Thursday, September 22, 2011

I'M LESLIE MONSTER: I'm sure I've said this before, but I will say it again. There are many things that make me happy. There are many things in the media that I love. But there currently are only two things in the media that make me happy -- and I mean the actual feeling that I have some kind of personal connection to the thing that I'm experiencing, when in fact I know that I do not. The two things in the media that make me happy are Jeff Sullivan writing about baseball in those fleeting months when the Mariners are not hopelessly out of the playoff race (e.g., right up until maybe the fifth game of a seventeen-game losing streak), and Parks and Recreation.

Don't get me wrong, I like Modern Family and I love Community. But I feel like an alien in a world where Parks and Recreation is not the best comedy on television and Amy Poehler did not, over the last year, deliver the best performance (male or female) in a televised comedy. But you know what? It doesn't matter, because that show still makes me happy.

That is all.

24 comments:

  1. Knope 2012.

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  2. Matt B9:41 PM

    "Your inbox is, LITERALLY, full of penises"

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  3. "I'm Ron Swanson, and you're Leslie *f'ing* Knope."  Damn straight.

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  4. Jordan10:38 PM

    <span>"There you have it…where it is the thing Leslie Knope just said…about this situation."</span>

    (although in terms of quoting, that award goes to Community, as I will now be telling people they are the opposite of Batman)

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  5. Leslie fing Knope! Damn if Ron can't grow a beard. And Ben Wyatt is totally the new Lloyd Dobbler, without the stalker tendencies.

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  6. Jenn C11:22 PM

    Um, I cried during the Ben/Leslie scene. But in my defense, I am pregnant and I am easily moved to tears.

    And the Sarah Lawrence mention made me laugh so, so hard.

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  7. Jordan11:35 PM

    Oh, and as someone who spent the summer watching a lot of British TV, that Community gag was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. But Community won't top P&R as long as there are scenes like the Ben/Leslie breakup scene.

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  8. JosephFinn12:36 AM

    Not being a P&R guy, I'll just say that the Cougarton Abbey bit on Community tonight was easily the appalled laugh of the week.

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  9. The way Rob Lowe says "literally" is LITrally one of my favorite things, ever.

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  10. I cried too and I am not pregnant.  That scene was awesome.

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  11. I was so excited for the return of Parks & Rec, and I thought this episode delivered on every level.  I love Leslie and Ben, but I thought the writers absolutely made the right choice, because they let the characters be who they ARE instead of trying to shoehorn something else in there.  Leslie WOULD make that choice, but it would be really hard for her.  And Ben is that sweet guy who would give her a campaign pin in a jewelry box.  LOVE.

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  12. "What if you've been watching a lot of women's golf and had some wine..."

    His delivery was epic.

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  13. The whole episode was great, but I laughed the most at the doctor's sidebar about Jerry.

    I both hate that they broke up Leslie and Ben and love that it fit the characters.

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  14. Marsha11:27 AM

    Yeah, you didn't need to be pregnant to cry at that. At least *I* didn't need to be.

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  15. Marsha11:31 AM

    I've been anticipating this season premiere more than all the other shows put together. This show is absoluteyl on top of its game, and I so love these characters (and they're so fully developed) that I'm pretty sure the writers could put them in any situation and make me love watching it. For heavens sake - they did an entire episode about penis pictures on cell phones and I loved it.

    Poehler and Scott have such fantastic chemistry. Loved everything about their plot line. And the Ron/Leslie friendship makes me so, so happy. When she shows up at the door and says "I'm running away from my problems" and he says "Come on in" it's so beautifully played - the body language, the way you can tell everything about their friendship AND working relationship from that one exchange... magic.

    And Tammy One!!!! Woohoo!!! That openign sequence with Ron getting his survival gear stash and running out made me laugh so hard I had to watch it again to make sure I didn't miss anything.

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  16. I rewound that part too! 

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  17. I really hate coming into a show late and not having all the information, but I'd love to give this show a try.  So... for those who aren't already watching, what's the ability to come in cold and be able to jump in?  How much would you recommend catching up on previous episodes? What's the basic facts I'd want to know to start from here?

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  18. Jenn C3:51 PM

    I think you can come in cold and be ok--I think every ep is still funny on its own, but some of the more emotional hooks won't be there if you don't know the back story.  Seasons 1 and 2 are on Netflix streaming now, and supposedly Season 3 will be up on Netflix starting 10/1.

    Some of the episodes, IMO, to catch are:

    "Ron and Tammy" (S2) and "Ron and Tammy: Part Two" (S3)
    "Hunting Trip" (S2)
    "Sweetums" (S2)
    "Telethon" (S2)
    "Flu Season" (S3)
    "Harvest Festival" (S3)
    "Lil' Sebastian" (S3)
    "The Fight" (S3)

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  19. Jenn.4:06 PM

    The boyfriend and I basically marathoned the first three seasons.  If you do that: just so you know, they didn't really have Leslie's character figured out in the first season.  Once they got her character figured out, things improved a lot.

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  20. J. Bowman6:08 PM

    More like Turd Crapley.

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  21. J. Bowman6:10 PM

    That interview is awesome on at least four levels.

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  22. J. Bowman6:15 PM

    I'm with Isaac. I used to prefer Community, and I can still be convinced that Troy/Abed is the best current TV couple, but P&R is at the top of its, and everyone else's, game right now.
    I wasn't totally clear on the time-frame of this episode, but I want to believe it was short, because it amuses me more to believe that Ron Swanson grew a full mountain-man beard in two days.

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  23. Jennifer2:56 PM

    I started watching in season 3, then watched 2, then watched 1. Basically, just don't start with season 1 if you want to get hooked. They really improved later on.

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