Sunny side up for a small-town girl

25 April 2014 - 10:15 By ANDILE NDLOVU
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
It's impossible not to fall in love with Leslie Knope, played by actress and comedian Amy Poehler.
It's impossible not to fall in love with Leslie Knope, played by actress and comedian Amy Poehler.
Image: The Times

Season 6 of Parks and Recreation starts with a bang - it's as if the producers and writers were shaken awake from a slumber. So much happened during Monday's season premiere that one would be forgiven for thinking it was the final season of the Amy Poehler-produced series .

The hilarious comedy (filmed mockumentary-style) follows Leslie Knope (Poehler), a deputy director in the parks and recreation department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, and her tireless efforts to make her small-time town (think Boksburg or Pilgrim's Rest) just a little modern and fun.

Leslie finds out that she's to be honoured with an International Coalition of Women in Government award, so she and her team head to London for the acceptance ceremony. While there, busybody Leslie can't help but stream Pawnee's local news broadcast . She finds its people are angry that she's "gallivanting" on an international trip amid clamours for her recall from the city council.

Leslie immediately wants to return home - without accepting her award.

How does she find a flight back to Indiana at such short notice?

"Well, not to Indiana, but there's a 9 o'clock red-eye to Lisbon and then I can catch the 4.30am back to Edinburgh, connect through Houston, head on up to Cincinnati and then rent a car, drive around 90 and I'll be home two hours earlier than if I flew home as planned," she explains.

Earlier in the episode, Diane (Lucy Lawless) breaks the news to the director of the department Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) that she's pregnant. Diane gladly accepts Ron's proposal of marriage, and they immediately go to the records office to sign a marriage certificate. Theirs is not the only romance.

For the viewer, not falling in love with Leslie is inconceivable; in a world of corrupt leaders, she is passionate and damn good at her job - she'd probably irritate her colleagues if she were not a fictional character. She cares about the detail and about the marriage rights of gay penguins.

Pawnee - and me - would be worse off if Leslie is indeed recalled .

Parks and Recreation is on M-Net Series Showcase, channel 113, at 7.30pm on Mondays

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now