PASADENA, Calif. -- If you'd told me a year ago that I would now be singing the praises of NBC's "Parks and Recreations," I would not have believed you. The Thursday 8:30 p.m. sitcom debuted last spring with a strong premise and cast (Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari) but too many episodes created uncomfortable situations that were less than hilarious.

NBC renewed the show, based largely on the track record of its creators, the same minds behind "The Office," which also got off to a slow, mid-season start.

In its second season premiere, it was clear that something had changed at "Parks." The comedy-of-the-uncomfortable was less uncomfortable. Civil servant Leslie Knope (Poehler) had some victories and wasn't always the butt of the joke. And characters previously in the background of the Pawnee, Ind., city hall began to grow into fully fleshed-out characters.

As a viewer, "Parks" was markedly improved, but to those inside the series, it didn't seem like much had changed.

"I think they feel to us more like tinkerings," said co-creator and executive producer Greg Daniels at an NBC party at the January TV critics press tour. "It's the same setting, same characters, same writing staff. We're telling slightly different stories but I didn't feel like it was a gigantic change. But I guess it is a gigantic change if [your reaction] goes from 'eh' to 'Yeah!'"

So what was the tinkering?

"To me, it's more Knope, less dope," Mr. Daniels said. That's nice shorthand for the way Leslie has become a more likable character this season, but it's the situations she's in that are also different.

"We're letting the world be worse and it makes her be more blameless for her predicaments," Mr. Daniels said. "It enabled us to make critical commentary about the outside world as opposed to the character."

When Leslie is put into unfair situations, it also allows for her to have small victories, because Mr. Daniels said she's earned them, as opposed to being the master of her own downfall, which would not result in success.

"There's just something about the way the stories are breaking," Mr. Daniels said. "The more satiric you are about the outside world, the happier the characters are in a way."

Another change was toning down Leslie's sense of optimism, which some viewers read as ditziness or cluelessness.

"That was never part of the conception and obviously we were just presenting it a little bit incorrectly," said "Parks" co-creator Michael Schur. "So we changed it. We kept the optimism and we just sort of altered the way that it presented itself in the stories and I think that made a big difference."

It's not unusual for a show to take some time to find its way. Many TV series go through this process, which is pretty public compared to the way other industries test and improve products.

"It's like a constant process of learning what is good and what is not so good," Mr. Schur said. "But there wasn't one moment that was like, 'Eureka! Here's what to do!' It's just a constant process of writing and shooting episodes and cutting them together and seeing which way the characters seem to be developing, and talking to the actors and getting their input."

Other changes along the way included making Tom (Ansari) more vulnerable, particularly with regards to his green card marriage, and pairing doofus Andy (Chris Pratt) with sarcastic April (Aubrey Plaza). The writers have also made Leslie's boss, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), less of an antagonist or obstacle to Leslie.

"He was a character who didn't believe in the mission of the department that he was in and she was so optimistic and they were so at odds," Mr. Daniels said. "I think they developed a nice kind of grudging friendship. When we saw how well that worked and then, of course, the comedy [that came from it], we wrote towards it."

"Also, what was discovered was Ron liked Leslie because she made his job easier," Ms. Poehler added.

In this week's episode, Leslie's plan to build a new park where a pit used to be is put on hold when two state auditors, played by Adam Scott ("Party Down") and Rob Lowe ("Brothers & Sisters"), visit Pawnee.

That should mean plenty of scenes in the Pawnee City Hall, which is adorned with inappropriate old murals. Mr. Daniels said the murals were inspired by a visit to a government building in Bartlesville, Okla.

"I was there for a wedding a long time ago and took a tour of the state house there and as I recall they had murals involving American Indians that weren't quite as P.C. as they should have been," he said.

In addition to background art that's become a plot point on "Parks," this season the series has showcased more characters who previously blended into the background, most notably Donna (Retta) and Jerry (Jerry Gergich ). Mr. Daniels said even though those characters had little to do last season -- Donna had no dialogue -- it was always his intention to bring them forward based on his experiences with the secondary characters on "The Office."

"There are people who love Phyllis [on 'The Office'] and that's their favorite character," he said. "I just think it's good to spread it around, and on a documentary-style show, it's easier to do that. It's very accepting of all different types of people."

It also broadens and expands the world that's been created in "Parks," a show that, for me, has become the most reliably funny program in NBC's Thursday night lineup.

TV columnist Rob Owen's Tuned In+ is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.