# "Community" or "Parks and Recreation"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2020, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340 "2020-04-08T12:40:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/41 "2020-04-09T05:27:53Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I think the comments about P&R being more consistent are because it was more conventional, in terms of reality based and adhering to standard sit-com tropes. Whereas community was deliberately not based in reality, which is where you get the extreme highs as well as mis-fires. Community also went through a lot more actor churn and production churn. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/42 "2020-04-09T05:54:14Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > If I remember right, Parks and Rec S1 was only half a season, and it was originally more cringe-y style humor like the Office. Then they retooled for S2 and made it a little more warm-hearted, but kept the talking head documentary style. I think it’s that in the first season Leslie is more Michael Scott-ish in that she’s more naive and not necessarily competent and therefore might say the wrong thing occasionally, but nothing approaching The Office levels of cringeyness. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/43 "2020-04-09T10:24:11Z")
Parks and Rec, no contest. Any show without Ron Swanson loses. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/44 "2020-04-09T11:02:55Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Pretty much this. But know that I think\*\* 30 Rock\*\* and Always Sunny are worthless, so you might want to discount my vote because of that. You might as well be an Irish woman trying to vote at the Continental Convention after that. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/45 "2020-04-09T11:07:27Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > I think it’s that in the first season Leslie is more Michael Scott-ish in that she’s more naive and not necessarily competent and therefore might say the wrong thing occasionally, but nothing approaching The Office levels of cringeyness. Hard disagree. Its almost unwatchable, but then so is Office S1 The diff is that Leslie isn’t the boss and Michael is. So not only is Leslie incompetent and disliked, she also a family member )And various levels of employees) openly showing contempt for her. Whereas in The Office (S1, they retooled Michael like they did Leslie) there is open contempt for him but Dwight is worse. Then S2E1 and BAMMMMMM the whole show is fixed in one episode. Leslie is a gay penguin hero. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/46 "2020-04-09T11:27:51Z")
How would Community react to current events? Pierce would be holed up with a labyrinth of traps outside his mansion Jeff would have his nose so deep into his phone he didn’t even notice that not only is no one in the study room but no one is on campus. Britta, for all her noise of not ‘bending to the man’, would be at home not answering the door when her actual hardcore marxist friends come knocking. Shirley would be at home going nuts Abed and Troy would be playing Omega Man. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/47 "2020-04-09T11:38:20Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > How would Community react to current events? > > Pierce would be holed up with a labyrinth of traps outside his mansion > Jeff would have his nose so deep into his phone he didn’t even notice that not only is no one in the study room but no one is on campus. > Britta, for all her noise of not ‘bending to the man’, would be at home not answering the door when her actual hardcore marxist friends come knocking. > Shirley would be at home going nuts > Abed and Troy would be playing Omega Man. Annie thinks she already got the virus, and remedied it by scrubbing obsessively with Hawthorne Wipes, and got it again and remedied it again the same way, which has prompted Pierce to point out a curiously-worded disclaimer on the package. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/48 "2020-04-09T14:38:10Z")
How do you know that the Coronavirus didn’t start from army surplus taco meat? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/49 "2020-04-09T15:10:33Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > How do you know that the Coronavirus didn’t start from army surplus taco meat? That’s how far I am in the series right now, that’s literally the last episode I watched yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/50 "2020-04-09T15:24:53Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > That’s how far I am in the series right now, that’s literally the last episode I watched yesterday. That was the moment that the series got turned up to 11. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/51 "2020-04-18T12:25:58Z")
OP checking in to thank all those who pushed me toward Community. I’m just finishing up season 1 and it’s probably in my top 5 all time sitcom list. Brilliant. mmm ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/52 "2020-04-18T13:14:37Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > OP checking in to thank all those who pushed me toward Community. > > I’m just finishing up season 1 and it’s probably in my top 5 all time sitcom list. > > Brilliant. > mmm You’re in for a real treat, season 2 is even better. Opens with a great one and then keeps on giving. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/53 "2020-04-18T13:59:41Z")
I just finished rewatching the whole of community and I have to give the nod to parks and rec as overall more solid, but community as having a higher peak. That said, even the lesser community episodes are better than I remember. Season 4 is noticeably the worst, and season 5 suffers from the dynamic being disturbed by actors leaving, but season 6 is just about as good as season 1. I would rank the seasons 2 1 6 3 5 4. That’s right, I think 6 is better than 3. And even season 4 and 5 have some legitimate great moments…more 5 than 4. 4 is not great. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/54 "2020-04-18T16:08:09Z")
As I’m making my way through Community, I’m surprised at how many little tiny callbacks there or. You might even call them Easter Eggs. During the episode when Abed turned into a mean girl, insulting everyone else in the school at Britta and Annie’s command, he had a robocop-like data stream in his vision. It went by really fast, but if you paused it, everything in it happened. For example it said “Note: Troy’s birthday is in two weeks” and two episodes later was the one when they took Troy to a bar. Also, in the episode where Annie and Britta were wrestling in the oil, I noticed someone having a baby in the back of a car. Didn’t think anything of it until Shirley delivered in the classroom and Abed mentioned that he delivered a baby in the back of a car in the parking lot. Oh, and when they were making the Greendale commercial, I honestly couldn’t tell Jeff and the dean apart. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/55 "2020-04-18T19:42:55Z")
[There is a whole background story in that episode](https://imgur.com/gallery/VNhSV). Also, the couple [is in the background throwing away the defective condoms](https://youtube.com/watch?v=oLPJgdgCqKY) in episode 1x11. Also, in the bottle episode, in the first few seconds pay close attention to the table in the background. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/56 "2020-04-19T01:33:55Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > As I’m making my way through Community, I’m surprised at how many little tiny callbacks there or. You might even call them Easter Eggs. > During the episode when Abed turned into a mean girl, insulting everyone else in the school at Britta and Annie’s command, he had a robocop-like data stream in his vision. It went by really fast, but if you paused it, everything in it happened. For example it said “Note: Troy’s birthday is in two weeks” and two episodes later was the one when they took Troy to a bar. > > Also, in the episode where Annie and Britta were wrestling in the oil, I noticed someone having a baby in the back of a car. Didn’t think anything of it until Shirley delivered in the classroom and Abed mentioned that he delivered a baby in the back of a car in the parking lot. > > Oh, and when they were making the Greendale commercial, I honestly couldn’t tell Jeff and the dean apart. Really? Not even with Jeff rocking that awesome Sonny Crockett/Miami Vice stubble? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/57 "2020-04-19T01:49:52Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > As I’m making my way through Community, I’m surprised at how many little tiny callbacks there or. You might even call them Easter Eggs. > During the episode when Abed turned into a mean girl, insulting everyone else in the school at Britta and Annie’s command, he had a robocop-like data stream in his vision. It went by really fast, but if you paused it, everything in it happened. For example it said “Note: Troy’s birthday is in two weeks” and two episodes later was the one when they took Troy to a bar. > > Also, in the episode where Annie and Britta were wrestling in the oil, I noticed someone having a baby in the back of a car. Didn’t think anything of it until Shirley delivered in the classroom and Abed mentioned that he delivered a baby in the back of a car in the parking lot. > > Oh, and when they were making the Greendale commercial, I honestly couldn’t tell Jeff and the dean apart. When you watch the Election Episode, pause often to read the ticker on the news in the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/58 "2020-04-19T02:07:06Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Really? Not even with Jeff rocking that awesome Sonny Crockett/Miami Vice stubble? A lot of it was the voice throwing me off. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/59 "2020-04-19T19:52:01Z")
What ever happened to Danny Puti? He was so great as Abed, but he seems to have disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340/60 "2020-04-19T20:05:54Z")
> [@singular1](#): > > What ever happened to Danny Puti? He was so great as Abed, but he seems to have disappeared. [If only there were a website where you could look that sort of thing up.](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2209821/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) (Apparently, he’s been getting a good deal of work, but nothing really high profile.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-or-parks-and-recreation/851340.md?page=4)