Telly Talk: Parks & Recreation

Park it

I have a previous relationship with Parks & Recreation. This cult comedy show that has been out for several series Stateside, won countless awards and launched several careers into movies and merchandise but is just starting on BBC4 this week. I’m declaring that this isn’t the first time it and I have crossed paths. And it’s been a mixed bag. And that’s not all Parks & Rec’s fault.

You know when someone goes on and on to you about how great something is, so that you get a bit of a distorted expectation? That happened. And the thing that happens with me is that if it isn’t all the bells and whistles that I had been led to believe I may (or may not) be more inclined to pick holes in it and nit pick the faults that, although there, could perhaps not really be as important as I believe they are at the time. I overreact.

In watching the very first episode of Parks & Recreation again – without an expectant friend hoping to convert me to the their new church of television – I thought I might discover a bit more of a balanced truth. Was I right to dig my heels in and call this series mediocre? Or could millions of American TV viewers and critics be right? Hmm.

Well, it was quite good fun. A to-camera comedy drama from the mould of The Office, this is the brain burp of Amy Poehler, and is set within the workings of the governmental offices of local Parks and Recreation. Like The Office, it’s an ensemble show, with a mixture of recognisable workplace characters – ranging from the stick-in-the-mud-but-reliable Ron Swanson to the golden boy Mark, the lascivious Tom, and the sour-faced intern April. The star is Lesley Knope, deputy director of the department whose enthusiasm and can-do model both enlivens and exhausts the other, played by Poehler herself.

“She’s the antithesis of the world- and work-weary…”

To be honest, without the glare of expectation on the back of my viewing head, I enjoyed watching Lesley set up the story arc for this first series. She’s promising to replace a massive hole in a developer’s lot with an ambitiously planned park. She wants a Shakespeare in the Park section and a jungle gym – and ends up falling into the sandy pit herself. Lesley Knope has all the pingy zest of someone who always gets back onto the horse after every fall, and then gives it a carrot for standing still while she got up. She’s the antithesis of the world- and work-weary characters we’re used to. The milk monitor who thinks she knows it all and has no concept that her peers may be smoking butt ends round the back of the bike sheds. Quite sweet, a bit exhausting full time.

So, yes I enjoyed it. It’s different. The thing is, I have now been told by my friend who initially urged me to check it out that the first series is not actually indicative of the style of the following four series (and counting). I gather it softens somewhat. Still, it’s always good to get something from the States without a laughter track and with a track record in trying something new. I don’t need to fall as passionately in love with it instantly. Like most good relationships, we might grow and change with our tastes together. Plus, a second impression is a greatly under-rated thing.

Parks & Recreation, BBC4, Wednesday 6 March 2013