PARKS AND RECREATION: Tuesday 8PM on NBC
There will be plenty of time to lament the passing of PARKS AND RECREATION, and what it portends for network TV comedy and especially for NBC. Well, “plenty” may be overstating it, since NBC is burning off the remaining episodes two at a time, apparently in a rush to reach that promised land where its only on-air comedies will be the summer filler Undateable and newbie newlyweds-plus-lesbian sitcom One Big Happy. But still, a few weeks are left before any Kleenex are needed.
For now, Parks & Rec is just a TV show, back for its 7th season. Tonight’s opening half-hour (written by Co-Executive Producers Alan Yang and Matt Murray, directed by Dean Holland) delivered on the promise of last season’s finale, jumping ahead to 2017, where we found Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) as Regional Director of the National Parks Service (Jon Hamm even made a quick return appearance as the idiot employee she fired) and, with husband and Pawnee City Manager Ben (Adam Scott), the parent of triplets. Her arch-enemy, it turned out, was none other than Ron (Nick Offerman), who’d started the wonderfully named “Very Good Building & Development Co” and who was bidding against Leslie for pristine forest land, which Leslie would turn into a national park and Ron would use for commerce on behalf of Pawnee’s new high-tech mogul. Poehler and Offerman are, as ever, a marvelous team, but the truly inspired touch of the episode came with the April (Aubrey Plaza)/Andy (Chris Pratt) storyline (Andy, by the way, now hosted his own children’s TV show), which featured the pair worrying that they’d become old and boring. (Andy quickly agreed to April’s dare to eat an entire jar of olives, but not before taking a Zantac.) When they decided to indulge their spontaneity by buying a creepy house that had been used to hold the crazed employees of a dolls-head factory, the dour previous owner was played by–wait for it–Werner Herzog, and all that needs to be said is that the script gave Herzog this line to intone: “After 47 years here, I decided to move to Orlando to be closer to Disney World.” Also, Jerry (Jim O’Heir), who’s also been Larry and Garry, was now Terry.
Episode 2 (written by Co-EP Harris Wittels, directed by Holland) broadened the canvas, bringing back a host of favorite recurring characters. The main story featured a romance from hell, between obnoxious councilman Jeremy Jamm (Jon Glaser) and Ron’s poisonous librarian ex-wife Tammy Two (Megan Mullaly). Under Tammy’s influence, Jamm was being transformed into a substitute Ron, up to and including the moustache and a constant diet of steaks and whiskey. The story connected to the continuing plot because both Ron and Leslie needed Jamm’s vote for their competing land proposals, but mostly it was an excuse for the two foes to temporarily join forces and deprogram Jamm, which required both a chastity belt and a “crotch-blocker” of Ron’s own design. Meanwhile, April’s existential crisis continued even after she pursued her dream job (in a funeral home), and Tom (Aziz Ansari) traveled to Chicago with Andy to seek true love with an old flame (Natalie Morales) who unfortunately had a boyfriend. The highlight of the episode, though, may have been the return of newswoman Joan Callamezzo (Mo Collins), who had gone completely but very cheerfully insane, asking if Buddy Holly were going to sing at her Pawnee Walk of Fame induction, and addressing the crowd with “Thank you, Commissioner Gordon, and people of Gotham…”
Other sitcoms may have more laughs per square inch, but no comedy makes a viewer feel as good as Parks & Rec. Its ensemble is as close to perfect as any TV show has ever had, and its mastery of its own tone is complete. Its absence is going to leave a giant heart-shaped hole in the network TV universe.
But we’re not there yet.
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