Parks & Recreation – Season 1

Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) is the deputy head of the Parks and Recreation department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Knope takes on a project with the nurse Ann (Rashida Jones) to turn a construction pit into a park, after Ann’s loser boyfriend Andy (Chris Pratt) fell into the pit and broke both his legs. Meanwhile Leslie has to deal with her colleagues: the strongly anti-government Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), the charming, but sarcastic, underachieving government official Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), her unrequited love interest and ex one night stand Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider), and the apathetic college intern April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza).

Episode 1: Pilot
I heard about the negative critics fro the series. I heard about its past (a potential spin off from The Office, than the series got no pickup, now it’s here) and I love Amy Poehler. Finally she has her own TV show and hopefully it gets success for a second season. Because the first episode was really good. Another mockumentary (but with too much cuts between the cameras), here and there some funny moments, the typical new character and finally Amy Poehler as Leslie (“A bit goofy, but sweet”). There were some really good moments I liked and it is not boring. So, I am glad that the negative critics are all bull for me. 8/10

Episode 2: Canvassing
A good episode, but here you can see that the story and the characters are very over the top. First: I don’t know why everybody would be against the park (isn’t it always nice to have a new park?), second: The town hall meeting was really a total train wreck (and finally I know what Filibuster means, the word came up in The West Wing once). A little bit realism and the series would be better, but maybe it was intended to be a bit over the top. But it is still fun and the actors are good. I am already happy about the second season order. 7/10

Episode 3: The Reporter
The episode was alright, but the series doesn’t feel like a “real” mockumentary anymore. The characters don’t look into the camera and it is just there for the little interview parts. The stories are now totally over the top and the characters are total crazy in their own ways. I don’t know if the series can hold that interesting for a long time (it killed My Name is Earl for me…). At least there is an on going storyline going on, probably for the whole series, so there are a few chances we will get some filler episodes.
Okay, this one was one, but still good for a few moments. 6,5/10

Episode 4: Boys Club
The episode was alright, nothing special, but shows once more that it is not a mockumentary anymore; the scene with throwing dog shit at each other wouldn’t have made it into the mind of a good author. And why would April drink a lot of wine, filming this and put it on the official site? Completely over the top, like the beginning of the episode and Leslie’s “I’m sorry”’s on video. The B story with Andy cleaning the house was good though, the scene with him running through the street naked (censored) was hilarious. 6/10

Episode 5: The Banquet
Another alright episode with nothing much happened. The sub committee story totally stepped out for this episode, instead we had a boring story about Leslie trying to blackmail a woman (and completely fails) and some other small stuff, which could be necessary for future episodes, especially for a relationship between Leslie and Mark – if there is one, after he went back to the party to look for her. The rest was over the top as usual. A bit funny, a bit interesting and not really bad. Just not really good either. 6,5/10

Episode 6: Rock Show
LOL, Leslie on a date, even she didn’t know at the beginning it was a date. Just the rest was kind of boring. The over the top part seems to be one of the major story ideas for the authors, either it wouldn’t be too much of strange stories in every episode. The good part of this episode was, it seems like a real season finale. Finally Leslie and Mark going another step (though he is drunk like last time), Andy and Ann are having a fight, which could end in an end of their relationship (he was never a really interesting character before, so I wouldn’t miss him) and we have a little cliffhanger.
Well, or not. The episode was alright, again nothing special. Like the rest of the season. It just not stands out. 6,5/10

Season average is 6,75. I am kind of happy about the second season being picked up, but I don’t know if I can like the series anymore, when it doesn’t change his storytelling ways. Mockumentary is completely okay, but this is too much over the top after a while.
Well, let’s see next year.