Top comedies to binge watch during lockdown - Parks & Recreation

When I wrote my last article - https://vocal.media/geeks/ten-netflix-shows-to-watch-over-the-next-few-months, a friend commented 'yeah they are all great shows but what if I want something non dystopian that will make me laugh?' He had a good point, so here is the first of my comedy recommendations.

Created by Greg Daniels & Michael Schur

Starring - Amy Pohler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott & Rob Lowe

Seven Seasons / 125 Episodes

13 Emmy Awards from 75 nominations

Available on Amazon Prime / Sky Comedy

Parks and Recreation should have never suceeded as much as it did, from the same creative team as the American 'Office' it was initially only given 6 fairly mediocre episodes for its first season that really struggled to create its own identity even keeping the mock 'documentary' format of 'The Office'.

One of the biggest season was making Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) a low rent Michael Scott clone (from 'The Office'), she was also hamstrung by a poorly written romantic subplot with a fellow worker Mark (who thankfully disappeared in season 2 never to be seen again. It just felt like the writers and the actors hadn't figured out who the characters really were yet and they were stuck into copying broad strokes of plot & character from 'The Office'

In these modern times it is very rare for a show that is not a smash hit out of the gates to get a second season, however despite the poor reviews for Parks season 1 it had promise and season 2 was commisioned with a whopping 24 episodes. This was the season where the show really hit its stride writing out the terrible Mark Brendanawicz character and adding in Adam Scott & Rob Lowe in season 2's penultimate episode.

Now lets take a look at the cast.

Amy Poehler as Lesley Knope

Poehler was a comedy veteran coming into the show from 7 years on 'Saturday Night Live' and she successfully followed in fellow castmate Tina Fey's transition to an NBC sitcom.

Knope is our main protagonist of the show and begins as the Deputy director of the Parks & Recreation Department in Pawnee, Indiana. Very early on we learn that her ultimate ambition is to become the first female President, and as the seasons progress we follow her journey as she begins to climb the ladder towards her goal. Knope is the heart and soul of the show and rarely is their a cynical bone in her body, she always wants what is best for her friends, community and most importantly her beloved town of Pawnee.

Rashida Jones as Anne Perkins

Anne Perkins initally start the show as a nurse who wants something done about a giant sinkhole in a public park that her boyfriend Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) falls into and breaks both his legs. Over the course of the show she has many romatic involvements with other members of the Parks and Rec department (also the writers apparently forget she is a nurse) while also becoming best friends with Leslie Knope and working in the Parks department.

Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson

Ron Swanson is the boss of the Pawnee Parks & Rec department however he absolutely loathes any type of government and authority, and he is at his happiest when being left alone with a good whiskey and a steak dinner. Ron is initally set up as an antagonist for Leslie but over the seasons they develop a really strong friendship. Ron is easily my favourite character in the show and each season we learn a little more about the famously private Swanson such as his jazz saxophone alter-ego Duke Silver and his various 'Swanonisms' still provide GIF worthy content to this day.

Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt

Scott joined the cast full time in season 3 as his own starring show 'Party Down' was coming to an end and his character Ben Wyatt was brought in to audit the parks departments finances. Ben is in many ways the male Leslie Knope, super geeky (indeed you can actually purchase his fictional board game 'The Cones of Dunshire' in the real world now!) and a serial over achiever. The writers kept coming up with inventive ways to keep him on the show once his initial storyline was resolved and his and Leslie's burgeoning relationship became the heart of the show.

Azis Ansari as Tom Haverford

Tom Haverford is my least favourite character on the show, in season 1 he was just a poor Jim from 'The Office' rip off with his breaking of the fourth wall looks at the camera however as the show progressed each season Tom would try to be an entrepreneur and launch a get rich scheme that usually never worked. My big issue with Tom is that he is whiny and irritating for the most part and even when he does do the right thing for other people it's taken way too long to get there.

Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate

April is another great comic creation, starting as an intern who hates work and eveything about the Parks department, this sets her up as the most cynical character in the show which usually puts her at odds with Leslie and especially Ann, however she also finds a kindred spirit in Ron who as the show progresses becomes a father figure and mentor for her.

Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer

Andy probably has one of the best character arcs of any in the show, initially introduced as Ann's loser boyfriend who is the lead singer of terrible grunge band Mouse Rat, he was fairly unlikeable in season 1 of the show. Once Andy split from Ann and began his relationship with April his character become much more relatable and likable, because they are such opposites there relationship works perfectly and is the most longest and most successful on the show.

He is almost always the comic relief in each show due to his utter stupidity but his character is like an excitable puppy and his unwavering optimism makes him completely charming. We also have to mention the sheer amount of jobs and alter egos Andy has throughout the show from shoe shiner, Burt Macklin FBI agent and kids entertainer Johnny Karate.

Rob Lowe as Chris Traegar

Lowes character joined the show full time in season 3 as an auditor alongside Ben Wyatt to review the Parks departments accounts. An eternal optimist and health advocate Chris eventually becomes Ann Perkins love interest in the show and in later seasons becomes the Pawnee city manager usually putting him at odds with Leslie & especially Ron.

One of the co-creators Greg Daniels has proven to be one of the best comedic writers today, with his early career on iconic episodes of 'The Simpsons' & 'Saturday Night Live'. Post 'Parks' he has co-created 'Space Force' for Netflix with Steve Carrell which was originally due to premiere this May.

The other creative mind behind Parks, Michael Schur also followed a similar path to Daniels working on SNL but post 'Parks' we can call him the king of the modern sitcom. First up he created 'Brooklyn 99' that shares a lot of DNA with Parks & Rec, currently in its 7th season the show is still running. He also created 'The Good Place' a genre bending wholly original sitcom about the afterlife that ran for 4 seasons ending when Schur decided to.

Over the course of 7 seasons Parks & Recreation was the little show that could could as it was always on the bubble of being cancelled each year, yet it was this underdog spirit that seeped through from the way the show was viewed to the way the characters were presented that gave the show its small but fiercly loyal fanbase. The whole 7th season of the show was fairly unique in that it was not really expected and therefore was treated as a victory lap for the show, we got to jump forward a few years and see what all our favourite characters were doing in the future. In most shows this would be relagated to a one scene montage at the end of the show, Parks & Rec gave each character more or less there own episode so that each character and plotline on the show garnered proper closure, a rariety in this day and age.

Finally if you want a bright optmistic sitcom, with huge genuine laughs that improves in quality each season and with well written empathatic characters that you want to see succeed than I can't recommend 'Parks & Recreation' enough. If you haven't seen it before its the perfect binge watch right now (once you get past the poor first 6 episodes of season 1) and if you have seen it before, its defintaely worth another rewatch.