Parks And Recreation: Every Main Character Ranked Worst To Best
Which faithful servant of Pawnee takes the crown as Parks and Recreations best act?
Parks and Recreation was an incredibly ambitious show that intended to take the mockumentary format made popular by The Office and turn it into a situational comedy about government bureaucracy. Thankfully, this ambition fully paid off as the series was a consistently funny and emotional show that never let up for a second. It started a little shaky, but once the series found its footing there was no stopping it.
The department found in Pawnee was filled with an incredibly dense cast of charming characters, all played by talented actors who have each gone on to establish wonderful careers after Parks and Rec culminated. They all have such distinct personalities and fit together like a collection of puzzle pieces to form a great ensemble cast.
Unlike other sitcoms, the roles don't fall too heavily into an archetype. Instead, it allowed for the individual characters to be utterly unique and special.
By ranking each of them from worst to best, we can fully explore what made this show - and its excellent cast - work so well. It is an arduous task as there are very few weak spots in the series, but, as Leslie Knope tries to teach viewers, no job is too hard if you put the work in.
11. Mark Brendanawicz
It feels like a fallacy to refer to Mark as a leading character, thanks to his untimely departure after Season Two. However, from the beginning of the show he was clearly designed to be a leading figure as he featured in the introduction and was highly-billed.
The quick and unceremonious departure of this character came after Paul Schneider chose to leave since he was no longer playing the role he wanted to. He has gone on record to discuss how the part was entirely different from the one he signed on for, and has claimed that he felt the narratives and development for Mark were sidelining him.
This is correct, as even had Mark remained in the show longer he would likely still rank at the lower end of this list. Although Schneider is a talented performer, he always felt out of place in the cast as his energy was so reserved and quiet compared to the other characters.
Perhaps Mark could have improved in later seasons, but at it stands now, his departure was hardly a massive blow to the series.