1: Parks and Recreation by Luke Kalamar

It still blows me away that we got seven seasons of Parks and Recreation. Constantly on the bubble by NBC’s standards, every year could have been its last. The first season is considered a weak start and the preceding six were much better but still failed to grab attention rivaling similar styled The Office. The fan base was dedicated though and always decried whenever The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences shunned the show with each Emmys telecast. Sometimes it even looked like the network didn’t want the show around anymore. When the seventh and final season was revealed to be shorter than normal, people were extra upset by them airing two episodes a night. It honestly gave the impression of NBC wanting to get rid of it as soon as possible, as if keeping this beloved show on much longer was a hinderance.

At least Season 7 was excellent, and contained some of the best episodes this show ever had. Moving everything to the far flung future of 2017 was exceptionally smart too. We didn’t deal with Leslie (Amy Poehler) and Ben (Adam Scott) going through the infant phase of their kids. The rift between Leslie and Ron (Nick Offerman) was a compelling mystery that ended in the absolutely amazing “Leslie and Ron.” Each character grew in their own way during this break, like Tom (Aziz Ansari) finally finding success, and then blowing it, Andy (Chris Pratt) and April (Aubrey Plaza) entering a new phase of their marriage, and Donna (Retta) finding the love she really wanted with Joe (Keegan Michael-Key). All of this lead to completely new conflicts for each character and it kept the last 13 episodes really fresh.

“One Last Ride”, the series finale, might just be one of the best episodes of this entire show. It was hysterical and heartwarming in equal measure. The structure was also really impressive too. Despite jumping across different time periods, it was all very coherent and natural, giving every necessary character the perfect send off. My favorite was easily Ron’s who got the job he always wanted: entirely outdoors and with minimal human communication. His joy was palpable, and it was impossible not to smile as he went across the lake in pure bliss. The ending was also a great analysis on his much Leslie changed. Always one for planning every detail, it was powerful when, despite facing an entirely unpredictable future, she declared that she was ready. That sort of spoke for the fans too. After fighting for the show to live for so long, the finale finally satisfied the people who weren’t prepared for it to go quite yet. It was time. They were ready.
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