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revisiting s7 for the first time since it basically washed over me and wow, the Doug Judy episode is yikes a few are in retrospect i guess but this is the one that burned me out fastest
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Mar 14, 2021 03:49
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FactsAreUseless posted:I'm thinking of stuff like increased use of Donna and Jamm, or adding characters like Craig, but I actually don't think there was much. I've just always thought B99 hit its formula earlier and didn't deviate as much. Craig is the big one, honestly. I mean, yes, you had Donna's wedding to Keegan-Michael Key but she wasn't much more prominent in that season that she was before. And P&R benefited from the soft reboot it got in season 3 when Scott and Lowe came aboard.
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Mar 14, 2021 18:36
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Gaz-L posted:Craig is the big one, honestly. I mean, yes, you had Donna's wedding to Keegan-Michael Key but she wasn't much more prominent in that season that she was before. And P&R benefited from the soft reboot it got in season 3 when Scott and Lowe came aboard. That's where the show really begins for me. Before that they tried to do too many dating plots with Leslie that didn't work at all and wasted the interesting parts of her character.
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Mar 14, 2021 18:53
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I'm trying to get a friend to watch B99, and she's trying to get me to watch P&R. She said to just start with season 3. I'm assuming by the previous posts here that that's correct? I might go back and watch the first 2 seasons once I know and appreciate the characters.
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Mar 14, 2021 19:37
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:I'm trying to get a friend to watch B99, and she's trying to get me to watch P&R. She said to just start with season 3. I'm assuming by the previous posts here that that's correct? I might go back and watch the first 2 seasons once I know and appreciate the characters. I'd start with season 2 (knowing that it's going to get better), but yeah, definitely skip season 1 to start.
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Mar 14, 2021 19:41
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P&R season one is only six episodes and the characters that inject the life into the plot show up in season two, so you might as well watch it all.
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Mar 14, 2021 19:42
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Season 1 sets the scene and is CONSTANTLY referred back to. It's also fine. Just watch it.
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Mar 14, 2021 19:48
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Yeah, Season 2 isn't bad it just hasn't all clicked yet. S1 arguably is bad but its real quick and its all very much in continuity. Stuff like Andy's whole character arch doesn't play the same if you aren't familiar with him being a shithead to Ann. P&R changes but it mostly builds on top of what's there. There's a clear tweak to Leslie's character and the overall tone of the show from cringe comedy to a more hopeful thing but all the characters and the world are there and being built up.
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Mar 14, 2021 20:01
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:I'm trying to get a friend to watch B99, and she's trying to get me to watch P&R. She said to just start with season 3. I'm assuming by the previous posts here that that's correct? I might go back and watch the first 2 seasons once I know and appreciate the characters. PR season 1 is stuck in its original concept as a spinoff of The Office, so Leslie Knope is shown to be incompetent in a way that seems bizarre when looking at her later-seasons incarnation. It also focuses a lot on characters that don't really fit, like Leslie's mom. You do get to see the beginnings of her friendship with Ann (Rashida Jones), which is the central relationship of the show, and over seasons 1 and 2 you do get a pretty interesting storyline with Tom (Aziz Ansari) that they never mention again from season 3 onwards, but it points to a different sort of show that probably also would have been pretty good. Season 2 is a perfectly good sitcom, aside from a real yikes of a one-off character played by Fred Armisen in episode 5, and Louie CK plays a love interest of Leslie's so if that's something you don't want to see you're fine to skip, although I loved his performance at the time. If you want to start the show right when it really hits its stride, I'd suggest one of two entry points: S2 E20 - "Summer Catalog" This is a funny episode that shows you how a lot of key characters interact in ways that will be played with for the rest of the series, and the episodes that follow it, "94 Meetings" and "Telethon" are some of the best of the series. S2 E23 - "The Master Plan" This is when Ben (Adam Scott), Leslie's other primary relationship, is established and the scene when they connect for the first time is an all-time great. This is the episode where the show starts to take Leslie seriously, which is when it becomes a show like nothing else on TV. If your inclination is to start at season 3, actually start here with the last two episodes of Season 2. FWIW I didn't watch the first season until I'd seen the rest of the show, and it was fine that way. Hope you try the show, hope you love it as much as I do! Be sure to look up the extended version of Patton Oswalt's scene online when you get to it.
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Mar 14, 2021 21:03
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Just watch the show lol. Like, season 1 of stargate sg1 is loving terrible but I'd never tell anyone to skip it, because how the hell are you gonna know what's going on if you skip the episodes that explain the entire premise of the show.
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Mar 14, 2021 21:27
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I say it in the Star Trek thread, and I'll say it here, just watch a TV show if you want to watch it. Episode guides are great for doing a rewatch so you can skip the bad episodes, but a lot of bad episodes still have important plot information in them that affects the rest of the series. You also don't get to make fun of how bad an episode is if you've never seen it.
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Mar 14, 2021 22:06
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P&R honestly finds it's footing pretty early. Lowe and Scott were definitely the missing pieces of the puzzle that made the show as good as it got, but they figured out where they were going by the end of that first run of 6. By that point they'd already started leaning into the idea that Leslie is a hyper-competent workaholic and THAT's why her personal life is a mess, instead of just making her the lady version of Michael Scott. The biggest issue in the first 2 seasons is the doofy love interest male lead whose name I can't even remember. It feels like he came from a different show altogether. (Andy is also much more of a malicious douche that was using Ann in the first season or so) I also quite liked Leslie's mom, and the actress is very good, so they could've tweaked her character (and they kind of did later, making her less the disapproving parent and more what you'd expect Leslie's mother to be)
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Mar 14, 2021 22:58
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Mymla posted:Just watch the show lol. lmao in my defense I thought this was the P&R thread, I'd have never done such a long writeup if I realized it was the B99 thread. Gaz-L posted:the doofy love interest male lead whose name I can't even remember. Mark Brendanaquits! Huego fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Mar 15, 2021 |
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Mar 15, 2021 02:06
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Rockstar Massacre posted:revisiting s7 for the first time since it basically washed over me and wow, the Doug Judy episode is yikes What about it do you find yikes? The weird stuff with Judy's sister and his attempts to control her sexuality, or the fact that Jake gets a bunch of guys arrested for a literal victimless crime? Cojawfee posted:I say it in the Star Trek thread, and I'll say it here, just watch a TV show if you want to watch it. Episode guides are great for doing a rewatch so you can skip the bad episodes, but a lot of bad episodes still have important plot information in them that affects the rest of the series. You also don't get to make fun of how bad an episode is if you've never seen it. No way, TNG doesn't give you any information you need going forward in season 1. Sure you get a Data episode that explores his origin a bit more and it explains who the gently caress Q is but they recap that every single time the characters show up again. Anyone who wants to watch TNG should start with one of the good seasons and then go back to season 1 later after they've gotten a non-terrible impression of the show. Generally I find that shows that "find their footing later" never actually improve significantly, and it's just sunk cost by people who've been watching it for years, but TNG is a glaring exception.
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Mar 15, 2021 02:07
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Lurdiak posted:What about it do you find yikes? The weird stuff with Judy's sister and his attempts to control her sexuality, or the fact that Jake gets a bunch of guys arrested for a literal victimless crime? It's that second bit, the only thing that separates Jake's behaviour from real world garbage cop behaviour is that real cops would never work that hard for a bust they can't take credit for, and Judy's plan is some straight up apologism that makes it very clear they should have retired that character after the hostage episode. I know this show is filled with this dissonance and always has been but oof that took the wind out of my sails
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Mar 15, 2021 06:32
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Huego posted:PR season 1 is stuck in its original concept as a spinoff of The Office, so Leslie Knope is shown to be incompetent in a way that seems bizarre when looking at her later-seasons incarnation. It also focuses a lot on characters that don't really fit, like Leslie's mom. You do get to see the beginnings of her friendship with Ann (Rashida Jones), which is the central relationship of the show, and over seasons 1 and 2 you do get a pretty interesting storyline with Tom (Aziz Ansari) that they never mention again from season 3 onwards, but it points to a different sort of show that probably also would have been pretty good. S2E1 is the Penguin Marriage one, so I'd say S2 hits the ground running.
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Mar 15, 2021 17:27
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Cojawfee posted:I say it in the Star Trek thread, and I'll say it here, just watch a TV show if you want to watch it. Episode guides are great for doing a rewatch so you can skip the bad episodes, but a lot of bad episodes still have important plot information in them that affects the rest of the series. You also don't get to make fun of how bad an episode is if you've never seen it. A friend of mine showed his wife TNG and they skipped season 1. While yea season 1 is poo poo you also kinda entirely skip over the character of Wesley and she doesn't really understand why people are so down on him. Missing season 1 of parks and rec misses the pit if nothing else and I feel like that's kind of important. Andy might as well be a totally different person though. Everyone else I feel sorta changes vaguely but Andy is super changed.
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Mar 15, 2021 18:21
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I feel like I've derailed this whole thread, and I probably wasn't clear; both my friend and I, if we end up enjoying the other's show, will definitely eventually watch every episode. It was more "what group of episodes should I start with to let this show grab me, if I'm unsure about it?". If I end up liking P&R, you can safely bet that I'll see every single episode.
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Mar 15, 2021 20:12
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Start with Season 2 of P&R if you are a little dubious about it, it's great from there and also you really appreciate how much the character of Ben Wyatt changes Leslie by seeing the season before she meets him. Season 1 is something interesting to go back to once you know all the characters, since it's like watching a prequel miniseries.
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Mar 16, 2021 00:49
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Taear posted:A friend of mine showed his wife TNG and they skipped season 1. While yea season 1 is poo poo you also kinda entirely skip over the character of Wesley and she doesn't really understand why people are so down on him. I still haven't seen season 1 (my husband has though) and I very much remember the pit, are you sure that's not a S2 plotline?
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Mar 16, 2021 01:21
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HookShot posted:I still haven't seen season 1 (my husband has though) and I very much remember the pit, are you sure that's not a S2 plotline? The pit starts in s1 (it's how Leslie and Ann meet), but carries over into s2
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Mar 16, 2021 01:22
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Davros1 posted:The pit starts in s1 (it's how Leslie and Ann meet), but carries over into s2 Ah cool, that explains it, thanks!
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Mar 16, 2021 02:19
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Yeah, Ann is introduced coming to the Parks Dept. complaining about the pit near her house and asking if they could fill it in and turn it into a park, Leslie gloms on to her and the project because she was originally supposed to be enthusiastic but charmingly incompetent to begin with and wanted to prove she could do a thing (and make a friend.) They moved away from her being bad at her job very quickly and turned the plotline into 'local gov bureaucracy makes it impossible to get things done'. Something that's interesting with P&R early on is how often they'd clearly just turn the confessional camera on and tell Poehler or Ansari "Give us 2 minutes of bad date stories/weird nicknames for everyday things" and then just cut up highlights, and then the show gets more tightly scripted later. Bringing it back to B99, season 1 of P&R is very similar to the first half of B99's first season, before they really nailed down who Jake and Amy were in particular. The pay-off to the date bet storyline felt like they deliberately recalibrated both of them by about the end of the first order of 13 scripts.
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Mar 16, 2021 03:14
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I want to see the alternate season 1 where Jake ends up fired for his consistent sexual harassment of Amy.
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Mar 16, 2021 08:07
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Senor Tron posted:I want to see the alternate season 1 where Jake ends up fired for his consistent sexual harassment of Amy. an alternate seasons 1-7 where Boyle is fired for his constant sexual harassment of everyone
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Mar 16, 2021 16:28
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I'm pretty sure Holt's numerous insults toward Wunch would also be fireable offenses.
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Mar 16, 2021 16:35
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There's a ton of poo poo that would normally get everyone fired. The heists, Jimmy Jab games, etc. It's a comedy. It's got good jokes.
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Mar 16, 2021 16:36
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Good joke, thinking a cop would be held accountable for sexually harassing someone.
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Mar 16, 2021 16:38
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Huego posted:Season 2 is a perfectly good sitcom, aside from a real yikes of a one-off character played by Fred Armisen in episode 5
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Mar 16, 2021 16:46
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tarlibone posted:I'm pretty sure Holt's numerous insults toward Wunch would also be fireable offenses. Wunch’s groping of Holt in the guise of “frisking”would be much worse.
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Mar 16, 2021 17:03
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:There's a ton of poo poo that would normally get everyone fired. The heists, Jimmy Jab games, etc. It does, and also some bad ones. Try to imagine coming home from a long day of dodging your boss's roving hands, wanting to relax and unwind to some funny TV.
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Mar 16, 2021 17:19
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Gaz-L posted:Bringing it back to B99, season 1 of P&R is very similar to the first half of B99's first season, before they really nailed down who Jake and Amy were in particular. The pay-off to the date bet storyline felt like they deliberately recalibrated both of them by about the end of the first order of 13 scripts. I think I let season 1 coast because it has the greatest series opening line in TV history: "Good news, murder fans!"
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Mar 16, 2021 17:25
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ONE YEAR LATER posted:Good joke, thinking a cop would be held accountable for sexually harassing someone. Well, that's not what I meant but fair enough, I definitely see your point.
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Mar 16, 2021 17:38
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Gaz-L posted:Yeah, Ann is introduced coming to the Parks Dept. complaining about the pit near her house and asking if they could fill it in and turn it into a park, Leslie gloms on to her and the project because she was originally supposed to be enthusiastic but charmingly incompetent to begin with and wanted to prove she could do a thing (and make a friend.) They moved away from her being bad at her job very quickly and turned the plotline into 'local gov bureaucracy makes it impossible to get things done'. Apps and zerts are classic, though.
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Mar 16, 2021 17:57
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Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari are very good at improv, yes.
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Mar 16, 2021 19:03
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Chicky chicky parm parm
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Mar 16, 2021 22:07
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So I'm rewatching and got to the last episode of season 3 and it really feels like there's a scene cut at the end. Holt initially says he doesn't know what the funky cold medina, but a scene later he reveals he way lying, which I don't get. Bob had already told them where the file he had previously stolen was hidden, and what reason does Holt to lie? Also the apartment is trashed, which Rosa says was here doing. I feel like there was originally a part where they pretend that Figgis' goons break in and there is a fight, but as it is cut for the aired version it seems disjointed and made me feel like I missed something. Or, and this is likely too, I just didn't get the joke.
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Mar 17, 2021 20:56
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ONE YEAR LATER posted:So I'm rewatching and got to the last episode of season 3 and it really feels like there's a scene cut at the end. Holt initially says he doesn't know what the funky cold medina, but a scene later he reveals he way lying, which I don't get. Bob had already told them where the file he had previously stolen was hidden, and what reason does Holt to lie? Also the apartment is trashed, which Rosa says was here doing. I feel like there was originally a part where they pretend that Figgis' goons break in and there is a fight, but as it is cut for the aired version it seems disjointed and made me feel like I missed something. Holt's lie is for fun. So we the audience could enjoy the reveal that he has now worked with Jake long enough to share in Jake's passions. He even has a line to that effect, about how could he have worked with Jake for so long without knowing Funky Cold Medina. And it's a 22 minute sitcom, it's not going to depict every single beat of the crime story. Every episode with investigation scenes tends to show the aftermath, not the action. Action costs money.
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Mar 17, 2021 21:05
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tarlibone posted:I'm pretty sure Holt's numerous insults toward Wunch would also be fireable offenses. Wunch literally sexually abused him on screen multiple times so that's kind of moot.
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Mar 17, 2021 22:58
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Huego posted:Holt's lie is for fun. So we the audience could enjoy the reveal that he has now worked with Jake long enough to share in Jake's passions. He even has a line to that effect, about how could he have worked with Jake for so long without knowing Funky Cold Medina. And it's a 22 minute sitcom, it's not going to depict every single beat of the crime story. Every episode with investigation scenes tends to show the aftermath, not the action. Action costs money. My point was more that the whole sequence feels disjointed and rushed, and if what you say about Holt was the meaning of the exchange then I totally didn't get it, which is fair enough. Watching season 4 now and Skyfire Cycle episode is in my running for one of the best of the series. Everything with Jake and Terry at the convention and the way Terry freaks out about Skyfire, Gina and Boyle and the Council of the Cousins, the argument between Holt and Kevin about the monty hall problem (BONE!?) The only thing it's maybe missing is Cheddar but everything that is there is amazing.
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Mar 17, 2021 23:09
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