I have watched the entire series' runs of The Office and Parks and Recreation.
The Office aired for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013.
Parks and Recreation, an ostensible spin-off (though not in the technical sense of the hyphenated word) of The Office, ran for seven seasons from 2009 to 2015.
Both are ensemble shows which follow, more or less, a mockumentary format. I believe the original premise of Parks and Recreation was to sort of mimic The Office. Producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur worked on both series.
Given the shared DNA of the shows, you think there would be more synergy. But there isn't and that's okay. Each show should stand or fall on its own merits.
Rashida Jones, who played Karen Filippelli on The Office, had the role of Ann Perkins on Parks and Recreation.
Where the similarities are slight or implied, the differences are significant. In The Office most of the storylines took place in the office. Some of the episodes ventured off campus, but for the most part the show took place in the annex, the lunch room, the conference room, Michael's office, at reception, and so on. This made the actual physical space of The Office a character in its own right.
Parks and Recreation however, broke out of its office setting early on and took place all over Pawnee and other parts of Indiana, not to mention San Francisco, London and Washington, DC.
The locale for The Office is a real city in Pennsylvania - Scranton. The building for the show was actually located in Panorama City, California and that is where most of it was filmed. The only Scranton scenes came in the introduction.
Pawnee, however, is a fictional town in Indiana. The show was filmed in southern California and the exterior shots of the government building are actually Pasadena City Hall.
The Office was about people working in the private corporate sector and Parks and Recreation was about people working in government. As such, many of the episodes revolved around political events while the folks in The Office just tried to sell paper.
Both shows are funny and, like any television series, have high and low points. Sometimes there is drama, but it's usually book-ended by humor and/or silliness.
Most of the primary characters in both shows are either single or divorced. The exceptions are Stanley in The Office and Tom in Parks and Recreation. Tom's marriage was an arranged green card marriage. Stanley's was a normal marriage.
To have that many single people working in one area is quite unrealistic, but it does allow for romances to take place between the characters.
The iconic romance in The Office was, of course, Jim and Pam, and it was teased from the start as she was engaged to Roy, a warehouse worker. It was obvious throughout, until season six that the two actors had a chemistry that made their connection very strong. Jenna Fischer (Pam) stated in an interview that the Pam and Jim parts of the actors really loved each other. Sounds a little schizophrenic to me, but I sort of understand what she was saying.
Many would probably point to Leslie and Ben as the main romance in Parks and Recreation, but I wouldn't,. Andy and April were, by far, the best couple on the show. They played off each other very well in ways that made them realistic and believable, particularly for the types of characters they played.
Perhaps an even better relationship in Parks and Recreation was the one between Leslie and Ron Swanson, her boss. It was a close friendship built upon working together, mutual respect and opposites attracting as both were polar opposites in terms of political views.
The only other The Office relationships that mattered were the ones between Michael and Holly who ended up married after Steve Carell left in season seven and Dwight and Angela who finally married in the series finale.
I have watched The Office for years, have seen it many times over. It was at its best and in full stride for the first five seasons, in my opinion. The seminal moment of Pam and Jim's wedding in season six changed the dynamic of the show quite a bit, and though there were decent episodes to be had, I think it started going downhill.
Parks and Recreation was a relatively recent undertaking for me. I had tried to watch it several years ago, but couldn't get beyond the first couple episodes. I just didn't see what others had been telling me. Then my son and a co-worker recommended I start with season two and the rest is history, so to speak. I think that the show tended to get bogged down in political campaigns and machinations, but the producers seemed to be trying to build something through them. Maybe they were using it as a platform to express their own political leanings, but they did keep Ron as a strong character throughout, so that was a plus.
I like to catch an episode or two of either show now and then. But I am finished plowing through them from start to finish. Now, it's a more leisurely activity that allows me to look in on some enjoyable and familiar storylines.
Kinda like skimming through an old favorite book.
