big j 33
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Once you get past the similarities in production (since it's created by the same people) the show's aren't as similar as some may think.
Early Office (like the original UK) was awkward and dry with plenty of cringe worthy moments. It was supposed to be a contained show about the daily life of regular office workers, featuring Steve Carrell as the zany leader and everyone playing off him within their set character roles. Eventually the show expanded into the traditional sitcom and rounded out the characters and developed them/ruined them and the show jumped the shark.
Parks creates an entire world of Pawnee, and while it's set mainly in the office of the parks department, it isn't supposed to be a daily journal of these characters... it's more of a traditional show with rounded and development characters. With the Office you're supposed to be seeing these "real" characters through the eyes of the documentary crew, but that's not the case with Parks. Poehler reigns in the Carrell impersonation and she isn't the incompetent boss Carrell is, there isn't a Ron on the Office, there isn't a Ann Perkins or Donna or April. Parks gives you humor about government, about the locals (any town meeting is brilliant), the Libertarian beliefs of Swanson, the Diddy inspired life of Tom, etc.
Parks creates an environment similar to The Simpsons or King of the Hill with a whole town filled with characters and stories that are waiting to be discovered/addressed. Creatively the Office and Parks aim to do a lot of different things, and they're both successful (the Office early on and Parks after season 1). Where Parks succeeds is where the Office failed, it has room to grow and theoretically infinite stories. At a certain point the Office either had to end (like the UK version) or expand and thus ruin the original premise. With Parks the show was created with expansion in mind, the entire town + the outside world is available to be part of the story, plus the Parks department's own interactions combine to a different kind of series that shouldn't face the same struggles of the Office.
Early Office (like the original UK) was awkward and dry with plenty of cringe worthy moments. It was supposed to be a contained show about the daily life of regular office workers, featuring Steve Carrell as the zany leader and everyone playing off him within their set character roles. Eventually the show expanded into the traditional sitcom and rounded out the characters and developed them/ruined them and the show jumped the shark.
Parks creates an entire world of Pawnee, and while it's set mainly in the office of the parks department, it isn't supposed to be a daily journal of these characters... it's more of a traditional show with rounded and development characters. With the Office you're supposed to be seeing these "real" characters through the eyes of the documentary crew, but that's not the case with Parks. Poehler reigns in the Carrell impersonation and she isn't the incompetent boss Carrell is, there isn't a Ron on the Office, there isn't a Ann Perkins or Donna or April. Parks gives you humor about government, about the locals (any town meeting is brilliant), the Libertarian beliefs of Swanson, the Diddy inspired life of Tom, etc.
Parks creates an environment similar to The Simpsons or King of the Hill with a whole town filled with characters and stories that are waiting to be discovered/addressed. Creatively the Office and Parks aim to do a lot of different things, and they're both successful (the Office early on and Parks after season 1). Where Parks succeeds is where the Office failed, it has room to grow and theoretically infinite stories. At a certain point the Office either had to end (like the UK version) or expand and thus ruin the original premise. With Parks the show was created with expansion in mind, the entire town + the outside world is available to be part of the story, plus the Parks department's own interactions combine to a different kind of series that shouldn't face the same struggles of the Office.
