Even the actor cited that was the reason he left the show, there was absolutely no point or use for Mark at all. His character was background at best and was not at all important enough to be of use in future seasons. It felt like they kept him around way too long even after 2 seasons, and just kept creating things for him to do to maintain any relevancy (like dating Anne, which I felt actually hurt her character because she seemed to just be relegated to "'marks girlfriend" rather than Anne the main character). Just poor choice in writing that was properly corrected.
Loved Mark. Never understood the hate for him, he isn't the reason Season 1 sucked. I liked having a grounded guy who just sees and reacts to things as a normal human being would, it was always funny. Really liked when he helped Ron bring his workshop up to code, too, and when he'd try to get Leslie to see things more realistically I think the main reason P&R is better than The Office is because (after season 1) the show remained consistently good through the end. Even after losing Ann and Chris. Season 6 of The Office was very slow and 8 and 9 just weren't very good. I love a lot of moments in Season 1, but there are also incredibly cringey scenes where Michael is just a straight up asshole instead of being goofy/ridiculously ignorant.
I never understood the reason for hating Mark either. Ben and Chris are both way better than Mark, in my opinion, but it's not like Mark was that bad. Parks and Rec is better than The Office, but I think the Office is funnier. The Office (201 episodes) also just went for way longer than Parks and Rec (125 episodes) did. they should've ended The Office way earlier than they did.
s1 Mark is a shitty dude who is shitty to women, s2 Mark rushes into a relationship with Ann and then decides his entire existence is pointless because the one woman he decides to kind of treat right isn't ready to marry him. He was not missed by me ever once after leaving.
The only good thing he brings is the line ...Maaaaaarrrrkkk Braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnndanwitz. Which always makes me laugh.
my roommate finally decided to watch this from the beginning, soooo time for a full series rewatch I guess season 1 is a lot funnier than I remember
I think a part of the hate is that, yes, it's clearly trying to copy The Office and it obviously takes a huge leap in quality in seasons two and three. But that doesn't mean that one is bad, it's just not as good as the rest of the show.
I actually think it's bad. Not in a meme way, in a literal way. I was told to watch the show, knowing nothing about it and it was only on season 3 or 4 and so I tried to watch 1 and I got about halfway through and stopped because the characters and predicaments were just so poorly written and if not worse, not funny. I didn't give the show another chance until the show was like a season from ending and now I love the show. I would never suggest someone starts with S1. Read a synopsis and start with S2.
I disagree. It's six 20 minute episodes or a two hour commitment. Hour long dramas take longer to get going than that.
It's two hours vs a ten minute read? I'll take the ten minutes. I actually think there's a recap of S1 someone made on YouTube.
Agree to disagree. I wouldn't recommend skipping any part of any show that I like even if there are parts that are not as good as others.
The show finding its footing is part of its charm. I don't think it really takes off until Ben and Chris show up, but it's all still worth watching.
Yeah I definitely agree that once Ben and Chris arrive, the ensemble really just hits a stride and never falls off from there, but season 2 is still great, and over time i have grown more on season 1.
just taking a quick glance at an episode list from each season, i don't think you ever hit a stretch of more than MAYBE 2-3 "meh" episodes at a time, whereas there are entire seasons of the office i want to forget about. this show is/was so freaking good.
It's personal preference. There are so many shows and movies out there and two hours is two hours I could better spend watching something I actually enjoy versus something I don't. I struggle to see why that's such a problem. Also, side note to whoever said they love Adam Scott or whatever, I hope you have checked out Party Down because that's such a great show with him as a lead.
I don't know, if you've already watched season 1 at least once and decide to skip it on a rewatch then I can at least somewhat understand that, but I won't ever recommend someone who is just starting the show to skip an entire season