10 Things That Were Totally Different in Parks and Rec Season 1
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VOICE OVER: Emily - WatchMojo
WRITTEN BY: Savannah Sher
As much as we love this show, we remember a lot of things that were totally different in the Parks and Recreation pilot.
We came to love this quirky comedy, but the first season is a bit of a hard sell. Welcome to MsMojo and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Things That Were Totally Different in Parks and Recreation - Season 1.
For this list, we’re looking at all of the ways Parks and Rec evolved after its first season.
In 2009 when “Parks and Rec” premiered, another NBC show, “The Office” was already a massive hit. And in fact, it was through angling to create a spin-off of “The Office” that “Parks and Rec” was conceived. While the spin-off angle was eventually dropped, it was definitely a spiritual successor, also utilizing the mockumentary format to tell the story of a group of employees. This time it was public sector rather than private, but many other elements remained the same. As the seasons went on however, the show began to take its own path, but at the beginning it feels like it could easily be taking place in the same world as Dunder Mifflin.
In the first season of “Parks and Rec”, one of the pieces of decor in Ron Swanson’s office is a large poster of former college basketball coach Bobby Knight. In the pilot episode, he draws attention to the poster, and yet in season two, it’s no longer there, having been replaced by a poster of a woman eating eggs and bacon. Vague “legal reasons” were cited as the explanation for the switch-up. And that new poster? Apparently the production team went through an image library searching for things Ron would like, ie dark haired women and breakfast.
Many of the characters in “Parks and Rec” change after the first season and the first one we’ll be discussing is Tom. When we first meet Tom Haverford – played by Aziz Ansari – he’s actually more similar to Jim from “The Office” than he is to the character he would eventually evolve into. He seems like a fun-loving office prankster, rather than an ambitious business mogul. He’s also a bit of an unsympathetic figure, constantly trying to get with women even though technically he’s married.
By the time “Parks and Rec” wrapped, we had just as much love for the secondary characters as we did for Leslie, but in the beginning, many of them were relegated to the sidelines in a much more major way. While we meet Ron, Andy, Donna and Jerry in the first season, the characters are pale, undeveloped versions of what they’d later become. They’re all relatively two-dimensional, without enough backstory or development to make audiences really care about them. Of course, this changed over the years, and we feel so lucky that it did.
We already mentioned the early comparisons to “The Office”, and a major way in which critics pointed out similarities between the two shows was in their central characters. Now that we know her, it’s hard to imagine Leslie Knope as being anything like Michael Scott, but in the early episodes, it’s kind of hard to tell whether she’s blindly optimistic and incompetent or if she actually shows any promise as a public servant. While we see her ambition from the very beginning, she’s much less likable to viewers, and it seems like the people around her have a hard time putting up with her too.
Ron Swanson turned out to have more cultural influence than anyone else on the show, becoming a beacon of bygone masculinity for the modern world. His character was iconic, but in the first season it was much less distinct. When he’s introduced, it’s as Leslie’s cynical boss who doesn’t actually believe in the efficacy of government and who has become apathetic about his career and the world around him. So many of the things that make him such a stand-out figure on the show are missing, and would only be added in later seasons.
We think back on Andy Dwyer as being a lovable moron who was a great match for April and perpetually entertained us with his antics. It’s almost easy to forget that when we first met him in season one, he was Ann’s deadbeat boyfriend who fell into the pit and broke his legs, kicking off the action of the show. He’s depicted as being basically a layabout, who is milking this opportunity for all its worth by forcing Ann to care for him. He’s really not very likable, and is honestly kind of a jerk.
One of the major players in the first season of “Parks and Rec” quickly disappears early in the show’s run, and in the long run was quite forgettable. That character is, of course, Mark Brendanawicz, a city planner who Leslie has a major crush on and who the audience can tell from very early on is not worthy of her affections. He’s portrayed as a cynical player who doesn’t really care about much of anything, so it’s easy to see why there was no place for him on the show that “Parks and Rec” ultimately became.
In the later seasons – even as early as season two – “Parks and Rec” became one of the brightest shows on TV, a feel good comedy where you knew that deep down all the characters were good people even if they erred and accidentally did things to hurt one another. This positive tone was what came to characterize the show as a whole, but if you had only seen season one, you wouldn’t know it. Because in the beginning, Pawnee was filled with far more cynicism and negativity, with the majority of the department seeming resentful of their jobs.
Perhaps the most significant change that occurs between season one and two is that Leslie does a complete 180 as a character. We already discussed her efficacy at her job, but the rest of her personality changes too. We meet her as a woman who lives in her successful mother’s shadow, always trying to impress her. She is petty and jealous when it comes to her feelings for Mark, and on top of that bestows these feelings on a guy who is so clearly no match for her. Her friendship with Ann hasn’t developed yet, so we don’t get to see what an incredibly loving friend she is. Without all this, it’s easy to understand how someone could have skipped out on tuning in for this show’s second season.
For this list, we’re looking at all of the ways Parks and Rec evolved after its first season.
#10: It Feels More Like “The Office”
In 2009 when “Parks and Rec” premiered, another NBC show, “The Office” was already a massive hit. And in fact, it was through angling to create a spin-off of “The Office” that “Parks and Rec” was conceived. While the spin-off angle was eventually dropped, it was definitely a spiritual successor, also utilizing the mockumentary format to tell the story of a group of employees. This time it was public sector rather than private, but many other elements remained the same. As the seasons went on however, the show began to take its own path, but at the beginning it feels like it could easily be taking place in the same world as Dunder Mifflin.
#9: Ron's Poster Decoration
In the first season of “Parks and Rec”, one of the pieces of decor in Ron Swanson’s office is a large poster of former college basketball coach Bobby Knight. In the pilot episode, he draws attention to the poster, and yet in season two, it’s no longer there, having been replaced by a poster of a woman eating eggs and bacon. Vague “legal reasons” were cited as the explanation for the switch-up. And that new poster? Apparently the production team went through an image library searching for things Ron would like, ie dark haired women and breakfast.
#8: Tom's Character
Many of the characters in “Parks and Rec” change after the first season and the first one we’ll be discussing is Tom. When we first meet Tom Haverford – played by Aziz Ansari – he’s actually more similar to Jim from “The Office” than he is to the character he would eventually evolve into. He seems like a fun-loving office prankster, rather than an ambitious business mogul. He’s also a bit of an unsympathetic figure, constantly trying to get with women even though technically he’s married.
#7: It Was Less of an Ensemble Cast
By the time “Parks and Rec” wrapped, we had just as much love for the secondary characters as we did for Leslie, but in the beginning, many of them were relegated to the sidelines in a much more major way. While we meet Ron, Andy, Donna and Jerry in the first season, the characters are pale, undeveloped versions of what they’d later become. They’re all relatively two-dimensional, without enough backstory or development to make audiences really care about them. Of course, this changed over the years, and we feel so lucky that it did.
#6: Leslie Isn't Good at Her Job Yet
We already mentioned the early comparisons to “The Office”, and a major way in which critics pointed out similarities between the two shows was in their central characters. Now that we know her, it’s hard to imagine Leslie Knope as being anything like Michael Scott, but in the early episodes, it’s kind of hard to tell whether she’s blindly optimistic and incompetent or if she actually shows any promise as a public servant. While we see her ambition from the very beginning, she’s much less likable to viewers, and it seems like the people around her have a hard time putting up with her too.
#5: Ron's Character
Ron Swanson turned out to have more cultural influence than anyone else on the show, becoming a beacon of bygone masculinity for the modern world. His character was iconic, but in the first season it was much less distinct. When he’s introduced, it’s as Leslie’s cynical boss who doesn’t actually believe in the efficacy of government and who has become apathetic about his career and the world around him. So many of the things that make him such a stand-out figure on the show are missing, and would only be added in later seasons.
#4: Andy Is a Jerk
We think back on Andy Dwyer as being a lovable moron who was a great match for April and perpetually entertained us with his antics. It’s almost easy to forget that when we first met him in season one, he was Ann’s deadbeat boyfriend who fell into the pit and broke his legs, kicking off the action of the show. He’s depicted as being basically a layabout, who is milking this opportunity for all its worth by forcing Ann to care for him. He’s really not very likable, and is honestly kind of a jerk.
#3: Mark Brendanawicz
One of the major players in the first season of “Parks and Rec” quickly disappears early in the show’s run, and in the long run was quite forgettable. That character is, of course, Mark Brendanawicz, a city planner who Leslie has a major crush on and who the audience can tell from very early on is not worthy of her affections. He’s portrayed as a cynical player who doesn’t really care about much of anything, so it’s easy to see why there was no place for him on the show that “Parks and Rec” ultimately became.
#2: It's Less Optimistic
In the later seasons – even as early as season two – “Parks and Rec” became one of the brightest shows on TV, a feel good comedy where you knew that deep down all the characters were good people even if they erred and accidentally did things to hurt one another. This positive tone was what came to characterize the show as a whole, but if you had only seen season one, you wouldn’t know it. Because in the beginning, Pawnee was filled with far more cynicism and negativity, with the majority of the department seeming resentful of their jobs.
#1: Leslie's Autonomy
Perhaps the most significant change that occurs between season one and two is that Leslie does a complete 180 as a character. We already discussed her efficacy at her job, but the rest of her personality changes too. We meet her as a woman who lives in her successful mother’s shadow, always trying to impress her. She is petty and jealous when it comes to her feelings for Mark, and on top of that bestows these feelings on a guy who is so clearly no match for her. Her friendship with Ann hasn’t developed yet, so we don’t get to see what an incredibly loving friend she is. Without all this, it’s easy to understand how someone could have skipped out on tuning in for this show’s second season.
