Amy Poehler is returning to Saturday Night Live ... sort of. She's not actually going to be on the show during its usual Saturday performance, but rather on the Weekend Update Thursday spin-off. She'll be sitting behind the anchor desk with her co-host Seth Meyers.

Frankly, it's a good way to launch the second season of her NBC show Parks & Recreation. Obviously, NBC is trying to copy the success of having Tina Fey do her Sarah Palin impression for a couple of Thursdays (and indirectly promote 30 Rock as a result).

I'm an Amy Poehler fan, so I think more of her on television is a good thing. I liked her back during her Upright Citizen Brigade days (and have seen her perform live several times with the troupe).

I only wonder how Weekend Update Thursday will fare without a big media event like the last election to use as fodder. I'm sure they'll think of something.

(S01E01) While at its heart, and based on its creators (Michael Schur and Greg Daniels of The Office), you can't help but compare Parks & Recreation to The Office. They both film in that mockumentary style, they both feature clueless leads, and they have some of the same comic sensibilities. But how many multi-camera family sitcoms were on the air back in the '80s? Seinfeld and Friends clones in the '90s? Crime procedurals in the '00s?

It doesn't matter if a show shares similar traits with another if it has a voice all its own. And as I indicated in my "Early Look" of Parks & Recreation, they even use the documentary-style camera work differently. But the real difference for me is in the work of Amy Poehler.

First there was talk of a spin-off of The Office. Word was that Amy Poehler was attached. Then we got the notion that Rashida Jones may just reprise her role of Karen in that spin-off. And then it became Parks and Recreation. The show follows the exploits of the Parks Department in a small city in Indiana. So our spin-off went from more office politics to ... well, politics. But Amy Poehler is here. And while Rashida Jones is on board, it's not as Karen.

Still, the comparisons are going to be inevitable. Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, who are both key parts of The Office team, created this show, it airs right before The Office, and both are shot in that mock documentary style. Then you have Poehler's lead role as Deputy Director Leslie Knope. She appears to be as oblivious to the world that truly exists around her as Michael Scott is on The Office, but more in a naively optimistic way than a narcissistic asshat way. As Jones' character Ann Perkins describes her: "She's a little doofy, but she's sweet."