This show is depressing to watch in bulk after 5 seasons. The first three seasons are great and easily the best American comedy, along with The Office, since Arrested Development was cancelled because of the low IQs of US TV watchers. But then season 4 and 5 are partly average and partly unwatchable porn gossip, with the until then interesting lead character being reduced to perving overThis show is depressing to watch in bulk after 5 seasons. The first three seasons are great and easily the best American comedy, along with The Office, since Arrested Development was cancelled because of the low IQs of US TV watchers. But then season 4 and 5 are partly average and partly unwatchable porn gossip, with the until then interesting lead character being reduced to perving over her stick insect boyfriend`s butt constantly. The funny part of the show was that Leslie Knope was utterly delusional but somehow managed to cram her delusions down people`s throats with her relentless optimism. The counterpoint to her anti government boss was perfect and produced almost all the comedy this show managed to generate. But when the pathetic script writers started turning her into a success, thereby confirming her delusions, they killed the heart of the show in a similar way that fat Chandler dating dull Monica did to Friends. And it didn`t help much that Ron Swanson had his character destroyed at the same time, leaving an otherwise uninteresting cast of unfunny people doing cheap sex gags to pick up the slack. This is not a comedy after season 4. Why anybody would think it is comedy I have no idea. The same kinds of people who laughed at dwarf tossing in the Middle Ages I guess, and to me all I can think of by way of comparison is the guy watching Ow My Balls! in Idiocracy all day long.
The second problem seems to be that political satire is apparently banned in the USA, or perhaps Americans are just too sanctimonious about their government to get it. Either way what careful doses of it there were on this show get replaced with more and more crude propaganda in the fourth and fifth seasons; Elections aren`t rigged, bought out and controlled at all in P&R which they most certainly are in real life, taxes are good and not at all funneled into the endless pit of the Federal Reserve and local politicians make decisions as opposed to rubber stamping federal and UN "legislation". If a comedy show can`t tackle this satirically, and instead rah rahs about how wonderful Obama and Hitlery Clinton are, it needs to avoid the topics altogether. But P&R did not and destroyed itself in the process. Season 5 might as well have been written by John McCain or some other Washington parasite. Indeed the ghastly McCain even makes an appearance in season 5, setting his stamp of death and decay on this ruined "comedy" show. If any poor Americans want an example of what real political satire looks like I recommend either the old BBC show Yes Minister or the movie Brazil.
I would advise people to get the three first seasons of Parks and Recreation and then pretend it got cancelled, which in some ways it did since it`s not much of a comedy after this point. Seasons 1-3 I would rate a 9, season 4 a 5 and season 5 a 1. Watching beyond this point seems highly pointless.… Expand
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