S1E2: Hey Park Lady, You Suck!
Leslie Knope, Quinta Brunson, and Barack Obama walk into a bar
I guess now’s a good a time as any for some Parks and Rec history. I told you you’d leave this Substack with fun facts for your next bar trivia, so here’s me holding up my end of the bargain!
One of the most important things to know about Parks and Rec is that it’s kind of a period piece.
Parks and Rec first aired in April 2009, just three short months after Obama’s inauguration. Written by Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, two of the head writers on The Office, Parks and Rec was initially conceived as an Office spinoff, relying on the same single camera, mockumentary filming style for the show’s premise. And while both shows are interested in workplace relationships and the way these grow to impact characters’ lives outside the 9-to-5, Parks and Rec was directly inspired by the “yes we can” spirit of Obama’s campaign for the Presidency. A relatively unknown Senator from Illinois, Obama’s election was driven largely by grassroots campaigns and a deep-seated desire to change the status quo. There was very much an “every vote matters” vibe and a daring belief, once he was elected, that anything was possible if you really spoke up for it. It was an idealistic belief in the democratic system and it kind of came true for a bit.
Of course, I was ten years old during the 2008 election and watched his inauguration from the floor of the Woolridge Elementary School cafeteria, so I remember next to nothing about the election period. But research, baby, research!
The same “yes we can” spirit is central to both the character of Leslie Knope and the show’s broader fabric. Amy Poehler talks about this in her memoir:
“[Leslie] believes that it only took one person to make a difference. She wanted to effect change, she wanted to someday be president, but most importantly, she wanted to turn an empty lot in her town into a park.”
But while episode one sets the scene for the show’s innate hope in the democratic system, episode two brings us into its messy underbelly on the local level.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Leslie has a subcommittee on her hands. She has the green light to start the paperwork and the endless lobbying to try and build a park (bureaucracy at its finest). Now she needs to quite literally hit the pavement and get a sense of the public’s appetite.
She canvasses the town and is shot down at every single turn. One woman she meets, a mother of two named Kate Speevak, actually changes her vote from Yes to No after hearing Leslie’s blundering pitch. (Leslie might work on refining her sales craft — this episode proves that “you don’t love your kids if you don’t support this park” doesn’t quite seal the deal as far as sales copy.)
She hosts a dumpster fire of a town forum, where citizen after citizen stands up to object to the park idea. It’s a trainwreck of Leslie’s own making and yet Leslie loves the messiness. She has a very low bar for excitement and it’s both endearing and hard to watch: “Democracy is happening, people are talking! At least they’re not apathetic, right?”
This is the groundwork episode two lays for the rest of the show — the idea that real politics happens when citizens speak up about problems in their backyard, even if causes friction for Leslie. But it also gives some deeper insight into the extent of Leslie’s aspirations: this is a woman who really, truly believes she’ll be the first female President of the United States one day, despite the fact that she currently only presides (as second in command) over one small department in an Indiana town.
Not to totally derail us into a different sitcom when we’re only on episode two of Parks and Rec, but I’ve recently been binge watching Abbott Elementary, mostly because I’ve been reading review after raving review about Quinta Brunson (spoiler: she deserves them, I’m newly obsessed with her). The Abbott pilot is another amazing one.
We meet Quinta’s character, elementary school teacher Janine Teagues, who works in an underfunded public school in the suburbs of Philadelphia and wants to make a difference in her second graders’ lives. Abbott’s themes are similar to those in Parks & Rec in a lot of ways: we have a chipper, do-good, driven protagonist who has big dreams to change her world; she fights against The Man to solve the most small-town problem you can possibly imagine (in Janine’s case, she needs a new rug because a student peed on hers); and, despite set back after setback, she remains unflappably convinced in the belief that she’s making an impact. Leslie wants to be the first female President of the United States, Janine wants to change the lives of countless students. But in both shows, change happens because these women dig their heels in against the system and refuse to stop pushing.
What makes Parks & Rec and Abbott so funny is the provinciality of the boulders they push uphill. Their mountains are, in reality, mole hills, but they don’t feel that way to Leslie and Janine. The stakes are heightened because of how much these women care and I can’t help but always think of this scene from Riverdale whenever Leslie freaks out about hosting a town hall for ~5 citizens. I didn’t watch Riverdale but this scene had Twitter in a total chokehold for weeks a few years ago (and it resurfaces every now and then).
Like! High school football! The epic highs and lows! This isn’t the Trojan War! And Riverdale is NOT intended to be funny (key word: intended). Thank god we’re actually supposed to laugh at Leslie.
We’re laughing and rolling our eyes every time Leslie dredges up ghosts from her political past — aka anecdotes from middle school when she “won class president by a landslide and there were only 87 people in my class” — but Parks and Rec overall does a good job narrowing the aperture of public policy to the local level. The show says: you can make a difference! Vote! Run for office! Maybe you’ll run the country one day!
It’s honestly kind of shitty rewatching this an election year, and particularly in this election year, because we know what the state of democracy actually looks like. (To anyone reading this from under Patrick Star’s rock: things are dandy).
So I guess maybe the show didn’t age that well. Or maybe it aged fine, but it’s better thinking about it as a time capsule, capturing a quick minute when a TV character manifesting herself to be the future first female President only seemed impossible because it was more likely someone else might beat her to it — if not Hillary (played by Amy Poehler, obviously), perhaps Selina Meyer. But my money’s still on Leslie.
To introduce one of the rambling side tangents I promised:
“Yes we can” is industry-standard reading on Parks and Rec, but I saw a compelling alternate argument on Twitter the other day:
Which is absolutely so true of all sitcoms, and they almost always end up dating each other (unless they successfully introduce a late-stage new character, which is a fine line to walk. But strong examples include Mike from Friends, aka Paul Rudd, and our very own Ben Wyatt in Parks and Rec, aka Adam Scott.) It’s slightly incestuous and such an essential part of the modern sitcom template. But sometimes it’s so silly watching early seasons and tracking the little signs of who’s going to match up to whom. Like were Leslie and Mark giving a will-they-won’t-they vibe at the beginning?? It’s honestly possible. Thank god that didn’t happen. If my feelings about Mark weren’t clear – he’s the woat!
What do we think — Leslie and Mark, will-they-won’t-they?
Now that I’m done being a professor of history, it would be seriously criminal to not highlight these:
Yet. another. perfect. cold. open. The Easter egg hunt, Leslie wearing bunny ears, Jerry hunting high and low for the eggs, Tom’s grand reveal that he forgot to hide them at all
Wayyyyy too much face time with my least favorite wet blanket, Mark Brendenawicz
The moment Tom runs away from April & Mark while they’re canvassing and April deadpans: “he runs weird” and it cuts to Tom doing this sort of weird skip while he runs
Andy’s band name: “Just the Tip:
Tom’s intro as a total hustler and networker. This man is out here cold calling everyone in the state of Pawnee to get sod, mulch, playgrounds…talk about smiling and dialing
Leslie anticipating the fact that Ann will want to bail on canvassing and secretly placing a sealed envelope in her binder with words of encouragement
All I could think about when Leslie started filibustering the town hall (“they can’t touch you if you talk forever”) is that 1) she’s the total queen of the gib gab and 2) that’s maybe my life motto
Marlene Griggs-Knope is a stone cold evil witch
When Andy’s nemesis leaves the town hall and goes “hey park lady, you suck” and Leslie says:
Can’t wait to circle back and touch base for episode 3!!