Moments before beginning this blog, I finished watching the last episode of Parks and Rec. This moment marks my first time watching the show from the beginning to end – I watched the occasional episode with my family when it was still on TV, but never from beginning to end. I’ve watched The Office all the way through 3 complete times on Netflix, not counting when I watched it religiously on TV in my middle school years. I’ve enjoyed both shows immensely, and for this passion blog, I want to attempt a comparison of sorts – apologies for when I reference characters and names you don’t know

The singular most important aspect of a show’s setup is how characters are introduced, whether in the first few episodes, or partway through a season. Both shows accomplish intros similarly; most of the main characters are introduced in the first episode, and, as the show progresses, new important characters are introduced casually and gradually acquire more significant roles throughout the next several episodes. The pivotal difference between the two shows lies in the number of characters. Parks and Rec relies on a small core group of well-fleshed-out people with quite intricate personalities and storylines, with other semi-regular flat characters sprinkled in, The Office focused on an even smaller group of 3-dimensional people surrounded by flat characters defined by one characteristic. For example, Jim changes quite fundamentally from the first season to the last as his motivations are challenged and ultimately shift, but Meredith is, in a word, a drunk. Oscar is a typical pseudo-intellectual, Ryan is an egomaniac, et cetera. This ostensibly lazy writing could have made the show weaker, but I believe it’s a strength; the flat characters provide for consistent humor and, when they do bust out of their simple molds, they provide quite poignant moments.

Despite most characters in The Office being so easily definable, I still find them realistic (with the obvious exception of Dwight Kurt Schrute); they’re each a type of person we’ve all dealt with, with only slightly exaggerated flaws. In short, The Office builds on believable characters, which beget believable situations. In contrast, most characters in Parks and Rec are openly outrageous in their characteristics; for example, Andy is outrageously dumb, and Ron is outrageously indifferent. Most of the humor in the show derives from the silliness of these types of characters and their funny characteristics. This is a bit different from The Office, which relies almost solely on situational cringe humor. I found both shows funny, and most folks do, but whether you enjoy silly jokes or cringe humor more is simply a matter of personal preference.

The character arcs of the few characters that actually change in both shows are, I think, well-done and intricate. In Parks, a character arc consists of a one-dimensional character shedding their easily definable nature and gaining motivation. For example, Ron’s apathy and cold, anti-emotional nature crumbles when he finds the love of his life and has a child with her. A similar process takes place in the characters of The Office: Pam was a pushover in a relationship with an oaf, and, about halfway through the show, she stood up for herself and became a genuinely more assertive person. The difference between the shows is this: characters from Parks transfer from being unrealistic and flat to being realistic and 3D, where characters from The Office were always believable and had depth to begin with.

All these differences circle back to what I believe to be the main difference between the two shows: the level of realism. The Office features generally realistic characters in silly situations, and Parks and Rec features silly characters in silly situations. Because of its realism, I believe the former to be more emotionally effective, but this is, of course, a matter of opinion. Even if one show were objectively better at tugging the heartstrings, some people don’t watch to feel – they watch to laugh. That’s fine! No matter your preferences, I thoroughly recommend both shows. In my opinion, they’re two of the most pivotal TV comedies of last 2 decades.