Parks and Recreation

Last night during "Hunting Trip", Leslie Knope proved what she's set out to do throughout Parks and Recreation: she's just one of the guys.  When Ron tried to have his annual hunting trip with just the guys, Leslie decided to tag along.

One of the things we like about Parks is that despite its mockumentary roots and obvious parallels to The Office, they actually allow their cast, and in particular, Leslie to have moments of competence.  In this case, she's actually an excellent hunter.

Despite Leslie being able to just use her ability to hunt Ron, she decides to take the fall for Tom when he accidentally shoots Ron.  In the end, however, it proved more of her worth to Ron than anything else she could have done.

All in all we thought this episode had some great lines and we loved seeing the new potentially odd couple of April and Andy flirting.  Not the best, but certainly one of the strong of the season.

Check out our favorite Parks and Recreation quotes from the episode, including the amazing Leslie monologue of why she shot Ron:

Leslie [giving excuses why she shot Ron]: I got that tunnel vision that girls get. I let my emotions get the best of me. I cared too much, I guess. I was thinking with my lady parts. I was walking and it felt icky. I thought there was gonna be chocolate. I don't even remember! I'm wearing a new bra, and it closes in the front, so it popped open and it threw me off. All I wanna do is have babies! I'm just going through a thing right now. I guess when my life is incomplete, I wanna just shoot someone. This would not happen if I had a penis! Bitches be crazy. I'm good at tolerating pain; I'm bad at math, and... I'm stupid. | permalink

Ron: You know, Leslie, the Super Bowl is in a couple months. I usually watch it with my brothers, maybe you can come by during halftime and shoot me in the head? | permalink

Leslie: I think this is gonna be a really good bonding experience with Ron. Guys love it when you can show them you're better than they are at something they love. | permalink

No offense, Justin Theroux. But this is the most exciting Parks and Recreation casting news of the day:

Amy Poehler's real-life, hilarious husband - Will Arnett - will guest star on a January episode of the sitcom.

Arnett has a recurring role as Jack's nemesis on 30 Rock, but he's best known as Gob from Arrested Development, one of the funniest characters in the history of TV.

According to NBC, via E! News, Arnett will portray a "MRI tech" in Pawnee. That's all we know about the role for now. Except for this:

It's sure to be hilarious.

Are you ready for some Parks and Recreation... and love?

Entertainment Weekly reports that Justin Theroux has signed on for a recurring, upcoming role on Parks and Recreation.

The actor's most recent small screen credit was a run on Six Feet Under in 2004. He's actually best known as a screenwriter, having penned the scripts for Tropic Thunder and Iron Man 2.

Therouxhas been cast as a friend of Ann’s and a potential love interest for Leslie. He'll debut in early 2010.

It be lagging way behind the other networks in ratings, but NBC has a few hits on its hands.

The network picked up three shows this week for full season runs: Community, Parks and Recreation and Mercy.

The first two comedies are two of the funniest sitcoms on TV; while Mercy isn't the most original hospital drama around, but it doesn't suck.

Parks and Recreation is about to get even funnier.

Former Will & Grace star Megan Mullally will guest star on an upcoming episode, actress Rashida Jones confirmed this week to TV Guide.

The hilarious actress will portray the ex-wife of Ron Swanson, Leslie Knope's serious, dry-witted boss. 

"She's married to Nick Offerman, who plays Ron Swanson, but they play exes on the show," Jones said of Mullally's guest-starring stint, which will air on October 29.

Last night on Parks and Recreation, Leslie discovered someone was abusing the Pawnee community garden. By planting marijuana in it. Her solution? Stakeout.

Along for the ride is Tom, and later Andy. But what began as a plot to find the planter of a gateway drug devolved into a spy mission on one of their friends.

How did it end? Badly, obviously, but for more details, check out in our recap of "The Stakeout." Then see some of the best lines from the episode below ...

If these private detectives can't catch a criminal, who can?

Check out our complete library of Parks and Recreation quotes from this and every episode of the NBC comedy. Some of our favorite lines from last night were:

Leslie: We have a criminal emergency on our hands. Someone planted a gateway drug in the community garden.
Ron: Call the cops.
Leslie: Then it will leak to the press. Then there will be an investigation, and they'll find my fingerprints on the manure, and then we'll lose our funding.
Ron: You don't have funding.
Leslie: We never will if this gets out. | permalink

Ann: I just want to check one last time that you're okay about this date with Mark.
Leslie: Oh, Ann, I am so fine. As long as you and me are cool. You know my code. Hos before bros. Uteruses before duderuses.
Ann: Got it.
Leslie. Ovaries before bovaries. | permalink

Leslie: I want to be president someday, so I have not smoked marijuana. I ate a brownie once. At a party in college. It was kind of indescribable really. I felt like I was floating. It turns out that there wasn't any marijuana in it, it was just an insanely good brownie. | permalink

Tom: What is this?
Leslie: It is a mix CD. It's full of songs about people watching people ... it's mostly Sting. | permalink

Tom: [on his name] I changed it to Tom Haverford. Because brown guys with funny sounding Muslim names don't make it far in politics.
Leslie: What about Barack Obama?
Tom: Okay. Yeah. Fine. Barack Obama. | permalink

The life of a small-town deputy parks supervisor can be trying.

Sometimes, things go according to plan. Other times, a "marriage" ceremony of two penguins designed to bring people to the zoo becomes a gay marriage issue.

Welcome to the world of NBC's Parks and Recreation.

To hear how Leslie Knope's intentions backfired, check out our recap of Thursday night's "Pawnee Zoo." Then see some of the best lines from the episode below ...

Who knew that marrying two gay penguins could cause so much trouble.

Check out our complete library of Parks and Recreation quotes from this and every episode of the new NBC comedy. Some of our favorite lines from last night were:

Mark: I hit rock bottom that night. I mean I literally fell to the bottom of a pit and hit a rock. I remember laying there thinking, there's probably a good reason why I'm down here. And then I remember thinking I need morphine. | permalink

Leslie: The thing about youth culture is that I don't understand it. | permalink

Ron: Leslie. Some guy who owns a gay bar sent you a cake.
Leslie: Pawnee has a gay bar?
Ron: The Bulge. It's behind my house.
Leslie: The Bulge is a gay bar? The nights I've wasted there ... | permalink

Leslie: I know you're not gay.
Tom: No, I'm not.
Leslie: But you're effeminate.
Tom: What?
Leslie: Well, you're wearing a peach shirt with a coiled snake on it.
Tom: That's because it was featured in Details magazine, and it's awesome. | permalink

Leslie: Chimpanzees are very smart, so we had them graduate from college. They like to throw their feces, so we were hoping they would throw their hats. But they just threw their feces. | permalink

Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen will be reuniting with former late night co-star Amy Poehler on her new comedy, Parks and Recreation, on NBC this fall.

According to Entertainment Weekly, an episode that begins shooting this week, Armisen will play Poehler’s counterpart from Pawneee’s sister city - with a twist.

“Leslie arranges for [Armisen and his colleagues] to come for a visit, but they’re from Venezuela,” Parks and Recreation executive producer Michael Schur said.

“They’re very confused because in Venezuela the government is so powerful; their parks department travels with military escorts and motorcades and stuff."

Fred Armisen is crossing over from SNL to Parks and Recreation.

"They have all the money in the world because of their oil and they [don't understand at all] why Pawnee’s parks department is so small time and rinky-dink.”

Schur says Armisen and his fellow Venezuelans “take a real shine” to Nick Offerman’s Ron “because of his mustache. They call him El Jefe the whole time.”

As ridiculous as it sounds, it's Parks and Recreation. From the people who brought us The Office, and sandwiched between it and 30 Rock. So just go with it!

A couple of quick casting tidbits from the week:

• On September season premiere of Lie to Me, look for Michael Raymond James to guest star in an unannounced role. The actor appeared on the first season of True Blood as the serial killer Rene. He's also shown up on Boston Legal and Cold Case, among other shows.
• Comedian Louis C.K. (pictured) has signed on for a multi-episode Parks and Recreation arc. He'll play a Pawnee police officer and potential love interest for Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler).

Celebrating The Office's Emmy nominations - the show is up for Outstanding Comedy Series and has been recognized in many other categories - executive producer Greg Daniels gave some hints about the new season, as well as that of his new comedy, Parks and Recreation.

"There's going to be a staffing change for Jim Halpert at work," Daniels reported to TV Guide. "And with Pam pregnant, expect some life moves in that area."

As for Parks and Recreation, the show will be casting a cop who works at town hall and could be a comic foil and love interest for Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope.

The producers of the up-and-coming comedy, which takes place in fictional Pawnee, Ind., also looking for a host for a local political talk show called Pawnee Today.

What about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin?

"Probably not," says Greg Daniels of the soon-to-be-unemployed politician. "But we do have a beauty pageant episode coming up. She might be right for that."

While we won't hold our breath for any Palin cameos, we can't wait for the return of Parks and Recreation and The Office quotes. Thursday nights are the best.