While watching this scene, I found myself empathizing with these cranky kids -- for the entire length of the half-hour episode, I could not shake the distinct feeling that something essential was missing.
Produced by the same people who brought us "The Office," and starring Amy Poehler, formerly of "Saturday Night Live," "Parks and Recreation" takes the now familiar pseudo-workplace documentary and brings it to the arena of local government. Poehler plays Leslie Knope, the well-meaning but naive head of the parks and recreation department of fictional Pawnee, Ind., who takes herself and her job way too seriously. Poehler's character's tendency to find importance in her unimportant job contrasts starkly with her coworkers, who seem content to sip coffee and let the local government go along slowly and inefficiently.
Within the first half of the pilot, however, it becomes clear that "Parks" lacks the elements that make its parent shows so successful. Without the subtle humor of "The Office" and the oddball slapstick comedy of "SNL," "Parks and Recreation" is a comedy that happens to be missing one thing -- the funny.
There are, however, clear attempts at both kinds of humor. In accordance with the familiar formula of "The Office," a character will look into the camera, say something awkward, ridiculous or delusional, and then the show will immediately cut to a scene that plays off the character's statements.
Meanwhile Poelher, no stranger to playing up the camera, uses her repertoire of silly smiles, eyebrow raises and expressions of discomfort extensively. She even takes on physical humor, falling down a hill and into a pit in one episode. But the attempt seems forced and the audience's lack of investment in either the characters or the plot leads the humor to fall flat.
At times, it's as if Poehler and the cast are pleading with the audience to laugh already, saying, "Look, this should be funny." The truth is, it should be funny, but unfortunately, it isn't.
Although a mundane story line about turning an abandoned pit into a park has been dragging on for the first four episodes, the show is clearly not plot-driven -- meaning the success or failure of "Parks and Recreation" ultimately depends on an ensemble cast that, thus far, has not shown enough comedic chemistry to keep the show afloat.
This cast likely lacks chemistry because the characters on "Parks and Recreation" are much less tied to their physical workplace than are the characters of "The Office." It seems that while "Parks and Recreation" has nabbed the template provided by "The Office," it has forgotten the most essential part -- the forced interaction among quirky coworkers. With all the fieldwork involved in their jobs, Knope and company are far too free to roam their separate ways, giving the show an odd, disjointed feel.
The characters' lackluster relationships may also be a result of the show's gutsy decision to forego a strong, structured script in favor of attempting to achieve a more authentic feel through improvisation. It is up to the actors to conjure believable relationships among themselves.
As of yet, however, the actors are still trying to find their footing. It is too early to say whether the cast will be able to find enough chemistry to form the ensemble cast that "Parks and Recreation" will need in order to succeed.
The actors on their own are strong enough to achieve this with time. After all, "Parks and Recreation" does have a couple heavy hitters -- not only Poehler, but also "Office"-import Rashida Jones.
As a nurse whose deadbeat boyfriend fell into the abandoned pit, Jones offers a sweet, earnest outsider's perspective to the ridiculousness of the parks and recreation department.
In fact, Jones plays sane to Poehler's crazy so well that it leaves hope that a cohesive cast is slowly developing.
"Slowly" being the operative word.
I cannot write "Parks and Recreation" off yet -- it might just exceed all expectations and get its act together before NBC pulls the plug.
