Like - Mark Brendanawicz

Do you remember Mark Brendanawicz? The irascible city planner from Parks & Rec? He was Leslie’s first crush among other things, including being a rude jerk and small-town Lothario. He was this weird, self-obsessed guy who didn’t like his job and not in the fun dumb “I’m a libertarian who likes steak, guns, and moonshine” Ron Swanson kind of way. No, he didn’t like his job in the “my career hasn’t panned out the way I thought it would and I don’t know what I’m doing with my life” kind of way. Does any of that ring a bell? If it doesn’t that makes sense because he was only around for the first two seasons of the show. After those seasons, the actor, Paul Schneider, quit the show and never came back and then the show took off and became enormously popular. For many fans of the show, Mark Brendanawicz was the stick in the mud holding the whole thing up. When you watch him in the first two seasons you are denied the impossibly infectious warmth of the later seasons. The show isn’t a warm hug but it’s a little weirder, edgier, and realer. Dare I say, it was more interesting. If you rewatch those seasons, it’s still fair to ask, “What is this guy’s deal?” while you’re watching it because his woe is me shtick feels undeserved and he is kind of a jerk. However, there’s a difference between a character being vexing and a character being bad. Unfortunately, that difference often gets crushed under the enormous weight of network ratings.