PARKS and RECREATION aka "Everything's coming up Amy"

Also never forget that 'network connectivity problems' was a Pratt ad lib.

maybe the funniest thing I've ever seen on TV.

a perfect joke from a perfect episode of tv

Was that the flu episode?

yes

Apropos of little beyond the fact that it makes me unspeakably happy every time I think of it:

https://media.giphy.com/media/iOz3p2txHIo4U/giphy.gif

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LinpRhB4aWU

S4E11 "The Comeback Kid" was a non-stop laugh riot, maybe the funniest one i have see yet. the scene in the ice rink when the red carpet only goes so far and they are very slowly walking to the stage (with Ron carrying the 3 legged dog) had me in stitches.

also as someone who has made a stop motion before i loved Ben's reaction after showing what he has been that just suddenly cuts off as soon as it starts. "Stand in the-" lol and the animation is just him, dressed up for work, getting out of bed.

what he has been working on for weeks

yeah that was hysterical

Ben's geeky love of R.E.M. is a great running gag. Leslie organising a couples skating dance to Losing My Religion, only for Ben to get upset that the DJ at the skating place had Monster but NOT Automatic for the People. Tom luring him into the office by saying Michael Stipe is in there and Ben not believing it but coming in to make 100% sure anyway.

All of Ben's obsessions (Letter to Cleo, calzones) kill me. I love Ben.

Lo-Cal Calzone Zone

Okay, I probably need to rewatch this show again now.

That whole episode with the animation was one of my favourites. <3 Ben

If I want to watch this, should I started with S1 ? If not where?

s1 is a bit dud so you could go straight in with s2. I'm a completist though - can't remember if any of s1 is relevant except how Andy and Ann are introduced.

S1 is abbreviated, and iirc it began to pick up towards the end. Maybe watch the last ep of S1 and then go forth.

Adam Scott has a comedy podcast about REM

Thanks JF

The most jarring part of rewatching the show is seeing Paul Schneider. I always forget he was ever even there.

He was terrible, the show got so much better after he left

I don't know if him leaving was the reason, but it sure seems like it was.

It wasn't the only thing, adding Rob Lowe and Adam Scott also helped, but he was just painfully unfunny.

And maybe he wasn't supposed to be funny. His character seems like it was meant to be the sexy yet sensitive dude, but he just came across as kind of a dick.

he was v boring & too normcore
like he’d walked in off a joe swanberg movie

hey prior bad acts are inadmissable in court!

S1 is pretty short (like six eps, right?), and the testimonial dinner ep is probably their first classic. Pratt is pretty golden from the get-go.

Also the problem w/Schneider was too much of a straight man for this show. Plus, he was supposed to be the love interest for Leslie, and when it was obvious that wasn't going to work, they paired him with Ann, and that didn't really work either.

they mishandled Ann, though, too... only Jerry really worked as straight man

Paul Schneider became less and less necessary once the show started to break away from its origins as an Office spinoff. Brendanowicz was the clear Halpert analogue, but once Leslie became less and less like Michael, we no longer needed a Halpert to comment on the ridiculousness of his surroundings.

they mishandled Ann, though, too... only Jerry really worked as straight man

― Nhex, Sunday, May 6, 2018 9:29 PM (yesterday) Bookmark

yeah as much as they dunk on Jerry he has some dignity about him.

i've reached the latter part of season 4 and rn Ann is paired with Tom going full Pepe Le Pew ugh.

I think Schneider mostly suffered from the fact that that he just didn't fit into an otherwise magical ensemble.

The mean-spiritedness directed toward Garry Jerry Larry Terry Garry is the only running trope on this show that kinda rubs me the wrong way. I appreciate that the show kinda made up for it by making him the beneficiary of maximum cosmic justice but...come on, guys, you're better than that.

tbf outside of Leslie they are kind of jerks at their job and stuff in general. i recall one episode where they are in a school and Andy just grabs a bunch of science equipment and runs out saying he is going to smash them. i laughed but was also like, yeah this govt employee is a shitty person.

old lunch, agreed. there certainly was a talent deficit, especially since the Parks ensemble is arguably the greatest assembly of sitcom talent of the 21st century.

I always have sympathy for the Holoubek in these situations. That's gotta be a rough row to how.

(Because the reference is, perhaps, obscure, I'm referring to Todd Holoubek, aka that guy from the State who nobody remembers.)

never heard of him

There ya go, I guess.

I always have sympathy for the Holoubek in these situations.

are you saying you ain't no Holoubek churl

I love the jerry hate. Every time.

The Ben R.E.M obsession takes on an extra dimension now that I know Adam Scott was in that crowd of kids in the "Drive" video.

Adam Scott has a comedy podcast about REM

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Sunday, May 6, 2018

i've been jumping around to different seasons. i've seen 3 and 4 and large chunks of 2 and 5. 4 feels like the high point. the early years are good too but Mark is a complete non-entity. the core cast has so much character but he just has this inoffensive mumbley passive aggressive thing that kinda doesn't work. it's like John Paul George Ringo and Kevin over here.

omg the episode with Andy Samberg. that funny, loud goofball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_CnOZFcnLc

I loved him. Shame he was only in the one episode (wasn't he?).

Also loved the pest control guys.

RIP Harris

This may technically be an abuse of the thread rubric but as an avowed superfan who has seen the show probably 3x through at this point and loves it about as much as I love any show from this century, I'm cashing my chips to recommend that other superfans check out Schitt's Creek. There was some agreement in the Netflix recommendations thread that the two shows are mining v similar 'laughs + heart' territory. I've very quickly gone from years of avoidance (largely because of the admittedly awful name) to loving it deeply. WATCH IT. I wish someone had made me do it much earlier, like preferably before the final season was airing.

It is a pretty good show, and I avoided it for a long time for the same reason.

I am deep into the first season of Schitt’s Creek and it is great

Agreed, I thought it took a few eps to get going but definitely the same vein.

I considered just starting a new thread but, well, y'know. Final season and all that. It's kind of a bummer.

(I'm secretly hoping for a spin-off that's just David wandering into the motel lobby and riffing with Stevie. I could watch those two for hours. Where the hell has Dan Levy been all my life?!)