Parks and Recreation Season 4 - Page 24 - OOTV -- Two Plus Two Poker Forums

I thought it was a relatively weak episode. I liked the ice rink scene and most of the Ben-depressed stuff, but everything else felt tedious and forced. Leslie is tilting back towards self-absorbed and annoying, and nothing Tom or Andy did/said was funny or original. (Tom wearing red carpet in his shoes, Andy making ramen in the coffee pot -- both felt like variations on jokes they've used three or four times already).

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01-13-2012 , 05:01 PM

#577

Rendle

Pooh-Bah

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Aziz was at the Heat/Clippers game.

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01-13-2012 , 05:24 PM

#578

keepitreal

veteran

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 3,483

love Aziz even more for giving lebron the evil eye

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01-13-2012 , 07:03 PM

#579

Fusilli Jerry

adept

Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 737

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCanoe

Bens claymation video had me dying. I love this show so much

+1. the song, ben's realization that 3 weeks of work produced 3 seconds of video, and even chris.. all gold.

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01-13-2012 , 08:04 PM

#580

thethethe

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I was really hoping at the end they'd show a longer version that perhaps Chris has finished for him.

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01-13-2012 , 10:59 PM

#581

Aloysius

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Quote:

Originally Posted by private joker

+1 on all this. Storyline was fine but did not execute as well as they normally do. Assuming it was one of the weaker writers on the show who was credited, and the room could only do so much to save this particular episode.

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01-13-2012 , 11:14 PM

#582

Dudd

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According to the AV Club, it was Mike Scully, obviously formerly of the Simpsons, who wrote it.

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01-13-2012 , 11:21 PM

#583

nath

the second coming of the second coming

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 68,688

Quote:

Originally Posted by private joker

I'm glad someone said this, because while I don't feel as strongly as you do, parts of this episode definitely felt like they were just making jokes playing on the characters' most obvious traits. After going to the trouble to really deepen them in S2 and S3, a lot of S4 has felt like it's fallen back on the easiest and most obvious jokes.

However, it wasn't bad or anything, certainly not the worst episode of S4, and I thought the Ben storyline and the walk to the podium on the ice rink totally redeemed the episode. All day today, whenever the room gets a little too quiet, I've busted out "Get on Your Feet" loudly.

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01-13-2012 , 11:22 PM

#584

nath

the second coming of the second coming

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 68,688

Quote:

Originally Posted by thethethe

I was really hoping at the end they'd show a longer version that perhaps Chris has finished for him.

Despite the boundless energy and enthusiasm of The Microchip, I don't even think he could finish a claymation video in that kind of time.

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01-13-2012 , 11:45 PM

#585

dkgojackets

DKGOAT

Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 86,123

episode was obviously too cool for the hipsters to enjoy

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01-13-2012 , 11:55 PM

#586

SoCal11053

journeyman

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 345

Not the best PnR but it had its moments. I liked Chris crediting the juice for Ben's turn around. Not his calling out his bs. It was instantly good for me from the beginning because 30 Rock was so god awful bad.

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01-13-2012 , 11:56 PM

#587

Dudd

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Isn't Aloysius some TV exec or something? That sounds more like The Man than a hipster to me

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01-14-2012 , 12:39 AM

#588

MillimeterPeter

Ring Bear

Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 5,056

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkgojackets

episode was obviously too cool for the hipsters to enjoy

Lol iknorite? I thought the ep was great def. one of my favs

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01-14-2012 , 06:36 AM

#589

TwoShedsJackson

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Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 1,098

Ice rink scene was one of the funniest things I have ever seen, claymation video lasting three seconds was gold too.

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01-14-2012 , 04:02 PM

#590

TheCanoe

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Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 11,672

I didn't notice on my first watch that Ron was pulled over in front of Paddy's Pub

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01-14-2012 , 08:22 PM

#591

Aloysius

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Dudd

According to the AV Club, it was Mike Scully, obviously formerly of the Simpsons, who wrote it.

Wasn't Scully's tenure as head writer heavily criticized? (I think he took over after S10 after Simpsons peak.) Either way:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Scully

Quote:

He wrote the Parks and Recreation episodes "Ron and Tammy" in 2009,[41] and "The Possum" in 2010.[42] Scully also had a cameo role in the episode "Eagleton" as a speaker at the Pawnee community meeting.[43]

I stand corrected! (Obvi "Ron and Tammy" one of the GOAT P&R eps.) Who knows? Maybe the room took an awesome Scully script and made it worse, IDK.

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Originally Posted by Dudd

Isn't Aloysius some TV exec or something? That sounds more like The Man than a hipster to me

I am definitely not a hipster. (Joker is pretty hipster-leaning though, so maybe there's something to that comment?)

I'm probably a little bit closer to Nath's assesment (not great, but had some redeeming moments) vs. Joker (overall weak) - either way definitely imo not one of the better episodes.

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01-14-2012 , 08:23 PM

#592

Rendle

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Scully is also writing for the Napoleon Dynamite show.

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01-14-2012 , 08:50 PM

#593

Conz

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watched it again, episode was great, this is mind boggling.

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01-14-2012 , 09:00 PM

#594

Spurious

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Watched it the 3rd time. AWESOME.

Thought it wasnt that great the 1st time, but 2nd and 3rd time was great!
Best comedy show on TV right now.

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01-14-2012 , 09:04 PM

#595

Conz

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btw, mike scully has a damn funny twitter, imo

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01-14-2012 , 09:37 PM

#596

private joker

Most Definitely

Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 25,244

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aloysius

I'm probably a little bit closer to Nath's assesment (not great, but had some redeeming moments) vs. Joker (overall weak) - either way definitely imo not one of the better episodes.

Just want to reiterate, since people understandably misread it, that I said the episode was relatively weak. That means relative to other P&R eps. The point is it's below average for a P&R ep but it's still more enjoyable than most things on TV. I didn't dislike it -- I just think they've frequently done a lot better (for the reasons I outlined in my post and that nath and Al expanded upon).

Last edited by private joker; 01-14-2012 at 09:37 PM. Reason: damn, now I want to eat at Nate & Al's

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01-15-2012 , 04:43 AM

#597

Dids

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This felt like what it was. A funny ep written by somebody with a somewhat superficial understanding of the characters. Not bad- but lacked those elements that typically elevate this show to GOAT status.

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01-16-2012 , 09:33 AM

#598

Pudge714

Modding All Day

Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 39,104

I watched this episode in a hotel room and a room service delivery interrupted it, so I definitely missed some stuff, but I felt this was a generally solid albeit unspectacular episode.

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01-16-2012 , 03:19 PM

#599

nath

the second coming of the second coming

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 68,688

I hope nobody got the impression I didn't enjoy the episode. I just saw too many reviews around the internets that were like "unqualified A+" when I didn't feel that way.

The Chris and Ben stuff was great because it was exploring a side of their relationship we hadn't seen, but did so in a way that was funny and true to both characters.

Many of the character bits during the episode were superficial, as Dids said. That made them feel a little lazy.

The red-carpet walk at the end pulled the episode up to A-level by itself.