[UPDATE: Looks like most people agree with this, now the
reviews
are
finally out
. Here's hoping the weeks ahead solve the problem!]
There is one major difference of course, between Parks & Recreation and The Office. There's only one person on The Office that we'd ask our wife if we could make out with. Whereas this = yowza. Good God. Hey, if you squint really hard, Aziz Ansari kind of looks just like us! Go for it Squint Aziz! Make us proud!!!
OK. Well, now that that little reverie is over, um, turns out that those reports from P&R focus groups are probably true: it's too much like The Office. Now you might say: "But Remote Island, why is that bad?" And we'd say: we'll for one thing, putting an Amy Poehler-shaped peg in a Steve Carell-shaped hole sounds a) only a little kinky, and b) kind of sad, considering that one of Poehler's many many many talents is flexibility. And for another thing: funny how most of those Christopher Guest movies actually feel different from each other, huh? OK, that's not quite an answer to the initial question, but it's a valid observation, right? A Mighty Wind doesn't feel like a rip-off of Spinal Tap or Waiting for Guffman, even if there are a number of similarities between them. Right? You can do a mockumentary and not keep doing the same thing...
Anyway, enough. Wanna take a look for yourself?
OK, so, yes, we remember that the pilot to The Office was not that amazing. And indeed, we are growing more and more wary of pilots as any sort of indication of how good a show can be, because after all, not everything can be Lost, right? But something genuinely seems misjudged here. It's not the cast, who are amazing, even that guy playing Amy Poehler's boss who we feel like we've seen somewhere before but maybe we can just imagine what Zach Galifianakis will look like in 15 years.
Where were we? Oh. The show. Yeah. well, it just looks too sad already, doesn't it? Like, sorry guys, but if you think that an Amy Poehler vehicle should be all about her continuous descent into defeat, well, someone hasn't been paying attention, have they. This is a woman that we've seen rap pregnant in front of a vice presidential candidate. Are people really gonna believe that she's a self-delusional, put-upon nobody? No. A self-delusional put-upon spitfire? Who's gonna make it after all? You fucking well bet. Less Michael Scott, more Bart Simpson, we say; let's see this gal do something crazy!
PREVIOUSLY:
The Fake Town From Amy Poehler's New Sitcom May Have Stolen Its Logo From A Real City
Amy Poehler's Sitcom Promo: Go On, Throw Us A Bone
Amy Poehler's New Show Now Has A Name
"Office" Spinoff: Amy Poehler Has A Sidekick, and Her Name Is Aubrey Plaza