Parks and Recreation "Pilot"

NBC's latest comedy, Parks and Recreation, may just be another iteration of The Office. And just like that show, it may take a full season to find its stride - if it gets that far.

Considering the same minds behind The Office, Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, and the same mockumentary approach, these two shows will be hard pressed to be kept separated in people's minds. This is especially true considering that the show's premiere came sandwiched between two brand spanking new episodes of The Office.

Former Saturday Night Live cast member Amy Poehler plays Leslie Knope, a representative of Indiana's parks and recreation department. She is very Michael Scott-like; she's a bit inept, obviously dumb, generally easy to laugh at and the source of very awkward moments. She willingly takes bad assignments, such as at the episode's beginning, a town hall meeting. There are only a handful of people in the huge auditorium and just as Leslie begins the meeting, the lights begin to turn off, forcing the group to move.

Moved to a smaller classroom, we are introduced to Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), who is complaining about a pit near her house that caused her boyfriend to break both his legs. Once introduced, Leslie's co-worker, Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), begins to hit on Ann, creating an awkward and hilarious sequence. It is great to know that we will be seeing Ansari on a regular basis, who also has a role in the upcoming movie, Observe and Report, in which he is hilarious. He is hilarious in this too and I look forward to seeing more of him.

After hearing about this pit, Leslie makes it her mission to build a park on top of it, even after another co-worker tells her it would be impossible. She constantly plagues her boss about the project, which he rejects based on his philosophy of never spending money because he believes in no government. Yet, he is convinced by Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider), to whom he owes a favor. Mark slept with Leslie once and thinks it would be a great joke to see her try to pull off an impossible task.

Leslie visits Ann and we are introduced to her musician boyfriend, who is beyond lazy. This scene foretells a similar dysfunctional relationship Pam had with her fiance in the early episodes of The Office.

While looking at the pit, Leslie falls down a hill, hitting her head on a pole, but miraculously only scrapes her elbow. What follows is a pretty funny scene where Leslie claims to have a broken clavicle while Ann, who is a nurse, tells her she does not.

This actually begs the question of what is Ann's role in Parks and Recreation? We know that Leslie and the others work for the department; what does this resident of the community have to do with the future of the show?

As it is, it seems that this season is all about creating this park, which looks like it is going to be funny. Realistically though, this show seems like it is going to take some time before it finds its true comedic stride. The potential is there, especially considering the talent in front of the camera. Hopefully the writers will be able to mine the material so we can get the same level of enjoyment found in The Office.