Hey I love The Office, but Parks & Rec just hits a lot harder for me. Maybe it’s because I live in a small town so we end up knowing everything that happens in the local government (and everything that happens in the town, really, there isn’t much to keep track of). The Office is funny to me because it feels absurd and exaggerated, but P&R is funnier because it’s just as ridiculous but feels way too realistic for comfort.
I’d say The (US) Office’s highs might be a little higher than P&R’s, but P&R had an optimism that kept it better for longer, or at least for a longer percentage of its run. IMHO The Office already had the check-fuel light on by the time Jim and Pam got married, and by the end it was just some strangers physically pushing the thing a couple miles farther down the road. P&R for me didn’t start declining until they got back from London, and S6 still had a lot of good stuff. I’d have to look into it, but I really do feel like they thought that was the end, but somehow got renewed for S7 and had to do the entire weird coda of a season with a three year time skip that, I guess, made it technically Sci Fi, LOL
Hey I love The Office, but Parks & Rec just hits a lot harder for me. Maybe it’s because I live in a small town so we end up knowing everything that happens in the local government (and everything that happens in the town, really, there isn’t much to keep track of). The Office is funny to me because it feels absurd and exaggerated, but P&R is funnier because it’s just as ridiculous but feels way too realistic for comfort.
I’d say The (US) Office’s highs might be a little higher than P&R’s, but P&R had an optimism that kept it better for longer, or at least for a longer percentage of its run. IMHO The Office already had the check-fuel light on by the time Jim and Pam got married, and by the end it was just some strangers physically pushing the thing a couple miles farther down the road. P&R for me didn’t start declining until they got back from London, and S6 still had a lot of good stuff. I’d have to look into it, but I really do feel like they thought that was the end, but somehow got renewed for S7 and had to do the entire weird coda of a season with a three year time skip that, I guess, made it technically Sci Fi, LOL
The Office started taking itself too seriously imo. I mean it was still often hilarious, but it also often felt too serious in a way P&R never did.