Parks and Recreation turns 15: Why its "bad" Season 1 deserves reevaluation

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https://www.indiewire.com/features/c...on-1234972018/

"Parks and Recreation debuted April 9, 2009, just three months after Barack Obama’s inauguration," says Jon O'Brien. "A perfect alignment, one might think, considering how much the NBC sitcom embodied the 44’s 'Yes we can' spirit. However, the tone of its much-neglected, much-derided first season was more akin to the Bush era: cynical, polarizing, and slightly clueless. Subsequently, its opening six episodes have largely been consigned to history: the general advice to newcomers is skip them entirely and start with the sunnier second season. But while the show undoubtedly benefited from its course correction, its initial glimpse into the fictional Pawnee’s madcap P&R department isn’t the disaster often purported." Season 1, says O'Brien, nails "the inanity and ineffectiveness of local bureaucracy from the get-go, opening, as it does, with Leslie treading through sandpits surveying nonplussed tweens." Plus, there's "also one all-time great episode in finale 'Rock Show,'" says O'Brien. "Here, both the writers and Poehler realize how Leslie works best, toning down her occasional shrillness and overzealousness and, thanks to an accidental date with a sixty-something Everly Brothers fan, making her more sympathetic than ever before." O'Brien adds: "Luckily, NBC gave Parks another season to further find its footing. But its first season remains a solid introduction to where, as eventual great Ms. Knope says herself, “the rubber of government meets the road of actual human beings."
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• Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt are among the greatest sitcom couples of all time: “'I love you and I like you' is a deceptively simple message that epitomizes the couple at the heart of Parks And Recreation," says Saloni Gajjar. "Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) use this phrase in their wedding vows to remind each other of an undemanding fact: They see each other for who they are and genuinely accept it, warts quirks and all. Ben and Leslie do something unique throughout their relationship: They never attempt to change each other. There’s only unfettered support, trust, horniness, and political dreams aplenty. The dynamic is unlikely yet believably wholesome, a word that also nicely describes the NBC comedy itself, which premiered exactly 15 years ago today...It’s hard to imagine a Parks And Rec without Scott, whose addition in late season two transformed the trajectory of Greg Daniels’ series. The romance starts with angry banter (a closed-off Ben is there to lay off Leslie’s beloved coworkers, after all) before they seamlessly bond over a wallflower mural, a Harvest Festival, and a desire to run for office. A million such cute, considerate details form their relationship’s crux, and thankfully, there’s no needless drama or forced fights. Instead, they make it a priority to understand and show up for each other in realistic ways."
  
• Is Leslie Knope still a progressive in 2024?
  
• Read a 15th anniversary oral history of Parks and Rec: Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman used to make out every year for the blooper reel