So, after I finished ranking the 18 comedy programs that I have watched throughout my life, I decided I wanted to make that list 20 names long (a lot more standard than 18). So, I decided 'Veep' could be the 19th show (and I would place it 17th for now, but trending heavily up hard to really gauge a show long-term after 8 episodes - no matter how consistently good some of them were), and then I started to watch Parks and Recreation, which is probably the show that has gotten the highest praise of any show that I haven't yet watched. It also hasn't been on the air long enough for me to really have to spend a ton of time watching it (say 'The Office' or '30 Rock' or 'Archer'). Anyway, so I have finished the first three seasons of Parks and Recreation, and I have to say it is almost always really, really good. Every character can be really good. The only one that I really haven't loved is Rob Lowe's Chris Treager, but even he can be really funny at times. The show is structured brilliantly with enough strait characters and enough wacky character that neither side really beats up on the other one. It might be the most unique mix of a comedy that I have seen in a long, long time.
So, it is no Arrested Development, but it is in that realm of showing wackiness but crafting it well enough that it sounds believable. But it also has the romantic arcs that a show like Arrested probably could not have pulled off (it didn't try). Parks and Recreation, though, does something that I find a lot of my favorite comedies do, and that is it makes its little world so real, so exceptional, so loving and fun that I would like nothing more than to be a part of it. I would love to work in the Pawnee Parks department. I would love to hang out with Tom Haverford, stare at April and Anne, have drinks with Donna, make fun of Jerry, play around with Andy and drink scotch and eat meat with Ron. I would love nothing more than to do all of that. This doesn't make Parks and Rec unique. In fact, I have a lot of favorite sitcoms that figure into this little sect of "shows whose universe make me want to live there". Early seasons of How I Met Your Mother were like this. Community in S1 was like this. Everybody Loves Raymond was like this (who wouldn't want to be a part of that ridiculous family). However, does this really make a sitcom better?
I have no need to be a member of the Bluth family, because I know that Arrested Development is not really based in reality. Just like Community S2, that show isn't built to be a replica of this world but a slanted version that while not really all that enticing, is just more enjoyable. In fact, I think this is necessary for a show to become truly epic. I think if you take too much time humanizing the characters, making love and romance a part of the recipe does put a ceiling on your show. The biggest reason is that none of these shows were really able to keep the appeal of their world going for all that long. HIMYM lost it mostly. Friends lost it just as quickly. Parks and Rec has been able to keep it going for three years, but even then some of the things I liked least in S3 of the show (which was probably more consistently good - but not really great - than any season of any show I have seen in a long time) were the romantic arcs, particularly Ben and Leslie (but for an odd reason that I will get to in a tangent in a minute). Doing romantic arcs in a comedy is really, really hard. I've rarely seen them done well. Ted and Robin was good, but ill-fated since anyone with a brain knew it wasn't lasting. Ross and Rachel pre-break was about as good as I've ever seen it done. Marshall and Lily is and has always been special, but that's like cheating since they were together for all but eight episodes out of now 140. Romantic Arcs are so easy to get wrong (witness Ross and Rachel seasons 4-9) especially when they involve two of the main characters.
There have been four long-term relationships on Parks and Rec over Seasons 2-3 involving two accredited main characters (I'm basically discounting S1 since that was almost like a whole different, and definitely worse, show), with Mark and Anne, Chris and Anne, Ben and Leslie and Andy and April. To me, Parks and Rec has gone 1.5/4. Mark and Anne was just a bad idea, to put the two straightest of straight (wo)men in the show together. Chris and Anne is the one that worked because it allowed Rashida Jones to really play it funny as for once she wasn't the "perfect one". Ben and Leslie never worked for me because I just have problems with Ben. The half is for Andy and April, where I was a fan of their flirtatious beginnings (with just great subtle acting by Aubrey Plaza) but found the whole thing too rushed. I like them married, but found it not really all that believable. Anyway, Parks and Rec is great at emotional, and more than that "sappy, sweet" moments, but the romantic nature of the show could be its downfall.
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I want to finish off S4 before I rank it somewhere. Right now, it is probably #12 (ahead of HIMYM behind Everybody Loves Raymond). I don't know why I'm ranking it behind Community, but I just found Community's highs higher, and consistent enough especially over its first two seasons, that it holds a higher place in my heart. Anyway, now to my last point about the show, one that I have alluded to twice - Ben replacing Mark.
So, Mark, played by Paul Schneider, was written out after the show for what seemed to be the mutually symbiotic reasoning that the character itself is based on a guy who switched between the public and private sector (keeping the door open for his return for something more than a one-off guest appearance that he probably would have done at some point anyway) and that Paul Schneider was having some success in films. Mark was essentially replaced by the combo of Chris and Ben. Chris is a different story, but Ben essentially was Mark. I prefer Mark, and it might just be because he was there first.
Ben is Mark. They are basically the same character (aside from the differences in profession and what-not). They are the dry-witted, straight character. Where I feel sad is that Mark is probably most people's least-liked character in his time, while Ben is a fan-favorite, and the only difference between the two is the writing for Ben has been a lot better. Paul Schnieder played what he was given really well. I am sure he could have done as good if not better of a job as Adam Scott (who has great chemistry with Poehler, but less so for the rest of the cast). I wish Mark stayed. I wish that character was having the relationship with Leslie right now. I wish that goofy, satirical, poignant voice of Mark was still in the show. One of his last scenes on the show (with Leslie telling her how she can't ever quit government) was honestly one of the best scenes the show has ever done. I really hope he comes back at some point, and I'm holding out hope it follows the same arc as the man his character is based on and it is for a whole season (or half-season). I loved that character. I didn't like the relationship with Anne, but if I could pick one to stay, it would've been Mark and not Anne. Anyway, one can hope.
It got me to thinking of other characters on shows that were replaced over time that I wish never left. The one that quickly came to mind is Rex Van De Kamp on Desperate Housewives, who was a gem of a character in a gem of a storyline with Marcia Cross. Thankfully, he was there for the best, most watched and critically praised season on the show. He won't be forgotten. I feel like Mark will. I couldn't really think of other good examples (I'm sure there are, though) but it is sad to go back and watch S2 episodes and see that face in the credit sequence.
