Confessions of an AP fan

So, I'm an AP fan, both the Associated Press and Amy Poehler. (I promise that no one else in the world will write that sentence.)

Saturday Night Live hooked me (both the regular show and the 1:30 a.m. reruns on E! ...the stuff from three to five years ago is strangely classic), but this year Poehler has been all Parks and Recreation, as in her new show on NBC.

I had high expectations for the sitcom, especially because even the dullest of characters were never that bad with Poehler. And Park and Recreation's pilot did not let me down. It was funny in both a raw and endearing way, and I was thrilled that it wasn't a dud.

The next four weeks, however, were alarmingly terrible. The show's creators, who also spun the Office into what it is today, have made much of the new show like the Office, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. When it is bad is when a scene is so awkward and not funny that you want to leave the room. Even worse, I never even wanted to watch the reruns online. Gasp.

But this week renewed my faith in the new show. Poehler was vintage Poehler, while still being Knope (Leslie Knope is the character she plays). Having her wander into a date with an 81-year-old man was excellent and none-too-forced, and her reaction showed her not only as an overoptimistic, delusional, uncool woman to be pitied but also a very layered human.

She was looking off camera for her eye contact punchlines, but they weren't dazed, discontented moments of misplaced joy; rather, they were the sardonic eyes that, with a mouth curled in a variety of tone-setting cues, pulled in audiences for years on SNL.

Basically, this Knope was cooler than that other Knope that's been showing up in Pawnee for the last few weeks. Don't get me wrong, she's not cool by any means, but at least she's not so uncool you cringe when you watch her.

Better yet, she seemed like a real person who wasn't always going to be at the mercy of the world. Instead of being surrounded by insults, an unloving mother and compatriots who turned out to be dirtbags, Knope had the upper hand tonight. She was stuck on a date with an 81-year-old man, but it was in her hands, and even though she was stuck with him, it was because she was a decent person, not because she was helpless. She went to the show and talked to the band and didn't seem crazy. She got the guy, then chose on her own not to get him, rather than being the gimpy dog trailing the boy with a slice of bacon.

And the extra mascara helped.

I have wondered this season where the character drama would come in. This episode seemed to latch onto the good parts of the characters and play them up rather than making, well, caricatures, of some poor points in writing. Tom Haverford was not so annoying and actually believable. Ann and Andy's characters fell into the roles that were written for them, starting to fully flesh out. Ron Swanson makes an excellent jerk. And Mark, the "seventh wheel," took a steady stride toward being Jim Halpert tonight — not that he should be Jim, but the show needed some of that drama Jim always created. Mark brought it, and Leslie picked up the pieces pretty well. (Who didn't feel the drama when Mark went to talk to Ann and you thought it was going to be Jim-and-Karen-when-it-should-have-been-Jim-and-Pam all over again?)

The finale was excellent, for at least showing that Parks and Recreation has room to grow. Remember, the Office was pretty bad its first season, with moments of brilliance, and I think Parks and Rec can take off as it finds its good points and builds on them.

Now that Poehler is not so bad in her new sitcom, it's easier not to wish she was still on SNL (which, by the way, is having some issues this year, despite fine shows from Alec Baldwin and Justin Timberlake).

Another nice thing to come out of the sitcom is the rash of media coverage Poehler is getting — and not just the funny interviews where you can tell she's not going to tell the E! reporter anything serious, but some nice, in-depth stuff, too, about her craft.

I've culled these from the Internet for future enjoyment:
Charlie Rose interview
Today Show
NPR Fresh Air interview
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (Clip 1) (Clip 2) (Skit)
Time 10 Questions
Parks and Recreation episodes
Good clips

And, as a final note, don't worry, 30 Rock. I haven't forgotten you. You are still the best show, and the most well-written.