Hey, how are you?
Hello there. Hi. Chris Traeger.
This is Ben.
Hello, gents.
Ron Swanson, Ron Swanson.
That was the first time Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson
met Chris Traeger and Ben Wyatt within the world of Parks and Recreation.
The latter were a team of government auditors
sent to ruthlessly slash the governmental budget of Pawnee, Indiana.
What exactly will you be cutting and how much of it.
And can I watch you do it while eating pork cracklins?
But from a storytelling perspective, the pair were really there to shake up
the dynamic of a series that looked all but doomed
after a poorly received first season.
Luckily, Chris and Ben would
literally walk in and save Parks and Rec from an early cancellation.
But before we get into it, why not treat yourself and subscribe
to the Nerdstalgic channel for more videos just like this one.
Back in 2007,
The Office was at the height of its popularity, raking in critical acclaim
and getting nominated for awards it probably should have won.
Looking to cash in on the success, NBC entertainment division, Cochairman Ben
Silverman asked series creator Greg
Daniels to work his magic a second time and create a spin off series.
Daniels was skeptical, but the network insisted, so he enlisted
the help of office writer Michael Schur to create a new series.
After considering a wide range of possibilities,
the two eventually decided to abandon the idea of a direct spinoff and instead
create a counterpart
that would focus on the tedious bureaucracy of local government.
At first, they considered a story
about a humiliated regional official trying to rebuild his career.
But when Amy Poehler
signed on to star as Leslie Knope, it decided to make the main character
an overenthusiastic government worker in a small town
parks and recreation department.
The show was rushed into production so it could debut in the second half
of the spring television season, and it kicked off with a truncated season
of only six episodes, which might be one of the reasons why.
Despite the impressive cast.
Parks and Recreation debuted to a chilly reception on NBC in April of 2009.
Critics and audiences alike overwhelmingly seem to think Parks and Rec
was too much like The Office, and given that newer series shamelessly
borrowed its predecessor's mockumentary format, it's easy to know why.
Not helping matters was that many also felt that the clueless,
uptight Leslie Knope was too similar to Steve Carell's clueless, uptight
Michael Scott, and that the general tone of the series was too mean.
Hey Park lady,
you suck.
Hear that?
Called me Park Lady.
Not to mention the casting of Rashida Jones as a main character in both shows,
Chris Pratt's Andy Dwyer and Aziz Ansari.
Tom Haverford drew positive notices and critics
like the general premise of the series.
But while the premiere performed well in the ratings, from there on out,
every episode did worse than the one before it.
By the time the first season ended,
there was a real possibility the series would be canceled.
So when the network gave the green light for another season, everyone knew
the show would need something to substantially change up the dynamic.
Or in this case, two.
Something's Ben Wyatt, played by Party
Down's Adam Scott and his boss Chris Traeger, played by the West Wing's
Rob Lowe, made their debut in season two, episode 23 The Master Plan.
And as if to telegraph their mission,
they immediately throw Ron and Leslie off balance with their odd demeanor.
The two are a pair of traveling auditors with a sort of good cop bad cop thing
going on between them.
Then there was a big concert.
Now there's not.
Isn't there anything that we can do about that?
No there isn't. It's too bad.
Chris is extroverted, charming, and relentlessly positive,
whereas Ben is a serious minded pragmatist whose job is mostly to deliver bad news.
And not as nice as the other guy. I don't care.
Introduced at the center of a story that threatened the existence of the Parks
Department, Ben and Chris initially seemed like temporary antagonists
who would return to whence they came when their usefulness to the plot ended.
But while Chris was originally intended to appear in only eight episodes
and was always meant to stick around and become a regular part of the ensemble.
Bah Bah Booey
In fact, he was a big part of the solution to a very specific problem.
In reflecting on what went wrong with season one, the producers
had decided that Leslie's personality needed an overhaul.
Inspired by a joke Poehler improvised on set during the first season.
I kind of feel like I'm already in the boys club. I mean,
look at those bitches clean up after me.
Schur
And writers realized
that Leslie had to be allowed to be more fun and loose and less uptight.
Sure would later reflect
the Poehler had changed the course of the show with that one line,
and as a result, the character was ultimately reconceived
as being smarter, more confident, and more optimistic.
But fully realizing the new take on Leslie would require more than just writing her
with a new attitude, it would mean solving the problem of her love life.
The first season established that Leslie had an unrequited crush
on Marc Brendanawicz. Marc Brendanawicz
but having her pining over him in the face of his disinterest made her seem weak,
and that wouldn't really fit with the newer version of her character.
There was also the problem that as a character, Marc was, to put it
mildly, boring and unfunny, and he made Leslie's love life boring and unfunny.
And to be clear, that's not on Schneider.
The writers just never gave him anything really interesting to do.
Incidentally, if you want to know exactly why Marc was fired,
you can check out our video on the topic link in the description.
In season two, Marc developed a thing for Jones and Perkins,
and Leslie went through a string of love interests that didn't stick.
Then at the end of the season, Ben showed up.
Ben was a failed small town
mayor, trying to rebuild his life in a rank and file bureaucratic job.
After the humiliating public defeat he had.
If that sounds familiar, it's because Ben was, in many respects, the potential
main character that Daniels and sure had discarded when Poehler became the star.
His harsh realism puts him at odds with Leslie when they first meet,
but as Ben reveals his dorky personality and softer, more compassionate side,
the two become friends and eventually an idyllic married couple with triplets.
Unlike Leslie's previous
love interests, Ben does the little things like appreciating her as a person
and being supportive of her career and passions,
and makes him a good match
for the more confident version of the character, allowing him to fan
the flames of her personality in a way that never seems mean or condescending.
Meanwhile, Chris was also there to address a specific problem, namely, and Perkins
competence isn't particularly funny, and Anne was a smart, levelheaded,
and comparatively stable type, so the writers found
it hard to get laughs out of her.
This meant Jones was typically relegated to playing the comedic straight man
role for her costars, as later recalled by sure, the writers
eventually decided that the way to throw a woman like an off balance and make
her funny was to put her in a relationship with someone like Chris Traeger.
The original plan was to have Chris break up with Anne and then depart
the show, causing drastic and presumably funny changes in her behavior.
But that was before
anyone realized that Lowe and Jones are going to have incredible chemistry,
or that he was going to deliver the most hilariously silly comedic
performance of his entire career.
And Perkins, hey, Chris, gotta run a meeting with Ron.
Great idea. I run to my next meeting.
Critics and fans immediately loved the character, and
lo was quickly made a permanent addition to the cast in season three.
The writers would continue to use press to discombobulating and
bringing out the funniest in her, just as Ben did for Leslie.
Some viewers and commentators would even come to consider their relationship.
One of the most interesting aspects of the show, Chris, is unrelenting.
Positivity and enthusiasm also became a driving force
for the other characters, motivating them to seek changes in their lives.
His role as the city manager also let him drive events
as an occasional antagonist, like when he disciplined Leslie
and Ben for violating his no dating at the office policy.
After a critically acclaimed run, Chris would depart the series
in season six, moving away to have a baby with Ann in Michigan.
As for Ben, his rise in politics alongside Leslie became a major threat
in the series, and along the way he would, among other things, move in with Andy
and Aubrey Plaza.
April Ludgate forging a friendship with Andy that would spend the rest of the show
while developing a low key older brother, younger sister vibe with April.
Now, plenty of sitcoms have introduced funny new characters
in the course of their run,
but the point is that Ben and Chris weren't just funny characters.
Thanks to incredible casting and brilliant writing.
Ben and Chris immediately changed the energy of every character
they interact
with over the course of the series and made them all better, funnier people.
Their evolution into central members of the cast made the show richer
across the board, and proved to be the key to unlocking its full potential,
elevating it into the beloved sitcom we all remember today.
And it all happened because the creators of Parks
and Recreation saw there was a problem and were able to remedy it quickly
and smartly.
In an era dominated by streaming services that cancel shows
just as they're getting started.
It's a stark reminder that there was a time when series
were allowed to learn from their mistakes and develop into the shows
that helped us avoid falling into a bottomless pit of despair.
So what do you think?
Were you a fan of Parks and Recreation, and if so, did you think it was good
before Ben and Chris showed up?
Let us know down in the comments below and if you enjoyed this video,
you'll definitely find others you like if you check out the rest of the channel.
As always, thank you for subscribing to Nerdstalgic.