down, the product of a budget crisis. Predictably, though also hilariously, Leslie reacts in utter horror while Ron stifles girlish giggles.

“The Master Plan” was yet another example of why Parks and Rec is the best comedy on TV right now. It had a solid story that was full of laughs and was so well put together. Rob Lowe’s goofy character at first seemed about out of his range, but as he popped up more and more, I realized he’s absolutely perfect for it. Ben has shades of Scott’s other notable character, Henry Pollard on Party Down (I really wanted someone to ask him, “Are we having fun yet?!”), but he seems like he’ll perfectly fit in on the show. I really defy you to find a better “please get together” couple than Andy and April on TV, and Amy Pohler has really made Leslie one of my favorite characters on TV right now. Parks and Rec is firing at all cylinders going into the finale, and I’m really excited to see where they go from here.

Michael’s Score: 96

TUiW Grade: A

One of the best things that Parks and Rec has been able to do is keep fictional Pawnee a small town while giving it the adventures of a larger government. Take for example the episode earlier this season when they get a visit from a delegation from their sister city in Venezuela. One one level, it seems natural to have a foreign sister city as a way of trying to bolster your little city. On another, it was a chance for them to have a “diplomacy” episode, and jest about international relations. The same goes for the reoccurring jokes about Pawnee Today, a public access show that seemingly no one and every one watches. Some things like that don’t seem to be all Leslie’s warped view on local government, as everyone else gets as invested.

“Telethon” was yet another perfect example of that. Leslie volunteered herself and the Parks Department (and Ann) to work the annual Diabetes Telethon, and picking the 2-6am slot for them to do all their work. Leslie is typically excited, making everyone t-shirts that say “Let’s Die-a-beat This,” (four hours coming up with the slogan, four hours embroidering the shirts), while the rest of the gang has absolutely no interest in staying up all night, particularly Jerry, who was hoping for some private time with his wife. Before the telethon, Mark shares the news with Leslie that he’s considering proposing to Ann, news that elates Leslie and sends her into a tizzy of outlandish ideas of how he should do it.

Leslie’s plan for the telethon is simple: Tom picks up their special guest, former Indiana Pacer Detlef Schrempf, brings him to the telethon, and they make a ton of money for diabetes while she eats Nutriyum Bars to stay awake. All of this sounds good in theory until Tom decides to take Detlef Schrempf to the club where he gets drunk on two light beers and delays the telethons big draw. Also, Ron can’t help answer phones because he needs a solid five hours of sleep, and has a condition called sleep fighting, which isn’t too bad, unless he’s losing the fight. In an effort to try and save the floundering telethon, Leslie convinces Mark to propose to Ann on the air.

To stall for time before either Mark proposes or Tom and Detlef Schrempf show up, Leslie has Mouse Rat play early, counts how many times a flipped coin goes heads or tails, has Ron demonstrating how to fix a chair, and has Jerry play the piano, which despite its beauty, hilariously had the rest of the Parks Department covering their ears in agony. Ann finally wrangles Leslie to talk, as she’s been trying to all episode and reveals that she wants to break up with Mark, which complicates things even more. In her panic as Mark comes up on stage, Leslie decides the only way to stall is for everybody to drop their pants, which she does for the second time on Pawnee Today this season. In the end, she convinces Mark that proposing on TV was a bad idea without revealing that Ann wants to break up, and Tom finally brings Detlef Schrempf, who donates $5000, and puts Leslie past her $20,000 goal.

Wondering about April and Andy, the most bizarre “please let them get together!” couple of all time? After being enthralled by a Mouse Rat performance, April tries to make Andy jealous by aggressively flirting with a random caller and asking him to come down. It doesn’t phase Andy, who asks in perfect ignorance if April was talking to a girl. Unfortunately for April, the guy actually comes down to the station, and turns out to be a creeptastic Sewage Department worker (another nice callback), and when he gets aggressive, Andy steps in and defends April, giving her a rare smile. I think what has made this whole plot so convincing and fun to watch has been Aubrey Plaza and Chris Prat, who play their characters so well. The fact that Andy and April are such complete opposite makes at least April’s crush seem so interesting to watch.

All in all, “Telethon” was a good summation of where Parks and Rec has headed this season for a lot of reasons. The episode (written by Amy Poehler) had a litany of callbacks (everyone hates Jerry, Sweetums/Nutriyum, Pawnee Today, Ron’s woodworking, Mouse Rat, the tax class teacher, Leslie’s hatred of salad), none of which bogged down the episode’s singular plot. Much like The Office did in its first season, the larger stories (Ann and Mark, April and Andy) are accessories to the episodic plot. While you may wonder what’s next for Ann and Mark, you’re so focused on laughing through this disaster ridden telethon that it’s not the first thing in your mind. I’ve said it all year, and I’ll say it again: tell your friends to watch this show.

Other Notes:

-Donna on the phone was hilarious. She’s the best one-liner character on the show, hands down.

-Parks and Rec also has some of the best opens and closes in all of TV. Tonight was no exception with Ron and the puppy and Leslie’s unwakable sleep.

-Big changes are afoot in these final episodes with the addition of Rob Lowe and Adam Scott as two auditors coming in to keep the Parks Department financially afloat. I look forward to seeing what the show does with this (and another, which I won’t mention because it’s kind of a spoiler) pretty significant change.

Michael’s Score: 85

TUiW Grade: A-