Guest Author - Rachel Koller

Parks and Recreation was highly anticipated due to its affiliation with the producers of The Office, but NBC’s new comedy starring Amy Poehler premiered to lukewarm reviews. What gives? The show follows a similar “mockumentary” formula as the perennial awards show favorite, The Office. Quirky characters spouting off humorous one-liners combined with a realistic “Anytown, USA” setting has proved to be a successful comedic strategy on prime time television. The cast is very talented as well including the hilarious Poehler, but also Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, and Paul Schneider. So why aren’t the critics and audience buying it?

The premise of the show is the goings-on in the local governmental parks and recreation office of Pawnee, Indiana. Amy Poehler plays Leslie Knope, the deputy director of parks and recreation. When a resident (Jones) complains at a public forum about an abandoned construction site, Leslie Knope makes it her mission to build a new park in its place. With plenty of obstacles to overcome to make this happen, I find myself rooting for Leslie each week despite her slight dim-wittedness. I think the show has great potential to become another hit for NBC and Parks and Recreation is in the perfect Thursday night line-up alongside The Office and 30 Rock.

Yet the reviews thus far have been mediocre. As you might recall both The Office and 30 Rock struggled to find their footing. With Steve Carell at the helm of The Office it was only a matter of time before the show took off seeing as how he had been so prominently featured in major motion picture comedies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin. As for 30 Rock with Tina Fey as the star, it took a bit more time for the show to find its audience. Many have attributed 30 Rock’s relatively recent success with Fey’s election season stint on Saturday Night Live impersonating 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. As Fey’s star began to rise, so did 30 Rock and it receives nearly just as much praise as The Office.

So what will the future hold for Parks and Recreation? As another Second City alum with success on Saturday Night Live and in feature films like Baby Mama, Amy Poehler has all of the makings to become an even bigger star that can propel the show further up in the ratings. While obviously the writing has a lot to do with the appeal of a show, a little star power never hurt anybody as both Carell and Fey have proved with their respective sitcoms. It appears that Thursday nights on NBC are making their way back up to the top.