Come Out to Play?

NBC's 'Parks and Recreation' has some viewers on the edge of their seat in anticipation, parks departments simply on edge
Thirty minutes of Amy Poehler each week?
Although it doesn't cure the withdrawal symptoms I still face from her absence on "Saturday Night Live," I guess it's a start.
And while I don't think "Parks and Recreation" will garner Poehler laughs like she got on Weekend Update, I, at least, hope for uncomfortable giggles.
You know, think Michael Scott from "The Office."
Cringe.
Except this time, NBC is taking you out of Scranton, and right into the heart of Indiana.
Pawnee, Ind., to be exact.
Never heard of it? You can learn all about this fictional city with an obvious raccoon infestation at PAWNEEINDIANA.COM.
Located 90 miles from Indianapolis, Pawnee is being touted as the "state's seventh-largest city."
"My guess would be that they chose Indiana because it is seen by Hollywood as a nondescript, middle-America state," said Costa Dillon, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore superintendent. "It has no national image to play off, so they can use it as a generic place"
OK, I am a little excited about it being set in Indiana. But parks and recreation?
Really?
"I think they chose parks and recreation because there is a certain mindset among some people that this is not a serious profession," said Dillon. "I find this disconcerting. We have staff with professional degrees including Masters and Ph.Ds. It is incredibly naive to think that park management is a job for amateurs."
Nor for comedy.
If you haven't heard about "Parks and Recreation" yet, the premise is simple.
The show, from Emmy Award-winning executive producers Greg Daniels ("The Office," "King of the Hill") and Michael Schur ("The Office," "Saturday Night Live"), is a mockumentary that looks at the exciting world of local government.
The new half-hour comedy will examine the mundane but necessary ways that people interact with their government, and ask why it's frequently so complicated – as everyone knows from standing in line at the DMV, applying for home construction permits or trying to get the city to fix a pothole – NBC says.
The cameras follow Leslie Knope (Poehler) a mid-level bureaucrat in Pawnee's parks and recreation department.
In an attempt to beautify her town, Leslie takes on what should be a fairly simple project: Help local nurse Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones, "The Office," "I Love You Man") turn an abandoned pit into a community park.
Seems funny enough.
The mockumentary style has already drawn drone comparisons to "The Office." Some critics have simply said it is the same show, different setting, different lead.
Variety's review this week said that "Daniels and Schur provide the show with moments of dry wit, and Poehler certainly has acting oblivious down to a wide-eyed science. Yet there's no escaping that this feels like 'Office Lite,' thrown together as a vehicle for the star rather than out of any grand inspiration – just as the format appears arbitrarily chosen for its compatibility to the Dunder Mifflin gang."
But Jones doesn't think the comparisons are actually that broad.
"What's similar about it is the documentary style. That, and the interviews and stuff. You get the sense of two camera crews. There's one that's following me and my cause, and one following Amy and her rise through government." Jones said.
Being panned by critics across the country could be a good thing for actual parks and recreation departments.
I received a forwarded e-mail Tuesday afternoon from Jodi Rudick, president of the ADvisors Marketing Group. According to her bio, many consider Rudick to be the park and recreation profession’s most innovative marketing and publicity expert.
"More than likely the show will amplify the blunders and 'idocracy' of park and recreation leaders and staff," the e-mail said. Rudick is hoping to help departments cut off comparisons to the show from the start.
As in: "No, there are NO speedbumps on the slides ..."
But not everyone is worried there will be negative fallout from the show.
"It's a sitcom. Its purpose is to poke fun and satirize government and civil service," Dillon said. "I would hope that viewers would be wise enough to recognize situation comedy is not a documentary."
And I can't wait for the fun-poking to start.
With high hopes, my DVR is already set for a series recording.
I am ready for giggles.
Uncomfortable or not.