Capital Hill-arious

Is that a human bone? You'll have to watch and see.

Put Your Real Life On Pause:

Parks And Recreation

When? 8:30 p.m. Thursday

Where? NBC

Who? Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider

Let's be honest, the business of local government isn't usually hilarious, or even entertaining really. But the folks over at NBC are on a roll when it comes to making faux-reality even better than real reality. We have the Office on Thursday nights, and beginning this week we have Parks And Recreation.

NBC's latest half-hour almost-reality comedy takes us to Pawnee, Indiana, where we meet Leslie Knope (Poehler), a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks And Recreation department. Any one of us who's had even the most remote interaction with mid-level government bureaucrats knows what will ensue, but it's a lot funnier on TV than when you've actually waited in line for hours only to find out you were in the wrong line, in the wrong building, looking for a department that no longer exists but still requires two forms of identification to get in the door. Seriously.

I've got pretty high hopes for this show. While I don't expect it will trump Poehler's fellow SNL-alum Tina Fey's 30 Rock (which is also on NBC's killer Thursday night lineup), I think it'll put up a good fight. We'll have to watch and see.

What else is on this week?

It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! (8p.m. Tuesday on ABC)

Charlie Brown was emo before you even knew what MySpace was. Show some respect.