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.

Parks & Recreation "Ron & Tammy Pt. 2" Review

Ron Swanson missing part of his mustache can mean only one thing, Tammy is back.

Tom sends Ron off on a Tammy bender when he brings her to a Pawnee PD appreciation party to get Ron back for dating his ex-wife Wendy. What Tom doesn't know is that Ron and Wendy had broken up earlier that day. Ron's reaction to Wendy's invitation to move back to Canada is classic and pure Swanson.

The next time we see Ron, he's in a Pawnee jail cell with cornrows, a kimono and the middle third of his mustache missing. He later explains that he lost it because of friction. No couple has a more passionately hate fueled relationship than Ron and Tammy Swanson. I'm sure the real life marriage between Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally. Their scenes together are filled with pure vitriolic gold. The ultimate payoff comes when Tammy kicks Tom's ass for trying to come between them.

Back at the office, the oddest of couples are thrown together when April has to fill in as Chris's assistant. You can imagine April's reaction to Chris's over the top positive attitude. The scene when he's asks her for "green and yellow post its but not orange because I have plenty of orange post its" is their best scene together. By the end of the episode Chris lets her know he can see through her attempts at sabotage and actually offers her a job working for him in Indianapolis. This of course is the writers attempt to build tension in the seemingly perfect relationship that has been forged between Anne and Chris.

The writers continued to lead us down the path of Ben falling for Leslie and Leslie being completely oblivious to this. So far this relationship just doesn't work for me. I thought Leslie's relationship with Officer Dave was the only attempt that really hit the mark. Their awkwardness and inability to hold a comfortable conversation fit perfectly with Leslie's character and the show in general. I don't see the same chemistry between her and Ben at this point.

Any episode with Ron and Tammy is going to be a winner but the rest of the subplots were mostly throw away.

Parks & Recreation "Time Capsule" Review

After what may have been the best Parks & Rec ever last week, the show was bound to take a step back. Luckily we still have Ron Swanson to fall back on. It two and a half minutes for Ron to share the most awesomely deliscious sounding breakfast ever the "4 Horse Meals of the Eggporkalypse." There are no words to explain how good that sounds.

The Twilight stuff just didn't register with me. Tom getting into the books seemed natural but the guy demanding they be put in the time capsule just didn't work. Seems like there was a better way to work in Tom's new relationship with the Twilight books.

Behind Ron, my favorite character on the show right now is Andy. He's a moron in all the right ways like a giant baby who shines a damn fine shoe. A nine hour jam session to Dave Matthews sounds about as perfect as Andy's life could get.

What do you do now if you're the writers of P&R? You've added Adam Scott and Rob Lowe and Andy's role continues to grow but you still only have 22mins to work with. Who loses screen time? Looks like Anne is the odd person out. Her only story line is this romance with Chris and that's it. If her screen time continues to decline will Rashida Jones accept a diminished role? Does she go the way of Mark at the end of the season?

Are you ready for some TV? pt. 4 NBC

Ron Swanson American Hero

Seriously, what's the best we can hope for from the same people that put The Jay Leno Show on in prime time five days a week. These people have already proven their stupidity, now they can only build on it. That's exactly what they've done this season. It takes a special kind of idiot to take one of your best shows, Park and Recreation, out of your lineup and replace it with what sounds like one of the dumber premises this season, Outsourced. Parks and Recreation had really hit its stride last season and was only building steam with the additions of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe so of course it should be pulled from the fall lineup and not be brought back until the spring. That strategy has never backfired.

NBC is the only network that doesn't have a new show worth checking out. The Event? No thanks, I'll keep getting my conspiracy fix from Rubicon. The Chase? Jerry Bruckheimer and I'm out. Maybe I'll Netflix Chuck and give it a shot. Although, since I've heard good things about it NBC will soon give it the Friday Night Lights purgatory treatment.

Fall Roster

Alison Brie. That is all.

Community - Thurs 7c - Community ran neck and neck with Modern Family for best new show all last season. Unlike, Glee when Community broke out a theme show, they nailed it. The Modern Warfare episode was probably one of the five best episodes in all television last season. Each member of this outstanding cast (Britta not withstanding) has found their comedy sweet spot and the writers have continued to find creative story lines in what seems like a limited setting. I pray they can keep it up for a few more seasons.

30 Rock - Thurs 7:30c - 30 Rock still very solid. Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan make it a must watch every week.

Veterans trying to avoid being cut

More Nard Dog

The Office - Thurs 8c - The Office has enough equity built up that it really doesn't have to worry about being cut. However, the past two seasons have been very disappointing. Note to television producers everywhere, anytime you want to kill a show, kill the sexual tension by allowing lead characters to get together. Since, The Office has already made that mistake my suggestion is less Jim & Pam and much more Nard Dog. They also need to rekindle the Nard Dog v. Dwight rivalry. This season I'll still be watching but I just don't think I'll be enjoying it as much.

Rookies trying to make it

None. Congratulations NBC you suck. Keep running The Apprentice and finding new cities to throw a Law & Order in. No one really expects more from you.