I love The Office and the mockumentary style show. This is a different concept with a government office. I think it will be good. I did not like the Office at first but it has grown on me. And even if this show is like the Office, is that a bad thing?
Cheers was essentially put together by the same people who manned Taxi, which had horrible ratings and was on two different networks. The plan was to set it up as "Taxi, in a bar," right down to a fetching young lass taking on a new job (taxi driver, server) in the pilot episode. That one turned out just fine. Throw in the fact that Ken Tremendous is in charge, and I think we'll be OK after a first batch (three? four?) of iffy episodes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/arts/television/29dave.html It’s Not ‘The Office.’ The Boss Is a Woman. By DAVE ITZKOFF Published: March 26, 2009 LATELY, Amy Poehler said, she’s been having trouble distinguishing her real life from a feverish dream. Last year she was standing on the New York stages of “Saturday Night Live,” performing her impression of Hillary Rodham Clinton alongside the real-life version and shaking her pregnant belly in a hip-hop tribute to Gov. Sarah Palin. Yet here she was, a new mother recently transplanted to California, stretched out on a couch in an antiseptic dressing room in Studio City on a break from filming her starring role in the coming NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation.” Sometimes, she said, it’s like “I left ‘SNL,’ went home and delivered my son, and I’ve not yet woken up.” On her new show, which has its premiere on April 9, Ms. Poehler is portraying another government official: Leslie Knope, the deputy parks director of fictional Pawnee, Ind. It’s a character who exudes all the qualities Ms. Poehler most loves to play. “She’s naïve and narcissistic, completely deluded and completely out of touch with reality,” she said. As if to prove her solidarity with her character, she added: “I think we’ll be the first TV show to win an Academy Award. And the Nobel Peace Prize.” These (comic) delusions of grandeur aside, Ms. Poehler realizes that “Parks and Recreation” is a huge gamble — on a polarizing comedy format, on a struggling network and, most of all, on her own talent and celebrity. “I think about it every second,” she said. “Yeah, I do. I think about it all the time.” Ask almost anyone at “Parks and Recreation” what the new series is about, and the answer, first and foremost, is that it’s not a spinoff of “The Office.” But the similarities are pervasive. Like Steve Carell’s character, Michael Scott, on “The Office,” Ms. Poehler’s Leslie Knope is a clueless if well-intentioned middle manager who undermines her own ambitions and misuses street slang. And a glance at the “Parks” creative roster — from its producers, who helped create the American version of “The Office”; to the writers who were hired from their “Office” spec scripts; to the actor, the director and the editor who were all recruited from that show — will tell you that “The Office” is an undeniable part of the new show’s DNA. From the moment he was named co-chairman of NBC’s entertainment division in 2007, Ben Silverman, the former agent and producer who brought the British sitcom “The Office” to this country, wanted a new series from Greg Daniels, the comedy veteran (“King of the Hill,” “The Simpsons”) who had adapted “The Office” for American television. Mr. Daniels, in turn, conscripted Michael Schur, an “Office” producer, to accompany him on the lengthy collaborative journey to create “Parks.” “The process by which Greg makes television,” Mr. Schur said, “is he exhausts every possibility that exists, and then he exhausts a thousand more possibilities.” While Mr. Daniels and Mr. Schur spent months batting around ideas, they were also lining up cast members, including Rashida Jones, an alumna of “The Office,” and Aziz Ansari, of the sketch show “The Human Giant,” who were given few details about the project. “They were like, ‘It’s either going to be a spinoff of ‘The Office’ or a totally separate thing,’ ” Mr. Ansari said. “It could have been like, ‘Yeah, so it’s about you and Vin Diesel running a day care center together, and then at night you’re vigilantes, and you fight crime.’” The show became more concrete when the producers learned they could sign Ms. Poehler, whom Mr. Schur recalled from a late 1990s performance with her improvisational comedy group, the Upright Citizens Brigade. “She introduced herself as an executive from a television network,” Mr. Schur said, “and she was so unlike a comedian. She was so natural and so believable that when I realized the whole thing was a bit, it blew my head open.” Taking note, in the summer of 2008, of the country’s obsessions with politics and accountability in government, Mr. Daniels and Mr. Schur wrote a pilot about a buffoonish but good-hearted city bureaucrat (Ms. Poehler), her imperious subordinate (Mr. Ansari) and a civilian (Ms. Jones) who seeks their help in transforming an enormous pit near her home into a playground. They also decided that, like “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation” would be shot as a fake documentary, in a cinéma vérité style; characters would be allowed to address the cameras directly, and improvisation would be permitted if not required. “It helps ensure a good product,” Mr. Daniels said. “It kind of scares me to think of having a 23-minute rough cut for a 22-minute show and only being able to cut a minute if it doesn’t work.” That choice alone may have the greatest impact on “Parks and Recreation.” While the film industry has had some success with mockumentary comedies, like “Borat,” on television the genre is still an acquired taste. The aesthetic is also closely associated with “The Office,” which was not exactly a breakout hit when it made its 2005 debut on NBC. “It’s a miracle that they stayed on the air,” Ms. Jones said of the show. “They fought for their lives, and they did it by just being consistently good.” Four years later it’s not clear that NBC can give “Parks and Recreation” the same leeway to find its voice. NBC trails CBS, Fox and ABC in the ratings so far this year; even among coveted 18-to-49-year-old viewers, it barely squeaks by ABC into third place. And when Jay Leno takes over NBC’s 10 p.m. slot, Monday through Friday, beginning in the fall, there will be fewer spots on the schedule to go around. Read the rest here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/arts/television/29dave.html
Do they report the market testing for reality shows? If not, then just shut up and let the damn show air. It will probably be a half-decent lead-in to The Office. Or maybe you could stick it on a Tuesday or Wednesday, try to re-create those nights for comedy. Or just play it in the summer and save us from reality TV hell.
Sneak peek: <embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1396519019" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=18743387001&playerId=1396519019&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="425" height="366" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed>
so you would'nt watch a funny show b/c it was similar to another funny show? and if there is anything more inanely r****ded than taking "focus group" findings serious it's the entire television programming process.
it was ok. there was part where i laughed out loud.. it was late, so i don't remember what it was (I usually don't until i'm reminded for The Office eps either) Nothing great yet, but The Office took time also. I'll give the characters time to grow on me..
Oh, I have an idea. What about a show that takes place in a business, with a wry leading man, a good-looking female employee that is only using the job as a way to pay the bills until something bigger comes along, a naive young would-be actor, a funnyman who is obviously chemically dependent, and a diminutive short Italian who is just full of snarky one-liners. I mean, who would want the writers and producers of Taxi to put together yet ANOTHER show with the same formula? Yawn.
Seemed a little bland....and a little too much like Office. Assuming NBC keeps it in that Thursday lineup I'll probably give it more chances. 30 Rock took some time to grown on me.
definitely, I am not giving up on it yet. There were some funny moments, but most pilot episodes are not absolutely hilarious, that is rare. However I did feel like Amy Poeler's (sp?) character was too similar to Michael Scott
Same here. Now 30 Rock is my favorite comedy on TV. I didn't dig the Parks and Recreation pilot, but I think it'll fall into a groove eventually. I love Amy Poehler. I don't really have a problem with it being too much like the Office. I dig the documentary-style.
I didn't think it was that bad, but I was on my 5th beer by that time. But yeah Amy Poehler's faux exuberance in front of the camera reaks of Michael Scott.
I liked it, it is a pilot though, so it's only the smallest taste of what the show will be. I think back in the day, pilot eps were only shown once to try to sell the show and usually changes would be made like adding or changing characters/actors and then you couldn't even show the pilot because it doesn't fit the other episodes. My favorite scenes were Aziz hitting on Rashida Jones and Amy Poehler trying to get the drunk bum out of the slide. But I think I laughed the loudest when Amy Poehler was complaining about her clavicle being broken and Rashida goes "honestly, you're fine" and Amy looks at the camera and mumbles "honestly my clavicle's broken."
those were pretty good. I also thought Amy Poehler falling in the hole was pretty funny. Now that I think about it, it was funnier than I thought.
My favorite scene was that very last one, where the chief of the parks dept. has that gun on his desk and he says everyone has to look through it when requesting anything. Aziz was probably the funniest character. I wished they would elaborate on his redneck tendencies.
