Current Events > So where are you currently in parks and rec?

(+) Yeah! (+)

When do Andy and April hook up?

About halfway through a second viewing, so everything is being seen again for another time but is also incomplete.

Just started Season 2 on my first and a half watch through.

A few episodes into season 4? When Leslie has started running for city council.

My second time ever running through it, with my gf who had seen random episodes but never watched in order.

"They were right, because of the calendar".

Through all of it, quite some time ago.

Great show

Season 2 and 3 are GOAT. 2 is among my favorite seasons of TV ever. I've seen so many of those episodes countless times.

I don't want to say that Mark Brandanowicz was a key character, but the show did kind of suffer not having a single straight man once he left. He was boring and kind of annoying at times, but you need someone who's sane and rational. They didn't really have that, everyone goes off the rails so god damn hard by season 5 and 6 it's insane. Imagine taking away Michael Bluth from Arrested Development, it's essentially 25 clown cars pulling up to an opera.

I watched through it all a few years ago. Its great.

Season 4, about 7 episodes in I think.

I'm almost at a point where I need to stop watching it. On one of my cable channels in the morning they run episodes of it all day into the early afternoon when I leave for work. I have watched the entire series like about 10 times in a row in the last couple years.

I absolutely love the show, especially after Ben and Chris come on. I think peak Parks is season 3 and 4. But seriously I have just seen too much of it at this point.

Episode 0.

ClayGuida posted...

I don't want to say that Mark Brandanowicz was a key character, but the show did kind of suffer not having a single straight man once he left.

Ben is a better straight man than Mark ever was, since he's an actual "straight man" within the context of the series, instead of feeling like a very odd man out.

A straight man only truly works when they fit within the context of the rest of the characters. Jim worked for The Office because he still fit in with the rest of the characters. Mark's character worked almost vehemently in opposition of anybody else. Thus, when Ben was introduced as the new "straight man," it worked, because... Yes, he was very quirky in comparison to Mark, but he fit in with the rest, and compared to them, he was very much the "straight man."

StealThisSheen posted...

Ben is a better straight man than Mark ever was, since he's an actual "straight man" within the context of the series, instead of feeling like a very odd man out.

Ben is possibly the funniest character in the series too, Adam Scott kills it

No chance you can say Adam Scott was a straight man. He may have been the most 'normal' on the show, but he was far from a normal human being. He was just as looney as the rest. Dude created a stop motion animation film and Cones of Dunshire.

Not to mention his entire backstory was fucking insanity.

ClayGuida posted...

No chance you can say Adam Scott was a straight man. He may have been the most 'normal' on the show, but he was far from a normal human being. He was just as looney as the rest. Dude created a stop motion animation film and Cones of Dunshire.

Not to mention his entire backstory was fucking insanity.

That's the point, though. I realized I edited my post late, but a straight man has to work within the confines of the series.

Jim worked as the straight man for The Office because he, himself, was still fairly zany, and fit in with the rest of the cast. Mark's character didn't fit in at all, he practically felt like he belonged in a different series. To be a good "straight man" character, you have to feel "normal" compared to the rest of the cast, while still actually fitting in with that cast. You can't just be "normal" at the expense of fitting in, or else you're just... A poorly written character.

Ben is absolutely the "straight man" character that best fit Parks, hands down.

i've only watched random clips of it on youtube because they popped up in my recommendations

StealThisSheen posted...

That's the point, though. I realized I edited my post late, but a straight man has to work within the confines of the series.

Jim worked as the straight man for The Office because he, himself, was still fairly zany, and fit in with the rest of the cast. Mark's character didn't fit in at all, he practically felt like he belonged in a different series. To be a good "straight man" character, you have to feel "normal" compared to the rest of the cast, while still actually fitting in with that cast. You can't just be "normal" at the expense of fitting in, or else you're just... A poorly written character.

Ben is absolutely the "straight man" character that best fit Parks, hands down. He's about as normal as it gets while still believably fitting in with everybody else. Mark did NOT fit in, and that was a detriment.

idk, I still feel like you need someone to even out the show. Mark was boring, but somehow he didn't effect my rating of season 2 at all. I feel like if he was a detriment, it would have dropped my opinion of season 2 a bit, but the writing was just too strong to ignore, and that includes various stories involving Mark directly. Ron making him a boat for instance doesn't work with a more wacky character.

ClayGuida posted...

idk, I still feel like you need someone to even out the show. Mark was boring, but somehow he didn't effect my rating of season 2 at all. I feel like if he was a detriment, it would have dropped my opinion of season 2 a bit, but the writing was just too strong to ignore, and that includes various stories involving Mark directly. Ron making him a boat for instance doesn't work with a more wacky character.

To be fair, that's a testament to how good the writing was, not a testament to Mark as a character. The writing was good DESPITE Mark not fitting in. And it's ultimately why Mark was dropped, as a character. He simply didn't fit in, and they couldn't really find ways to make the character work.

I get your point that Ben is much more zany compared to Mark, but it fits. Yes, Ben is zany, himself, but he's still much more normal than every other cast member from that point on, thus making him an effective straight man. Even in his most crazy scenes, like Cones of Dunshire, he's STILL the straight man compared to Andy, for example, because Ben himself is literally being as logical as possible, gaining Pawnee wireless internet or whatever and all that, while Andy is off... Being Andy, and being a total goof, much to Ben's chagrin. It just... Worked.

I watched the first two episodes and didnt go back to it.

Mark wasn't dropped afaik, the actor quit. Maybe it was a mutual parting, idk or maybe they said he quit so he can save face.

Glob posted...

I watched the first two episodes and didnt go back to it.

Season 1 is WOAT. Just start with season 2.

ClayGuida posted...

Mark wasn't dropped afaik, the actor quit. Maybe it was a mutual parting, idk or maybe they said he quit so he can save face.

By the actor's own admission, it was mutual based on writing having nothing for the character, so he was basically "dropped." He said he felt sidelined, the writers admitted they didn't know where to go with the character, so they parted ways.

"That experience was very strange for me," Schneider said of leaving Parks and Rec. "You know, I signed up for a specific character that was changed in mid-season. And it became a character with a lot less to do. And, all of a sudden, I was kind of confused and kind of having a lot less to do."

I've never watched Parks and Rec and probably never will.

Did she ever even make the park?

And, to be fair, I do think Mark fit the season 1 style Parks a LOT more. That said, people didn't connect with season 1 Parks. It didn't become a hit until later. And when you consider the style of writing that became a hit vs. what didn't, Ben was the better "straight man" character than Mark was, for what people actually liked.

Stuck in the first season because it wasn't as good as The Office. I have to give it a second try though.

tripleh213 posted...

Stuck in the first season because it wasn't as good as The Office. I have to give it a second try though.

It gets SO much better. Worth sticking with. First season is a crime compared to how good it gets.

tripleh213 posted...

Stuck in the first season because it wasn't as good as The Office. I have to give it a second try though.

The show achieves liftoff when Chris/Ben enter, consider everything before that the ascent of a rollercoaster.

I watched it all when it aired. I've often argued it's the funniest sitcom there's been. I should rewatche it actually.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f998f19c.jpg

sabin017 posted...

The show achieves liftoff when Chris/Ben enter, consider everything before that the ascent of a rollercoaster.

I disagree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI2G9lwHvLQ&ab_channel=AlexLeo