The TV Show about the Parks and Recreation Dept. in Pawnee, IN

dothog

dothog

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I'll edit the thread title when the name of the show occurs to me. It's been around long enough, it's got at least one more year (provided NBC decides to air those episodes).

Think your neighbor has a fuller mustache than Ron Swanson? Want to learn the finer points of developing a Tom Haverford/Jay-Z vibe? Are your tits better than Leslie's? Do you believe Joe in Sewers is Pawnee's foremost baller? This thread is the place to ponder these ponderables with your fellow CAGs.

Let's discuss this motherlicker. Get to it.
 
So that was a so-so episode. I don't think I needed another reminder of Leslie's commitment to Pawnee PNR, but yep, I got it, she is definitely committed to Pawnee, PNR, and Ron friggin Swanson. And I don't know how they managed to make a Ron Swanson B-story relatively uninteresting, but they did it, congrats.

Ben -- formerly Boy Mayor -- is getting in the way of things. That 3rd spot in the trip to Eagleton was rightfully Jerry's. Leslie, Tom, Jerry, that's your wrecking crew. Donna's your alternate if Jerry's pants split again or he's had an allergic reaction to strawberries or whatever the hell.

There were times I thought Ben might work. As Tom's reluctant partner in crime, maybe -- basically, as another straightman when Leslie, Ann, or Ron couldn't be around. But to hell with that, we don't need another straightman, especially one as bland as Ben. The character brings nothing to the game. Zero laughs. He's occupying space that belongs to Jerry, Donna, Ron, Tom, Andy, and/or April.

Kill him in a fiery explosion. Or just axe him like they did Mark. If the idea to Ben is that Leslie needs a love interest, screw that, things worked much better with Louis CK or the lawyer guy (name escapes me). Unlucky in Love Leslie is more interesting than Pining over Co-Worker Leslie.

I'm unsure of Rob Lowe's character, his oversight of everyone and what the hell he's doing in Pawnee, but at least Rob Lowe is bringing that weird energy to the screen, giving people something to play off of. And he's brought us Turkey Burgers. When's the last time Ben ever made somebody literally the best Turkey Burger they'd ever had?
 
Not to say the episode didn't have nice touches. The gift bags, etc. I'm just fed up with this Ben dude. He's clearly cutting into my Jerry/Donna time. That is BULLSHIT.

/doublepost
 
Indianapolis is home to Charles Mulligan's Steakhouse, the best damn steakhouse in the damn state. I have taken a picture of every steak I've ever eaten there. ​

June 2004: Porterhouse, medium rare, Bearnaise sauce. ​

January 2000: They call this one, The Enforcer. ​

February '96: The steak ribeye. The Whiskey: Lagavulin 16. The lady next to me? A bitch. Specifically, my ex-wife Tammy. ​

OK, this is the first I ever went there. Look at me. Just a kid.​
 
Yeah, starting at 8:30 CST, just looked it up.

This is literally the most important television broadcast ever.

EDIT: I'd like to learn more about this Jan Cooper lady. Maybe get a little snakejuice in her, see if she'll show me around Whoreville. First ep was good fun (Jean-Ralphio dops in with some almost-rhymes), second was pushing that romance off on us.
 
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Those two episodes were AWESOME. Everyone got a moment to shine. This show is really hitting its stride, along with (surprisingly) Community.
 
[quote name='lombarvm']
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YES. I am glad to see someone has already gif'd this particular sequence.

GET ME ANOTHER SNORK JUICE
 
Ron is a wuss. I didn't cry when I got hit by a school bus when I was seven.

I also didn't get sick when I made tea from park sprinkler water.
 
[quote name='dothog']Tammy one!?[/QUOTE]

I think we finally learned what Tammy Two's kryptonite is. :lol:

Ron's been married now three times - the first Tammy who was teased tonight then Librarian Tammy twice. Not to mention his mother's name is also Tammy.
 
In the commentary on the Ron and Tammy episode (very minor potential spoiler):
Megan Mullaly joked that she should play Tammy One as well, which is interesting given that she bolted the moment T1 appeared.

It's gettin' NERD TRIVIA UP IN HURRRRRRRRR aw yeeeaaaaauh. Bring me my globe collection.
 
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I might have to play back the episodes with audio commentaries this summer. I did listen to the one for the pilot. The only thing I remember was Rashida's acapella rendering of the show's theme at the end of the commentary.... which was classic.
 
I didn't know they had episodes with commentary. I'm gonna check that out. I take it this is on Hulu?

This was a good season, not as good as last season, but still good. I thought Traeger was going to get old after his first few episodes, but he wound up fitting right in. I love his brief exchanges with everyone ("April, that is not a good attitude, I will keep my eye on you").

The rest of the season comes down to the straightmen IMO. As for the straigtmen, Ron F Swanson is unassailable, he is King of all he surveys. Ann doesn't seem as boring as she used to be, they managed to skew her slightly the way they do Ron. Ben's the only real straight-up straigtman, and as a result he isn't working out much like Brandanowitz didn't work out. Part of that might be the forced romance, but still, that character isn't compelling. I think I've made my position on Ben clear enough, so I'll summarize it here: House fire, maybe? Or napalm? Burn that SOB.

I think the only real negative of this season is that there weren't nearly enough appearances from Joe from Sewage. That dude's a force of nature, he is raw sex appeal. MORE JOE, LESS BEN!

Andy had some good lines out of the last two episodes...
"Gases fill the volume of whatever container they're in. School."
"I will give 110% as soon as you repeat yourself in a more interesting way."
Click to expand...

I love the citation on the first, and I'm totally stealing that second one every chance I get.

EDIT: Oh I forgot the most important point from the finale... Are they writing out Tom Haverford and Aziz Ansari? If so, DO NOT WANT.
 
i thought those episodes were sort of a let down after Snake Juice. The first one of the night was definitely weak.
 
Yeah, they were still fun. The first for Traeger's interaction with PNR, and the second for the Lil Sebastian tribute.

I guess what makes both episodes a little so-so is the Ben/Knope thing. It just isn't as entertaining as the writers think it is -- I don't know that this show needs a romance that bad. It's one of those sitcom conventions they're forcing a little too hard, whether it's April/Andy or Ben/Knope, but especially Ben/Knope.

I don't want Knope's relationship with Ben to be one of her projects. I want actual projects (picnics for former PNR directors, tributes to dead midget horses, festivals, unused pits, library/PNR battles, nullifying Greg flippin Pikitis) to be her projects. I liked it better in Season 2, where her love life is usually a weird B or C story. Louis CK was good for that.

EDIT:
Also, Jean-Ralphio is a-flush with cash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxGDPSZR5J0&t=19s

EDIT2:
I don't understand youtube embedding at all...sometimes it takes, sometimes it don't. It's frustratin, yall!
 
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[quote name='dothog']i didn't know they had episodes with commentary. I'm gonna check that out. I take it this is on hulu?[/quote]

Its on the DVD releases only.
 
[quote name='dothog']EDIT: Oh I forgot the most important point from the finale... Are they writing out Tom Haverford and Aziz Ansari? If so, DO NOT WANT.[/QUOTE]

If this happens, the writers have peaked and forgotten one of the primary reasons the show is great to begin with. I'm going to think they are smart enough to avoid that, but you never know. Great comedy writing is difficult.

The ending segment where they went to E720's offices, though, make me think they are going to pull a "here's what we did over the summer" opener for the fall season, in which case Tom is going to show up and say how much it completely firebombed itself into the ground due to (Detleff pointing out) too much overhead and a dumbass CEO who doesn't know a thing (given how many characters actually say they HATE Ralphio, not just dislike, but HATE). He didn't even understand what Tom was proposing to begin with. So I'm expecting Tom to stick around and maybe Ralphio will become a bum. Maybe he'll be Andy's shoe shine boy assistant. They ....could do duets together, Ralphio could wear costumes and dance on the sidewalk to get more customERSYES YES YES DO IT ROCKAPELLA, DO IT.

Episodes were leagues ahead of The Office. They book all those stars and NONE OF THEM are amusing? Holy crap. Even Spader wasn't good. Get whoever wrote for him on Boston Legal for god's sake and let him strut around like a peacock, that's ALL you had to do. Son of a bitch.
 
Well, Aziz may just want out. You're probably right, though, this could just be a fun way to give Tom a little more intrigue. Also, Jean-Ralphio will never be a bum so long as he's got the Lady Foot Locker gig to fall back on.

FYI, I call dibs on "Jean-Ruffio" as a puppy name. I don't even like pets, but farg it, I want a dog named Jean-Ruffio so it can give me access to the illest clubs.
 
Sucks that they had a short season, but having 2 episodes the last couple weeks was awesome. Good news is that Outsourced was canned so hopefully next season is a full one.
 
FYI both episodes from last night are on Hulu. The first episode has a real ending to it which has....

Andy teaching the kid taking over the shoe shine stand how to shoe shine.

The second episode gets an Producers Cut which adds five extra minutes. Nothing real major is added but the added stuff does help the episode not feel as rushed due to better pacing.
 
Thanks for the tips on the Producers' Cut episodes at Hulu. I just watched the producers' cut of "The Party" (aka SNORKJUICE). I can't believe they cut out Jerry's drunkface in the club, that was classic.

That episode is probably my favorite of the season. I especially liked the "no offense" argument between Ann and Knope. They got the tone of that just right.

Ron & Tammy Pt 2 was also a favorite, just because I was surprised that they'd revisit Tammy 2 so soon and even more surprised that they actually pulled it off. The dating website episode is probably up there, too.

I guess those 3 would be my top three. For this season, they were the episodes that felt complete to me, the A and B (and C, if there was one) stories all worked.
 
By the way here's a list of all episodes with producers cuts:
Season 1: Rock Show
Season 2: The Setup, The Master Plan, Freddy Spaghetti
Season 3: Harvest Festival, Jerry's Painting, The Fight, Li'l Sebastian

All of which are available on Hulu Plus along with Netflix.
 
Those assholes fired Stinkmaster69! He's only guilty of having mumps on his lumps! I enjoyed the dong showing B story (it only makes sense when folks are watching ladies golf and drinking wine), but if losing Joe is the cost of that story, it wasn't worth it. I'm gonna miss Joe.

CHECK OUT THE HOG ON JERRY.

The response, "I don't know what you mean, but it had the cadence of a joke," should be immediately adopted for personal use.
 
I didn't comment about last week's. Or about this week's. Yet.

But both were awesome. The opener was a little lukewarm (although it was better on a second viewing), but these two were hilarious.

But cut your hair, Rob.
 
So they're trying even harder to warp Ben so that he's skewed like the rest of 'em, and to me the "nerd" angle is as forced as the "wunderkid mayor" angle. It's a response to the fact that Ben doesn't quite fit the ensemble, but I think they're missing the point. The main reason Ben doesn't fit isn't that he's too straight, it's that the ensemble is simply too crowded. (This also applies to Ann, but I understand they're not going to give up on her as she's an original.)

As part of this effort to force Ben to fit, they've been playing T-money off Ben for a while, but this episode shows that they've already got a foil for Tom in Donna that works better than Ben. As do Jerry, Ron, Leslie, etc. The ensemble's big enough already, and it works!

That's the fun of this show, the wacky character in one scene can easily become the straightman in the next, and it works because of the lightened tone. Trying to do this with Ben is requiring too much screen time, give me more Donna, April, Jerry, Andy, people who are already established in the ensemble. It's taking up too much time to fold Ben into the mix (just like it did with Ann, but I'll concede the effort was worth it and Ann's worked out beyond "Andy's ex" -- just barely though).

I'll also concede that Chris works, but the Chris phenomenon is just that, it's *literally* the craziest, easiest addition to the ensemble. I'm still uncertain on how Chris fits into the whole Pawnee city hall hierarchy, but whatever. I'm excited to see if Jerry becomes Chris's evil archnemesis, maybe we'll find out that Jerry has villainous depths.

So Dead Ben? Yes. Evil Jerry? Aww hell yea.

EDIT: And resurrect Sewage Joe you bastards!
 
It's weird, because another forum I go to has a bunch of people gushing over Ben constantly. I did like watching his huge head stuffed into that tiny cowl. And sometimes the nerd stuff works, but generally only when Tom is insulting Ben for it. He's like some weird hybrid of Jim and Toby; you sort of want him there, but he has no reason to be there, but it's difficult to shove him away for long? I dunno.

Episode overall was pretty warm compared to the previous two. Same thing happened last season - I thought the Boy Scout/Goddess showdown would be great, but it just felt a little flat. There was a camping episode last season that had the same issue - I had high expectations given how well the Ron-got-shot-in-the-head and Spring Catalog episodes went. Funny stuff happens outside, but not today.

Ann gets the proper amount of screentime; the opener for this season was great.

Love the show to scary degrees.
 
Heh, good analysis guys.
I love the show as well.

I want the whole Entertainment 720 thing to end though. Everytime it comes up I just think, "Ok, I get it."
 
I don't think Ben's going anywhere, but I think the idea that he belongs in some way isn't borne out in the writing * . He's gone from interloper to love interest to nerd, and when he "works" he's filling a gap that could be filled as capably by any previously established regular. Or, if we're talking about the love interest, bit player -- Louis CK's cop beats Ben's awkward but understanding bf any day of the week.

*Is the idea to make this show like the Office, with a huge ensemble? In that case I guess Ben belongs. But I don't think it is, I certainly don't want Office in a Different Setting. I like PNR of the first two seasons, where the ensemble is a little more intimate, Leslie's working a mile a minute, and just about any two characters can pair off and be funny.

I agree on the 720 thing, they're trying something out there and I'm not sure what the point is. Maybe they were flirting with featuring Jean Ralphio somehow. As much as I like JR, I think it's because he's received just the right amount of screentime in the past. His little excited skipping maneuver before "dancing up on" Leslie in the snork juice episode is one of my favorite PNR moments -- it's those little things that make the show.

Anyway, back to the point, I hope 720 goes away. Maybe it was a way to involve Ben in something non-Leslie? fuckin Ben. GRRR.
 
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I'm about 1/3 of the way through Season 3 on Netflix. This is one of the funniest shows on TV. I love it. Actually, I can't think of anything I like better other than maybe Curb or Eastbound & Down but those aren't even airing right now.
 
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