Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation had a lot to live up to after Leslie's amazing dinner party two weeks ago.  While not as funny as the previous episode, this week still had plenty of laughs, some solid character development, and brought us much closer to an April-Andy pairing.

In this week's episode, "Sweetums," the show took on the ongoing concept of government privatizing its concession stands.  Heck, Ron Swanson was ready to privatize the parks while he was at it.  Put in a token, see a duck!

We've definitely seen the effects of privatization at our local park and appreciate the satire, but let's be honest, we watch the show for the jokes.  Don't worry, Ron Swanson and crew were able to bring in the main story line.  Turf and turf?  Amazing.

Meanwhile, in the side story, Tom manages to sucker the rest of the office into helping him move and introduce to the hilarious concept of DJ Roomba. We also got to see April jump at the chance to help Tom move when she found out Andy was involved.  Watching her awkward attempts at flirting and telling off her gay boyfriend(s)?  Great.

Overall we thought it was a great episode, but not nearly as good as last week's outing.  Now for some of our favorite Parks and Recreation quotes from the episode after the jump.

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Parks and Recreation recently got picked up for a third season.

If it keeps cranking out impressive guest stars, NBC might as well pick it up for a fourth and a fifth.

Following in the funny footsteps of Louis CK and Will Arnett, Andy Samberg will appear in an upcoming episde of the sitcom.

The Saturday Night Live veteran will portray Carl, the head of security at a local park. He butts heads with Leslie after someone gets mugged in the area. No word yet on when Samberg will pop up on the show.

But there are two words to describe the guest-starring stint: inevitably hilarious.

Simple, but exciting news for Parks & Recreation fans this week:

The NBC comedy has been renewed for a third season.

This announcement comes approximately four months earlier than usual, which is yet another sign of how far this show has come on its second season. Browse through a few Parks and Recreation quotes to see what we mean.

We never thought we'd ask this - but with one new, hit sitcom and another that's been receiving critical raves this year -  the question must be thrown out there:

What is the funniest Thursday night comedy: 30 Rock, Community, The Office or Parks & Recreation?

Because we've grown to know and love The Office cast and characters on such an intimate level, it's impossible not to rank that show first in the minds of the TV Fanatic staff. But it's getting awfully close all around, isn't it?

While comparisons to The Office always seem required in a Parks and Recreation review, especially when a dinner party is involved, this week Leslie has secured her right to never be compared to Michael Scott again.

While both leads of their respective shows may have thrown dinner parties for their co-workers, the comparisons end there.  This week's episode of Parks, "Leslie's House," featured a refreshing take on a recycled plot line that only this show's premise could have allowed for.

We see Leslie's house for the first time in this episode, and it turns out she's a pack rat!  Who would have seen it?  Luckily, Leslie has connections in low places and she can call in General Beckman, who apparently doubles as a Recreation teacher, to help her organize her life.

Beckman and the rest of the teachers are desperate to impress Leslie as each of their classes are endangered of being canceled when the Recreation department is short $1,000 and will be forced to shut down five classes.

In typical Leslie fashion, she tries to never abuse her office, which she takes so seriously, and promises the teachers it will have no impact on her decision.  However, also in typical Leslie fashion she's so desperate to impress Justin things spiral out of control and she finds herself bringing in literally every teacher.

In a great twist, and perhaps the best irony in abuse of power, Leslie ends up turning herself in and having a hearing just to have Justin state on record he had a good time.  In the end, you can never get frustrated with Leslie the way you could with Michael Scott (I swear, last comparison ever!) because Leslie donated the $1,000 to let all the teachers keep her job.

What keeps this show strong is that Leslie may screw things up, but her heart and intentions are always in the right place.   She's a much more lovable person by both the characters on the show and the audience.

Plus this show has Ron F*cking Swanson.  The man brought his own deviled eggs (for just himself) and practically stole Wendy away in his mustache.

Overall, this was one of the series' stongest outings and gave each of the characters a chance to shine whether it was Tom googling Indian to impress Justin or April sticking gum in Justin's coat pockets to prove her loyalty to Andy.

While we have plenty more Parks and Recreation quotes coming up later in the day, we'll leave you with two of our favorites from the over ex-foliated hands of Tom:

Tom: How could you invite Wendy when Ron's here? He's gonna wrap her up in his mustache and take her home! | permalink

Tom: I don't have the heart to tell them what happens to Kurt Cobain in 1994. | permalink

Good luck, John Larroquette. Following last night's hilarious guest-starring stint by Will Arnett, you have some big, funny shoes to fill.

The former Night Court and Boston Legal star is coming aboard the NBC sitcom Thomas Beckerson, a former flame of Leslie's mother, Marlene.

"He's the one who got away," series creator Greg Daniels told TV Guide Magazine. "Leslie's trying to find that guy and bring him to her mom."

Co-creator Michael Schur expounded on the storyline, which will take place on the show's Valentine's Day-themed episode:

"Leslie and Justin Theroux's character go on a road trip to Illinois to grab this guy and bring him back," while Daniels added that Leslie will be "running a Valentine's Day dinner dance at the Senior Center."

Consider our funny bone properly intrigued.

There's only one problem with Will Arnett, who guest-starred this week on his wife's sitcom:

All any Arrested Development fan sees when he/she looks at the actor is the character of Gob. When the date between Arnett's Chris and Leslie ended terribly this week, and Chris needed a ride home, we simply thought: Why didn't he drive his Segway there?

Of course, this connection to the canceled Fox series also means we find anything Arnett says to be hilarious. Not that he needed much help on "The Set Up," an episode that found Leslie strapped into a MRI machine while her date talked about the health of her "oven." So awkward and great!

Once again, this episode demonstrated the difference between Leslie and Michael Scott, something it took awhile for Parks and Recreation to spell out: she's not an idiot. Leslie's first date conversation and mannerisms were perfectly normal, while any viewer of The Office can only imagine how Michael would react in a similar circumstance.

This was an important distinction for Parks to make in order to stand out from its NBC counterpart.

When "The Set Up" wasn't focusing on Leslie's terrible date (and her menstrual cycle), it actually dealt with a typical relationship issue.

Who out there hasn't felt threatened by your girlfriend/boyfriend's BFF of the opposite sex? Mark's reaction to Ann and Justin was relatable to all viewers, while his spoiling of Marley & Me and District 9 was a hilarious, cruel, worthy punishment for her insensitivity.

We now interrupt this review to bring you the Ron Swanson Line of the Night, delivered to Tom: "I wanna punch you in the face so bad right now."

That guy rules. We can't wait to watch more of his interactions with April, as this duo's pure hatred for their jobs always serves as a funny, nice balance to Leslie's unabashed enthusiasm for hers.

Below, we've listed a few of our favorite Parks and Recreation quotes from the episode:

Leslie: Just one rule, I don't want to date a twin because I've been tricked before | permalink

Tom: I got a night club opening to go to, which tie should I wear? | permalink

Andy: You have to choose: me or Justin?
Ann: What? No. I'm dating Mark!
Andy [to camera]: This close. | permalink

While Parks and Recreation has gotten funnier and funnier over the course of season two, some fans have one complaint about the sitcom:

Not enough Mark Brendanawicz!

Fortunately, Mike Schur told Entertainment Weekly that this will soon change. Even hinting at a Leslie/Mark romance, he said:

“We have some big shifts for Mark during the second half of the season, career-wise and romantically. We don’t necessarily have specific places we’re going with every different relationship. We just follow what’s interesting.

"I don’t think that the final chapter has been written in the Mark and Leslie saga, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to get together. It might just mean that the feelings bubble up in one way or another at some point.”

Read what Mark has to say in our Parks and Recreation quotes section!

This week's episode of Parks and Recreation brought back a lot of familiar faces, including Councilman Dexhart, Leslie's mom, and the television reporter, but it also said goodbye to one of our favorites, Office Dave (Louis CK).  Since the actor got his own show on FX and hasn't been in the last few episodes, we knew it was only a matter of time, but it was sad to see this sweet-natured, often hilarious character leave.

The rest of "Christmas Scandal" was much happier with the A story involving Leslie getting unwittingly involved in a sex scandal with Councilman Dexhart, without the sex part.  The media simply caught wind of her meeting with him at a bar and began analyzing video from up to four years ago with the two.  While some of it felt a little out of character for Leslie, we thought it was still well done and very funny.

Meanwhile, the B story involved Ron Swanson giving Leslie the day off to lay low during the scandal, and taking and dividing her workload.  As usual, Ron killed during all of his scenes and it was nice for the rest of the office to finally realize how much Leslie does.

Oh and in sappy relationship news, we loved seeing April and Andy flirting and don't care about their massive age difference.  These two are great together.  Meanwhile, the normally boring Mark and Ann even had some cute scenes together.

We'll have plenty more quotes up later, but for now enjoy some of our favorite Parks and Recreation quotes from the half hour, with the absolute best line going to Tom for his advice to Mark on giving Ann some diamonds.

Tom: Even the liberal chicks are all like "Yeah, bitch, gimme some of them blood diamonds! Make 'em extra bloody!" | permalink

Ron: There's a bunch of messages waiting for you about a bunch of things I don't understand. | permalink

Leslie: For the first time, our tree-lighting ceremony will be simulcast on internet radio. | permalink

Ron: My name is Ron. You don't need to know my last name. Whoever wants to talk, go ahead and we'll be out of here in a tight fifteen. | permalink

Poor Leslie.  Not ever seems to work out for the Parks and Recreation crew.  While trying to plan a lovely Pawnee Winter Wonderland Festival, Leslie is going to get caught in the middle of a political sex scandal on this week's episode, "Christmas Scandal."

Luckily, Ron will have to run the Parks department in her abscence and will finally realize just how much work Leslie does.  We have some episode stills from the upcoming episode that are guaranteed to make you smile and excited for Thursday.

This season of Parks and Recreation just continues to prove to be one of the best comedies on television right now.  We're going to go so far as to say this week's episode beat out The Office.

The episode entitled, "Tom's Divorce," saw the end of the surprisingly fleshed out greencard marriage between Tom and Wendy.  Tom tried to keep the divorce until Leslie spotted him while running an errand on the fourth floor.

Leslie forced Tom to fake heartbreak over his fake marriage only for the poor little guy to realize he really did have feels for his fake wife.  It was amazing to see "Mr. Slick Too Cool" himself display some emotion.  Our hat's off to Aziz Ansari for hisincredible performance.

Meanwhile, Ron Swanson continued to prove to be the man.  The man who loves breakfast.  Oh and every singe interaction Andy has in his jealousy over Mark and Ann?  Priceless.

Now for some of our favorite Parks and Recreation quotes form this solid episode:

Leslie: That is the problem. Tom always seems like "Mr. Slick Too Cool Guy," but he's actually hiding his emotions underneath a very thick layer of Axe body spray. | permalink

Andy: Hey, Mark. The shoe shine stand still doesn't have that syphilis medication you were asking about. | permalink

April: I want to go to The Glitter Factory.
Leslie: Well, drop out of school and start doing meth. | permalink

Ron: Strippers do nothing for me. I like a strong, salt of the Earth, self-possessed woman at the top of her field. Your Steffi Grafs, your Sheryl Swoopeses, but I will take a free breakfast buffet anytime, anyplace. | permalink