Parks & Rec Unpopular Opinions

[whateverhappened]

I've been rewatching and love Ann more and more. She reminds me of a couple of friends of mine, very competent professionally but a little awkward and unsure personally (I'm a mess both professionally and personally!), always searching for love and allowing their identities to change a little depending on who they're dating but still always wonderful friends, good listeners and helpful in all sorts of important but usually underappreciated ways. I've come to like her and Chris as a couple, two people always searching who finally found what they were looking for, and am glad they ended up together. 

My favorite season changes nearly every time I watch, but right now I think Season 5 would top my list. Most people seem to prefer 3 and 4, so I think that's unpopular? I also love Season 6. It's got some of my very favorite episodes, including London, Filibuster and Moving Up.  

This show and Brooklyn Nine-Nine do so much to keep up the spirits of someone as depression prone as I am and seem to get better with every viewing.  *bows to Mike Schur*  

Edited June 4, 2017 by whateverhappened

[pau]

On 19/02/2015 at 7:14 AM, Pete Martell said:

I don't think Jean Ralphio is all that funny. I'm not trying to be a prude - it's not that I'm offended by him - he just bores me. This type of character is a dime a dozen in fratboy grossout comedies of many years and he and Tom together consistently make me reach for the remote. 

 

I love Ben, and Chris had his moments, but I liked the show better when Mark was around. 

 

I'll always be disappointed that they didn't have Tom date that bartender from season 3 for a longer period of time, instead indulging way too much in boring as hell, overextended stories where he made silly faces over his failed business ventures. Tom's mugging is one of my least favorite memories from this show.

 

I liked Tom and Ann as a couple far more than I did most of Ann's other relationships.

 

I feel like the show lost most of it's ability to write humor after season 3. They still knew how to write touching, warm moments, and sometimes I did bust a gut laughing (the red carpet and the ice rink is one of my favorite sitcom moments of all time), but it was a rare thing. 

 

I will always have a soft spot for the disastrous, pushy pariah Leslie of the first season. Actually, I like the first season a lot, period. 

 

Andy makes me feel tired, and once the character became one long dumb joke, I began to actively resent seeing him.

 

I hate how everyone treats Jerry and how it's supposed to be acceptable that everyone belittles and degrades him, and even worse, that it's somehow all his fault, and what he deserves. For a show that feigns at being heartwarming, this is a very disturbing way to treat an easy target.

 

I preferred April with the boyfriend who had a boyfriend. I always wanted to see more of that relationship.

 

I don't really like the "treat yo self" scene, even with the funny Batman gag. It screamed of trying too hard.

Right in the money !! Ah and to me season 2 was the best season of this show.

[Inquisitionist]

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I don't think Jean Ralphio is all that funny.

But that name absolutely cracks me up.  I'd love to know who came up with that and how.  Is it a play on Ralph Macchio?  One of my favorite Leslie lines is "Jean Ralphio, dance up on me" in The Fight.

[Mabinogia]

On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 3:30 PM, lostandfound said:

April is my favorite. I get where people who dislike her are coming from! I just really connect with her, preferring animals to people, being cynical and snarky partly as a defense and sometimes just out of habit, feeling scared to hope and try, caring a lot about the few people I trust, having trouble finding a job that makes me happy, always a little different from normal people, tendencies towards negativity and depression.

The way you describe April she should be my favorite, that is me! But I HATE HER!!!!! She's just got a meanness to her that I do not find amusing in the slightest. And on that front...

On ‎9‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 6:07 PM, pau said:

I hate how everyone treats Jerry and how it's supposed to be acceptable that everyone belittles and degrades him, and even worse, that it's somehow all his fault, and what he deserves. For a show that feigns at being heartwarming, this is a very disturbing way to treat an easy target.

I'm technically quoting PETE MARTELL but this is the way this site rolls so...

This running "joke" was for me the single worst thing about this show. I NEVER found it funny in the slightest and it made them all seem more like bullies than anything else. It was disturbing to me.

So for me this is a very odd show. Hilarious in places, seems to have a big heart in places, but also has a very nasty, mean side to it that I don't like. It could be because I've been mainlining it for a few weeks now. I never watched it before because I'm not a fan of Amy Poehler or of mock-umentary style shows, but a very trusted friend kept telling me I had to see it and...well, Chris Pratt. So I jumped in and while I mostly like it (Love Ron, Leslie, Ben, Ann) I also sort of hate it (hate April, the Gerry bullying, Tom, Andy being a buffoon, Tom (I really don't like Tom).

But this show led to the Good Place so I can't hate on it.

[Kip Hackman]

Parks And Recreation's Jerry Gergich Is The Most Annoying Person Ever

[VCRTracking]

Found this article fro 2015. Now this is an unpopular opinion!

When the Park Was a Pit: Celebrating the Darkness of ‘Parks and Recreation’ Season 1

But y'know what? Even though I can't EVER see season 1 being my favorite I can't argue with the writer's reasons that it's his. Like the majority of fans I do think the show improved immensely in season 2 but condensed as an two hour movie season 1 could work as a quirky but dark indie comedy.  It's like the UK version of The Office. But like the American version, it would have been depressing week after week in a full season. It had to change and be more optimistic in their outlook and just as Michael Scott needed to be me more sympathetic, Leslie couldn't continue being a punching bag.

Edited May 12, 2018 by VCRTracking

[alonenotlonely]

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I've been rewatching and love Ann more and more. She reminds me of a couple of friends of mine, very competent professionally but a little awkward and unsure personally (I'm a mess both professionally and personally!), always searching for love and allowing their identities to change a little depending on who they're dating but still always wonderful friends, good listeners and helpful in all sorts of important but usually underappreciated ways. I've come to like her and Chris as a couple, two people always searching who finally found what they were looking for, and am glad they ended up together. 

My most unpopular opinion: Ann is one of my favorite characters, not just of this show but ever. I just adore her! I went on about why for a few paragraphs but deleted them to spare you all the pain of reading my fangirl rambling. And I agree with the above that Chris and Ann ended up one of my favorite relationships on the show. They're two of my favorites separately and together, and I love that they didn't feel compelled to get married. In her own understated way, Ann is a surprisingly independent thinker and really comes into her own as the series progresses.

April got worse and worse for me. I think someone pinpointed it well when they said that she grew more mean and bitter with less and less reason to be given that her life was pretty amazing and everyone around her unconditionally accepted and even rewarded her horrible behavior. I understand that occasionally she offers the people who continuously shower her with love, praise and opportunities a kind gesture in return, however grudgingly, but then she reverts right back to being terrible nearly all the time for no discernible reason, so I found her moments of decency less and less touching. She does have relatable moments, and the thing about loving animals more than people make me connect with her a little, but unless it's a scene where we get to see her be a decent and loving human being with Andy, I find myself wanting to muzzle her.

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April is my favorite. I get where people who dislike her are coming from! I just really connect with her, preferring animals to people, being cynical and snarky partly as a defense and sometimes just out of habit, feeling scared to hope and try, caring a lot about the few people I trust, having trouble finding a job that makes me happy, always a little different from normal people, tendencies towards negativity and depression.

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The way you describe April she should be my favorite, that is me! But I HATE HER!!!!! She's just got a meanness to her that I do not find amusing in the slightest.

Same! The description from the person who loves her is technically accurate and makes me think this should be my favorite character on the whole show, but like the poster who responded, for me April just comes together in a way that makes me despise her. Is it the way she's written, the acting, something else that I can't define? It reminds me of how I feel about Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Gina Linetti, who is also constantly mean, unappreciative, rude, entitled and whiny but is always embraced and rewarded anyway. Maybe I found either of these characters funny, I'd be more tolerant of their flaws.

I was surprised to see how many aren't crazy about Chris or even Ben. It's so interesting how we all click with different characters. Chris and Ben are two of my very favorite males ever!

It seems the fandom and most critics highlight season 3 as the best of the series, but for me it's seasons 4 and 5.

Leslie is the easiest for me to admire but sometimes the most annoying for me to watch. Obviously I can't imagine the show without her, but there's something about the character or maybe the actress that can irk me.

If this many of us agree that the Jerry mockery is unfunny, mean and just dumb, does it still count as unpopular? I don't necessarily even mind humor that some deem mean. The thing for me is that the "mean" joke is 1. funny, 2. has some sort of point, and 3. isn't just obnoxiously repetitive, and the cruelty to Jerry throughout the series is 0-for-3 on that score.

I worry it didn't come through that I really love this show. Maybe it's that a lot of what I love about this show are the things that nearly everyone seems to love, so it doesn't come up in a thread devoted to unpopular opinions. I only have two or three shows I'd consider myself obsessed with, and this is one of them!

Edited June 21, 2018 by alonenotlonely

[VCRTracking]

On 6/21/2018 at 12:18 PM, alonenotlonely said:

but is always embraced and rewarded anyway

That's probably the part that bothers people most. That they get away with it and aren't usually called out on their crap. I think the reason it never happens on shows is if someone does give "The Reason You Suck" speech(as TV Tropes calls it) like if Ann gave one to April or Amy gave one to Gina, they'd have to change they're behavior and the people making the shows don't want that. They love writing their put-downs.  I also think without April, viewers wouldn't like Ann as much. The same with Amy on Brooklyn Nine Nine in regards to Gina. I like Amy but she would kind of drive me crazy with her perfectionism and "teacher's pet" attitude. Jake used to make fun of her but he's the love interest and that can be seen as sexual tension. You need someone who actively dislike her.

[Not4Me]

I liked Ann. Even though she was more of a straight woman she was endearing and had her quirky moments, plus the best relationship she had was with Leslie. I always have a soft spot for Rashida Jones. 

Plus if we didn’t have Ann, a lot of people on the show would have died (when she ordered Andy to spit out the silver painted M&Ms he consumed, when she stopped April from trying to stab herself with a large syringe when she learned had to be her friend for a week, when she stopped Leslie from drinking 8 full glasses of milk in under 3 minutes during the telethon, when she treated Ron when he got shot in the head by Tom....I could go on!). 

[Kip Hackman]

8 hours ago, Not4Me said:

I liked Ann. Even though she was more of a straight woman she was endearing and had her quirky moments, plus the best relationship she had was with Leslie.

Agreed. The Leslie/Ann friendship was one of the best parts of the show. 

As much as I loved the Leslie/Ben relationship, it helped turn Ann into an extraneous character, unfortunately.