Parks & Recreation Season 2 (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

My favorite part was Leslie's sleep-deprived summary of an old "Friends" episode. It was even funnier for me because I misheard "What were Ross & Rachel doing: oh yeah, fighting" as "What were Ross & Rachel doing? oh yeah, fucking"


Everything about this half-hour was gold.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I saw Anne breaking up with Mark coming from a mile away.


I believe they were supposed to be the "super couple" like Jim and Pam on "The Office." Then everyone kind of fell in love with Andy and April.

 

[Hanson]

I saw it coming too, but moreso because the actor was leaving the show.


Talk about an actor and a role that never clicked. The romantic tension with Leslie in season 1 never worked, and then coupling with Anne never worked. He just faded into the background and decided to leave.


Andy was useless in season 1 because he spent most of the time in casts and on Anne's couch. But he totally eclipsed Mark this season and basically took all of his airtime.


We'll see if they can do anything to resuscitate Anne next season. The big problem is that they have one of the principals working outside of the Parks and Rec offices in what is a workplace comedy. The role itself doesn't make any sense.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Andy was arguably the best character in season one, useless or not. He was certainly the only one who got a consistent laugh out of me in those bleak days.


Agree with you about Ann. She's never really fit well into the show.

 

[Hanson]

Well, everyone was useless in season one. I'm just sayin' that Andy is a much better character this season and he didn't have a lot to do in season one.


I will say that the only laugh I got the entire first season was Andy reciting the history of all of the band names.

 

[joshEH]

Drunk Rashida Jones is adorable. I will not hear otherwise.

And, yay, Natalie Morales -- recurring character, I hope.

I love how gleefully excited Ron got about the coming budget cuts.


When Ann was trying to figure out who she made out with, did anyone else think it would turn out to be April?

(...Just me? Yeah, I suppose I'm like that.)

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm not sure how I feel about the introduction of Rob Lowe and Adam Scott. On one hand, I'm not really going to miss Paul Schneider, whose role had already been scaled back to virtually nothing. On the other hand, I feel like they finally had this ensemble working as a well-oiled machine, and now they shake things up completely.


Adam Scott in particular is kind of a let down, just because I doubt what he'll be doing here will come close to what he would have done on a season three of Party Down. His role here is almost a parody of his Party Down character: guy who achieves early success followed by humiliation is now slumming it again while he tries to figure out where to go from here. Except, teenage mayor is way more ridiculous than failed actor. And Leslie Knope is no Casey Klein.


On the other hand, I agree completely with Josh about Natalie Morales. She was completely wasted on White Collar, and she adds something interesting here.

 

[Hanson]

P&R not on the NBC fall schedule. Replaced for the fall by Outsourced.


P&R is planned as a mid-season replacement, so the earliest we'll get to see it is Jan '11. That seems really far away. There may have been some consideration for Amy Pohler's maternity leave.


Oh, and my favorite line from the telethon episode was, "and that's a quick look, at Quick Book... sss Pro." I've been laughing at that for two weeks now.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo

P&R not on the NBC fall schedule. Replaced for the fall by Outsourced.


P&R is planned as a mid-season replacement, so the earliest we'll get to see it is Jan '11. That seems really far away.

Unless "Outsourced" bombs. Somehow I don't see Americans gathering around the TV for a laugh with the people who are taking their jobs.


Hopefully the delay means that Adam Scott will be able to squeeze in a third season of "Party Down" before he's due back.

 

[Hanson]

I don't think they will be able to crank up production on P&R just like that if Outsourced fails. Unless they have some episodes in the can, I doubt we will see P&R until next year.

When Ann was trying to figure out who she made out with, did anyone else think it would turn out to be April?

I was convinced it was Tom Haverford. Speaking of whom, I do not know who this Natalie Morales is, but she is smoking hot.

 

[John_Lee]

Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo

Speaking of whom, I do not know who this Natalie Morales is, but she is smoking hot.

She was nice enough looking as Agent Cruz in White Collar, but was constrained by the Bureau's regimen regarding dress and hairstyle. Her current digs on P&R certainly unleashed something . . . smoking.

 

[Citizen87645]

She also played Wendy Watson in the Middleman.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Dub-Dub!

 

[EricW]

I love how gleefully excited Ron got about the coming budget cuts.

i thought it was completely out of character... Ron loves inefficiency and bureaucracy. why would he champion moves that would force things to be more efficient? if you take away half the workforce, the remaining people will just half to make up for it (or at least be more accountable since there's fewer to blame).

 

[Zack Gibbs]

Originally Posted by EricW
i thought it was completely out of character... Ron loves inefficiency and bureaucracy. why would he champion moves that would force things to be more efficient? if you take away half the workforce, the remaining people will just half to make up for it (or at least be more accountable since there's fewer to blame).

You don't get Ron at all!!!!


Rofl, from the City of Pawnee website;


"Ron Swanson has been Director of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department for six years. Ron believes in the elimination of government waste and has always brought the department in under budget. In 2007, the Parks and Rec department spent zero dollars and sixty cents out of its discretionary fund, still a citywide record. The sixty cents were spent on a soda.


Ron has closed many unnecessary recreational spaces during his tenure, including the Portola Skate Park, the Grice Dog Run, the Morris-Easton Observatory, the Mohanga Native American Heritage Center, and most public drinking fountains"

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The irony of Ron Swanson is that he thrives on the inefficiency and bureaucracy of government, even as he despises the inefficiency and bureaucracy of government. He's gleeful about Adam Scott taking a hatchet to municipal government -- as long as his job isn't one of the ones on the chopping block.

 

[EricW]

i see your point and stand corrected

 

[joshEH]

"They're coming!!" "The Russians?"


Really great episode. It totally sets up the characters for what's coming in Season 3. Rob Lowe is just a revelation.


I do wonder how many times Lowe has to display his chops before he gets his due credit. He was great in the TV version of The Stand, he's hilarious every time he hosts SNL, he more than held his own with Sorkin's incredibly difficult and stagy dialogue on The West Wing, he was awesome wearing a kimono in Thank You For Smoking, and he's become a scene-stealer in a show filled with scene-stealers. (And does a mean Robert Wagner impression, to boot.)


For a guy who started out as a vacuous and dubious pretty-boy, I'm amazed at what a capable, funny, and interesting actor he's become. But yeah, he's hysterical here.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I do love the irony that Lowe's character is basically useless fat on a two-person team of state auditors sent to cut the fat. The shot where Leslie's talking while Andy drives his crotch rocket into an uncoming car in the background had me laughing harder and longer than anything in a very long time. I also loved the classic Andy way of clearing the air that left Ann humiliated and April furious. I don't think it would have been possible for him to explain himself more poorly.


I was glad to see Ron standing up for Leslie.

 

[joshEH]

Also:


"...They call this 'The Swanson'."


Edited to add: