Parks and Recreation has been all about dropping knowledge this past month, and the latest episode — focused on Pawnee’s sister Parks Department from Venezuela Read the full post.
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This episode was great and this season is vastly improved from last. Lesile being nerdy and naive works well and, like any successful TV show, has an excellent supporting cast. This is a omic gem. Let’s hope more viewers dig this.
I started watching this season and its definitely better that imagined. I actually think I like it better than “The Office”, but not better than “30 Rock”…yet.
I liked this show from the start but this year is much improved.
I hope that more people will tune in.I read somewhere that the key to the success of shows like this is the likeablity of the lead.If so,this show has that in spades.And the rest of the cast is superb.
This is my favorite show of the season (it was last season too, when it wasn’t as cool to say so.).
I actually thought this episode was the best one ever of P&R. The re-cap hit the nail on the head.
I’m from Venezuela. I’m a fan of the show, it has improved so much it’s entering The Office Season Two Territory….
I didn’t think the episode was offensive at all. Jokes or writing like the one at the beginning of the episode (“it’s a poor country!”) are made all the time about every country that is not the one where the writers are from. Mexico, Canada, England, you name it, they’ve all been portrayed different than they really are. Is it a mistake? Yes, is it funny, well no, it’s not supposed to be for you because you’re from there, so it hits close and you know it’s not true.
But if look away for a bit you can find some things funny. Rather than being insulted. Because that’s not their intention anyway.
I though the fact that they made up a city instead of using one was excellent on their part, no real city was going to come up good in this episode.
And the jokes about the officials were not offensive at all, some of them were real enough. And the Committee to Humiliate America, well that thing must exist somewhere in Caracas, I’m sure of it, sadly.
The episode hit hard at our government, I don’t know why though, didn’t think it was this type of show, even if the center of it is a public office that deals with political situations (even if their objective is parks and recreation).
But I didn’t think it was offensive, and in the end, some of us (the good Venezuelans) would do the same thing, we would much rather keep the hole in the ground and not get the park instead of saying “Viva Chavez” on camera.
I think the show suffered from a bit of lack of research, even a little bit would’ve prevented some mistakes, but that comment about my country being so badly represented you would have to go back to the Soviet Union to find a comparison, that’s ridiculous, the country is what it is, it’s a mess, and it’s all thanks to that guy and his people, which are big a-holes like these ones on the show. The did not insult our country, they insulted him, and he deserves every bit of it.
Satire needs an element of truth in order to be funny. P&R’s poking fun at small hometown’s political foibles has that element and, so, is funny. Total fabrication and taking part in the demonizing of Venezuela in the service of Big Oil’s interests, well, “T’aintm McGee!”
correction to my last post:
last line should read: “‘taint, funny, McGee!”
I’m totally on the “wanting P & R to win” boat. The comedy combination alone (and freakin’ Chris Pratt! Guy’s awesome!) is enough to like this show, but I’m loving seeing the growth in P & R. I feel like they really took the criticisms of their show and stepped it up, which is more than I can say about pretty much any other comedy. P & R seems fresh when The Office is getting stale. Who knew?!
I too was disappointed with P and R’s portrayal of Venezuela. I actually love the humor of this show, but I could not ignore the blatantly misleading subtext of this episode. References to “dirty” money (the Venezuelan government does not need to extract the oil by invading another country, and by the way, IT IS DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED)and the daemonization of Chavez is usually left to corporations and the generally wealthy Venezuelan minority that are not “sufficiently” benefiting from his presidency.
For some reason, there is little outcry in the corporate media about numerous brutal dictatorships supported directly (financially and militarily) by the U.S. government (e.g. the US supported the Apartheid government while labeling Nelson Mandela a terrorist). Read for yourself:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html
I am sure Knope would not mind endlessly thanking a corporate sponsor for its generosity, even if its “clean” money came from the exploitation of the people of a developing country.
Unfortunately, even a great comedy loses its luster when it spreads corporate propaganda. We all have our faults, and Chavez is no different, but considering what our Presidents and governments have done, WE REALLY SHOULDN’T BE TALKING. There is a reason why many people around the world are critical of the policies of our government that most of Americans are too wrapped up in abortion and despising gays, to notice. It is not because we have McDonalds and Taco Bell or get to drive big cars. It is because the foreign policy of our governments leads to the death of many people in those countries.
Henning, have you been following Aziz Ansari on Twitter? He’s been reading/quoting your recaps!!
I found the episode with the Venezuelan the funniest so far! I laughed so hard – I had to watch it again…
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