Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation title card
Genre	Dramedy Mockumentary Sitcom Satire
Created by	Greg Daniels Michael Schur
Starring	Amy Poehler Rashida Jones Aziz Ansari Aubrey Plaza Paul Schneider Nick Offerman Chris Pratt
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	16 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Greg Daniels Michael Schur Howard Klein
Producer(s)	Morgan Sackett Amy Poehler
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	April 9, 2009 – present
External links
Official website

Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series. It was co-created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, part of the creative team on The Office. The series follows Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the Parks and Recreation department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana.^[1] Knope takes on a project with a nurse named Ann to turn an abandoned construction pit into a park, while trying to navigate her way through the local government.

Despite initial speculation it would be a spin-off of The Office, the two programs are not related beyond the fact that Parks and Recreation uses The Office's mockumentary style.

Contents 1 Characters 2 Episodes 3 Production 4 Reception 4.1 Critical reception 4.2 Ratings 5 International broadcast 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Characters

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Production

Principal photography began on February 18, 2009.^[2] Dean Holland, Emmy-winning editor from The Office, works on Parks and Recreation.^[3]

The style of cinematography is consistent with that of The Office. The mockumentary style is seen in several ways. Any music featured on the show is strictly diegetic, meaning that the music is never used as part of the score, but rather it is only presented in the context of boom boxes, CD players, etc. Characters have one-on-one time with the camera crew for The Office style confessionals. This is most frequently seen with Leslie and Ron. Characters also modify their reactions to certain events and dialogues to remain consistent with the mockumentary format. For example, in the episode "Boys' Club", Ann is embarrassed by a comment that Andy makes about sex because she doesn't want the camera crew to hear it. One way that the format of the show differs slightly from The Office is that, unlike early episodes of The Office, the crew of Parks and Recreation follows the cast more closely than the The Office crew did. They also seem to have less of an ability to hear through walls and doors than the crew for The Office does although in "Boys' Club" they are able to hear what is being said in the courtyard through Leslie's window.

Most of the City Hall scenes are filmed at Pasadena City Hall in Pasadena, California. The show's logo is based on a design rejected by the City of Fort Collins.^[4] Instead, the City used a similar logo with left swooping shape replaced with the outline of Fort Collins' famous landmark, Horsetooth Mountain.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical reception

The series debut was met with mixed reviews from critics.^[5] Entertainment Weekly praised the series, stating, "While I laughed out loud only a few times during Parks' pilot, I dug the performances, the attitude, and the atmosphere that's being created. One would be foolish to underestimate the series this early on."^[6] Daniel Carlson of The Hollywood Reporter pointed out that it's a "genuinely funny and engaging comedy that bears stylistic similarities to Office but has a heart and mind all its own".^[7] Metacritic assigned a rating of 59/100 based on 25 reviews.^[8] A less favorable review from Robert Bianco of USA Today said that the show "never expends enough energy to even approach funny".^[9] Jonathan Storm of The Philadelphia Inquirer dismissed the series, saying, "Parks and Recreation emerges a miscast mess".^[10]

Reviews grew from mixed to more positive during the second season. James Poniewozik of Time magazine praised the development of the characters. He thought that the show has a "handle now" on the main character Leslie Knope, and does an "excellent job of finding things for its supporting characters." He also pointed out that the series is "living up to its potential now."^[11] Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out that Parks and Recreation is "finding its comedic mojo" this current second season and added that the show is "here to prove there is such a thing as creative comebacks." ^[12]

[edit] Ratings

The first season of Parks and Recreation averaged 5.35 million viewers.

Order	Episode	Airdate	Rating	Share	Rating/Share (18-49)	Viewers (millions)
1:1	Pilot	April 9, 2009	4.2	7	3.0/9	6.77
1:2	Canvassing	April 16, 2009	3.6	6	2.5/7	5.92
1:3	The Reporter	April 23, 2009	3.4	6	2.3/7	5.24
1:4	Boys' Club	April 30, 2009	3.3	5	2.3/7	5.29
1:5	The Banquet	May 7, 2009	2.9	5	2.0/6	4.64
1:6	Rock Show	May 14, 2009	2.7	5	2.0/6	4.25
2:1	Pawnee Zoo	September 17, 2009	3.2	5	2.1/6	4.96
2:2	The Stakeout	September 24, 2009	3.2	5	1.8/5	4.22
2:3	Beauty Pageant	October 1, 2009	3.0	5	1.9/5	4.63
2:4	Practice Date	October 8, 2009	3.3	5	2.2/6	4.97
2:5	Sister City	October 15, 2009	3.0	5	2.0/6	4.70
2:6	Kaboom	October 22, 2009	3.2	5	2.1/6	4.98
2:7	Greg Pikitis	October 29, 2009	2.0	5	2.1/5	4.96
2:8	Ron and Tammy	November 5, 2009	3.2	5	2.2/6	4.94
2:9	The Camel	November 12, 2009	2.8	4	2.1/6	4.58
2:10	The Hunting Trip	November 19, 2009	?	?	2.0/6	4.61
2:11	The Fourth Floor	December 3, 2009	?	?	?	?

[edit] International broadcast

Parks and Recreation is simulcast on Citytv in Canada. In the Philippines, it airs on Jack TV every Friday at 9:30 pm, Wednesday at 2:30 am and 10:00 am.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Parks and Recreation

• Parks and Recreation at the Internet Movie Database
• Parks and Recreation at TV.com
• Fictional city website
• Parks and Recreation Wiki