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“Enlightened” makes us all into Amy Jellicoes

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:53:00 +0000

HBO’s “Enlightened” finished its second season last night, amid deep anxiety from its devoted admirers that the second season will also be the show's last. The series, created by Mike White and starring Laura Dern, is truly like nothing else on TV: Lyrical and unflinching, poetic and brutal, idealistic and incisive, gorgeous and painful, it is steadily, quietly up to something new. It has a searching thoughtfulness, an earnest interest about how one should be in the world, and how this can run afoul of how one is in the world. It is genuinely philosophical, which perhaps means it’s up to something old, something much older than TV anyway.

“Parks and Recreation”: Joe Biden’s sex appeal

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:12:00 +0000

“Parks and Recreation” kicked off this season with a Washington D.C.-set episode and some political star power. Sens. Olympia Snowe, Barbara Boxer and John McCain gamely appeared in the premiere, though they weren’t asked to do much. “Parks” was saving the higher degree of difficulty cameo for Vice President Joe Biden, Leslie’s longtime lust object, who taped a top-secret scene for the show this past summer. Because of regulations about candidates receiving equal airtime, “Parks” had to stay quiet about Biden’s role until after the election, lest they be forced to write a part for Paul Ryan, too. (I’m feeling a flash of regret for the Paul Ryan–Chris Traeger discussion of marathons that might have been.) The scene aired last night and Biden’s natural hamminess made him a perfect guest.

Joe Biden’s new role: “Parks and Recreation” guest star

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 19:41:00 +0000

Oh, life, thank you thank you thank you. In what sounds like the greatest pairing since that first pretzel got dipped in a jar of Nutella, it's been announced that Vice President and cantankerous, malarkey-calling uncle to an entire nation Joe Biden is guest-starring on next week's episode of "Parks and Recreation." What is there to say today but, "Wheeeeeeeeee!"

It helps, of course, especially for those of us here in the godless left-wing media in the Gotham full of sodomites, that Biden makes his appearance as a man heading into his second term. For Amy Poehler's city councilwoman Leslie Knope to have a brush with a guy who'd just lost to Mr. Backwards Baseball Cap would have been a downer moment for the sitcom, a little hiss of air going out of the bit's tires. The scene, which was gently adjusted for two possible election outcomes, had to be kept top secret until after Nov. 6, lest "some provision might have to be made to give the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Representative Paul Ryan, a similar cameo."

The political evolution of Leslie Knope

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:28:00 +0000

There is a moment during "Parks and Recreation’s" second season when Leslie Knope, the department’s effervescent and overachieving deputy manager portrayed by Amy Poehler, breaks down and has a libertarian moment. An attempt to fill in a pit adjacent to the house of her friend Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) is progressing slowly, and when it seems like Leslie’s efforts to better her community – a consistent "Parks and Rec" theme – have stalled indefinitely, she vents: “I have never realized how frustrating it is to be in the government. In my next life, I am going into private industry, maybe strip mining.”

“Parks and Recreation”: One of the only sitcoms that knows how to portray love

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 14:15:00 +0000

[Warning: Spoilers ahead.]

Last night’s episode of “Parks and Recreation” was titled “Halloween Surprise,” but it overflowed with treats, not tricks. They started small and sweet — Donna’s art-imitates-life arc as a prolific tweeter, Ron trying out Solomonic wisdom on two little girls, Leslie’s Rosie-the-Riveter-Is-a-Total-Hottie costume, Tom trying to make fart attack happen, among others – and ended with the big tear-jerking sugar rush of Leslie and Ben’s perfect engagement.

The proposal came as a surprise to Leslie. Ben wrapped up his campaign in D.C., only to get offered a job in Florida that would keep him and Leslie long distance. Ben loves his job, but as the end of the episode made clear, he loves Leslie more. He showed up at the house they had been planning to lease together and dropped to one knee. ”I am deeply, ridiculously in love with you …" he began, only to be interrupted. “Wait, I need to remember this, give me a second,” Leslie said. “I need to remember every little thing about how perfect my life is right now at this exact moment.” The writing in this scene was good, but it was Amy Poehler and Adam Scott’s teary happiness and cracking voices that made the moment so contagiously happy.