Television Archive

Before we get started. Some advice from the one and only Ron Swanson.

Episode Rating: 3 stars (out of 5) 

Summary: Parks & Recreation’s 5th season has yet to make me laugh excessively like so many episodes of the previous seasons succeded in doing.  I know we’re only two episodes into it but I would rank what we’ve seen thus far in the average to slightly above average range.  This doesn’t mean that Parks & Rec isn’t funny at all anymore, nor does it mean that the writers have lost their touch.  My expectations are set at the point where I think I should laugh at every scene, because I’ve done it in the past with this show consistently.  I also know that I owe it way more than the benefit of the doubt than for two episodes, I’d say more like two seasons.  So I’m going to do that and interpret what I’ve seen as a couple of building-block episodes where we see our main characters going through changes in a new job.  

Leslie (Amy Poehler) and her boyfriend, who appears to be now-main character, Ben (Adam Scott) tackle the ins-and-outs of stress as she makes her first amendment as city councilor of Pawnee and he struggles with his newfound power.  Specifically in his D.C. office where he struggles to keep a grip on his interns, all spoiled from being well-connected.  These two storylines are hilarious in spots as Leslie’s bill, a “soda tax” in which she attacks the local restaurants sugar advertising including a 128-oz. soda option (Leslie puts it over her head at one point).  When she seeks Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) out for advice the two have an enlighteningly funny conversation about how Ron tried to fire her for being “too bubbly”, and more than once.  Those are just some of the gags as April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza), who serves as Ben’s intern in D.C., provides the right amount of comedic nonchalance to offset his uppity, over-worked, and stressed-out attitude 

Cast MVP: This week’s cast MVP goes to April Ludgate.  This was a classic example of how Aubrey Plaza can sometimes rise over and steal the show from the rest of the cast.  In this instance she was hilarious because Ben was overly-ridiculous about his work this week.  Let’s be real, he’s always stressed in some way but is most funny when he’s not stressed about work, rather life instead.  She provided her signature deadpan, off-kilter humor to offset him.  At the end of the episode in which she finally set Ben’s intern in line revived this week’s show to a 3-star rating for me.

Season 5 of NBC’s hit comedy Parks & Rec premiered on Thursday giving us all more of what we wanted. Yes it’s Knope.

Episode Rating: 3 1/2 stars (out of 5)

Summary:  I’m excited to say that the Parks & Recreation gang is back Thursdays on NBC.  I’m going to avoid spoilers throughout my recap of this season so I figure instead of telling you everything that happened I’d give a brief synopsis.  Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) fulfilled her life-long dream last season when she ran for and was elected into public office, with it came the departure of her boyfriend Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) who has left Pawnee, Indiana to run congressional campaigns in Washington, D.C..  I believe this was the first episode to partially take place outside of the small midwestern town as Leslie set off to visit her now long-distance boyfriend.  Meanwhile back in Pawnee, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) tries his best to run a low-maintenance employee-appreciation barbecue with disheveled employees used to being “pampered” by Leslie during said annual barbecue.  The premiere had a little of everything you’d expect a character-driven comedy like this one to have, and while it didn’t shine as bright as a lot of Parks & Rec episodes it served as a good selling-point for the issues the characters are trying to tackle this season.  As in, long distance relationships, newfound political power, workplace humor & bonding (which is a given), and Tom Haverford’s (Aziz Ansari) new business ideas.

Cast MVP:  Introducing a new section of our TV reviews, this is the (drumroll, please)… CAST MVP!  Each week we will pick one person from a given show based on their performance.  For this week’s Parks & Rec I’d probably be an idiot not to pick John McCain in what was a seriously funny 10-second cameo.  However I will go with beloved castmember Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) for getting the most laughs consistently with me this week with his signature dumb-guy humor.  The part where he throws an important item of Leslie’s into the water in front of the Washington Monument was vintage Andy and Parks & Rec humor.