"Parks & Recreation" Reviews Are In: Most Thumbs Are Down (VIDEO)

"Parks and Recreation," NBC's hotly anticipated Amy Poehler vehicle, premieres tonight and that means the reviewers can FINALLY reveal what they thought of the pilot episode they got weeks ago in the mail. In general, the reactions were not good. It seems that the show is a less bright and shiny version of the "Office." Here's a round-up of what media and entertainment critics are saying...

Tom Shales of "The Washington Post" called the show "a too-obvious imitation of the network's imported hit "The Office," and complained that "NBC has managed to come up with a prime-time network sitcom that suffers from an excess of subtlety -- a flaw so utterly unprecedented that it has considerable novelty value on its own."

Robert Bianco of "USA Today" came down hard on the show saying, "What you find in Parks and Recreation is a style in search of a show. Worse yet, it's not even a new style, or one that seems particularly well-suited to the character being played by the star, Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler."

Chuck Barney of the "Contra Costa Times," bemoaned the lack of meaty writing for its star, saying the show "betrays Poehler by failing to provide her with material worthy of her talents. Whose idea was it anyway to take a woman gifted with a sharp comedic wit and turn her into a trite dumb blonde? She deserves so much more than that."


WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE:

David Hinckley writing in the "Daily News" said the show is a "summer camp for lightweight one-liners, the kind of banter that might sustain an occasional 'SNL' skit, but may have trouble supporting a whole sitcom."

Tom Maurstad of the "Dallas News" said, "The show has a great supporting cast, especially her misanthropic Libertarian boss, Ron (Nick Offerman), who wants to privatize the department and whose role model is Bobby Knight."

The "LA Times" says, "Tonight's opener starts slowly but hits cruising speed soon enough," and notes that despite being yet another mockumentary "'Parks' tells its own story on its own terms."

Ken Tucker in "Entertainment Weekly" reminds us that the "'Office' seemed 
a little flat when it premiered in 2005," and says, "One would be foolish to underestimate the series 
this early on."



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Comments

[vigwig]

Wow people give the show a couple of episodes before you kill it. The characters have to get established before they get the zingers.

[fabhell]

Not good. At all.

[MarsAmbassador]

Fail. They should have patterned themselves after 30 Rock and Curb Your Enthusiasm instead of The Office. Amy Poehler deserves so much better than this. What a disappointment.

[BannedInBoston]

We used to call it "Wrecks and Procreation".

[andvoodoo2]

It was a show I anxiously awaited because I like Poehler. I couldn't finish it. It was terrible.

[Taughtology]

"Most thumbs are down" sounds pretty good to me, because most critics are shite.

[IvyShoots]

I liked the way the "misanthropic Libertarian boss" character was written. It was a sharp caricature of the typical angry wingnut and his clueless logic, while Poehler's character was an ever-optimistic liberal bureaucrat. Worked for me.

[Myshkin57]

Not funny. It was as if they took the parts of 'The Office' that don't work without any of the ones that do and made a show out of it.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

She should have stayed on SNL.

[crewislife]

I have to agree with the lion's share of the comments and the critics. This show was just plain bad.

[Mohanna]

It was a really long half hour with no laughs and my mind wandered because it wasn't engaging.

[MountPanic]

It was at least as good, if not better than, The Office. That is not a compliment.

I liked it more, personally (which is to say that I liked it). Amy brought a real sweetness to it that I appreciated, and her boss was much more believable than Dwight, as douchebaggy characters go.

It's a pretty insignificant distinction, however. 30 Rock rules them both.

[revhatchell]

love amy but this show is horrid.

it's a bureaucratic 'office' w no interesting characters, or premise, or writing.

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

I watched this for a little over 8 minutes before I turned it off.

Is she a writer for the show, or just an actress?

[MADNews]

I didn't really like ie. I am a fan of Amy Poehler but I didnt really care for the show. I wish she had stayed on SNL.