Parks and Recreation: Season Two

Amy Poehler returns as Leslie Knope, the passionately driven deputy director of the Parks and Recreation Department in Pawnee, IN, in this second season of the NBC comedy from the creators of the U.S. version of The Office. Transplanting the reality series/mockumentary style into the world of municipal government and small town bureaucracy, Parks and Recreation further develops its personality here, with the supporting cast coming into its own. In addition to Leslie, the spunky (if not always clear-thinking) bureaucrat who loves her job and works so hard that the rest of the crew can ride her coattails, there's Leslie's best friend, Ann (Rashida Jones); her militantly libertarian boss, Ron (Nick Offerman); city planner Mark (Paul Schneider); co-workers Tom and April (Aziz Ansari and Aubrey Plaza); and resident doofus Andy (Chris Pratt). Guests Louis C.K., Justin Theroux, and Will Arnett (Poehler's real-life husband) appear as potential boyfriends, and a few new elements crop up near the end, with Rob Lowe and Adam Scott arriving as bureaucrats sent to keep Pawnee from bankruptcy by shutting the government down. Parks and Recreation's talented ensemble warps sitcom conventions with superb improvisational byplay. Compiling all 24 episodes from 2009–10, DVD extras include episode audio commentaries, deleted scenes, webisodes, a blooper reel, and more. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)