Critic’s Notebook: ‘Parks and Recreation’ finale: ‘Find your team’
10 years ago

Critic’s Notebook: ‘Parks and Recreation’ finale: ‘Find your team’

LA Times  

A story about people who love one another made by people who clearly love one another, “Parks and Recreation” ended its seven-season, zigzag run through prime time Tuesday night on NBC. In the final shot, star Amy Poehler, as public servant Leslie Knope, faced the camera, all aglow, and addressed Leslie’s future and perhaps her own: “I’m ready,” she said. Written by Poehler and series co-creator Mike Schur, the finale was, as finales often are, a kind of metaphor for the moment: “We need to celebrate everything we’ve done as a group,” Leslie says to her co-workers, a character talking to characters and an actor talking to actors as all are about to part. “The best prize life has to offer is a chance to work hard at work worth doing,” Leslie says near the finale’s end, quoting Theodore Roosevelt.

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Parks and Recreation finale review: How it forgot what made this show so good.
10 years ago

Parks and Recreation finale review: How it forgot what made this show so good.

Slate  

It’s fitting that, in the end, the perennially almost-canceled Parks and Recreation lasted for a respectable seven seasons on NBC: It’s very Leslie Knope of it. If, at the start, intense, ambitious, Hillary-admiring Leslie was a riff on Tracy Flick, as Parks came into its own and Leslie’s qualities were rendered in a more warm waffle-colored light, it became possible …

Farewell to "Parks and Recreation," the quirky comedy that bet on its cast and won
10 years ago

Farewell to "Parks and Recreation," the quirky comedy that bet on its cast and won

Salon  

If you look back at the first season of “Parks and Recreation” now, it really does feel like an entirely different show. Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope is brash and bumbling instead of lovable and self-assured, while the characters that orbit her feel like part of some bizarro alternate universe: Her love interest isn’t Adam Scott's goofy Ben Wyatt, it’s uptight …

"Parks and Recreation": One of the only sitcoms that knows how to portray love
12 years, 4 months ago

"Parks and Recreation": One of the only sitcoms that knows how to portray love

Salon  

Last night’s episode of “Parks and Recreation” was titled “Halloween Surprise,” but it overflowed with treats, not tricks. They started small and sweet — Donna’s art-imitates-life arc as a prolific tweeter, Ron trying out Solomonic wisdom on two little girls, Leslie’s Rosie-the-Riveter-Is-a-Total-Hottie costume, Tom trying to make fart attack happen, among others – and ended with the big tear-jerking sugar …

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