The pilot was seen as predictable and lacking in character development even for a pilot.
Many had seen the promos and were expecting an OFFICE type mockumentary with the same tone but felt the pilot was too close and similar to the OFFICE.
The show could use a genuinely likeable male lead.
Surely these could not be criticisms lobbed at Parks and Recreation the venerated comedy series that after seven seasons breathed its last on Tuesday night. But in a Consumer and Market Intelligence Research Summary obtained by Deadline Hollywood six years ago it seemed that a certain Amy Poehler vehicle would not travel far. Test audiences were downright unfriendly.
SNL fans felt her character Leslie was a bit too serious and too low key and many expected her to have more energy and enthusiasm especially when she is getting drunk.
Pacing was seen as slow.
Highest positive spike comes from Leslie falling into the pit.
And when the show went to air critics threw hex.
People might tune in as the cliche goes to watch Amy Poehler read the telephone book The Washington Post s Tom Shales wrote in 2009. The premiere is not without laughs and yet it is almost without interest except as an answer to the question I wonder what Amy Poehler is up to these days. As it turns out not quite enough.
But when the show s creators look back they remember Parks and Rec s early identity crisis and perhaps a crisis of confidence. Originally planned as a spinoff of The Office it turned out the show was too similar to The Office.
At least in the minds of some.
My sense is that if we had built Parks and Recreation around a 90 year old Maasai warrior people would still have said He reminds me of Michael Scott Parks and Rec co creator Michael Schur said in 2009. There was just no way to escape it.
It was like a discovery period after the first six episodes writer Norm Hiscock told Uproxx. It seemed Poehler s character Leslie Knope had to be a bit more different than a certain paper executive from Scranton Pa.
People thought she was a little too much like Michael Scott from The Office Jim O Heir a.k.a. Parks and Rec klutz Jerry Gergich said. That wasn t the intention. Leslie was a go getter. And there s no bigger fan of The Office than me but Michael Scott was a dumbass who just wanted to impress and be lauded upon.
Luckily for Parks and Rec an interruption the writer s strike which stopped the first season after just six episodes proved a blessing.
In season two the writers turned down the snark and the show immediately improved Allen St. John of Forbes wrote in How the Writer s Strike Saved NBC s Parks And Recreation. Leslie was still overly enthusiastic but beneath all that energy was a core of competence and good intentions.
I loved when they made it where she wasn t so goofy O Heir said. She would screw up but it was earnest hard work. I think that was an amazing change for the series and it changed the tone of the show.
The hard work paid dividends. By season two critics were asking if Parks and Rec was the best comedy on television.
It started off with a strong voice a wide cast of characters and a distinct sense of place and setting James Poniewozik of Time wrote. Now that it s found its rhythm (and reined in Poehler s character Leslie Knope) it s become a closely observed comedy of small town government and people.
Throughout NBC stuck with Parks and Rec never for a moment doubting that the peerless creative team it had put together could make magic on the small screen. That and the network had no other choice.
I have to say the cupboards were bare NBC president of primetime entertainment Angela Bromstad said in 2009. We really needed to stick with it and I think it s paying off.
Unfortunately even as a success Parks and Rec was a bit of a failure. As The Post s Emily Yahr explained patience with a flailing show is a virtue broadcast networks can no longer afford.
For all its wonderful attributes (the great cast the sharp writing the inside jokes the mini horse) the series also had the unfortunate distinction of being a Low Rated Critically Acclaimed Comedy on Network TV she wrote. And that is a model that is essentially extinct.
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