Parks and Recreation is bleeping awesome

It is so f*cking awesome that every single word in this sentence links to another article talking about how awesome this show is, be it a news article stating how many nominations P-Rex has claimed yet again in some awards show, or opinion pieces on why you should watch Parks and Recreation, or even countdown lists that have included P-Rex in their respective lists.

As you can tell, that was an extremely long sentence. It took a lot of effort to source for those articles. All this effort, is a sign of my affection of this show. However, people around me prefer comedies like Modern Family or How I Met Your Mother or... Well, that's all I can think of now. Now, I know you guys won't click on ANY of the links but I did it anyway, just to show 1) How many articles are there proclaiming the awesomeness of this show, and 2) How much I love this show...

It's going to be a very long entry, so click on if you wanna read.
Firstly, if you have clicked through, I presume you already watch P-Rex, or want to start watching. If you belong in the latter group, then I have something to say. Whatever you do, please do not start from the first season. The first season might just very possibly turn you off of the rest of the seasons, something you do not want to happen.

So just in case you're scared you're going to miss out on something, I will kindly summarise all 6 (yes only 6) episodes of season 1 here. Initially, I was going to type out the description of all the characters but that would be too stupid, when I can just copy and paste from Wikipedia!! YAY!!

• Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, an mid-level bureaucrat with a strong love of her home town of Pawnee, who has not let politics dampen her sense of optimism; her ultimate goal is to become President of the United States.
• Rashida Jones as Ann Perkins, a nurse and political outsider who gradually becomes more involved in Pawnee government through her friendship with Leslie.
• Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, Leslie's sarcastic and underachieving subordinate, who eventually begins to consider leaving his city hall job to pursue his own entrepreneurial interests.
• Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson, the parks and recreation director who, as a Libertarian, believes in as small a government as possible. As such, Ron strives to make his department as ineffective as possible, and favors hiring employees who do not care about their jobs or are poor at them. Nevertheless, Ron consistently demonstrates that he secretly cares deeply about his fellow co-workers.
• Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate, a cynical and disinterested parks department intern who eventually becomes Ron's assistant.
• Paul Schneider as Mark Brendanawicz, a city planner who entered the field with a sense of optimism, but has since become jaded and disillusioned.
• Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer, a goofy and dim-witted but lovable slacker, who starts of as Ann's boyfriend.
• Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt, a competent but socially-awkward government official trying to redeem his past as a failed mayor in his youth.
• Rob Lowe as Chris Traeger, an excessively positive and extremely health-conscious government official.

Okay now you've probably not read that, let's move on to the plot synopses  for season 1!!!!! I'm not even going to talk about the B-story here. I'm just going to tell the main story of what happened in season 1 so that if you, my dear reader ever wants to watch this show, you can just skip to the good part, ie season 2 and beyond. Please skip the next part if it's too boring alright! It's just rote summary and reiteration.

So. In the pilot episode, besides introducing all the characters that work at the Parks and Recreation department of the town of Pawnee, Indiana, it also shows Leslie and Tom holding a forum for the citizens to air their views and problems. Considering how much this is a source of hilarity for the ensuing seasons, it was really boring here. Anyway we meet Ann, who was there to complain about a large pit (abandoned after a construction company went bankrupt) next to her house that her boyfriend, Andy, broke his legs when he fell in. Stuff happens, and Leslie tries to get approval to build a park from the pit from her boss, Ron. Since he's such a laissez-faire person, he of course rejects the idea. Leslie confides in Mark the city planner - her one night stand 6 years ago and friend* - who then cashes in a favor with Ron and asks him to build the pit.

In episode 2 - 5 nothing substantial really happens. They do the normal thing you do when you try to get a project done. Get approval, get exposure, and get feed back from the citizens about the new park. There isn't really any development here except Ann realizing Andy treats her like a crutch.

But in the season finale, there's a bit more development. Andy gets his cast off and his band puts up a show and invites the parks department to attend. Leslie has a date with some old politcian (which she thinks is a meeting) that her mum set her up with so she couldn't go. Ann finds out Andy delayed his cast removal in order to get Ann to wait on him for a few weeks more. Mark spirals into depression realizing his work is insignificant and he has no companion to turn to. Leslie and Mark end up getting drunk and talking, ending up near the pit. During this time, Ann and Andy were fighting about the cast issue. It ends when Leslie and Mark kiss, she rejects him and he stumbles into the pit. Ann and Andy take a break from their relationship... And... Season 2!

To be honest after watching it, one of the things I was surprised at was how little April and Ron were used. Those 2 are the master of minimalist comedy and provide plenty of laughs in the coming seasons, but they were severely underused here. Most of the stories in these 6 episodes had plenty of Mark, Ann and Leslie. Since Mark and Ann are best used as straight man/woman, it's no wonder season 1 was a big disappointment.

Despite the promotion P&R has gotten, which isn't a lot, the ratings have been mediocre at best. Part of the reason is because people tuned in for these first 6 episodes and were turned off by it. That just goes to show how important the first few episodes are. Another 2 reasons I can think of are, P-Rex is always going to be unfairly compare to it's bigger cousin The Office. And it will lose, because people don't like new things. Finally, it might be because people don't like the government, so it wouldn't make sense for them to watch a show about the government...? I don't know, just some of my thoughts.

Finally, because videos speak so much more than words, I'm going to leave you all with my favorite and most hilarious cold open of season 3. Don't worry there aren't any spoilers! I affectionately call it: Ron Swanson has a toothache. Enjoy!