Making bureaucracy work: How NBC's 'Parks and Recreation' overcame bad buzz

"Parks," in its second season, has emerged as a critical darling that can stand on its own. Time magazine's James Poniewozik, a fan of Pawnee's finest from the get-go, called it a "very very good, very very funny" series that "has found its rhythm" and The Star Ledger's Alan Sepinwall declared it quite possibly "the best comedy on TV right now."

He could also add "that you're not watching." "Parks" averages a lowly 5 million viewers, and its most recent episode posted a decent-for-NBC-but-not-great 2.1 rating/6 share in adults 18-49.

The show, as they say in the industry, is gaining traction with the right crowds and has already landed a full second-season order. And in some ways, the creative victory of an original series in "Parks and Recreation" is an even bigger coup than Daniels' successful adaptation of Ricky Gervais' droll, uncomfortable British workplace comedy "The Office" -- a series he originally deemed "brilliant -- and not achievable in America." He gave it a shot anyway, hopeful that "maybe it will steer the great ship of network TV comedy slightly, like 5 degrees, in a different direction. That's what I kept thinking in my head." The U.S. "Office" is now NBC's signature comedy.

So what happened between Season 1 and 2 that flipped "Parks" from flop to hot? "We needed to tell a certain number of stories before people got it," Schur said.

NBC President of Primetime Entertainment Angela Bromstad recalled the early days of "The Office" and said, "I knew Greg was great at self-assessing and evolving a show, and comedies take longer to catch on. ... Also, I have to say, the cupboards were bare. We really needed to stick with it, and I think it's paying off."

It helped that Daniels and Schur (the latter was a writer on "The Office" before moving to "Parks" full time) had solid track records. Daniels spent several seasons on "The Simpsons" and co-created "King of the Hill" before adapting "The Office," and both he and Schur credit stints on "Saturday Night Live" with shaping their comic sensibilities. (Viewers might recognize Schur as Dwight's neck beard-wearing, fellow beet farming cousin Mose from "The Office." Sports fans might know him under his former pen name -- and current Twitter handle -- Ken Tremendous, which he used to write for the now-defunct sports media criticism blog Fire Joe Morgan.)

Rather than do a straight spinoff of "The Office," as many expected, the pair instead were inspired by the local politics of "The Wire" and the theme of optimism from the 2008 presidential election.

Not exactly the stuff sitcoms are made of but not exactly surprising from a couple of Harvard grads either, who had this conversation in front of a reporter:

"I can pinpoint the exact moment I became really interested in comedy," said Schur, sitting next to Daniels in Daniels' office. "I found a copy of the book 'Without Feathers' [Woody Allen's 1975 collection of humorous essays] on my dad's bookshelf and stayed up til 4 a.m. reading it." He was 11. "Wait, why did you like it?" Daniels turned to ask. "You must have had some psychological ... I mean, that's pretty erudite of a reference."

For Daniels, it was Monty Python, "which was on Channel 13 in New York and all the nerdy 12-year-olds did the routines to one another." Several minutes later, however, Daniels volunteered that he was reading S.J. Perlman when he was 11. "So that's erudite!" Schur said. "Yes, I know, I know," Daniels said. "I wouldn't even mention it, but I want to like get into your club now."

They decided that their next show would revolve around the interactions of small-town government, specifically focusing on Poehler's Leslie, an eager but often misguided parks and recreation official whose first big project is tending to an unsightly large pit in the middle of Pawnee. "This could be my Hoover Dam," a chipper Leslie says in the pilot.

This season Leslie is a little less wacky, but she remains ever-positive about making government work for the people. "She is a hard worker, very well read, very intelligent -- these are not Michael Scott traits," Daniels said.

"She's not delusional. She's not crazy thinking there's a boys club in politics," Schur added. "She has a strong point of view, and her intentions are always good and noble. She's just not always great at executing them."

And that's another thing that differentiates Daniels' shows: "Parks" is, well, less of a boys club. Despite such successes as "30 Rock" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine," it's unusual to see smart women drive the action in a network comedy. (And even then, Liz Lemon is nothing if not surrounded by a boys club of crazy guys.)

Daniels and Schur have also let the rest of Pawnee's finest come out to play. "Park's" motley ensemble includes Rashida Jones as her friend Ann, Aziz Ansari as Leslie's undermining lieutenant Tom, Chris Pratt as Ann's bungling but well-meaning ex-boyfriend Andy, Paul Schneider as Leslie's cynical colleague Mark, Nick Offerman as her disinterested boss Ron, and Aubrey Plaza as her equally disinterested intern April.

To come up with the world and people of "Parks," Daniels and Schur spent time in different local governments to make sure their ideas were at least grounded in reality. In Burbank, they found the basis for Ron. "We were talking to one official about wanting to make Leslie's boss opposed to government," Daniels said. "Like, 'Wouldn't it be funny if she's trying so hard to get stuff accomplished but her boss was like one of those Bush appointees who doesn't believe in the mission of the branch of government he's supposed to be overseeing?' And she looks as us and goes, 'Well, I'm a libertarian, so I don't really believe in the mission of my job.'

"That was an amazing response," Schur recalled. "We went, 'Really?' and she goes, 'Yes, I'm aware of the irony.' "

"I think we were feeling that the first six episodes were like one big pilot, we shot it so fast," Daniels said. "But we had plenty of ideas about what we wanted to do, and part of what takes time is learning how to write for and collaborate with the actors."

Discovering that Offerman played the saxophone turned into an episode where Tom spied Ron's sax-playing alter ego Duke Silver holding court with Pawnee's frisky older ladies. ("Nick's also a master carpenter and canoe builder, and that'll come up at some point," Daniels said. Offerman's real-life wife, actress Megan Mullally, guest starred in a recent episode as Ron's ex-wife and library employee Tammy.) Then there's Pratt, who "loves taking his clothes off," at least according to Schur. So far, Andy has chased a thieving neighbor and showed up to Ann's house in the buff.

Poehler said talks with Daniels and Schur about Leslie's long-term journey are ongoing too. "Her struggle throughout the series is trying not to become jaded. Can she fight feeling like she'll never be able to change anything? Will she get caught up in political gain in a way that will make her lose track of why she started in the first place?'

"Ultimately, we do want her to succeed - and I love that! -- but in really small ways and with very little power. I love that too. I'm a sucker for pathos."

"Parks and Recreation" airs Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. on NBC.

One weekend every year, I get to pee standing up. *blam*

I think Jerry and Donna have helped to increase the laughs in this show tenfold. When they dug up the "dirt" on Jerry and when Donna did "very well for herself" with the Venezuelans really made the characters come into their own and now they're vital parts of the show.

The entire NBC Thursday comedy lineup is so fantastic this year, I just wish people would actually watch it to see how great it is.