I recently discovered a TV show called Parks and Recreation, thanks to a friend who recommended I watch it to fill the void left by How I Met Your Mother (which had a horrible finale, by the way).
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series starring Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a perky, mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. It uses a single-camera, mockumentary filming style, with the implication being that a documentary crew is filming everyone. It is kind of like The Office, but in a government setting.
Season 1 starts off slow, so I wasn’t hooked immediately. But then when the two characters Chris Trager (Rob Lowe) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) get introduced in the latter part of season 2, things literally became way more interesting and I was like this:
Oh yeah, I used the word “literally” because Chris liberally uses that word, which is one of the funny things about him, aside from his being so hyper. The show is dope, I’ve literally laughed out loud at some of the moments because how can you not when this happens?
But I’ve also cried as well, because this show has both humor and heart, 2 of my most favorite things in a TV show. And also because I am a serial weeper.
I love the mockumentary style, especially the side glances that characters direct at the camera when another character does or says something crazy (which happens a lot).
I love most of the characters, especially Ron Swanson, Chris Traeger and Andy Dwyer, who are all funny in completely different ways, but my most favorite ones are Leslie Knope and her love interest, Ben Wyatt.
Their chemistry is ridiculous! There is this one scene where Leslie’s bestfriend Ann Perkins says, “Wow, that was the most sexual tension I have ever seen in a conversation about documents.” I have to agree with her! And who wouldn’t love a relationship announced to your bestfriend using a video like this?
I found this article about 25 heartwarming Ben and Leslie moments from Parks and Recreation and I literally smiled like a lovestruck Ben or Leslie as I went through it. (Okay, I need to stop using that word.) Also when I watched the video below.
And the way they say “I love you and I like you” to each other? It’s literally quite possibly the most adorable way of saying I love you ever!
I guess I love them also because they’re the ones I can relate to the most, in that I can see some of my traits in them, like Ben’s being a nerd and an accountant like me (his “calculator!” joke got me too) and Leslie’s perkiness, passion, and penchant for celebrating nonsensical anniversaries. Don’t freak out, I don’t celebrate first breakfast day or something like that, but I used to always celebrate friendship anniversaries or the anniversaries of when I first met my friends. Like this and this.
Do you watch this show? Do you like Ben and Leslie as much as I do? If yes, let’s talk please!