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Home  Lists  15 Things Parks & Recreation Did Better Than The Office

15 Things Parks & Recreation Did Better Than The Office

The Office might be one of the most popular TV shows ever but here's why Parks and Recreation might actually be the better NBC series.
BY GRANT DEARMITT
   
UPDATED JAN 14, 2021

the office parks and rec michael lesliefeatured

Both Parks and Recreation and The Office are some of the best comedies to have aired on
television and there's a reason that each show has its large fan bases. The Office and Parks and
Recreation have a lot in common as both look at the interpersonal relationships of close-knit
employees in an office environment and both use a mockumentary setup.

RELATED:

10 Ways The Office And Parks & Rec Could Be Connected

Although The Office came first and there are many fans who would argue that they prefer The
Office over Parks and Rec, there are a few things that Parks and Rec arguably did better.

Updated on January 14th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Although The Office and
Parks and Recreation have both been off the air for a few years, both shows still have a
dedicated fan-base that continues to rewatch their favorite shows again and again. Both
shows are iconic and have made their way into popular culture. And with streaming services
making both shows available to watch, many more are just discovering the hilarious
characters of both Scranton and Pawnee. Although many prefer The Office over Parks and
Rec, arguably Parks and Rec was more successful in some aspects including guest stars,
supporting characters, and creating a recognizable location.

Pawnee Townspeople

Parks and Recreation has several scenes where the parks department interacts with Pawnee
citizens and it's always insane and hilarious. Sometimes a constituent wants only some of their
snails removed from their sidewalk but not all of them while other times they wanted to
complain about getting sick after drinking from a water fountain even though they had read a
sign saying not to drink from the fountain or they just wanted to yell their grievances at Leslie
Knope. The Office didn't see the main characters interact with their clients very often and when
they did it wasn't as funny as when Parks and Rec did.

Female Character Friendships

Leslie Knope being the main character of Parks and Rec and having several friendships with
other female characters was great to see on such a popular show and something that The
Office didn't fully commit to in comparison. There are moments where Phyllis and Pam or Pam
and Angela are friendly, but it doesn't compare to Leslie and Ann or Leslie and April's
friendships and even the hilarious animosity turning into mutual respect between Ann and
April.

Detailed Location

It was clear that Parks and Rec took place in Indiana and it made several references to
the fictional Pawnee while bringing in real-life references to the state as well. Pawnee always
felt real whereas The Office didn't make as much effort to ground its location in comparison.

RELATED:

Parks And Recreation: 10 Brilliant Details That Show It's Set In Indiana

Philadelphia, Scranton, and New York were mentioned several times in the show, but Parks
and Rec did a better job of showing its audience the location instead of only talking about it.

Wacky Supporting Characters

Most of The Office's supporting characters like David Wallace and Jan Levinson, in the
beginning, were meant to act as straight-laced foils to Michael's zany behavior. Parks and
Rec took a different approach and introduced wackier supporting characters that made the
already pretty zany parks department look normal in comparison. Leslie running against the
incompetent but lovable Bobby Newport or Tom interacting with his excitable best
friend Jean-Ralphio is arguably funnier than David Wallace trying to calm down Michael Scott.

Consistently Got Better

The Office was pretty well-established from the start as a great show, even though it had a
rocky beginning with its pilot, but Parks and Rec wasn't as successful in its first season. It took
some time for Parks and Rec to get into a rhythm, but once it got there the show stayed
consistent in its character development and brought satisfying arcs to each main character as
the show went on. In comparison, The Office lost its footing when Michael Scott left and the
show was reaching for storylines that weren't as successful in later seasons like the problems
in Jim and Pam's marriage that were never fully resolved.

Better Antagonists

The Office has characters that are not great people, including a lot of the main cast and
protagonists, but the audience still roots for them. In Parks and Recreation, however, the
audience has fun antagonist characters to root against. Whether that's Tammy 2 or
Councilman Jamm, Parks and Rec is well-populated with hatable jerks. The trouble they
cause serves not only to give us a good bad guy but to also endear us to the heroes of the Parks
and Recreations Department.

Not Dragging Out Relationships

The Office arguably stretched the Jim and Pam relationship out a bit too long, along with the
Angela and Dwight relationship, and even kept Andy and Erin in a holding pattern as well. But
on Parks and Recreation, relationships progressed a lot faster like April and Andy. Yes, there
were still some ups and downs, but ultimately, and more realistically, the relationships in
Parks and Rec were a lot more straightforward.

Characters Accomplishing Their Dreams

Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope Amy Poehler in Parks and Rec

In the early seasons of The Office, we learn that Pam wants to be an artist and that Jim has
ambitions of getting out of Dunder Mifflin. Pam drops out of graphic design school and pretty
much stops painting, and Jim doesn’t leave Dunder Mifflin until the very last season. On
Parks and Rec, however, Leslie is elected, April starts several fulfilling jobs, and Tom begins
some successful businesses. Although it's realistic that not every character would fulfill their
dreams, it was still satisfying to see most of the Parks and Rec characters get fulfilling endings.

More Real-World Stories

Parks and Rec Finale

Neither The Office nor Parks and Rec. is known for its realism. However, the shows use their
wacky, out-of-this-world characters in different ways. In The Office, those characters are there
to make up hilarious situations. That's true of Parks and Rec too, but the latter show will also
use their characters for another reason to tell allegorical stories to real-world situations. For
example, there's an episode that tells a powerful story about love; but it just happens to be
about penguins.

Casting Rashida Jones As A Lead

Rashida Jones is a fantastic actress and finally had a leading role in Parks and Rec. She
appeared in The Office, but her character Karen's main purpose was to be an obstacle to Pam
and Jim’s relationship and once Jim and Pam were together Karen was sidelined as a
character. Ann Perkins of Parks and Rec is a likable delight, perfectly suited as Leslie’s best
friend while also having storylines on her own and not only existing as an obstacle to a
romantic relationship.

Building A Bigger World

parks and rec

The world of Scranton’s best paper company is pretty much limited to Scranton. Rarely do we
see characters of The Office venture outside the tiny Pennsylvania city. That’s not the case in
Parks and Rec. The adventures and characters on that show are hardly limited to Pawnee,
Indiana, even though that’s where the show is based. Even within the show’s respective towns,
Pawnee is a much bigger place. But in The Office, we spend most of our time in Dunder Mifflin.

Guest Appearances
Leslie Knope meets Joe Biden

Several recognizable Hollywood greats showed up on The Office like Will Ferrell, Amy Adams,
and even James Spader. But Parks and Rec was simply packed with amazing guest
appearances, and they win over The Office in this category. Pawnee had guest stars from Sam
Elliott to Andy Samberg, and even while venturing to Washington DC Joe Biden and Michelle
Obama made an appearance. The guests on The Office were amazing, but none of them were
the coolest First Lady in American History.

Endearing Characters
Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Aziz Ansari, and Rashida Jones in Parks & Recreation

In The Office, the audience fell in love with Jim and Pam as much as they fell for each other,
and for all his faults, it was still incredibly sad when Michael Scott decided to leave. But for
every endearing relationship or character on The Office, there were more on Parks and Rec.

RELATED:

The Office: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Jim & Pam's Relationship

From Andy and April’s marriage to the wacky but lovable Chris Traeger to the fearless hero
Leslie Knope. The world of Parks and Rec is brimming with characters and relationships to
love.

Families
 parks and rec ron and tammy part 2 Cropped

The Office didn't delve into the families of the main characters very often. There’s Mose,
Dwight's brother, Pam’s mom, and Stanley’s daughter showed up one time. But besides these
and a handful of others, family members of The Office cast rarely appear on the show. In Parks
and Rec, however, the characters’ families matter. Ron’s ex-wives, and eventually his current
wife, are integral to what goes on in the show. The same can be said for Leslie’s mom and
even Jerry's daughters. We know that The Office is supposed to focus on work relationships
more than family ones, but it's still nice to see the families outside of the work environment.

The Ending

The ending of The Office is phenomenal. It is a beautiful, heart-wrenching return to

everything the audience loved about the show; it serves as the perfect send-off to the series.
The same is true of the Parks and Recreation series finale, but Parks and Rec didn't have a
two-season controversial lead-up to the end. While both finales were great, The Office had a
much bumpier road to get there. Parks and Rec, in opposition, had a brilliantly fulfilling final
season; one that set-up a finale as only that show could. To argue that one finale alone is
better than the other wouldn't be fair. But arguably Parks and Rec had a better overall final
season.

NEXT:
The Office Meets Parks & Rec: 5 Things That Would Work (& 5 That
Wouldn’t)

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About The Author

Grant DeArmitt (64 Articles Published)

Grant DeArmitt is a New York City-based writer and lover of all things weird. He enjoys comic books and
detective novels, firmly believes in Dracula, and has a special place in his heart for animated comedies. Yo…

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