Parks and Recreation is an Emmy Award-winning series that revolves around the activities of the staff of the Parks Department in Pawnee, Indiana. The sitcom is known for its ensemble cast, which includes stars like Amy Poehler, Chris Pratt, and even Rob Lowe as regular members. After seven seasons on air, Parks and Recreation is happily remembered by fans for a number of reasons. From the community memorial service for the miniature horse Li’l Sebastian to Ron’s rushed marriage that literally takes place in just a few minutes, the workplace TV comedy brings small government to life thanks to the wide array of characters and the crazy shenanigans they get into.
Something that Parks and Recreationhas become known for is its cold opens. As explained by Masterclass, a cold open is a practice of jumping directly into the show before the title sequence even rolls. In Parks and Recreation, the cold opens were sometimes unrelated to the rest of the episode. While not every episode began with a cold open, it was a common occurrence throughout the series that something would occur before the title sequence before the show rolled. These cold opens range from a short 30-second bit to a couple of minutes, but there are quite a few to choose from. These are the best cold opens in the series, ranked.
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5 Season 4, Episode 9 — “The Trial of Leslie Knope”
NBC
This cold open shows April being called into Ron’s office, where he proceeds to question her about his computer. He was now receiving ads for something he researched earlier and Ron asked April how the computer knew what he was looking at. April proceeds to explain what browser cookies are and even shows him what Google Earth is. When Ron sees his own home on his computer, the cameraman follows Ron outside as he proceeds to chuck his computer into the dumpster. Not only does this cold open have nothing to do with the main plot of the episode, but this insight gives us more into Ron’s personal hatred towards advanced technology and mass surveillance by literally throwing his work computer in the trash. This opening is not only a hilarious nod to Ron’s character, but also reminds all of us that this is what technology is and does.
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4 Season 1, Episode 4 — “Boys’ Club”
NBCUniversal
The intro of “Boys’ Club” is a unique one. Leslie and Tom arrive at a park where it was reported that teens were grabbing doggy bags out of the trash and throwing them at each other. While Leslie did not believe this was true, upon arriving at the park, she discovers that it is indeed true that the teenagers are having a poop fight. While Leslie tried her best to get them to stop, as they were littering and causing a disturbance to their community, they began throwing the bags at her. Leslie proceeds to crash the lid of a trash bin and joins in the poop fight by throwing a few bags herself. This intro shows us Leslie’s sillier side and that even a government official such as herself is capable of having a little bit of mischievous fun under the right circumstances.
3 Season 2, Episode 1 — “Pawnee Zoo”
At the beginning of the episode “Pawnee Zoo,” Ron runs into Leslie’s office to tell her about a fire in Ramset Park. When Ron says “Okay, here’s the situation,” Leslie begins singing the lyrics to “Parents Just Don’t Understand” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. Leslie proceeds to sing the entire song while walking around the office without any interruption. Once she completed the song, Ron proceeded to tell her the news about the fire. The contrast between Leslie’s upbeat rendition of the song and Ron telling her that there was a fire leads to a hilarious outcome as he tells her and then the intro begins immediately after. What’s even better is that no one stopped her from doing what she was doing; they let her finish before breaking the tragic news to her.
2 Season 3, Episode 2 — “Flu Season”
When the flu arrives in Pawnee, April goes to the hospital where she is prescribed rest and fluids. Unfortunately for April, Ann was made her nurse, whom she despised at the time. Due to a lack of staff, April could not get another nurse and was stuck with Ann. Despite April’s irritating behavior hoping to annoy Ann, Ann continued to treat her as she would any other patient. The entirety of the opening shows April pressing the button consistently to get Ann’s attention for dumb things, like when she threw a pillow on the floor and called Ann to pick it up for her. This entire scene places Ann and April in an awkward situation that is all-around laughable.
1 Season 3, Episode 9 — “April and Andy’s Fancy Party”
During a morning meeting, Ben begins talking about street parking when, all of a sudden, Ron starts to groan in pain. When asked about his welfare, Ron admits that he has a toothache. Ron then proceeds to take out a pair of pliers and rips out his aching tooth in front of the entire staff. Ben left the room, Tom fainted, and Jerry screamed at the sight of it. Behind the scenes, Ron told the camera that he had a tooth pulled the day before and slid it back in to pull off this genius prank. What’s best about this opening is that it is not a far reach to think that Ron would pull his own tooth with pliers, so the prank is actually quite believable. What makes this even better is the fact that Ron pulled a prank on his co-workers, something that seems uncharacteristic of him but given the reactions he got from this prank, Ron can walk away satisfied.
