Thursday, December 16, 2010

Park it

Five weeks! Five weeks until Leslie Knope! Five weeks until the return to Pawnee! Five weeks until Ron Freaking Swanson! You’ve been gone too long, “Parks & Recreation.” Never leave me like that again. For those of you unfamiliar with the encroaching joy I feel, please walk out your front door, get in your car (or bike or feet or whatever mode of transportation gets you from Point A to Point B), go to the store, find the DVD aisle and buy the second season of “Parks & Recreation,” get back in your car (or, you know, whatever), go home, close the front door and enjoy. You’ve got plenty of time to marathon the second season and get caught up before the third season starts Jan. 20. You don’t even have to take the time to thank me for my stupendously good advice.

Now, I realize I have been terribly remiss in not talking about my deep and meaningful feelings for this show that much on this site. Everyone knows I love me some “30 Rock,” but coming in an almost uncomfortably close second is the endearing zaniness of the Pawnee City Department of Parks and Recreation and its deputy director, Leslie Knope. This show was easily the most improved series from last year and the perfect one-two comedy punch for my Thursday night. I purposely time-shifted so I could watch my Tina Fey and Amy Poehler back-to-back. It’s like old times seeing them at the SNL anchor desk together again. But now, with “Parks & Rec” moving to 9:30 and “30 Rock” to 10, I won’t have to shift anymore. So as cautiously wary as I am of a 10 p.m. comedy block on NBC again (remember Leno? Better yet, let’s not), I love having them back-to-back naturally.

But back to the show. If you don’t watch you’re missing out on one of the zaniest, biggest-hearted, optimistically goofy shows on television. Yes, “30 Rock” has the urbane, zeitgeisty nerd humor. Yes, “Modern Family” has the rainbow flag of family values. Yes, “Glee” has jazz hands. But “Parks & Rec” has Leslie Knope. She’s like Hillary Clinton’s wildly enthusiastic and affably naive younger sister who makes up for what she lacks in political savvy with earnest hopefulness. Also, like her timeslot neighbor Liz Lemon, is an avowed feminist. That’s two shows on a major network television airing consecutively with female leads who call themselves feminists. Yeah, at this point I think it’s a sin against womankind not to watch.


p.s. I think Ron Swanson might be my spirit animal (minus the hating government stuff – and mustache) because I, too, like pretty, dark-haired women and breakfast food.

6 comments:

Norma Desmond said...

There are no words for how excited I am about Parks & Rec coming back... Just... none.

maddyzero said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
-Kat- said...

Love it! THE WHOLE CAST!

It took me a while to like Ron Swonson, but we're in good terms now. So glad I got my sister to start watching this show too :)

Smart show for smart women :D

Anonymous said...

YES, YES, a million times YES!

Why aren't people watching this show?!

I was hunting trip head-wound Ron Swanson for Halloween and not one person knew who I was.

Shannon Drury said...

I am new to your blog, but holy fucking hell is Parks & Recreation good. No one listens to me when I rave about it, so I hope they will listen to you.

sue said...

i'd never seen parks & recs before yesterday. i found this post and, since you've never steered me in the wrong direction, i decided to fainlly see what it was all about.
i watched the first season and was so disappointed..but you seemed so enthused and said it was so improved in the second season so i decided to forge ahead and watch season 2. LOVED IT!!
now i'm hooked and cannot wait for the new season!
so, thanks :)