Parks and Recreation season 3
Reviews
### Reviews

*Parks and Recreation* continued to receive critical acclaim, as it did during the second season. The show was featured on the February 11 cover of *[Entertainment Weekly](/wiki/Entertainment_Weekly "Entertainment Weekly")*, where it was called "the smartest comedy on TV" and which included the article "The 101 Reasons We Love *Parks and Recreation*". [James Poniewozik](/wiki/James_Poniewozik "James Poniewozik") of *[Time](/wiki/Time_%28magazine%29 "Time (magazine)")* magazine called it "a fabulous season – the best thing on TV in 2011 so far". Maureen Ryan of [TV Squad](/wiki/Weblogs%2C_Inc.%23TV_Squad "Weblogs, Inc.#TV Squad") called it one of the ten best shows of 2011, and said the season saw major growth of both its major characters, especially Leslie Knope, along with the expansion of a strong cast of secondary and tertiary characters as well. *[New York](/wiki/New_York_%28magazine%29 "New York (magazine)")* magazine writer Willa Paskin praised the show for comedy grounded in optimism and characters who genuinely like each other, rather than the cynical humor more prevalent in other comedy shows of the time. Alan Sepinwall of HitFix called it a "remarkable season of TV comedy" without a single bad episode. Steve Heisler of [The A.V. Club](/wiki/The_A.V._Club "The A.V. Club") said although he considered *Parks and Recreation* the funniest sitcom on television during its second season, "it somehow got even better" during the third. Scott Meslow of *[The Atlantic](/wiki/The_Atlantic "The Atlantic")* said during the third season, *Parks and Recreation* was "the funniest, sweetest, most consistent sitcom on television", and that the way the characters were seeking new opportunities outside the parks department by the end of the season demonstrates the show is willing to change and is "not content to simply spin its wheels". Eric Sundermann of [Hollywood.com](/wiki/Hollywood.com "Hollywood.com") said he believed that the third season "will become to be recognized as one of the best seasons of any sitcom ever", and that the characters and setting of Pawnee were so fully developed that he felt a close, personal connection to them. Henry Hanks of [CNN](/wiki/CNN "CNN") called it "a near\-flawless season".

"Harvest Festival" received particularly strong reviews, with *New York* magazine writer Steve Kandell calling it the most pivotal episode of the season in terms of "resolving and resetting narrative stakes". Likewise, "Li'l Sebastian" was praised by several reviewers as one of the best episodes of the season, and Henry Hanks called it "one of the funniest half\-hours of any show this season". As in past seasons, Nick Offerman continued to receive critical acclaim for his performance as Ron Swanson. By the third season, the character had taken on a [cult status](/wiki/Cult_following "Cult following"), and the term "Ron Swanson" was so commonly discussed on the social\-networking website [Twitter](/wiki/Twitter "Twitter") after "Andy and April's Fancy Party" aired that it was listed among the site's [trending topics](/wiki/Trending_topic "Trending topic"), which are indicative of being the most popular topics being discussed on Twitter at a given moment. Rob Lowe received particularly strong reviews for his performance in "Flu Season" where his normally extraordinarily\-physically fit character becomes extremely ill and hallucinatory when infected with the flu. Aziz Ansari received very positive reviews for his performance in "Soulmates", as did Adam Scott for his performance in "Media Blitz". While some commentators felt the Ann Perkins character seemed adrift and not working as well as the other cast members, others said they liked the new direction the character had taken this season. Eric Sundermann declared the relationship between Chris and Ann was described as "one of the most interesting parts of the show", whereas Joel Keller of [TV Squad](/wiki/Weblogs%2C_Inc.%23TV_Squad "Weblogs, Inc.#TV Squad") felt it was poorly handled and made Ann too passive. Some reviewers said the town of Pawnee itself has developed into a rich and interesting setting, comparing it to [Springfield](/wiki/Springfield_%28The_Simpsons%29 "Springfield (The Simpsons)") in the [Fox](/wiki/Fox_Broadcasting_Company "Fox Broadcasting Company") animated series *[The Simpsons](/wiki/The_Simpsons "The Simpsons")*.


Who praises the show for its optimism and genuine character relationships?