Parks and Recreation "Camping" Review

I was out on vacation last week so I never got around to reviewing the "Harvest Festival" episode and that's a real shame because it was outstanding. Little Sebastian stole my heart just like he has every other heart in Pawnee. And just like Little Sebastian stole my heart I'm going to steal Danny Vara's snippet on last week's episode on his blog Danny's Diatribes.

Parks and Rec didn’t wait until the season finale to give us the Harvest Festival and more importantly Li’l Sebastien!
First off it’s important to remember Leslie’s words, “The atrocities are in blue.”
Sepinwall had this little nugget in his review that the Indian was the guy, Jonathan Joss, who voiced John Redcorn on King of the Hill.
Ken Hotate – “There are two things I know about white people: they love Matchbox 20 and they are terrified of curses.”
Lots of great lines in this great episode, but none better than Andy’s reaction to April’s, “I love you.”
Andy – “Dude, shut up! That is awesome sauce.”
Not awesome sauce? Whatever they’re doing with Ann Perkins.

Now on to this week or as Ron Swanson would say "What the F%#$ is a German muffin?"

This week's "Camping" episode wasn't on the same level as last week's but a strong episode none the less. Anytime you get Ron Swanson outdoors in his element, your headed for television gold. Ron's campfire ghost story nearly made me fall out of my chair laughing. Just as he's done in the past Ron was there to pick Leslie up when she needed help the most. Now he picked her up and locked her in a room with a bunch of cats but he picked her up and it worked.

Leslie was panicked as she tried to follow up the Harvest Festival with another great idea. Who wouldn't go blank after the city manager uses your breast to brace himself during a heart attack. It was strange to see Leslie without her normal confidence and zeal for the job. However, her moment of weakness allowed us to see another side of Leslie and added depth to the character.

From the looks of things they've slowed down on trying to hook Leslie and Ben up. That's probably for the best. There's only so many relationships a sitcom can manage at a time. Right now we're still getting a lot of the budding Andy and April love affair. So far their relationship hasn't been as full of "awesome sauce" as I would like but I'm willing to give it more time. Andy and April are two of my favorite characters on the show. Andy for his lovable stupidity and April for being lovably surly. I'm with April and her views on camping. It's terrible. I hope to never suffer through that horror again unless I have a sweet hook up like Tom.

At this point they should just write Anne off the show. Very few of her scenes are funny. She has very little to do with the parks department. Ben has replaced Anne as Leslie's confidant. The whole Chris and Anne thing has run it's course. I think she should take her broken heart and run off to find Mark.

Random Thoughts:

• I never want to stay at that or any B&B.
• Tom's dog bed killed me.
• I like Jerry's role on the show but can live without Donna. She does nothing for me.
• "Fishing is like Yoga but I still get to kill things" Ron Swanson

Parks and Recreation "Indianapolis" Review

I checked Bodog and they didn't have a line for this but I could have told you that as soon as I came out and declared Parks and Rec the best sitcom on TV last week, it would drop one of its worst episodes on us this week.

Not you Ron, you were perfect as always. The photo album of every steak you've ever had at Mulligans, the genuine concern for all those steaks left behind when Mulligans shut down. You recoiled in disgust as Chris grilled you a mushroom. No not you Ron Swanson. Not you. You ordered all the eggs and bacon and we loved it.

As for the rest of you, I'm disappointed. I'm all for more screen time for Adam Scott. He's a funny actor and his character is finding his niche in the office. Tonight just wasn't a successful integration for Ben in with the other department members beyond Leslie. I'm a fan of Tom and his attentions seeking, success longing, tiny suit wearing ways but the fragrance angle was pretty weak. The names of Feinstein's fragrances ceased to be funny after about the third. By the way, what's the point of having Rafi from The League on your show if he's going to have one line and play it straight. You gotta let that man get someone pregnant up in the club.

Tonight dampened my hopes for the Andy and April courtship. Somehow they took two of my favorite characters and removed the funny from them. Andy's stupidity is funny in the office when he's around people like Ron, Leslie and Ben. In a place like the Snake Hole he loses all of his charm. The lovable loser becomes the sad idiot.

I'm not really going to get into the Chris and Anne breakup because I though the whole story line was pointless. Take away Leslie's line about questioning how good a nurse she is and you had absolutely nothing worthwhile. Anne's appearance in the episode was completely irrelevant and pointless. Beyond that it was just kind of stupid.

I'm holding Parks and Rec to a higher standard because I know how great it is when the show is on. Tonight just wasn't one of those nights.

Parks and Recreation "Media Blitz" Review

I have to admit I might give up listening to John & Lance in the morning if Crazy Ira and The Douche were to move here.

No offense to Community but Parks and Recreation is the funniest show on television right now. Ron Swanson is in the 2007 Tom Brady zone right now. Everything he does kills. I just laughed out loud while he typed the words "rectangle, America, megaphone, Monday, butthole." Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) is the most awkwardly funny person since Michael Scott and Tom (Aziz Ansari) is a dead eye comedic sniper right now.

The best part of tonight's episode is that we finally got to see Ben (Adam Scott) step out of his straight guy persona and completely lose his mind in every medium possible. When confronted about his disastrous stint as an 18 year old mayor on a popular radio show, Crazy Ira and The Douche, Ben shows that he may not be as cool and collected as he appears out of the media. The Douche by the way is played by the very funny veteran of The League, Nick Kroll. As the media blitz to create buzz around the Harvest Festival continues, Ben's outbursts become more outlandish. At one point lifting his shirt to show host Perd Hapley his birthmark in order to drive home the point that he's not perfect. It's more than obvious Ben is haunted by his past failure.

Lucky for Ben, he's got Leslie and Tom to fall back on. An appearance on Joan Callamezzo's show wraps up the day for team. Tom is always on point to butter up Leslie's rival in the media Joan. For all of Leslie's awkward goofiness she somehow always knows the right move to fix a problem. When she is being grilled by Joan about Ben's ability to oversee the Pawnee's budget, Leslie knows the time is right to Ben to defend himself. And so the Harvest Festival is saved once again.

Let's not forget Chris' offer to take April with him to Indianapolis to be his assistant. Her response "sounds boring but I don't have anything tying me here so OK." No way are Ron and Andy going to let April get away that easy. Plus I'd have to drive to Pawnee and kill them if they did. Andy agrees to do all the jobs April hates for a month if she'll stay in Pawnee. Ron who knows he'll never find a suitable replacement for April takes it upon himself to make sure Andy succeeds. Of course, Andy runs into a number of Andy problems along the way.

I love Andy. He's dumb, sweet and completely naive in all the right ways. The character is ten fold better than he was in Parks first season. I'm glad he and April reunited. I don't see this as one of those relationships that changes the dynamic of the show. Neither character are central to Parks but rather the kind of role players that make a series.

Chris (Rob Lowe) cracks me up in small doses but as far as his relationship with Ann, I don't care very much. She finally confronted him about what is going to happen to their relationship when he has to move. All that was resolved was an agreement that they needed to address the subject.

Another excellent episode from Parks this week.