this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
121 points (96.9% liked)

Ask Lemmy

39741 readers
1351 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 49 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

Parks & Recs season one was pretty different from the rest of the show - not necessarly bad, just different, e.g. several popular characters didn't exist yet. TBH I don't remember when exactly they introduced substantial changes, but I think it was the start of season two.

[–] habitualcynic@lemmy.world 8 points 13 hours ago

The Venezuela sister city episode season 2 episode 5 is where it showed its true potential.

The humor lands, the characters have some consistency, and the vibe is consistent with the rest of the show. Yes, it was firing on all cylinders with Ben and Chris, but this episode is where it showed its stuff.

If you disagree, right to jail. Right away. No trial, no nothing. I have the best opinion… because of jail.

Season 2, Episode 21 is the “real” start of the show IMHO. It’s the episode where Chris and Ben arrive, Mark takes a job somewhere else, and the gang celebrates April’s 21st birthday at the Snakehole Lounge. Also, most of the show’s eventual couples are also paired up in that episode - Leslie/Ben, Ann/Chris, April/Andy, and even Tom/Lucy.

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Parks & Recs is a very typical show that evolves from edgy comedy into feel-good romcom. American The Office did the same, Schitt's Creek did the same, Superstore did it. At this point I'm not even sure if it's by accident (the shows responding to what the audience wants) or if it's by design ("let's make typical show that goes from edgy to romcom").

[–] akwd169@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

New girl did it too

Its because writing jokes forever gets harder and harder with every new season

But any old chump can write the characters falling in love and having their goals come to fruition and blah blah

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 10 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I think it's also because quirky characters get boring fast. So you can either keep making everyone crazier and crazier (like Veep or Archer) or you pivot into a romcom.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 18 minutes ago

Archer was great for the "let's start of the rails and see how far we can get from them" factor

[–] fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

That's a crazy point. Huh. Yeah I can't think of any examples of that kind of show that doesn't besides the absolute unit that is Always Sunny.

[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

I feel like season one was trying too hard to be The Office, and then in season two it sheds that to become its own entity. I've heard that the writers sincerely considered s1's less-than-stellar critical response and made changes to s2 accordingly (e.g. making Leslie Knope more likable and less dumb). It's definitely a "don't judge it until you've gotten at least part way through season two" series.

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

Most people say the start of Season 3 as Mark is off the show at the end of season 2 and Chris and Ben become full time characters, but the first Tammy episode is in season 2 so that’s my vote. It’s just too damn funny to pass over.

[–] illi@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago

Both Parks&Rec and Office were kinda rough in S1 and got significantly better is S2 I think.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

i saw some clips of that show, went to watch it, and realised the rest of the epilodes were just padding around the clip-worthy stuff. it was so hollow.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 10 points 1 day ago

I found that it had a lot of substance. Great show.

[–] KRAW@linux.community 2 points 1 day ago

This is how I feel about it. I remember loving it when it was first airing. I did a rewatch a couple years back and couldn't stand it. Can't say I like a single character outside of Andy.