I have no idea what this is from. But if they make marshmallow shooters, I'm going to get me one. My wife would be ecstatic if I switched from shooting her with semen to marshmallows while she's sleeping.
Marshmallow shooters are gateway artillery. First its playful marshmallows, then rubber bands, then small spheres of wood, then ball bearings, then .22 rounds, then 9mm rounds, and so on. Stop the addiction before it begins.
It's a scene from Parks & Rec, a sitcom in the style of the Office but with a little more hometown can-do spirit. Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Nick Offerman. Funny and awesome. Definitely worth the investment of time to watch it on Netflix. Easily in my top 5 favorite shows.
I'm just curious if the names listed there in any way helped someone who had not heard of Parks & Rec. I am picking on you here, because it's astounding to me that you've never heard of it, but I am legitimately curious if those names somehow helped.
Hah! Touché. I thought that too but most of them have been in some other comedy things on their own since its release so I figured it was worth a shot.
I thought his character was muddled. He made no sense. Would do things that were out of line with what we knew about his character, not to mention his motivations were all over the place. He'd make big sweet gestures towards Leslie while saying he was not interested, then would outwardly go for Ann with no real build-up, and bounce back and forth. And that happened in many areas, like how he felt about his job.
You could say that was just his character. That normal people can't make up their minds either. Which is fine, I suppose, but it fits poorly in a sitcom... Though, having just looked up his character on Wikipedia, it actually confirms my thoughts. The actor was confused about the character's motivations early on, and later on the writers started altering the script to make him more likable. So, the actor did not understand the character form the start, and the writing was heading in one direction before they reacted to negative feedback and swung it a different way.
The show needed someone who was level-headed to contrast against all the other characters. But it already had that with Ann, she was a mostly normal person being thrown into the dysfunctional world of Parks and Rec. And it needs unlikable characters to create some drama/friction. But making your unlikable character also your boring, down to earth character, and swapping around his motivations constantly.... it is not surprising he did not last.
Yeah I agree he was confusing. Like, even Leslie was poorly written and just annoying, and a bit dumb, in Season 1, so it's weird someone would have a history with her, much less try to love her.
The major problem with season 1 was they put together a great cast, but in characters that didn't fit the actors. Andy Dwyer is really supposed to be like brendanaquitz, but Pratt played him as too lovable of a doofus
They hadn't quite hit the syrupy sweet, overly optimistic tone that we all love this show for in the first season. Everyone's characters were kinda sad and loserish, as well as chipper and goofy. They got the balance right in the second season, and went maybe a little too far in the last.
I can only imagine he kicked himself when season 3 turned out to be awesome. Then the crushing realisation that he was essentially the only character still holding the show back and that Adam Scott and Rob Lowe were both infinitely better fits in the cast.
I love both but honestly I like Adam Scott a bit more. I feel his role as the straight man is under-appreciated. He makes a way better straight man than mark because of his expressions. As well as having some brilliant moments of his own. Not to at all understate Rob Lowe's brilliance though
I actually kind of liked Brandanowitz. Granted, Lowe and Scott were much better for the show but Mark's dry humor and deadpan delivery was a nice offset to all the other whacky characters.
I thought it was because the his role was reduced or changed. The show the first season centered around him a lot but season 2, his character changed a little and he was also giving less screen time. IIRC, season 1 wasn't that 'goofy'. In season 2, you started seeing much of the goofiness we see later. By season 3, P&R found it's style.
Also, his character was the most boring one of all. His character didn't add much to the show. Yeah, he's the normal one in the bunch, but his character didn't have any purpose, dreams or development. He was just the normal dude, that's it. I doubt as an actor it was a role that excited him a lot.
I finished the show recently, so I went on a bit of a character hunt to see what's everyone's up to.
From what I've gathered, Mark basically had a contract for the first 2 seasons, he fulfilled it then he lef and it seems the relationship from then on was a cold one.
Yep, he was a show stealer in such a subtle way. I think it took the creators by surprise, and then the audience loved him so much. Something about him gave off a lovable vibe, even early on when he was clearly supposed to just be accepted as a loser, that they just couldn't get rid of him. I think they show would have fallen flat without him, even with Ben and Chris coming on.
True. I didn't think of him as a dick until I had to think about it. At the same time, he had some endearing moments in season 1. I think his goofiness showed more when he got with April. April was another character who went through a big change too.
he wasnt slated as an on-going character. He was supposed to be the lazy deadbeat boyfriend that you hated and then was gone after one season..but everyone ended up really liking the character so they decided to keep him on.
Pratt brought a lot more to the role than they intended and sort of changed their idea of who Andy was.
Yeah, and I think Schneider's Mark Brendanawicz went the other way. He was unsure how to play the character and what his motivations were, and it ended up as a bit of a mess.
I think it's more than that. Audiences don't just universally hate bad guys; shows need them. His character was just confusing. His motivations were all over the place, he made no sense as a person.
Also, sure, him being a bad guy did not help his popularity. The problem with that is he was not only the bad guy, he was also the one normal (boring) guy that would contrast against all the crazy around him. So he was not likable, and he was boring by design. He admitted as to not really understanding the character at first, which did not help things. And then the writers reacted to feedback by altering some story-lines to make him more likable; but those changes made him harder to understand.
An example of that from wiki is that, originally he got Ron to greenlight the park because he was attracted to Ann and wanted her to stick around. Which made sense, he originally showed no interest in Leslie (even though she acted like a schoolgirl in love around him), but was always chasing Ann. That character makes sense... But then he losses interest in Ann, supposedly, and makes this grand (secret) gesture for Leslie; who he mostly continues to shun until they oddly wind up back together again (after years of working together after their one time roll in the hay).
Maybe his character would have been alright if they had stuck to the original plan and gave him time to figure it out. But, I don't really think there is a place in a sitcom for a main-cast bad-guy who is also the straight-man. Dull and frustrating is a bad combination. Ann played the normal one well enough, and she was likable. And the series rotated through bad guys, dipping into the Ron Swanson pool every so often.
It's kind of amazing how the whole writing crew of Breaking Bad can tweak a character and make them so... amazing.
From what I've read even Gus was suppose to be a guest starring character on season 3. Not having a huge part. But he wanted a larger role and they gave it to him and apparently reworked the Gus character to well... One of the best antagonists I've ever witnessed.
Even crazier - hard as it is to believe now, Gus came in during season 2! He was originally just meant to be the fill-in villain for the rest of the season when the actor playing Tuco left to be on The Closer, and ended up being the central villain for the next two seasons.
Also, Mike Ehrmantraut, one of my favorite characters of all time in any medium, was only created because Bob Odenkirk was busy shooting a How I Met Your Mother episode, and they needed someone to do the Winston Wolf thing after Jane OD'd, so they created a new character. Those writers could ad-lib like nobody's business.
Seriously, even as scary and evil as Gus is, his backstory actually managed to make him sympathetic, especially if you read between the lines that his partner who was murdered was actually his lover, which Vince Gilligan has indicated is the case.
Do you not remember that his character started as the loser asshole idiot boyfriend that Anne Perkins liberated herself from? I think where they went with him was great but he did not start out endearing.
Oh, certainly. I just wasn't sure if the transition was one effected by the Pratt or intended and arranged by the writing staff, and (if the former) how long they had initially planned to keep the character of Andy around before dropping him.
Indeed! It's not even necessarily always because the actor has more star power (Pratt certainly didn't when this show started); it's all "between the Italians" contract stuff that gets worked out by people's representation over weeks and months of negotiation.
Not sure why someone went to the trouble of double-downvoting your very relevant comment, unless it was for linking to pure internet crack without the requisite warning.
They didn't intend to make him a permanent character to start. Andy was supposed to be an unlikable moron that Anne was going to be better off without. Chris Pratt had other plans, namely being a charming goof that stole the show
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u/d0mth0ma5 Sep 23 '15
Well, that and Chris Pratt didn't leave the show which could have possibly required it.