Parks and Recreation
Cast & Key People
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Our Review
The warmest show on this list, a sitcom that believes government can work and people can be good, which makes it quietly radical. Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope, a mid level parks bureaucrat in Pawnee, Indiana, is TV’s great optimist: a woman who loves waffles, her friends, and her city with equal ferocity. The first season is a rough six episode copy of The Office, skip to season 2 and you’ll see one of the great season long ramps in sitcom history.
The ensemble is ridiculous: Ron Swanson, the mustachioed libertarian who accidentally built a government utopia; Nick Offerman’s deadpan is a national treasure. April and Andy’s romance is the funniest accidental love story on TV. Aziz Ansari’s Tom, Retta’s Donna (treat yo self), Chris Pratt’s pre star Andy, and the revolving door of Pawnee’s horrible citizens (Sweetums, Joan Callamezzo, Perd Hapley) make this the densest joke per-minute comedy around.
Verdict: Watch it. It’s a hug in sitcom form, and it never winks at you about it.
