PARKS and RECREATION aka "Everything's coming up Amy"

haha

they don't really feel like people to me

What's interesting is I totally consider P&R a "live action Simpsons" as well, and back when that show was good it managed to be both cartoony and heartfelt, and more well-rounded than most live action shows (like, maybe only Roseanne beat it out). There is similarly a lot of exaggeration to the characterizations in P&R, but they also get away with it because the writers ground them in some real emotion (it was nice to see, for example, Leslie being crazed as a reaction to Ben having a possible romance, since we hadn't seen her respond to the breakup). So they may be cartoonish, but their centers feel more true to me--I have known and loved several Andys in my life--than any other current sitcom characters.

i didn't mean cartoonish per so much as 'familiar comedians/comic actors playing very broad personality types'

Still laughing at Whitney comparing P&R to Drew Carey.
Now I'm unemployed I started watching P&R from the beginning and it really is pretty painful

if you mean whiney, he was comparing community to drew carey

thought Whitney Cummings might be trying to start a rivalry

tbf i think we all agree that the first season and a half is legit bad tv sunny but it becomes fun after the boring guy leaves and they stop trying to push rashida jones as, well, anything worth caring about.

wait who was the boring guy that left?

Paul Schneider AKA Paul Schneider the City Planner

So boring everyone forgot him the moment he left. I think it was pretty easy to forget him when he was on the screen, actually.

ugh him yes. so boring.

and remember how Andy was almost kind of a douche in the beginning? so glad that they went away from that.

i think the uptick in quality started while paul schneider was still there -- basically once louis ck's character showed up the show had figured itself out.

I remember I liked the camping episode when Aziz gets shot.

now that i think about it, my favorite paul schneider moment has nothing to do with paul schneider -- it's when andy was giving people piggyback rides around city hall, and as he ran by him he shouted "MARK - BRANNNNNNNN - DANOWITZZZZZZZ!"

kinda missing seeing andy give kyle a shine though.

Ahh autocorrect yeah whiney

was paul schneider still there for the art episode where tom gets really emotional about shapes? it had definitely gotten good by that point

yeah, iirc leslie asks for his help and he draws them an old man sitting on a park bench that is boring but guaranteed to win the contest.

also i seem to recall some ilx love for the valentine's day episode, where he gives ann a series of stereotypical valentine's day gifts and she pleasantly accepts each of them.

most if not all of season 2 is solid in my book.

season 2 is the best season

night and day from season 1 to episode 1 of season 2

xp exactly. they obviously did a lot of retooling in between.

yeah it is rly good from ep 1 of S2 and just keeps getting better

and remember how Andy was almost kind of a douche in the beginning?

Andy was a total dickbag at the beginning, but they did just a great job of having him believably change while staying true to certain aspects of his character that it's hard to think of the adorable dopey puppydog that he is now being the surly entitled dopey dipshit that he was.

think it started getting pretty good when Leslie gets her haircut in season 1, and then the Rock Show episode continues it, and once FUROR OVER GAY PENGUINS happened this show had me in the palm of its hand. FLIPPER + EVE NOT FLIPPER + STEVE!

Still miss you Paul.

sic otm

i wish they'd develop Donna's character a little more beyond Haverford foil, but ultimately this show always impresses me with how well-developed the characters are: especially having April be a pretty one-sided and grating Daria type at first and then slowly showing what makes her happy, why she's drawn to Andy, and why her family drove her and her sister to a life of snark

i appreciate the show's soft-heartedness but they do err on the side of sappy a little too much imo, it kinda feels like they're trying to prove a point or something

think it started getting pretty good when Leslie gets her haircut in season 1, and then the Rock Show episode continues it, and once FUROR OVER GAY PENGUINS happened this show had me in the palm of its hand. FLIPPER + EVE NOT FLIPPER + STEVE!

http://blog.sfgate.com/hottopics/2011/11/07/zoo-to-split-up-%e2%80%98gay%e2%80%99-canadian-penguins/

What did we learn about April's family? I must have missed that.

Her parents are super cloyingly normal.

Yeah, there's that ep where Ron tries to hire her back as his assistant, and he visits her at home. Where he meets her little sister, who is exactly like April.

Still miss you Paul.

I was halfway through watching uber-chick flick Bright Star (doomed secret engagement of poet John Keats and girl next door oh noes!) before I realised Keats's Scottish room-mate was none other than Mark Brandanowitz.

I watched Piranha recently and noticed the male lead is Ben.

He wasn't even doing an accent! Or wearing a beard! Mine was much more difficult.

Did he FLY @ U FACE

I was halfway through watching uber-chick flick Bright Star (doomed secret engagement of poet John Keats and girl next door oh noes!) before I realised Keats's Scottish room-mate was none other than Mark Brandanowitz.

I love that movie, but Brandanowitz being in it always makes me lol. Especially this bit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J87mL2CoZFQ

"Keith... under sex, you wrote 'yes, haha haha haha.' Well played."

Keith vs Tom & Ron destroyed me. I have a headache now. The whole episode! Every single character was just killing it. Oh, me.

i thought that was one of the lesser episodes.

"lessisodes" you might say.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

April and Leslie by the lockers was all time.

the whole model UN thing felt kind of programmed and joyless IMO

duh it's model UN

(thought it was kind of an average episode myself, though april and tom had some good laughs)

also rob lowe is pretty amazing on this show. i just want to point that out. he's really really funny for someone who wasn't really considered a comedic actor before being cast on this show.

Brandanowitz is in David Gordon Green's first couple, no? "George Washington" and "All the Real Girls?"

yeah it's where he got started i thought

"i failed john keats" is hilaire, never seen that.

i like bright star but dude is kind of miscast

also, oranges are orange