10 Most Underrated Parks And Recreation Characters
The fine citizens of Pawnee: Some overlooked, some forgotten, but all worth another watch.
What do you get when you mix the format of The Office with some of America's finest comic actors and a who's-who of comedy writing talent, all rolled up in that golden, pre-global-insanity period of 2009-2015? Parks and gosh-darned Recreation is what.
Set in the fictional city of Pawnee, Indiana, the show follows a cast of colourful characters in local government, offering a snapshot of relatable issues as some of them try their best to secure better services and larger budgets, while others – many of the city's residents included – fight for the exact opposite.
Leslie (Amy Poehler), Ron (Nick Offerman), Andy (Chris Pratt) and April (Aubrey Plaza) may have kept fans coming back from day one, but the show's seven season run saw literally hundreds of characters cross our screens. From surprising guest stars like Bo Burnham, as panderin' country singer Chipp McCapp, to sleeper favourites like Jim O'Heir's bumbling office disaster Jerry, there really is someone for everyone – but, unfortunately, these wacky personalities don't always land with the audience.
So underrated are some of these characters, you forgot they even existed, but all are worth reappraising and deserving of another moment or two in the spotlight.
10. Mona-Lisa Saperstein
A late-term addition to the recurring cast of guest stars, Mona-Lisa (Jenny Slate) joined the show when Tom hired her to work for his clothes rental business Rent-A-Swag.
Twin sister to the equally infuriating Jean-Ralphio Saperstein (who himself describes her as a "total klepto, nympho and pyro"), Mona-Lisa is a spoiled daddy's girl whose father has sculpted her into a morally bankrupt dependant. So, yes, she's intolerable, she's annoying, she's the worst. But, like James Acaster says, the very fact of her being the worst is so impressive that she automatically becomes the best.
Fittingly, she makes her final appearance in the season seven closer "One Last Ride", but spends her screen time in the preceding seasons outdoing her brother in an all-out race to the bottom. Unafraid of saying and doing what she wants when she wants, Mona-Lisa takes over Tom's business and life, which thankfully helps him grow and gain some new perspective on where he wants to be, how he is going to get there, and who he definitely shouldn't be doing it with.
More than this, however, Mona-Lisa gives us some of the show's most straight-up shocking and laugh out loud moments, like inviting Tom and Ann to a threesome right after she has been dumped.