Parks And Recreation‘s Leslie and Ben are the greatest sitcom couple of all time
As the show celebrates its 15th anniversary, let's raise a glass to this pitch-perfect romance
TV Features Parks And Recreation
“I love you and I like you” is a deceptively simple message that epitomizes the couple at the heart of Parks And Recreation. Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) use this phrase in their wedding vows to remind each other of an undemanding fact: They see each other for who they are and genuinely accept it, warts quirks and all. Ben and Leslie do something unique throughout their relationship: They never attempt to change each other. There’s only unfettered support, trust, horniness, and political dreams aplenty. The dynamic is unlikely yet believably wholesome, a word that also nicely describes the NBC comedy itself, which premiered exactly 15 years ago today. (Earlier this week, we did a rundown of our favorite moments from the show to celebrate the milestone.)
It’s hard to imagine a Parks And Rec without Scott, whose addition in late season two transformed the trajectory of Greg Daniels’ series. The romance starts with angry banter (a closed-off Ben is there to lay off Leslie’s beloved coworkers, after all) before they seamlessly bond over a wallflower mural, a Harvest Festival, and a desire to run for office. A million such cute, considerate details form their relationship’s crux, and thankfully, there’s no needless drama or forced fights. Instead, they make it a priority to understand and show up for each other in realistic ways.
The couple competition is fierce, even within Parks—Andy and April! Ron and Diane!—along with a litany of other cherished pairings from shows like I Love Lucy, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Black-ish, and Schitt’s Creek. And that’s not to mention partners from other big Daniels projects, notably The Office’s Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer). However, Ben and Leslie’s arc surpasses them all, because, against all odds, they prove it’s possible to thrive on radical optimism. (SC’s David and Patrick are a close second on that front.)
The wisest thing Parks writers did was not drag out their will-they-won’t-they beyond a few episodes because their attraction is undeniable. It’s “crush at first sight” for Ben and Leslie, even if they don’t admit it directly. He’d rather ask her for a beer mid-argument before noon and confess his Ice Clown history. And she’d prefer listening to an unsexy playlist when they’re taking a road trip. Thankfully, they jump to a first kiss and secret dates pretty quickly.
There are a few hurdles in the relationship, too, with Ben and Leslie facing other cursory challenges: a workplace relationship with different power dynamics, Leslie’s Pawnee council run, and Ben pressuring himself to stay away from the woman of his dreams, to name a few. But even those hardships end fairly fast in season four’s “Smallest Park,” in which the two reunite in perhaps Parks’ most adorable scene. (Fun fact: Chelsea Peretti wrote that delightful episode.) Or maybe the loveliest moment comes when they confess their love via the snide Ethel Beavers. There’s something poetic about the late, great Helen Slayton-Hughes being the one to recite their first “I love you.”
From here on out, Parks And Recreation keeps their dynamic incredibly fun and painless. They’re so satisfyingly grounded even as they climb the ladder of Indiana government before moving on to Washington, D.C. with loftier career goals. Political rivalry, long distance, and raising triplets could’ve been prime fodder for quarrels. A lot of other famous sitcom couples have fought for less. That may be relatable, too, but Parks got how important it is to see two committed people be respectful, loving, and hilarious together. So what if her ex rolls into town, if Jeremy Jamm (Jon Glaser) is a nuisance on their wedding day, or if Ben gets offered a job in a different city? We as viewers know they’ll get through it because they’re so clearly made for each other. (Besides, what other couple’s turn-ons include mac-and-cheese pizza and filibustering in roller skates?)
Fifteen years after its arrival, there’s a good chance some of the show’s political stances don’t hold up upon rewatch. A far-too-cheerful government employee like Leslie, who can barely contain herself at the sight of Joe Biden, now feels dated. Still, even back then, Parks had figured out how to balance her vivid enthusiasm with a practical Ben. He kept her calm, she enlivened his personality, and together they helped transform the sitcom. Parks And Rec needed them just as much as they needed each other. As he puts it in those vows, he traveled to 46 cities in 11 years, wandering around everywhere looking for her. Once they found each other, Parks ensured they never let go.
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I see you and raise you a Rob and Laura Petrie.
“Get back in the kitchen, woman, and make me a sammich!” — Undercover Fox Mulder
Man, I love it when they fucked with the shipping fandom. Put in all those kisses that didn’t happen, or happened to someone who wasn’t actually Mulder/Scully, or put them undercover as a couple. You watched the remasters? Unlike the Buffy…debacle…they’re actually really well done. They’re like a reference to how you should remaster old TV shows. I legit got through about 20 of the earlier eps before I realised “Ummm…hey. Weren’t these in 4:3?” They’re that good. Resolution, colour (they DID NOT fuck with the colour grading), and cropping are all bang on. (There’s a few problems that couldn’t be helped, especially when it comes to ships – I doubt a US destroyer adrift in the North Atlantic would be tied up to a dock – but I’ll let that slide.)
I have no idea how they’re gonna reboot that show. Absolutely no way are they gonna find a pair to match the chemistry Duchovny and Anderson had. Even in that still as the Petries Duchovny’s taking the “happy couple” bit a smidge too far, and Anderson’s taking only very barely just seriously enough.
Why has Jillian Anderson always looked 45? Even when she was 30.
Good pull!I love that when The Mary Tyler Moore show launched the suits wouldn’t let her character be divorced, because they worried too many people would think the character divorced Rob. So she was single instead .
I was going to write the exact thing.
Poehler and Scott had great chemistry.And unlike many other popular sitcom couples, Leslie and Ben were as fun to watch together as they were to watch separately. Gods helps me, I never cared what Pam was up to if it didn’t concern Jim.
It’s wild how long it too sitcoms to figure out that the couple can work together to solve the tension of an episode or story arc, rather than constantly pit the couple against each other.
Pam and Jim were way more interesting up until they became a couple.The show could never figure out a good story for them once they actually got together.
And, sure enough, the show’s quality starts to decline exactly when Jim & Pam got together.
They got extremely smug. I realized that around season 5 or so, (they got together after the S3 finale and officially in S4) I started rooting for Dwight against them.Dwight K. Schrute—the actual protagonist of The Office.
i actually thought dwight and angela had the most interesting relationship on the show.
Yeah, reminds me kind of Jake and Amy from Brooklyn 99. The will-they-won’t-they aspect is not *the best*, but once they become a couple, there’s no bullshit anything; they just work.
great point. many sitcom couples are deathly dull together, or the writers stop making them interesting.
Their chemistry was so good that when they kiss for the first time, it felt very genuine. To the point where I was like, “Uh, should I be watching this? This feels kinda private…”
See also: Zoey Deschanel and Jake Johnson in New Girl.
Hey, Pam had a really interesting arc of wanting to do art and then…giving up on doing art. And then I think she becomes the office manager at some point? Riveting stuff.
I love Ben & Leslie, but to me the greatest sitcom couple ever is Virginia and Burt on Raising Hope (Martha Plimpton and Garrett Dillahunt)
No, the best sitcom couple was clearly Ted Bullpitt and his Kingswood.
It’s odd that Greg Daniels gets credit for Parks and Rec, but no mention of Michael Schur – especially since Eleanor and Chidi from Schur’s The Good Place blow bland ol’ Jim and Pam out of the water, awesome-couple-wise.
I can’t agree. They (Eleanor and Chidi) had like zero chemistry together which is really odd because Kristen Bell seemingly has chemistry with everybody.The one really thing that bothered me is that it almost seemed like they said “Hey, Eleanor needs a mate, well, how about Chidi?” and then just threw them together for the sake of a plot device.I think she actually had more romantic chemistry with Jamil’s Tahani than Chidi. Then again, I have a sick mind, lol.
It doesn’t hurt that Eleanor was constantly hitting on Tahani.I don’t have strong feelings either way. I adore the show and all its characters, and the Eleanor-Chidi relationship is fine. But I think perhaps partly due to the show’s concept, it never really reached the heights of Leslie/Ben, April/Andy, or Jake/Amy.
I though Eleanor & Chidi were fine but I preferred Chidi with Simone and Eleanor with Tahani
It could’ve been a daring way to take the series, with Eleanor/Tahani rather than Eleanor/Chidi.Though I did rather like Tahani becoming an architect.
They all had great arcsEleanor & Tahani together just would have been a bit less expected & I liked how they challenged each other
“It doesn’t hurt that Eleanor was constantly hitting on Tahani.”Glad to see somebody else thought that and I wasn’t just dreaming it up, lol.
She makes so many comments about how hot Tahani is.It wouldn’t surprise if they had revealed that Eleanor is actually pansexual. (Not being facetious, btw.)
Eleanor is canonically bisexual, at the very least. I don’t remember if they ever used the term, but she expresses attraction to women numerous times throughout the show.
Yeah, Eleanor’s super horny, and she expresses appreciation for hotness all across the spectrum.
“Side note, I might legit be into Tahani!”
Eleanor seemed to be horny in general. I thought her and Chidi did match really well though and cried like a baby in the last episode when he decide to move on.
April/ Andy impresses me because it was not intended originally. Aubrey Plaza decided in s1, when those characters were often in scenes without anything clear to do, that April would have a crush on Andy because he was in a band, so she started flirting with him. The writers liked it & started working it into the show. So one of the great TV romances came about because of a specific acting choice that Aubrey Plaza made.
I love that. I love when something great is unplanned, and the writers are just chasing something spontaneous and spinning gold.
I’d have to say you’re in the minority. I just finished a Good Place rewatch and Chidi/Eleanor are fabulous together.
Parks & Rec ABSOLUTELY becomes Mike Schur’s baby and early on, that’s not up for debate. Daniels largely moved onto other things. Season 1 was almost functionally an Office clone; Schur is what led to the sweetness rather than cynicism.
Yup. P&R started as an obvious office clone. The original pitch was “what if Michael Scott was Amy Poehler?” She was originally incompetent and controlling, the but of every joke. Season 2 was a completely different show going foward.
She switches to being hyper-competent, if absurdly well-meaning. She can be overwhelming but it’s with love, not selfishness and cringe. It’s a complete shift. When I finally wanted to get into it, my buddy who loves the show frankly advised me to begin with season 3. I didn’t; but I completely understand why he suggested it. S1 is rough. S2 immediately gets better, but it isn’t until Lowe and Scott come into the picture, and the deathly dull Brandonowicz exits, that the show becomes fantastic.
This is entirely wrong because the correct answer is clearly Schitt’s Creek‘s David and Patrick
The big difference is that Patrick doesn’t have a personality (this is overly inflammatory given that I like Schitt’s Creek and Patrick but he mostly exists as an object in David’s orbit while Ben has clear wants, needs, and relationships outside of Leslie)
I agree with you about that. David and Patrick were fine together, but the latter just existed for relationship drama with David and teaming up with Stevie or Alexis to be snarky. Speaking of Stevie, I kind of wish they’d explored a potential dating scenario with her and David because she’s a great character on her own and a solid friend and I was genuinely surprised when they hooked up, though it made sense after the fact. Loved David’s usage of wine to describe being pansexual. So I was sad when the writers just kind of nixed the idea of them trying to date, even though it was probably for the best that they stayed friends, just because you get along with somebody doens’t mean you need to date them and Stevie is a good example of being her own person and not needing a love interest to be exciting.
I mean yes, but everyone knows the actual greatest sitcom couple even on Parks and Rec is Leslie and Ann.
Ann, that noble, poetic land-mermaid
“Ann, you are such a good friend, you’re a beautiful, talented, brilliant, powerful musk-ox. Thank you, ox.”
One of my favorite moments of their relationship is when Dave shows up, and Ben is totally fine with them going out to dinner because he’s secure in his relationship and completely trusts Leslie (to the point that it’s not even an issue that’s articulated on-screen). And that trust is totally founded – when Dave locks him up in the bathroom so he can try and claim Leslie, Ben calls Leslie and she comes right away. A lesser show would’ve made Ben a neurotic mess and freak out about Leslie going out with her ex so they could contrive some easy drama.I will say, for all that I adore Leslie and Ben, Dan Goor really gave them some tough competition in Jake and Amy – and for me, it’s a bit off a toss-up. Leslie and Ben really explore how much you make compromises and sacrifices for each other, while Jake and Amy demonstrate that you accept the burden of taking care of another person and all their baggage. And in all cases, you do so happily because you love them.
Jake and Amy also started to take a little bit of each other into themselves; like Amy would get a little more loose and Jake would actually read books.
Yes! And the show would throw in a lot of details on the side that let us know how much they knew about each other (especially the little things) and how they were influencing each other. Amy could help Jake mature in a way he desperately needs, and Jake helped her have more fun and not take everything so seriously.They’re a perfect example of a couple where being with a good partner means that you make each other better.
Man I cannot believe Louis fucking CK was Leslie’s love interest at one point in that show. It’s so jarring to see him in repeat viewings now.
Yeah, I try not to think too hard about it and then just kind of quietly celebrate when he’s no longer on-screen.
Amy Poehler dedicated her book to Louis CK because they were very close friends and she credits him with teaching her to how to be the best divorced parent she can be.. It was before all the unpleasantness, but I’m sure some will pile on her anyway.And I thought her crush on Joe Biden was adorable!
The correct answer is Al and Peg.
I dunno, in my opinion this show peaked around season 3 before it turned into a show that was entirely about pairing all of its characters off (even Ron Swanson!) and trying to make the audience go “awww” instead of being funny. It’s like the writers all fell too in love with their characters and stopped trying to come up with interesting plots or funny jokes.
I liked the Leslie/Ben and Andy/April stuff for the most part, so I’d probably extend Peak Parks and Rec a couple of seasons, but jesus does that show just dissolve into a warm puddle of goo by the end there. There’s pointless, self-indulgent victory laps, and then there’s Parks and Rec’s seventh season.
Agreed, this site kept using the phrase “victory lap” when reviewing it, as if that were a positive. It just wasn’t that funny! But yeah I still like all the previous seasons, even when it became too cutesy it was still very funny and occasionally weird.The Office later seasons are obviously worse than Parks and Rec, but The Office finale is great, and I think a big reason for that is because they kept the “victory lap” to a single episode (or maybe the last 2~ episodes, but still).
I agree. It became a boring love-fest where the only conflict was figuring out how to make sure all their bestest friends were shoehorned into a job that allowed them to hang out with each other all day.But I stopped watching, and it’s been a long time since I watched, so I’m sure fans will disagree.
Same. Totally fell off after s3. Everyone in the dang office can’t be dating each other ffs. It definitely became waaay too sacchrine and the comedy evaporated.
I agree. But…nobody has had a better sitcom kiss than Nick/Jess from New Girl. They really go there.
Yeah, I’m very much not the person to be swept into that sort of thing, but that kiss is…I mean, damn.
It’s interesting comparing Ben to Mark, who was intended as the romantic lead originally. Mark was intended to be the straight man, but they overdid it and made him boring.
What makes Ben an improvement is that he has his own quirks, even if he’s not as obvious about them as Leslie is. Fans can even name them without thinking; he loves calzones, he loves punishingly intricate board games, and he makes stop motion videos in his spare time.
He’s also just as ambitious as Leslie, but that comes from a different place, too. Leslie genuinely thinks she’s making the world better through her actions. Ben had a major, high profile failure with Ice Town at a very young age, and he’s been trying to make up for that ever since. It’s easy to imagine Leslie having her own “Ice Town” if she got elected at eighteen.
Over time, Ben learns that he can grow past failure, and Leslie learns that failure isn’t the end of the world when she gets recalled herself.
“Mark was intended to be the straight man, but they overdid it and made him boring” an asshole.
Honestly I never re-watch the first two seasons so anything about Mark has long since fallen out of my brain.
Him?
It’s amazing Parks and Rec survived that first season because it was rough. I remember being surprised how invested people were getting later and thought “This show is bad right?” It took a while to hit its stride
i mean same goes for the first season of the us office. that shit only aired because of the writers strike haha.
Yeah from Season 3 onwards, Parks and Rec is full-on classic.
Hell, Season 7 has no reason to exist yet it’s way better than it has any right to be. “Leslie & Ron” is straight-up my favorite episode.
It also helps that Adam Scott plays a really funny straight man. It’s not always the most glamorous role to be, so I think some actors shy away from it. But Ben Wyatt is one of my favorite examples of someone who makes the reaction to other people’s lunacy hilarious.
It’s pitch-perfect. Motherfucker has the BEST reactions.
You FORGOT… it’s about the CONES.
The Cones of Dunshire is anything but “punishingly intricate.” It’s maybe a 2.6 out of 5.
“he loves calzones, he loves punishingly intricate board games, and he makes stop motion videos in his spare time.“He is the perfect audience surrogate……..errrr maybe just for me
They quickly found out they didn’t need a straight man to “Jim” the camera every 5 minutes with an “can you BELIEVE this??” expression. Just have all of the characters be loveable goofballs and weirdos, part of the reason why the show was so successful (and launched careers of some very famous actors today) was because they sorta just let the actors embody their real personalities in their roles.
if you identify with these characters or their relationship you’re probably an extremely boring idiot, unfortunately
Leslie never ran for Mayor, she ran for City Council. There was no way she was going to challenge/beat Bill Murray for Mayor.
I can’t believe this article doesn’t even mention Sam and Diane, the lesbian couple in Kenneth Parcell’s building who murdered each other.
I feel like The Honeymooners deserves consideration. So do The Flintstones. Bewitched. I Dream of Jeannie. Moonlighting. All in the Family. The Jeffersons. This category is too subjective to name a real winner.
Counterpoint: Leslie shits all over The Cones of Dunshire. Not cool, Leslie.
If y’all are doing a week of Parks retrospectives, I hope there’s an article on the completely stacked writers room. Having Chelsea Peretti, Joe Mande, Harris Wittels (rip), and Megan Amram on the same writing team was lightning in a bottle.
Unreal.
Ben Wyatt’s R.E.M. fandom sealed the deal for me. I felt seen with that character.
He was a shiny happy person.
The treacle from P&R was actually fun and wholesome, even if Leslie’s obsession with bad mainstream politicians is pretty gross.
Even if Schur probably wasn’t in on the joke, I like to think the show is.
Such a sweet, loving, grounded, realistic relationship. I love how, because they both worked in government alongside each other, they were very cognizant of not being corrupt and being aware of the power dynamics at play. Since a lot of government officials seem to think they’re above the rules, that was refreshing to see.Didn’t hurt that they’re both absolutely adorable together, one of those “why aren’t they together in real life” sort of thing. Ben and Chris saved the show when they came on in season 2, and got rid of lame potential love interests like Mark Brandanoquitz.
I love Parks and Rec but I am not even sure that Ben and Leslie are even the Mike Schur connected couple, much less the greatest sitcom couple. For Mike Schur couples I think I give the edge to Amy and Jake from Brooklyn 99. And maybe even Seth and Summer from The OC (Schur was a guest star on the show and his wife was a writer so it counts).
stop saying sitcom.. its not a sitcom with single cam, it’s a comedy show. Dot.