New Amy Poehler Show Doesn’t Suck… That Bad
According to a leaked focus-group report, NBC’s new Amy Poehler sitcom Parks and Recreation is a flop. But NBC’s boy-genius Ben Silverman says it’s cool, because whatever—focus groups always hate on stuff, man.
Nikki Finke poured cold water on excited Poehler fans yesterday by posting the report, which showed that preview audiences thought the show was a “carbon copy” of The Office, “derivative,” “forced,” predictable,” “unoriginal,” and “lacking in character development, even for a pilot” (ouch!).
Parks and Recreation is from Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, who produce The Office, and it shares the hit show’s mockumentary format as it follows a city bureaucrat played by Poehler trying to turn an abandoned pit into a park. NBC has high hopes for the show because—no wait, NBC Universal Chief Jeff Zucker abandoned all hope last week when he said that NBC would never be No. 1 in prime time again. Anyway, NBC still wants the show to do well, so Silverman tried to spin the leak to EW:
All of the research we do around initial rough cuts is negative. If you had seen the initial research on all of ours and our competitors’ successful shows, it tends to be like that.
Bravo! No worries, then. Parks and Recreation will suck no more than anything else on TV.
Of course, if all focus groups always says they hate every show they’re shown, that would beg the question as to why networks continue to pay research firms gobs of money to conduct them. A perusal of the Parks and Recreation report shows the depth of insight and guidance you can get from a gang of unemployed mouth-breathers:
1. People want a show that’s exactly like The Office.
Expectations for this show are very high, especially among OFFICE viewers. Many had seen the promos and were expecting an “OFFICE-type mockumentary” with the same tone.
2. Parks and Recreation sucks because it is almost exactly like The Office!
But [they] felt the pilot was too close and similar to the OFFICE.
3. They hated The Office at first, too, but gave it time to grow on them.
However, many OFFICE fans were quick to point out that THE OFFICE did not become their favourite show overnight.
4. Parks and Recreation has about two episodes to become The Office.
[B]ut viewers will expect to see the show to be as good as THE OFFICE soon. Furthermore, labelling the show as being “from the producers of THE OFFICE” adds credibly (sic) to the show and helps raise viewers’ expectations.
5. Too much of the show takes place at that abandoned pit.
Focus needs to evolve away from the pit—consider showing Leslie [Amy Poehler] and her team dealing with various parks and recreation duties.
6. More pit please!
Highest positive spike comes from Leslie falling into the pit.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@Solomon Grundy: I know it's nit-picky, but almost EVERYONE uses that wrong! Like, especially in mainstream media, which this isn't exactly. Keep an eye out; it's everywhere.
I stopped reading this post after the author misused the phrase "begs the question." Nothing reveals a mediocre writer more reliably.
@Colander: they need fireballs and headsets and boom, hit.
Banjo-Sea Kitten
I just want to see if they get anywhere close to actual city government. My dad was director of P&R for 20 years...for the same city I work for now. Should be interesting.
paragrab
Leslie falls into the pit? SPOILER ALERT
slainte_pants
"...excited Poehler fans" exist?
"carbon copy", "derivative," "forced," predictable," "unoriginal," and "lacking in character development..."
Knowing is the number one movie in America right now. This show will be fine.
@Solomon Grundy: Nothing reveals an ass face more reliably than someone who points out bad grammer in a blog.
@Solomon Grundy: hack covering Richard's beat.
No offense John.
FracturedAcetabulum
How many of you would like Leslie and her team to deal with real-life problems, like the ones you face every day? And who would like to see them do just the opposite: getting into far-out situations involving robots and magic powers?
CheapCynicism
If focus groups all trend negative, why bother with them at all?
miss_msry
So they want a realistic down-to-earth show that's completely off the wall and swarming with magic robots?
7. The Office itself, at first, was an unfunny derivative of another show. Then it became unfunny and repetitive.
CablinasianDem
@Colander: Aren't those also ways to describe this current season of The Office?
xhack
This sounds like the scathing indictment of municipal government that I have long-demanded from NBC. I expect this will be second only to Kurosawa's white hot excoriation of village herring fisheries in Jakoman to Tetsu.
@Ptarmigan: I prefer the term butt face.
@Solomon Grundy: Richard's usage is in Fowler's, so I'm ok with it.
So you've got the John Michael Higgins look-a-like...the Selma Blair look-a-like...Q's daughter, (an Office regular), and a token Indian guy. Sounds like the recipe for success! Just copy other semi-succesful shows and you too can be barely adequate!
@Ich don't think so.
@slainte_pants: ...yes but we don't know at WHAT POINT in every episode she falls in!
@CheapCynicism: And also, you should win things by watching!
@Colander: Did the numbers tell you that?
AvenueOfTheStrongest
I have loved and lived for Amy Poehler since I first saw the UCB staging a performance at the Astor Place cube in 1997, I have extremely aggressively (and only semi-drunkenly) hit on Aziz Ansari not once but twice in East Village dive bars, and I used to work in City Hall, so one might think this would be my dream show. Yet the preview didn't make me crack a smile, even a little. I smell turkey, and it kills me to admit it.
@Solomon Grundy: I usually question the beggars.
Say "The Office" again.
@Mount_Prion: YES WE DO. :-)
all of this shit and yet Freaks and Geeks was pulled.. the injustice..
@Heneage: Word. The sentence isn't particularly pleasant to read, but it's kosher.
@Kid Twist:
@stix: You, sir or madam or in between or other, are incorrect.
@Solomon Grundy:
"In general use, the meaning is much more likely to be 'to evade a difficulty' or 'to refrain from giving a straghtforward answer'.
John Major's vision of Europe seems to me entirely correct. But it begs the question: why did the prime minister all but sacrifice his office...
@lobstr: So, it's going to be like Dick Van Dyke tripping over the ottoman? Because that gets me every time!
Is that Zach Galifinakis? Poehler and Galifinakis, that should be gold.
@lobstr: I may be doing too much assuming in your instance here, but fans of shows like F&G complain about this stuff all the time, but most of you all never actually watched the show while it was on the air. The same goes for Arrested Development. You have to actually watch the show while it is still in production, People. That is the only way they know.
@Brawndo: hey, I watched AD for all three seasons! and I was in high school at the time.
lms11
@actually means. For educated readers, it sticks in the craw like an ugly little stone.
@Heneage: Sigh. This isn't akin to that example. Read the site I linked to.
@Solomon Grundy: Ignoramuses such as The Economist? Oxford? Acknowledged grammar Nazi Lynne Truss? Fowler's Modern English Usage? Language evolves, get with the times. When was the last time you heard someone use the word "thou" outside of Church or a Shakespeare play?
@Brawndo: Actually, it only gets tracked if you happen to be in the Nielson sample. Otherwise, there is no way networks could possibly know whether you do or do not watch a particular program.
@Heneage: Also, the Economist is staffed by middlebrow, early 20something Oxbridge pricks. I do not let their binge-drinking, acne-addled choices affect my choices if I can help it.
@Solomon Grundy: I love her too and she should nevah, nevah play anything close to the straight-man. She's too talented and brilliantly goofy.
Banjo-Sea Kitten
@Solomon Grundy: dude. stop. you're being a dick.
@PootyT: Ha.
@Solomon Grundy: Calling people stupid is a surefire way to lose an argument, whether you have a point or not.
@Solomon Grundy: Your being annoying...
@Colander: I didn't call anyone stupid, but thanks for the tip. Anyhow, I can take solace in the fact that there are many people fighting the good fight against BTQ abuse. We shall prevail, then we shall steal your women.
@Colander: In debating the petitio principii usage of "begs the question" Solomon Grundy has devolved to argumentum ad hominem.
Where is LaCieca when we need her to settle a grammar argument?
@Spirit Fingers: I welcome the constructive criticism. My editors are getting lazy about letting me get away with idiosyncratic usage.
@Solomon Grundy: You do know that every comment you make from now on better be letter perfect. Just sayin. 'Cause the first lazy gerund phrase (or whatever you're riled up about)…uh, yeah, we'll tell you. And you'll basically defeat your whole point here.
So get out that grammar trip-tik and make sure you're up-to-date on all those commonly misspelled and/or misused words, smarty pants!
Spirit Fingers
@Heneage: Actually, lovey, you cited the Economist as an expert opinion to guide usage, so I explained why I didn't trust their expertise. That's not what ad hominem means.
I'm through with this. Continue sounding ignorant, if you insist, and I will continue sounding like a prissy little prick.
(See, that's how you do an ad hominem.)
PWNEE[d]
GORDONGARTRELLE
Indian(dot) is the new black.
How has Denton not pulled the plug on this site yet?
@Banjo-Sea Kitten: Yes! That's exactly what's wrong with this casting.
@Leviticus_71: I think calling Aziz Ansari or Mindy Kaling "token" minorities isn't exactly fair, as they are both writers and pretty damn funny.
However, your comment that this is NBC being lazy to produce middling shows? Probably accurate.
suckonthat
F&G fans are getting the last laugh because every half-assed idea Judd Apatow ever had is being turned into a movie. Thanks!
Jupiter8
@Solomon Grundy: I always notice the misuse of this phrase, too, but it's not like I'm a particularly good writer (I edit copy, which is an entirely different skill). Recognizing common language mistakes is an easy trick, and just because John Cook didn't pick this one up doesn't make him a mediocre writer.
eatsshootsleaves
@FracturedAcetabulum: None taken!
John Cook
@Solomon Grundy: Man you really have to tow the line here at Gawker, lest commenters wreck havoc on your posts. For all intensive purposes, that particular usage is commonly accepted. I could care less, really, but it's a mute point, because I'm changing it.
John Cook
@Solomon Grundy: Shall or will? Or shall, then will?
@MrDo: MrDon't.
So what happens to Human Giant?? Aziz Ansari, get back to where you once belonged.
@John Cook: On the upslide, its fun to watch 'em wreck havoc on each other.
I bet Fox is regretting canceling Arrested Development," now. Had it not, it could be making these claims.
sample032
@John Cook: Here, here!
eatsshootsleaves
@John Cook: Your write hear, John.
I'm bored with the show just by looking at the I'm-in-character facial expressions in that photo.
Gnip-Gnop
@Leviticus_71: I don't think you can ever have enough Selma Blair look-a-likes.
@John Cook: way to bait the hook
@CheapCynicism: Clearly this series could use some rastafying.
HeatherNumber1
Oh my. So many haters out there.
Yes. It will probably suck for various reasons, but I laugh every time I hear Aziz say he just found a dirty bra in that pit.
blahblahblah
@John Cook: that was awsome. Your getting the hangue of it. Maybe you'll fit in hear after all.
FracturedAcetabulum
Sucks less than Kim & Kath ?
Yeah, I'll pass.
scarcat
@Colander: i'd like to have sat in on the pitch for knowing:
writer:it's like NUMBERS meets NATIONAL TREASURE...
producer: we've heard enough! SOLD!
EssEffGirl
@brawndo:
And aren't the Nielson sample homes selected because they are seen as representative of certain mainstream demographics. If you happen to be a little "odd" or have non-representative tastes, Nielson isn't interested in your viewing habits.
Also, unless they've updated their systems since the mid-90s, the Nielsons only track one TV per home.
Meredeath
@Akeem's Etonics: Ha, the guy in the brown suit DOES kinda look like Zach, but it's not. Actually, he resembles Seth Galifianakis a bit more.
sparkiepop
@Solomon Grundy:
I doubt that
JudyPaceFace
Parks and Recreation..? That title is about as enticing as an afternoon at the DMV.
Dear Amy,
What was so wrong with fashioning a sitcom version of Baby Mama? You have just skipped the gold mine in favor of the dung heap. Tsk tsk.
Sincerely,
Inhaler
@Meredeath: I was once chosen as a Neilsen "family". I was a single guy in my 20's who lived with a dog and collected junk. I forgot to mention that I left Animal Planet on all day for my dog while I was work. Oh shit, I think I am responsible for the Dog Whisperer...
@Meredeath: I know of a Nielsen family who lives in NY city. They had two televisions and both had boxes on them. We stayed there while they were on vacation. The boxes flashed when it detected somenone in front of the tv. You are suppose to enter how many persons are watching to get them to stop flashing. Not knowing whether we should enter the info or how to enter it we just turned the boxes around.
zefal
@Brawndo: that is quite presumptuous :p Why the hell would anyone complain about a show being pulled if they weren't a fan? How do you know "most of [us] never actually watched the show while it was on the air?" Do you not remember the outcry when it was cancelled?
And besides, my point is, the method of measuring ratings is antiquated -- just as their formula for greenlighting bullshit shows like this Pohler trainwreck. CBS pulled "Jericho" but was blindsided by the large numbers of people in the ensuing outcry.. the ratings system apparently didn't account for those..
@paragrab: That's real progress!
PhebeCachai
Since Greg Daniels and Mike Schur took off to work on P&R the quality of The Office mothership has suffered. There's been mistakes in continuity and story lines go off in directions that don't always add up. I'm still waiting to see why artist Pam went to NYC, only to come back bitchy-er for two episodes and then settled back into reception hood with nary a drawing pad in sight.
it looks funny from what i seen...especially a scene when the girlt thoght she was 55 that was funny ..and amy poeler is hillarious and has fans she was great on satnightlive...i say give it a chance
PerryKeph
@begged the question of exactly why "lightbulbs are fail," demonstrating the desperate need for maintaining the historical usage of 'begs the question.' So, thanks for that!