Christopher "Chris" Traeger is a fictional character played by Rob Lowe on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation.

Originally expected to appear in eight episodes as a guest star, Lowe eventually signed on to remain on the show as a permanent cast member.

The character has received highly positive reviews from critics, and has been described as "one of the great comedic creations of the past couple years" and "one of the funniest performances of Rob Lowe's career.

[4] Originally from Wisconsin, he is an excessively positive and optimistic person, who is constantly upbeat and extremely energetic, it is also hinted in several episodes that he is a Buddhist.

[10] He avoids eating red meat and fatty foods in favor of dishes like lean turkey burgers and vegetable loaf sweetened with fruit reduction,[11][12][13] and takes a huge assortment of unusual vitamins.

[19][20] His constant desire to make everyone around him happy means Chris hates having to deliver bad news, a task he often assigns to his subordinates, usually Ben Wyatt.

Starting in the penultimate second season episode "The Master Plan", Chris Traeger and fellow state auditor Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) are sent to Pawnee to help solve the city's crippling budget deficit.

[21][22] Despite the seriousness of the problems, Chris presents the situation in an extremely positive light and tries to make all the city hall employees around him happy, leaving the hard decisions and delivery of bad news up to Ben.

[20] Due to the poorly managed Pawnee government, Chris and Ben need to slash every city budget by up to 50 percent, much to the disappointment of deputy parks and recreation director Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler).

[21] During an outing at a bar, Chris meets Leslie's best friend Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), who is drunk and experiencing conflicting emotions following her recent breakup with Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider).

[14] Meanwhile, in "Freddy Spaghetti", Chris and Ben reveal Pawnee's budget problems are worse than anticipated, which would require the government to be temporarily shut down, much to the horror of Leslie, but the delight of parks and recreation director Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), an anti-government libertarian.

He suffers a complete physical breakdown and becomes delirious from fever, which causes Ann (who works as a local nurse and treats his illness) to feel less intimidated by him.

[11] Chris proves to be an energetic city manager, encouraging Leslie to pursue ambitious, grand-scale projects like the harvest festival she organized before he returned to Pawnee.

Shortly following his departure from the ABC drama series Brothers & Sisters, Rob Lowe accepted the role of Chris Traeger on Parks and Recreation.

[19][37] Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur said Chris' habit of pointing directly into the faces of people he meets and repeating their names was one of the first elements of his character that the writing staff conceived.

[40] The writers hoped to use Ann Perkins' breakup with Chris, and the drastic changes in her behavior afterward, as a way of tapping into more comedic potential of her character rather than having her fill the role of straight man as she had in the past.

"[41] Once Lowe joined the permanent cast, Chris' role changed into more of an authority figure concerned with integrity and efficiency, although he continued to maintain his positive attitude and personality.

In his earlier episodes, Chris avoided associating himself with anything negative and constantly made Ben report bad news to people.

As city manager in later episodes as a regular, however, Chris started imposing rules or changes around the office that were not popular and seemed less resistant about enforcing them.

Rick Porter of Zap2it described him as "one of the great comedic creations of the past couple years",[1] and Hitfix writer Alan Sepinwall called it "one of the funniest performances of [Rob Lowe's] career".

[2][44] David Hinckley of the New York Daily News said both Lowe and Adam Scott were excellent additions to the cast,[19] and Eric Sundermann of Hollywood.com said Chris was "exactly what the show needed to push itself to another level of silliness".

[45] Some reviewers believed Chris' over-the-top personality would be funny in the short run, but that the character would not prove three-dimensional enough to have long-term sustainability.

[7] Matt Fowler of IGN expressed the same sentiments after earlier episodes, but by the third season said Chris proved to be a great addition to the show.

[4] Joel Keller of TV Squad said he found Chris "a little two-dimensional",[46] and believed the relationship was poorly handled because it made Ann too passive.

[50] Parks and Recreation has traditionally experienced poor Nielsen ratings, and NBC officials hoped the addition of Lowe to the cast would help increase viewership.

People magazine reported that Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre was "seriously discussing the possibility" of signing Lowe, and Sheen himself said he would be a "fabulous" successor.

[2][36] Although widely considered a supporting role, Lowe's performance as Chris Traeger was submitted for a 2011 Primetime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category.