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Paying tribute to Feels TV in honor of the 'Parks and Recreation' finale.

It’s almost too bad that Parks and Recreation, which caps off its seven-season run Tuesday, aired it’s special, full-length—complete with faux-mercials—“Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show” episode last week.

More than any other episode this entire season, last Tuesday’s installment encapsulated in 30-minutes the basic theme of the show for the past few seasons and distilled it down to its most elemental level: characters living emotionally uncomplicatedly lives and trying to do so in a nice and upstanding manner that even five-year-olds understand.

While never a ratings powerhouse, Parks and Recreation has had a knack for deeply connecting that message with its audience after the show retooled itself following its lackluster premiere season in 2009. In fact, that connection in recent seasons had led the show to stop being a sitcom and transform into a brand new genre entirely of the 21st century: Feels TV.

Back in March 2011, New York Magazine called the show “a throwback to a simpler sitcom era” and talked about how it was a haven for multiple twists on the “sweet, kind person” character.  And that was before the romantic dynamics between Ben and Leslie and even Andy and April really kicked in to full gear.

Whether it was a way to distinguish itself from the cringe comedy of its spiritual predecessor, The Office, or an organic outgrowth of the performers and writers as they developed the characters, or a response to society’s culture of snark, it’s hard to say. Maybe it was all of the above. But since about the fourth season, Parks niceness shifted from being the parsley garnishing a plate of comedy filet mignon and became a full parsley main course. With a side of parsley. And parsley for dessert.

After a while, episodes resembled a series of loosely connected GIFs on a Tumblr dashboard. The only thing missing were reblogged comments, exclaiming, “This. Because so many reasons!” and “OHCRAPSOADORABLE! i want to that couple.”

Thus, was Feels TV born.

But what defines this new television genre? In the case of Parks, two factors have helped mold it into a show that people just want to snuggle up next to like it was a litter of cute, cohabitating puppies and kittens.

 

1. Features Characters You Want to Be Buddies With


Likable character. that's the holy grail of episodic TV, and Parks and Rec has doubled down on that concept. The main cast is filled with honest-to-gosh good people who audiences can relate to. Yes, they have flaws, but they’re the kind of flaws that turn out to be humble brags. Like telling a prospective employer that one of your faults is that you’re a perfectionist. Or like Leslie’s well-meaning desire to leave the world a better place and wanting the best for her friends, making her act like a super-organized control freak mixed with a benevolent busybody.

In fact, the show even manages to maneuver around potentially awkward traits that could pop up in some of its characters. Ron is a staunch libertarian (although not all libertarians are fans of that), but only in the sense of wanting small—or in his case, no—government. His social politics are progressive friendly and would be at odds with those of Ron Paul. In some regards, he’s all Archie Bunker bluster without the uncomfortable -isms (race, sex, etc.).

Ron Swanson Educates A Young Individual On Government from Benjamin Grant Bartholomew on Vimeo.

 

2. Features Idealized Interpersonal Relationships You Want to Aspire to Have

 


Who doesn’t want to have the type of relationship April and Andy have? Their spontaneous and fun and sexy and passionate and caring while still managing to be unpredictable and a little bit dangerous (no, really, would you trust either of them around anything flammable or sharp?). They even fight and make up with one another over things you wish you would argue about with your boo.

The mentor-mentee friendship between Ron and Leslie is the idealized pinnacle that almost every career-minded individual longs for.

It makes sense that a young, progressively minded audience would latch on to Parks and Recreation as it evolved. In many ways, the show feels like a natural outgrowth of Boy Meets World (does that make Adam Scott, who starred in both shows, the instigating factor?) or the other series on ABC’s TGIF lineup of the 1990s. Those programs trafficked in sweetness, but it was aimed at tweens and early teens. Now those viewers have grown up and started families, but that doesn’t mean they still don’t have an emotional sweet tooth to satisfy.

Does Feels TV have an heir apparent once Parks and Recreation goes off the air? A few shows will probably try to recapture its nice appeal. But what network is going to want to replicate a series that didn’t do well in the ratings?

And maybe that’s the best that Parks doesn’t inspire an phalanx of niceness imitators on a mission to kill us with kindness. Maybe these final seasons were just enough sweetness, and we should remember them fondly, like 5,000 candles in the wind. Anymore sugariness and we’d run the risk of taking the series for granted. Or contracting diabetes.

 



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