'Parks and Recreation' - 'Telethon': DETLEF SCHREMPF!
Amy Poehler writes a great episode for herself and her co-stars
Ron Swanson: Master Caner
A review of last night's "Parks and Recreation" coming up just as soon as I suffer from sleep fighting...
In recalibrating the Leslie Knope character between seasons one and two - making her seem overly-enthusiastic rather than delusional and turning her from someone mocked by her co-workers into someone they respect and even fear - Greg Daniels, Mike Schur and company made the show vastly better. But that shift in the character has also had an unintended side effect, wherein the very funny Amy Poehler often seems like the straight woman sidekick and not the comic heroine of her own show.
Now, there have definitely been season two episodes where Leslie was front and center and generating a lot of the laughs ("Practice Date," "Greg Pikitis" and "Leslie's House" immediately come to mind). And there's certainly no shame in playing straight woman to the likes of Andy, April and Ron Effing Swanson. But it had been a while since we got a good concentrated dose of Knope insanity. So leave it to Poehler to write herself one of her best showcases of the season - and yet one that allowed her to keep playing point guard and set up everyone in the supporting cast for a moment.
So we got an overtired, hyperactive Leslie fueled entirely by sugar (ironically, at a diabetes telethon), but we also got Ron's sleep fighting and chair caning (yet another of Nick Offerman's talents, I'm sure), we got another fine performance by Mouse Rat, we got Tom getting drunk around the much taller Detlef Schrempf(*), Donna using the telethon phone to make international calls, Jerry's talents again being unappreciated, April's sarcasm going unrecognized and even Ann (in the tag) letting us see that she's just as irrational in her love of Leslie in some ways as Leslie is towards her.
(*) And speaking of irrational love, I cannot tell you how excited I was when I learned this episode would feature Detlef Schrempf. Even though he played on those Pacers teams of the '90s that always gave the Knicks fits, the combination of the crew cut and the name (which my best friend Mike and I always had to bark out in thick German accents) made him one of our favorite players. (And apparently, Band of Horses loves him too.) So even though the hair is less severe, I was pumped to have him around for an episode, and to see Tom be exposed to a different kind of celebrity.
Just lots of good bits of business for everyone (save poor Mark, who barely avoided being publicly humiliated on public access TV), but I especially loved the montage of Leslie trying to come up with ways to fill the missing Detlef time, and ultimately trying to describe the plot of "The One With Chandler in a Box" episode of "Friends."
One of the strongest episodes of this superb sophomore season for "Parks and Rec."
What did everybody else think?
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Next 48 CommentsLane74
May 7, 2010 at 10:29AM EST Reply to CommentThey like this
Jon
May 7, 2010 at 10:33AM EST Reply to CommentMy favorite was Mouse Rat singing "You got sex hair/and you got it from me". Moust Rat should release a real album. I'd buy it.
May 7, 2010 at 12:56PM ESTTruck Do we really need more comedy rock? I can get behind joke bands, but not ones that are just parodies of bad rock music.
May 7, 2010 at 1:18PM ESTbelinda I don't care. If Mouse/Rat has an album, I'm buying. :D
May 8, 2010 at 1:35PM ESTAnyway, hilarious episode! I can't complain about anything at all! Lots of favorite moments, but for some reason I couldn't stop giggling at seeing Leslie throw herself at the glass portion of the door while Ann tells the camera that Nutriyunms is a block of sugar.
Stealth
May 7, 2010 at 10:34AM EST Reply to CommentThe tag also offered further evidence that Rashida Jones can be funny.
sepinwall Absolutely (and as we also saw in "Practice Date").
May 7, 2010 at 10:38AM ESTDifference is that Ann was always designed to be the straight woman, whereas Leslie wasn't but has kind of become that by default at times this season with the emergence of Ron and the Andy/April combo.
ADKid25
May 7, 2010 at 10:39AM EST Reply to CommentGreat episode, definitely. Plenty of laughs all around, but I still think my favorite line of the episode came from the Mo Collins character: "Diabetes....YUCK!"
thegeniusking
May 7, 2010 at 10:40AM EST Reply to CommentNot only one of the best episodes, but perhaps THE best episode of P&R yet. The setting of a 2-6am telethon where everyone was tired and punchy (in Ron's case that can be taken literally), allowed the show to move to this beautiful, anarchic place that reminded me quite a bit of Poehler's springboard show, The Upright Citizen's Brigade. I could have watched an hour of Leslie's ideas to keep the telethon going. The biggest laugh of the night for me was a line from Ron that I didn't even hear all of, was him watching some guy named Perd doing the worm and saying "What the *bleep* is he doing the worm for?". Seriously, savor these episodes, because we are in the magical time during all great comedy show's runs (typically late 2nd through 3rd season) where everyone is firing on all cylinders, every character has found their perfect niche, and at the end of an episode you are left dumbfounded by what you just saw. Awesome. Also, Alan, congrats on the new gig. You're the Joe Posnanski of TV.
DrMike The line was, in fact, "What the [bleep] are you doing, Perd Hapley?" I had to check the closed captioning. I'm glad I did.
May 7, 2010 at 11:15AM ESTTruck Wow, I hadn't even thought how similar this episode was to UCB. Saigon Suicide Squad could have easily brought some danger to this episode.
May 7, 2010 at 1:20PM ESTBen S
May 7, 2010 at 10:44AM EST Reply to CommentThis was the episode where P&R really began to feel like a live action Simpsons to me. The town of Pawnee and the supporting characters feel real and lived in. Great stuff all round.
Loretta
May 7, 2010 at 10:46AM EST Reply to CommentGreat episode. P&R has been the highlight of Thursday nights all season. The fact that this was true even on a night that included Community's "Modern Warfare" just impresses me even more.
Lisa I feel the same way. For most of the season, I would come out of an episode of Community thinking that it had likely taken the prize for Thursday nights, only to be proven wrong by Parks.
May 7, 2010 at 12:21PM EST
May 7, 2010 at 10:51AM EST Reply to CommentMy favourite part of the episode might have been when I realized that the telethon phone number was 1-800-PAWNEE.
floretbroccoli Yes! I pictured the writers trying to come up with a seventh letter to tack on, then deciding that a six-digit phone number was funnier.
May 7, 2010 at 11:49AM ESTChris
May 7, 2010 at 11:26AM EST Reply to CommentWe also got to see a puppy go to town on Ron Swanson's moustache!
Overall, one of the best episodes yet. If you can't beat 'em, Sweetums!
Chazz_Goodtimes
May 7, 2010 at 11:37AM EST Reply to CommentDefinitely a quality episode and I loved Detlef's appearance and Tom's reference to his role on some German soap opera. I've completely come around on the staff's treatment of Jerry, at first it was just uncomfortable to watch but now I find myself looking forward to the increasingly overthetop derision- Leslie's reaction to his piano playing was great.
My problem with the show remains that they effectively have between 3-4 'straight characters'(mark, ann, donna, and at times leslie) in any given episode soaking up time from some of the truly hysterical new televisions characters created in the last few years (namely Ron F-ing Swanson).
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Don't teach a man to fish, and you feed yourself. He's a grown man. Fishing's not that hard"
Ben S There's no way I'd consider Donna to be a straight character.
May 7, 2010 at 12:21PM ESTTruck So, you want the show to have less depth? Just be a zany half hour of stupid gags and dry humor?
May 7, 2010 at 1:24PM ESTDonBoy
May 7, 2010 at 11:39AM EST Reply to CommentIt occurred to me that if this were a couple of years later in the show's run, they might have been willing to pay off a long-running subthread by having Ron perform as Duke Silver on the air. But not as things are now.
("...in a box!" is actually one of my favorite sitcom moments ever, so I understand trying to explain it.)
Stormshadow4life
May 7, 2010 at 11:43AM EST Reply to CommentParks and Rec is my favorite comedy currently on TV. I loved it! I wish more people watched the show
iamnoahjames.com
May 7, 2010 at 12:11PM EST Reply to CommentI actually like Amy's character better this season. And her shift to straight-man character helps keep the show more real, and it also distances her character from last year's "Poor man's Michael Scott" role.
I feel bad for the guy's stomach when he was doing Thw Worm. It looked more like a pushup, where you don't use your hands for the way down.
Steve
May 7, 2010 at 12:38PM EST Reply to CommentI think the biggest bit of news this week, which Alan apparently missed, was the revelation that it's spelled Gerry and not Jerry. Gerry Grgich. Perfect.
sepinwall Oh, I caught that as I watched. Though I vaguely remember Mike Schur spelling it with a J in an e-mail to me, so it's entirely possible that was supposed to be a misspelling (another sign of disrespect for the guy). Will check.
May 7, 2010 at 12:49PM ESTDana I didn't even catch the "Gerry". It was the "Grgich" that caught my eye, especially after the the summer catalog spells it "Jerry Gergich". Given that the end credits him as "Jerry", I think the catalog has the right spelling.
May 7, 2010 at 1:00PM ESTsepinwall I'm told that Grgich is a deliberate misspelling by the telethon people (his last name is supposed to be Gergich) as another indignity, and now there's confusion over whether Jerry or Gerry is correct.
May 7, 2010 at 2:10PM EST
May 7, 2010 at 12:42PM EST Reply to CommentA stellar episode of a really funny show. When Amy Poehler started on SNL, I wasn't terribly optimistic. I didn't really get into the UCB television show and I thought her antics were just shy of over-the-top. However, due to Amy Sedaris' lack of regular output, I think Poehler may be the best comedic actress working on television today. Her quick cuts are brilliant and memorable and she's always up for Lucille Ball-like silliness. I love this show and couldn't be happier that they righted the ship after a near-disastrous first season.
bridget
May 7, 2010 at 1:18PM EST Reply to Commentone of their best episodes(Leslie's pause while trying to remember if Phoebe was in the scene - genius) The corporate decision to add Rob Lowe is going to kill the comedy just as its hitting its stride. And please make Retta a regular - everything out of her mouth is laugh out loud funny
Shitegeist I think Lowe will really work in this show. He was excellent (and very funny) in the otherwise terrible Invention Of Lying.
May 7, 2010 at 1:42PM ESTPimentel
May 7, 2010 at 1:22PM EST Reply to CommentDidn't think anything would top Community this week. I was wrong. Parks and Recreation is consistantly hilarious and is my favorite comedy on television. The characters play off of each other perfectly and the scripts are always sharp and fun to watch. One of the highlights of my week.
May 7, 2010 at 1:53PM EST Reply to Comment"THE DETLEF SCHREMPF???"
LOL Aziz Ansari hilarious
Dan Stark
May 7, 2010 at 2:20PM EST Reply to CommentI hope the writers remember about Ron's sleepfighting when we meet the other Tammy.
karbs
May 7, 2010 at 3:12PM EST Reply to CommentWow. Caught this episode last night and it was fricken hilarious. I watched a few of the beginning episodes from Season 1 and wasn't too impressed so I stopped watching, but this was awesome! I will definitely start watching this next week especially with The Office and 30 Rock just not putting out (well) this season.
Misterpuff
May 7, 2010 at 3:39PM EST Reply to CommentSleepfighting? That must suck.
"Especially when I'm losing"
George
May 7, 2010 at 5:26PM EST Reply to CommentI thought it was a bit tonally off with the losing money joke and all the mocking of Pawnee's collective weight, but it was a good Poehler showcase.
Drunk T-Hav is awesome, I just wish John Ralphio was there to douche it up with him.
Again the reappearance of the computer guy from the rec centre and the Pawnee Today anchor lends realism to Pawnee despite what all those terrifying murals say otherwise.
The Mark/Ann story gave Rashida Jones something funny to do in the tag. I feel that it is right for them to break up they seem to have lost all momentum and reason to stay together, Mark's gonna be heartbroken.
Good episode, average in comparison to rest of the season.
SWG
May 7, 2010 at 5:53PM EST Reply to CommentDecent episode. Not one of the best but it had its moments. The basketball guy seemed completely pointless though and I thought it was embarassing that Amy wrote an episode that was like 75% focused on her character. Way to spread the love around.
Still, the show has unquestionably improved from even the start of this season.
SJ
May 7, 2010 at 9:19PM EST Reply to CommentFunniest moment: They actually start *losing* money when Ron comes on. Hahahahaha
LJA
May 7, 2010 at 10:36PM EST Reply to CommentRon Effing Swanson's caning demo was the highlight for me. So great.
AmyP
May 7, 2010 at 10:58PM EST Reply to CommentRon might be having a shrimp emergency.
I love being rewarded for being a loyal fan from the beginning.
Dave Hersam
May 7, 2010 at 11:53PM EST Reply to CommentEntirely opposite reaction: I guess comedy/humor is subjective, and I don't go for the over-the-top, absurdist, repetitive, un-clever stuff. Sure, there were moments I laughed at individual jokes in the show, but each time I saw that a character's shtick was going just the same place we've seen it go before, based on how insanely, unrealistically dumb they are, I fast-forwarded through to a change of scene. I LOVE good, intelligent comedy. Not that every character's a genius (Big Bang Theory doesn't always get it right either) but really, Leslie's not dumb enough as is, we had to get her exhausted and hopped up on sugar bars to plumb the depths of her comic genius/idiocy? And I don't mean that the characters all NEED to be intelligent, but it would be handy if we could see the writers' smarts shining through, a la Simpsons, etc.
Truth told, I give the show lots of rope with which to hang itself, and have maybe missed an episode or two in its run, and have seen glimmers I enjoyed. But on the whole it's done a very good job of hanging itself, in my eyes, as a lesser knockoff of The Office just set in a P&R instead of paper office: dumb boss, zany cast of characters. Where Jim + Pam are some kind of normal in Office, who's "normal" in P&R? Mark and Ann, I suppose, but we see so little of him/them.
I'm not just a hater here to flame. As I say, I love comedy, and would like to like the show, but haven't been able to. I've only happened upon you recently, Alan, and respect your staying power and the community you've built up; maybe we just have different tastes. In fact, I didn't catch the tag on TiVo because it switched over to Fringe, a show I really like, but you've said does nothing for you. It's not a comedy, but it does engage/challenge my mind. I liked Amy well enough on SNL -- in a sketch, stretch reality, be a crazy, zany character, do what you want, get a laugh, and it's done and we're on to the next, but as we've also seen with SNL-sketch-themed movies that tank, or others that fly, some ideas can stand to be stretched to a longer format, others simply cannot. For me, P&R would be OK as a sketch, maybe even work for some episodes or a season, but to build a long series on dumb boss and dumb, lazy, crazy characters who change/learn not a whit eventually loses me. Maybe a similar formula works better on something like The Simpsons because it's animated, so the characters really never do grow/change/mature, and the possibilities are more wide open to go anywhere, do anything, and fill it with lots of smart set pieces, crazy physical humor impossible for human actors, and clever wordplay.
But perhaps my view is not shared by most viewers, and P&R will have a long and healthy run. I see The Office as having its best days behind it, and haven't found many best days in the Office of P&R.
d3aj "each time I saw that a character's shtick was going just the same place we've seen it go before, based on how insanely, unrealistically dumb they are, I fast-forwarded through to a change of scene"
May 8, 2010 at 6:08AM ESTHow do you know that a show isn't growing into something you like unless you actually watch it properly? I don't like many of the characters on 30 Rock, but if I skipped their scenes because I assumed they wouldn't have a winning line or two I couldn't bring myself to complain about them or the show.
sepinwall Leslie's not dumb at all, I would say. She has a severe case of tunnel-vision, but she's the one in that office who gets things done. The joke of this episode is that the combination of sleeplessness and sugar intake put Leslie way off her usual game.
May 8, 2010 at 7:07AM ESTDaveH @d3aj didn't FF long, maybe few seconds at a time; chances writers/show gonna break their habits in midst of same ol' shtick as before? low.
May 9, 2010 at 4:31PM EST@sepinwall wowza - if you're always this interactive, even with those who disagree (tried to do so within your guidelines of keepin' it friendly/clean), I get a better sense of where your popularity and success come from! but I'd take you up on Leslie's dumbness/intelligence as basis of much of the show's humor; don't have the TiVo'd episode to look back at, but only "tunnel-visioned" to think she'll be A-OK on no sleep, + popping sugar bars all night? something a five-year-old might try? as always, diff'rent strokes, but as an adult, I'm way more into intelligent humor for adults, by which I don't mean dirty/foul, but with more of a foot in reality, a la Everybody Loves Raymond; sure, there's always some exaggeration and absurdity, but their eps much more based in real life than in absurdity/shtick -- takes more effort/skill, I imagine, but worth it :)
d3aj
May 8, 2010 at 5:46AM EST Reply to Commentchalmers
May 8, 2010 at 7:33AM EST Reply to Comment"You just love flashing ass, don't you?" I loved the Joan Callamezzo callback to NoMoleGate.
Derrick
May 9, 2010 at 7:44AM EST Reply to CommentAll the Thursday shows are feeling less and less funny these days. The Office had a great run with the Michael Scott Paper Company arc but it feels like all the air has come out of it since then with some episodes (the Date Mike one for instance) just making me cringe. After being the best of the night for a while, 30 Rock is also floundering. Now Parks and Rec seems to be struggling a little too. This ep wasn't bad, but halfway through I found myself tempted to turn it off because it was seeming a little lame. Maybe that's the "curse of Community". That show is raising the bar so high for comedy these days that everything else just seems lame. If Community can make an episode that good that I want to turn around and watch it again the moment it's over, why can't the others make something that at least doesn't make me want to turn the TV off and do something else?
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