Parks and Recreation (season 1)
Encyclopedia
The first season of Parks and Recreation
originally aired in the United States on the NBC
television network between April 9 and May 14, 2009. Produced by Deedle-Dee Productions
and Universal Media Studios, the series was created by Greg Daniels
and Michael Schur
, who served as executive producers with Howard Klein.
The comedy series focuses on Leslie Knope
(Amy Poehler
), the deputy director of the parks and recreation department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana
. The season consisted of six 22-minute episodes, all of which aired at 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Daniels and Schur conceived the show when NBC officials asked Daniels to produce a spin-off
of his comedy series The Office, on which Schur was a writer. During development, the creators decided the new show would be a stand-alone series, though it would share the mockumentary
style of The Office. Like that show, Parks and Recreation encouraged improvisation among its cast members.
Early test screenings were poor, and many critics and industry observers were skeptical about the show's chances of success. The first season received generally mixed to negative reviews, and several commentators found it too similar to The Office. The premiere episode
was watched by 6.77 million households, but the viewership declined almost every week in the Nielsen ratings
. A season low of 4.25 million households watched the final episode, "Rock Show
". Despite the low rating, "Rock Show" received the best reviews of the season and convinced some critics that the series had finally found the right tone.
and Universal Media Studios produced the first season of Parks and Recreation
; series creators Greg Daniels
and Michael Schur
were executive producers with Howard Klein. Morgan Sackett and Amy Poehler
produced, and Tucker Cawley
and Norm Hiscock
served as consulting producers. Daniel J. Goor was the executive story editor for the season, and Rachel Axler
was a story editor. Dean Holland, an editor on The Office, also worked as an editor on Parks and Recreations first season. Mike Scully
, a former executive producer and show runner
for The Simpsons
, joined Parks and Recreation as a consulting producer starting with the episode "Boys' Club
". Cawley left the show at the end of the first season to create the short-lived ABC
sitcom Hank
, starring Kelsey Grammer
. The other producers all returned for the second season
. Allison Jones
, who worked as a casting director for The Office, served in the same capacity for Parks and Recreation, along with Nancy Perkins, for whom the character Ann Perkins was named.
The pilot episode
was directed by Greg Daniels, and the season finale
was directed by Michael Schur, his debut in the position. Other directors included Seth Gordon
, director of the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
; Jeffrey Blitz
, who had directed numerous episodes of The Office; Michael McCullers
, co-writer of the first two Austin Powers
films, who directed Poehler in the comedy film Baby Mama
; and Beth McCarthy Miller
, a longtime television director who worked with Poehler on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live
. Daniels and Schur wrote the pilot episode, and the rest of the season's episodes were written by Axler, Goor, Hiscock, Cawley and Alan Yang
.
, the naive but well-meaning, eager-to-please deputy director of the parks and recreation department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana
. Also among the cast were Aziz Ansari
as Tom Haverford
, a sarcastic parks department employee, and Rashida Jones
as Ann Perkins
, a nurse who befriends Leslie and tries to help her turn a giant construction pit into a park. Daniels and Schur intended to cast Ansari and Jones (who previously appeared in The Office as Karen Filippelli
) from the series' earliest stages of development, but the ultimate Parks and Recreation concept did not coalesce until they learned Poehler would be available to star. After her recruitment, the general concept of the series was established and the script for the pilot episode was written.
Nick Offerman
portrayed Ron Swanson
, the director of the parks and recreation department, and Aubrey Plaza played April Ludgate
, a sarcastic and disinterested college intern. The part was written specifically for Plaza. After meeting her, casting director Allison Jones told Schur, "I just met the weirdest girl I've ever met in my life. You have to meet her and put her on your show." Schur of meeting her, "Aubrey came over to my office and made me feel really uncomfortable for like an hour, and immediately I wanted to put her in the show," although the writers were not immediately sure what direction her character would take. Rounding out the main cast was Paul Schneider
, best known for his work in independent films such as Lars and the Real Girl
and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
. He was cast as Mark Brendanawicz
, a city planner and Leslie's unrequited love interest. She still harbors feelings for Mark from a one-night sexual encounter years ago. Schneider said that early in the season he was insecure in the role because he was still trying to figure out the character's motivations. Chris Pratt
played Andy Dwyer
, Ann's well-intentioned but lazy and simple-minded boyfriend. Although Pratt appeared in every episode of season 1, he was credited as guest star until the second season, when he was promoted to the main cast. Andy was originally supposed to appear only in the first season, but the producers liked Pratt so much that, almost immediately after casting him, they decided to make Andy a regular character if the show was renewed.
Jim O'Heir
and Retta
made regular appearances as Jerry Gergich and Donna Meagle
, two fellow employees at the Pawnee parks and recreation department. The personalities of the two characters did not become developed until the second season, but Schur said the Parks and Recreation staff liked the actors so decided to include them in the show and "figured we'd work it out later". Pamela Reed
made several appearances as Marlene Griggs-Knope
, Leslie's mother and an important figure in the Pawnee school system. Seth Gordon, who directed Reed in her first episode, "Canvassing
", said she improvised a great deal during her audition, creating many elements that helped define Marlene's character. Jama Williamson
appeared in "Rock Show" as Wendy, the attractive surgeon wife of Tom Haverford. Wendy would make numerous appearances in season 2, during which it was revealed that the Haverfords have a green card marriage
. Eric Edelstein guest starred in two season 1 episodes, "Canvassing" and "Boys' Club", as Lawrence, a disgruntled neighbor of Andy's.
was named co-chairman of NBC
's entertainment division in 2007, he asked Greg Daniels to create a spin-off
of The Office, the half-hour comedy Daniels adapted from the British comedy of the same name
, created by Ricky Gervais
. Daniels co-created Parks and Recreation with Michael Schur, who had been a writer on The Office. Like Daniels, Schur had previously worked on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. The two spent months considering ideas for the new series and debating whether to make it a stand-alone show rather than a spin-off. According to Daniels, they eventually abandoned the original spin-off plan because they "couldn't find the right fit". They considered a series about a local government official trying to rebuild a political career following a humiliating public spectacle, but ultimately abandoned the idea. However, it was ultimately incorporated into the backstory for Ben Wyatt
, the character played by Adam Scott
who was added late in the second season.
After Poehler agreed to play the lead, they decided the show would revolve around an optimistic bureaucrat in small-town government. The idea was partly inspired by the portrayal of local politics on the HBO drama series The Wire
, as well as the renewed interest in and optimism about politics stemming from the 2008 United States presidential election
. The staff was also drawn to the idea of building a show around a female relationship, namely Leslie Knope and Ann Perkins. Reports that Daniels and Schur were developing a show together led to press speculation that it would, in fact, be a spin-off of The Office. The producers insisted their new series would be entirely independent. Nevertheless, their concept for it shared several elements with The Office, particularly the mockumentary
approach, which allows the actors to look at and directly address the camera. The new show would also include documentary-style interviews, in which the characters speak one-on-one with the camera crew about the day's events. Again as with The Office, the new series would be scripted but improvisation would be encouraged among the actors.
The series was scheduled as a mid-season replacement and rushed into production to meet the premiere date of April 9, 2009. As a result, when the series was featured at a panel during the January 2009 television critics press tour, NBC did not have a finished episode to screen, only a copy of the pilot script available for review. Some of the parts were still not cast and the series, which did not yet have a name, was referred to as The Untitled Amy Poehler Project or TUAPP. The name Public Service was considered, but ultimately rejected because network officials did not want to be accused of mocking the idea. In a commercial that aired during NBC's Super Bowl
coverage in February, it was announced that the series would be called Parks and Recreation.
meetings. Schur said they observed that many community hearings were attended only by those opposed, often angrily, to the proposals under consideration. This confirmed his existing impression: "I've been to some community meetings in my life, and it is often this feeling of utter sparseness. That nobody cares." The depiction of public hearings in several Parks and Recreation episodes was inspired by this perspective, which was also the basis for the entire "Canvassing" episode. Schur asked urban planners in Claremont, California
, whether efforts to turn a construction pit into a park could realistically take several months or longer. They told him that was entirely plausible, and that they had recently broken ground on a park that had been in various planning stages for 18 years. Schur said the pit project was conceived as a device to bring all the characters together, which was partially inspired by the way various characters in The Wire were brought together to work toward a common goal or project. The writers originally envisioned the pit becoming a park only in the series finale, although those plans were later changed and the pit was filled in during the second season.
The Pawnee residents vocally opposed to Leslie's park proposal were based on real-life California residents the show's producers encountered who fought the construction of parks in their hometowns. One such group, the Committee for a Better Park, was actually opposed to parks in general, and the deceptiveness of their name and mission inspired the producers' writing for those characters. The Parks and Recreation staff worked with a number of consultants familiar with local government work, including Scott Albright, a California city planner who provided feedback for the Mark Brendanawicz character. Inspiration for Ron Swanson came from an encounter Schur had in Burbank with an elected official, a Libertarian who favored minimal government and admitted, "I don't really believe in the mission of my job."
Daniels and Schur wrote the script for the pilot episode in mid-2008. The original script portrayed Leslie and Mark as slightly less likable than they appeared in the final draft. For example, in the premiere episode, Mark asks Ron to greenlight
the park because he is inspired by Leslie's optimism and wants to help her. In the original script, Mark intervened because he was attracted to Ann and wanted an excuse to keep seeing her. The characters were made more likable in response to feedback the episode received from focus groups and press tour screenings. The first season episodes were written and developed relatively quickly after each other, and Schur said the staff was treating the entire six-episode season as if it was one television pilot. When the season concluded, the writers had not decided what would happen with the developing romantic plotlines between Leslie and Mark, or Mark and Ann.
Parks and Recreation involves a mixture of written dialogue and comedic improvisation. In one example from the pilot episode, Aziz Ansari's character attempts to flirt with Rashida Jones's when she speaks at a parks and recreation public forum. Ansari continued to improvise long after completing his scripted dialogue. In the season's final episode, "Rock Show", Andy goes through a list of the previous names of his rock band. About half the band names used in the episode came directly from the script, but after actor Chris Pratt made up one on the spot, the directors encouraged him to keep improvising. Pratt said he went through about 200 fake band names during the take.
, a district of Los Angeles. The producers went door-to-door in the neighborhood, seeking residents' permission for the dig. The pit was guarded 24 hours a day, and paparazzi
regularly came to the set to take photos of the actors during filming. The exterior of the Pawnee government building, and several of the hallway scenes, were shot at Pasadena
City Hall. The parks and recreation department interiors, as well as the Town Hall courtyard, were filmed on a sound stage. The set's windows were outfitted with water systems to simulate falling rain, and the windowsills included fake pigeons. Scenes set in playgrounds and elsewhere outdoors were filmed on location in Los Angeles, and the public forum scenes in the premiere episode were filmed in one of the city's middle schools.
Schur said the Parks and Recreation producers approach each episode as if they are filming a real documentary. They typically shoot enough for a 35- or 40-minute episode, then cut it down to 22 minutes, using the best material. Due to the improvisational acting and hand-held camerawork, a great deal of extra footage is shot that must be discarded for the final cut. According to Poehler, "For every show, there could probably be a second show of stuff we've edited out." The original cut of the 22-minute pilot was 48 minutes long. The producers film about nine pages of the script each day, a large amount by U.S. television standards.
Although the series shares a mockumentary style with The Office, Daniels and Schur sought to establish a slightly different tone in the camerawork of the pilot episode. The one-on-one interviews, for example, sometimes feature two separate camera angles on the same person; the footage is intercut to create the final version of the scene. This technique was inspired by The Five Obstructions
, a 2003 experimental documentary directed by Lars Von Trier
and Jørgen Leth
, which Daniels watched at the suggestion of actor Paul Schneider. Parks and Recreation also makes frequent use of the jump cut
technique. For instance, one scene in the pilot episode repeatedly jump cuts between brief clips in which Leslie seeks permission from Ron to pursue the pit project. Early in the season, editor Dean Holland developed a technique that would be used throughout the series. During a scene in "The Reporter
" in which Leslie reacts to quotes read to her by the journalist, Poehler improvised a number of jokes, many of which were ultimately going to be cut from the episode. Holland thought they were all funny, so he created a brief montage intercutting several of the lines. The producers sought to lend authenticity to the fictional Pawnee setting by incorporating real-life Indiana elements. They contacted the Bloomington
–based Upland Brewing Company
and asked for empty beer bottles and labels to be used as background props.
The six episodes of the first season aired Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. The premiere was shown between two season 5 episodes of The Office: "Dream Team
" and "Michael Scott Paper Company". "The Reporter" was originally supposed to be the season's second episode, but the schedule was changed and "Canvassing", originally planned as the third episode, was shown second instead.
, focus groups responded poorly to a rough-cut version of the pilot. Many focus group members felt the show was a "carbon copy" of The Office. Some found it predictable, slow paced and lacking in character development, and felt the beginning of the episode needed to better explain the setting and plot. Some viewers said the show lacked strong male characters, particularly a "datable" lead. On the other hand, viewers said the show's portrayal of government bureaucracy was "very believable" and had the potential to generate amusing situations. While Poehler's character drew mixed comments, the actress herself was "well liked". The early feedback left many critics and industry observers skeptical about the show's chances of success. In response to the leak, Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, said the feedback on rough cuts is usually negative, even with ultimately successful shows. Schur said that the pilot had been completely re-edited at least four times since the focus group described in the report were held.
The first season received generally mixed to negative reviews. Many critics said the series was too similar to The Office and its mock documentary style. In particular, several commentators said the naive and well-meaning Leslie Knope character too closely resembled The Office protagonist Michael Scott
, the well-intentioned but dimwitted manager of a paper company sales office. Maureen Ryan, television reviewer for the Chicago Tribune
, said Parks and Recreation surpassed the Friends
spin-off Joey
as the "worst example of NBC's tendency to extend its franchises well beyond what is desirable or logical." Daniels said of the comparisons between Leslie Knope and Michael Scott, "My sense is that if we had built 'Parks and Recreation' around a 90-year-old Maasai warrior people would still have said, 'He reminds me of Michael Scott'. There was just no way to escape it." Poehler acknowledged that there was some validity to the comparisons, but felt that the series overcame them with the production of "Rock Show": "I think it was something we had to work through in the beginning, and I’m kind of hoping we’re on the other side of that and people will start to judge the show on its own, for what it is and realize it’s just a completely different world in a similar style."
Salon.com
writer Jonah Weiner said of the first season, "Each episode wound up more or less the same way, with the humiliation of Poehler's quixotic, adorably doofy bureaucrat". Some critics said the show's characters and overall tone were too mean-spirited in the early episodes. Rob Owens of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
said it was particularly "off-putting" to see the optimistic Leslie character "have her dreams stomped on by apathetic bureaucrats". While reviewers praised various cast members in individual episodes, some said the supporting characters in general needed to be more fully developed and provided with better material. Several wrote that some of the subplots were too predictable and risked becoming stale, such as Leslie's long-standing crush on Mark and the question of whether Andy and Ann would keep dating. Others said Leslie was too unintelligent and ditzy. Schur said that was not the intention of the writers, and the feedback prompted changes to the character in the second season. Years after the first season ended, Schur said he believed much of the early criticism stemmed from the fact that audiences were not yet familiar with the characters, and he believed viewers who revisited the episodes enjoyed them more because they had gotten to know the characters better as the series progressed.
Not all reviews were negative. Several commentators said the show had potential, and pointed out that early episodes of The Office had been flat before the series found its footing. The finale, "Rock Show", received the best reviews of the season. Several commentators declared that Parks and Recreation had finally found the right tone both generally and for the Leslie Knope character in particular. The show was praised for providing strong female leads in the characters played by Poehler and Rashida Jones. Several reviewers, even those who did not enjoy the show, applauded Poehler's comedic abilities and said her talent, timing and likability helped elevate the series above some of its flaws. Reviewers also said they particularly liked Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, and Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer. Some commentators approved of the Pawnee setting as offering a good opportunity to satirize small-town government and politics.
for 30 Rock
, another Thursday-night show on NBC. However, viewership declined almost every week over the rest of the season, culminating in a season low of 4.25 million households for the final episode. The average viewership for the six episodes of season one 5.45 million households. The Office experienced similarly poor ratings during its first season and later became a success. However, the low viewership presented a greater challenge for Parks and Recreation because NBC now trailed CBS
, ABC
and Fox
in the ratings, and the move of comedian Jay Leno
from The Tonight Show
to a variety show
in NBC's 10 p.m. weeknight slot left less room on the network's primetime schedule.
Retta said acting during the first season was stressful because it was unclear how long the show would stay on the air, due to the poor reviews and ratings. Likewise, Chris Pratt said there was a constant feeling among the Parks staff that the show could be canceled at any time: "At the end of season one Parks and Rec, you hug the people really, really fucking tight because you just don't know."
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
originally aired in the United States on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television network between April 9 and May 14, 2009. Produced by Deedle-Dee Productions
Deedle-Dee Productions
Deedle-Dee Productions is a television production company owned by Greg Daniels. It is known for producing the long running series King of the Hill, The Office and their newest series, Parks and Recreation...
and Universal Media Studios, the series was created by Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
and Michael Schur
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
, who served as executive producers with Howard Klein.
The comedy series focuses on Leslie Knope
Leslie Knope
Leslie Barbara Knope is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Amy Poehler. Poehler garnered two Emmy Award nominations for Best Lead Actress in Comedy Series for her role.-Background:...
(Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
), the deputy director of the parks and recreation department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. The season consisted of six 22-minute episodes, all of which aired at 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Daniels and Schur conceived the show when NBC officials asked Daniels to produce a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of his comedy series The Office, on which Schur was a writer. During development, the creators decided the new show would be a stand-alone series, though it would share the mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
style of The Office. Like that show, Parks and Recreation encouraged improvisation among its cast members.
Early test screenings were poor, and many critics and industry observers were skeptical about the show's chances of success. The first season received generally mixed to negative reviews, and several commentators found it too similar to The Office. The premiere episode
Pilot (Parks and Recreation)
"Pilot" is the first episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. The episode was written by series co-creators Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, and directed by Daniels...
was watched by 6.77 million households, but the viewership declined almost every week in the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
. A season low of 4.25 million households watched the final episode, "Rock Show
Rock Show (Parks and Recreation)
"Rock Show" is the sixth episode and season finale of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009. It was written by Norm Hiscock and directed by Michael Schur...
". Despite the low rating, "Rock Show" received the best reviews of the season and convinced some critics that the series had finally found the right tone.
Episodes
| № | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Crew
Deedle-Dee ProductionsDeedle-Dee Productions
Deedle-Dee Productions is a television production company owned by Greg Daniels. It is known for producing the long running series King of the Hill, The Office and their newest series, Parks and Recreation...
and Universal Media Studios produced the first season of Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
; series creators Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
and Michael Schur
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
were executive producers with Howard Klein. Morgan Sackett and Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
produced, and Tucker Cawley
Tucker Cawley
Tucker Cawley is an American television comedy writer and producer, best known for writing episodes for Everybody Loves Raymond. He has also written for Men of a Certain Age, and created the ill-fated Kelsey Grammer sitcom Hank.-Career:...
and Norm Hiscock
Norm Hiscock
Norm Hiscock is an Emmy Award winning screenwriter and producer. He is known for his work on Saturday Night Live, King of the Hill, The Kids in the Hall, Corner Gas and most recently Parks and Recreation...
served as consulting producers. Daniel J. Goor was the executive story editor for the season, and Rachel Axler
Rachel Axler
Rachel Axler is an American television writer and playwright. In television, her credits include New Girl, Bored to Death, Parks & Recreation and The Daily Show....
was a story editor. Dean Holland, an editor on The Office, also worked as an editor on Parks and Recreations first season. Mike Scully
Mike Scully
Mike Scully is an American television writer and producer. He is known for his work as executive producer and showrunner of the animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1997 to 2001. Scully grew up in West Springfield, Massachusetts and long had an interest in writing. He was an underachiever at school...
, a former executive producer and show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
for The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, joined Parks and Recreation as a consulting producer starting with the episode "Boys' Club
Boys' Club (Parks and Recreation)
"Boys' Club" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 30, 2009. It was written by Alan Yang and directed by Michael McCullers...
". Cawley left the show at the end of the first season to create the short-lived ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
sitcom Hank
Hank (2009 TV series)
Hank is a comedy television series which ran on ABC from September 30, 2009, to November 4, 2009. The series was created by Tucker Cawley and is about a Wall Street executive who loses his job and reconnects with his small-town family...
, starring Kelsey Grammer
Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
. The other producers all returned for the second season
Parks and Recreation (season 2)
The second season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network starting September 17, 2009, and ended on May 20, 2010. The season was produced by Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, and series co-creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur...
. Allison Jones
Allison Jones
Allison Jones is a popular casting director who is credited for helping to bring together realistic ensemble casts for such television shows as Freaks and Geeks , Curb Your Enthusiasm, United States of Tara, Parks and Recreation, Arrested Development , and the US version of The Office.She has...
, who worked as a casting director for The Office, served in the same capacity for Parks and Recreation, along with Nancy Perkins, for whom the character Ann Perkins was named.
The pilot episode
Pilot (Parks and Recreation)
"Pilot" is the first episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. The episode was written by series co-creators Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, and directed by Daniels...
was directed by Greg Daniels, and the season finale
Rock Show (Parks and Recreation)
"Rock Show" is the sixth episode and season finale of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009. It was written by Norm Hiscock and directed by Michael Schur...
was directed by Michael Schur, his debut in the position. Other directors included Seth Gordon
Seth Gordon
Seth Gordon is an American film director, producer, and film editor. He has produced and directed both film and TV for various film and television studios, including PBS, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the United Nations 1% For Development Fund...
, director of the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a 2007 American documentary film that follows Steve Wiebe as he tries to take the world high score for the arcade game Donkey Kong from reigning champion Billy Mitchell...
; Jeffrey Blitz
Jeffrey Blitz
Jeffrey Blitz is an American film director, producer and screenwriter from Ridgewood, New Jersey. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2002 documentary, Spellbound and he won the Dramatic Directing Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for his 2007 film, Rocket Science.Blitz won the 2009...
, who had directed numerous episodes of The Office; Michael McCullers
Michael McCullers
Michael McCullers is an American comedy film screenwriter.-Biography:A native of Indian Springs Village, Alabama, McCullers is a former writer on Saturday Night Live and is best known for co-writing the script for two Austin Powers movies, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Austin Powers...
, co-writer of the first two Austin Powers
Austin Powers (film series)
The Austin Powers series is a series of action-comedy films written by and starring Mike Myers as the title character, directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema...
films, who directed Poehler in the comedy film Baby Mama
Baby Mama (film)
Baby Mama is a 2008 comedy film from Universal Pictures written and directed by Michael McCullers and starring Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sigourney Weaver, Greg Kinnear, and Dax Shepard.-Plot:...
; and Beth McCarthy Miller
Beth McCarthy-Miller
Beth McCarthy or Beth McCarthy-Miller was the director of NBCs Saturday Night Live starting in 1995. She left SNL in 2006 at the end of season 31, replaced as director by Don Roy King...
, a longtime television director who worked with Poehler on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. Daniels and Schur wrote the pilot episode, and the rest of the season's episodes were written by Axler, Goor, Hiscock, Cawley and Alan Yang
Alan Yang
Alan Yang is an American screenwriter for the NBC sitcom, Parks and Recreation.-Career:His previous credits include the Carson Daly's Late Night Show and South Park. In 2009, he was named by Variety magazine as one of "10 Screenwriters to Watch". He currently has three screenplays in development,"...
.
Cast
A principal cast of six actors received star billing in the show's first season. Poehler portrayed the lead character, Leslie KnopeLeslie Knope
Leslie Barbara Knope is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Amy Poehler. Poehler garnered two Emmy Award nominations for Best Lead Actress in Comedy Series for her role.-Background:...
, the naive but well-meaning, eager-to-please deputy director of the parks and recreation department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. Also among the cast were Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian. He currently stars as Tom Haverford on the NBC show Parks and Recreation....
as Tom Haverford
Tom Haverford
Thomas Montgomery "Tom" Haverford , born Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani, is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee who is revered for his high levels of swagger and unmatched entrepreneurial skills...
, a sarcastic parks department employee, and Rashida Jones
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter and occasional singer. She played Louisa Fenn on Boston Public and Karen Filippelli on The Office as well as roles in the films I Love You, Man and The Social Network...
as Ann Perkins
Ann Perkins
Ann Meredith Perkins is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is a nurse and best friend of Leslie Knope. She is portrayed by Rashida Jones.-Season one:...
, a nurse who befriends Leslie and tries to help her turn a giant construction pit into a park. Daniels and Schur intended to cast Ansari and Jones (who previously appeared in The Office as Karen Filippelli
Karen Filippelli
Karen Filippelli is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. She is played by Rashida Jones. She is loosely based on the character of Rachel from the original UK version of the show, in that she transferred during the merger of the two branches, and became romantically...
) from the series' earliest stages of development, but the ultimate Parks and Recreation concept did not coalesce until they learned Poehler would be available to star. After her recruitment, the general concept of the series was established and the script for the pilot episode was written.
Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman is an American actor best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. He is also a skilled woodworker.-Early life and career:...
portrayed Ron Swanson
Ron Swanson
Ronald Ulysses "Ron" Swanson is a fictional character played by Nick Offerman in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation on NBC. Ron is parks department director in the Indiana city of Pawnee and the immediate superior of protagonist Leslie Knope...
, the director of the parks and recreation department, and Aubrey Plaza played April Ludgate
April Ludgate
April Roberta Ludgate is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is an apathetic college student employed by the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation as Ron Swanson's assistant. She is married to Andy Dwyer. She is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza...
, a sarcastic and disinterested college intern. The part was written specifically for Plaza. After meeting her, casting director Allison Jones told Schur, "I just met the weirdest girl I've ever met in my life. You have to meet her and put her on your show." Schur of meeting her, "Aubrey came over to my office and made me feel really uncomfortable for like an hour, and immediately I wanted to put her in the show," although the writers were not immediately sure what direction her character would take. Rounding out the main cast was Paul Schneider
Paul Schneider (actor)
Paul Andrew Schneider is an American film actor.-Early life and career:Schneider was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the North Carolina School of Arts...
, best known for his work in independent films such as Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl is a 2007 American-Canadian comedy-drama film written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie. It stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner and Patricia Clarkson...
and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a 2007 American Western drama film. The film is directed by Andrew Dominik, with Brad Pitt portraying Jesse James and Casey Affleck as his killer, Robert Ford.Filming took place in rural Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba...
. He was cast as Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is the city planner for Pawnee, Indiana, one of Ann Perkins's ex-boyfriends, and Leslie Knope's colleague. He is portrayed by Paul Schneider...
, a city planner and Leslie's unrequited love interest. She still harbors feelings for Mark from a one-night sexual encounter years ago. Schneider said that early in the season he was insecure in the role because he was still trying to figure out the character's motivations. Chris Pratt
Chris Pratt
Christopher Michael "Chris" Pratt is an American actor, best known for his roles as Harold Brighton "Bright" Abbott in the television series Everwood, the recurring character Winchester "Ché" Cook in season 4 of The OC, Andy Dwyer in the television series Parks and Recreation and for portraying...
played Andy Dwyer
Andy Dwyer
Andrew Maxwell "Andy" Dwyer is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is Ann Perkins' ex-boyfriend, a talented-if-yet-unsuccessful musician, a shoe-shiner at Pawnee City Hall, and April Ludgate's husband. He is portrayed by Chris Pratt.-Background:At the start of the...
, Ann's well-intentioned but lazy and simple-minded boyfriend. Although Pratt appeared in every episode of season 1, he was credited as guest star until the second season, when he was promoted to the main cast. Andy was originally supposed to appear only in the first season, but the producers liked Pratt so much that, almost immediately after casting him, they decided to make Andy a regular character if the show was renewed.
Jim O'Heir
Jim O'Heir
Jim O'Heir is an American actor. He was active in the Chicago theater during the 1980s and 1990s as part of the theater group White Noise, and appeared in such plays as The Book of Blanche, Stumpy's Gang and Ad-Nauseam with the group...
and Retta
Retta (comedian)
Retta Sirleaf, better known simply as Retta, is an American stand-up comedian and actress, who is currently appearing as Donna Meagle on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation...
made regular appearances as Jerry Gergich and Donna Meagle
Donna Meagle
Donna Meagle is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Retta Sirleaf and has appeared in the show since the pilot. For the first two seasons of the show she appeared as a recurring character; she became a regular in the third season.-Background:Donna is...
, two fellow employees at the Pawnee parks and recreation department. The personalities of the two characters did not become developed until the second season, but Schur said the Parks and Recreation staff liked the actors so decided to include them in the show and "figured we'd work it out later". Pamela Reed
Pamela Reed
Pamela Reed is an American actress. She is known for playing Ruth Powers in various episodes of TV's The Simpsons, as Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic partner in the 1990 movie Kindergarten Cop and as the matriarch Gail Green in Jericho...
made several appearances as Marlene Griggs-Knope
Marlene Griggs-Knope
Marlene Griggs-Knope is a fictional character played by Pamela Reed in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. She is the mother of the show's protagonist, Leslie Knope, and an important political figure in the school system at the fictional Indiana town of Pawnee, where Leslie...
, Leslie's mother and an important figure in the Pawnee school system. Seth Gordon, who directed Reed in her first episode, "Canvassing
Canvassing (Parks and Recreation)
"Canvassing" is the second episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 16, 2009. The episode was written by Rachel Axler and directed by Seth Gordon...
", said she improvised a great deal during her audition, creating many elements that helped define Marlene's character. Jama Williamson
Jama Williamson
Jama Williamson is an American actress. She was active in New York City theater throughout the early 2000s, during which she appeared in such shows as Avery Crozier's Eat the Runt, Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl, A. R. Gurney's Sylvia and Simon Mendes da Costa's Losing Louis...
appeared in "Rock Show" as Wendy, the attractive surgeon wife of Tom Haverford. Wendy would make numerous appearances in season 2, during which it was revealed that the Haverfords have a green card marriage
Green card marriage
Green card marriage is a neologism that refers to the phenomenon of a marriage of convenience between a legal resident of a country and a person who would be ineligible for residency but for being married to a resident.-Description:...
. Eric Edelstein guest starred in two season 1 episodes, "Canvassing" and "Boys' Club", as Lawrence, a disgruntled neighbor of Andy's.
Conception
Immediately after Ben SilvermanBen Silverman
Benjamin Noah "Ben" Silverman is the founder and CEO of Electus, a next generation entertainment studio staked by IAC's Barry Diller....
was named co-chairman of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's entertainment division in 2007, he asked Greg Daniels to create a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of The Office, the half-hour comedy Daniels adapted from the British comedy of the same name
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
, created by Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
. Daniels co-created Parks and Recreation with Michael Schur, who had been a writer on The Office. Like Daniels, Schur had previously worked on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. The two spent months considering ideas for the new series and debating whether to make it a stand-alone show rather than a spin-off. According to Daniels, they eventually abandoned the original spin-off plan because they "couldn't find the right fit". They considered a series about a local government official trying to rebuild a political career following a humiliating public spectacle, but ultimately abandoned the idea. However, it was ultimately incorporated into the backstory for Ben Wyatt
Ben Wyatt (Parks and Recreation)
Benjamin "Ben" Wyatt is a character in the TV series Parks and Recreation. The character guest starred in two episodes of season two and was upgraded to a regular in season three. Ben is a state auditor who comes into Pawnee with Chris Traeger to evaluate the town's funds at the end of the second...
, the character played by Adam Scott
Adam Scott (actor)
Adam Scott is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Henry Pollard in the Starz comedy series Party Down and as Ben Wyatt in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation....
who was added late in the second season.
After Poehler agreed to play the lead, they decided the show would revolve around an optimistic bureaucrat in small-town government. The idea was partly inspired by the portrayal of local politics on the HBO drama series The Wire
The WIRE
the WIRE is the student-run College radio station at the University of Oklahoma, broadcasting in a freeform format. The WIRE serves the University of Oklahoma and surrounding communities, and is staffed by student DJs. The WIRE broadcasts at 1710 kHz AM in Norman, Oklahoma...
, as well as the renewed interest in and optimism about politics stemming from the 2008 United States presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
. The staff was also drawn to the idea of building a show around a female relationship, namely Leslie Knope and Ann Perkins. Reports that Daniels and Schur were developing a show together led to press speculation that it would, in fact, be a spin-off of The Office. The producers insisted their new series would be entirely independent. Nevertheless, their concept for it shared several elements with The Office, particularly the mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
approach, which allows the actors to look at and directly address the camera. The new show would also include documentary-style interviews, in which the characters speak one-on-one with the camera crew about the day's events. Again as with The Office, the new series would be scripted but improvisation would be encouraged among the actors.
The series was scheduled as a mid-season replacement and rushed into production to meet the premiere date of April 9, 2009. As a result, when the series was featured at a panel during the January 2009 television critics press tour, NBC did not have a finished episode to screen, only a copy of the pilot script available for review. Some of the parts were still not cast and the series, which did not yet have a name, was referred to as The Untitled Amy Poehler Project or TUAPP. The name Public Service was considered, but ultimately rejected because network officials did not want to be accused of mocking the idea. In a commercial that aired during NBC's Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
coverage in February, it was announced that the series would be called Parks and Recreation.
Writing
The show's writers spent time researching local California politics and attending Los Angeles City CouncilLos Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
meetings. Schur said they observed that many community hearings were attended only by those opposed, often angrily, to the proposals under consideration. This confirmed his existing impression: "I've been to some community meetings in my life, and it is often this feeling of utter sparseness. That nobody cares." The depiction of public hearings in several Parks and Recreation episodes was inspired by this perspective, which was also the basis for the entire "Canvassing" episode. Schur asked urban planners in Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
, whether efforts to turn a construction pit into a park could realistically take several months or longer. They told him that was entirely plausible, and that they had recently broken ground on a park that had been in various planning stages for 18 years. Schur said the pit project was conceived as a device to bring all the characters together, which was partially inspired by the way various characters in The Wire were brought together to work toward a common goal or project. The writers originally envisioned the pit becoming a park only in the series finale, although those plans were later changed and the pit was filled in during the second season.
The Pawnee residents vocally opposed to Leslie's park proposal were based on real-life California residents the show's producers encountered who fought the construction of parks in their hometowns. One such group, the Committee for a Better Park, was actually opposed to parks in general, and the deceptiveness of their name and mission inspired the producers' writing for those characters. The Parks and Recreation staff worked with a number of consultants familiar with local government work, including Scott Albright, a California city planner who provided feedback for the Mark Brendanawicz character. Inspiration for Ron Swanson came from an encounter Schur had in Burbank with an elected official, a Libertarian who favored minimal government and admitted, "I don't really believe in the mission of my job."
Daniels and Schur wrote the script for the pilot episode in mid-2008. The original script portrayed Leslie and Mark as slightly less likable than they appeared in the final draft. For example, in the premiere episode, Mark asks Ron to greenlight
Greenlight
To green-light a project is to give permission or a go ahead to move forward with a project. In the context of the movie and TV businesses, to green-light something is to formally approve its production finance, thereby allowing the project to move forward from the development phase to...
the park because he is inspired by Leslie's optimism and wants to help her. In the original script, Mark intervened because he was attracted to Ann and wanted an excuse to keep seeing her. The characters were made more likable in response to feedback the episode received from focus groups and press tour screenings. The first season episodes were written and developed relatively quickly after each other, and Schur said the staff was treating the entire six-episode season as if it was one television pilot. When the season concluded, the writers had not decided what would happen with the developing romantic plotlines between Leslie and Mark, or Mark and Ann.
Parks and Recreation involves a mixture of written dialogue and comedic improvisation. In one example from the pilot episode, Aziz Ansari's character attempts to flirt with Rashida Jones's when she speaks at a parks and recreation public forum. Ansari continued to improvise long after completing his scripted dialogue. In the season's final episode, "Rock Show", Andy goes through a list of the previous names of his rock band. About half the band names used in the episode came directly from the script, but after actor Chris Pratt made up one on the spot, the directors encouraged him to keep improvising. Pratt said he went through about 200 fake band names during the take.
Filming
Parks and Recreation faced early production delays because Poehler was pregnant when she signed on; filming had to be postponed until she gave birth. Principal photography began on February 18, 2009. The show was filmed in Southern California, and the construction pit featured throughout the season was dug by the episode's producers at an undeveloped property in Van NuysVan Nuys, Los Angeles, California
Van Nuys is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.-History:Look at the two photos of Van Nuys' first year—and then listen to what the Los Angeles Times wrote on February 23, 1911, the day after the Van Nuys town lot auction--"Between dawn and dusk, in the...
, a district of Los Angeles. The producers went door-to-door in the neighborhood, seeking residents' permission for the dig. The pit was guarded 24 hours a day, and paparazzi
Paparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
regularly came to the set to take photos of the actors during filming. The exterior of the Pawnee government building, and several of the hallway scenes, were shot at Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
City Hall. The parks and recreation department interiors, as well as the Town Hall courtyard, were filmed on a sound stage. The set's windows were outfitted with water systems to simulate falling rain, and the windowsills included fake pigeons. Scenes set in playgrounds and elsewhere outdoors were filmed on location in Los Angeles, and the public forum scenes in the premiere episode were filmed in one of the city's middle schools.
Schur said the Parks and Recreation producers approach each episode as if they are filming a real documentary. They typically shoot enough for a 35- or 40-minute episode, then cut it down to 22 minutes, using the best material. Due to the improvisational acting and hand-held camerawork, a great deal of extra footage is shot that must be discarded for the final cut. According to Poehler, "For every show, there could probably be a second show of stuff we've edited out." The original cut of the 22-minute pilot was 48 minutes long. The producers film about nine pages of the script each day, a large amount by U.S. television standards.
Although the series shares a mockumentary style with The Office, Daniels and Schur sought to establish a slightly different tone in the camerawork of the pilot episode. The one-on-one interviews, for example, sometimes feature two separate camera angles on the same person; the footage is intercut to create the final version of the scene. This technique was inspired by The Five Obstructions
The Five Obstructions
The Five Obstructions is a 2003 Danish film by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth. The film is a documentary, but incorporates lengthy sections of experimental films produced by the filmmakers. The premise is that Lars von Trier has created a challenge for his friend and mentor, Jørgen Leth, another...
, a 2003 experimental documentary directed by Lars Von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
and Jørgen Leth
Jørgen Leth
Jørgen Leth is a Danish poet and film director who is considered a leading figure in experimental documentary film making. Most notable are his epic documentary A Sunday in Hell and his surrealistic short film The Perfect Human...
, which Daniels watched at the suggestion of actor Paul Schneider. Parks and Recreation also makes frequent use of the jump cut
Jump cut
A jump cut is a cut in film editing and vloging in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit causes the subject of the shots to appear to "jump" position in a discontinuous way...
technique. For instance, one scene in the pilot episode repeatedly jump cuts between brief clips in which Leslie seeks permission from Ron to pursue the pit project. Early in the season, editor Dean Holland developed a technique that would be used throughout the series. During a scene in "The Reporter
The Reporter (Parks and Recreation)
"The Reporter" is the third episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 23, 2009. The episode was written by Daniel J. Goor and directed by Jeffrey Blitz...
" in which Leslie reacts to quotes read to her by the journalist, Poehler improvised a number of jokes, many of which were ultimately going to be cut from the episode. Holland thought they were all funny, so he created a brief montage intercutting several of the lines. The producers sought to lend authenticity to the fictional Pawnee setting by incorporating real-life Indiana elements. They contacted the Bloomington
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
–based Upland Brewing Company
Upland Brewing Company
Upland Brewing Company, founded in 1997, is a brewery in Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana. It is currently the second largest brewery in Indiana and is expected to reach approximately 9,000 barrels of production for 2010.-History:...
and asked for empty beer bottles and labels to be used as background props.
The six episodes of the first season aired Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. The premiere was shown between two season 5 episodes of The Office: "Dream Team
Dream Team (The Office)
"Dream Team" is the twenty-second episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 94th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. In the episode, Pam and Michael try to keep each other motivated as the two form their new...
" and "Michael Scott Paper Company". "The Reporter" was originally supposed to be the season's second episode, but the schedule was changed and "Canvassing", originally planned as the third episode, was shown second instead.
Reviews
The first season of Parks and Recreation started to receive criticism before the premiere episode aired. According to a March 18, 2009, report that was leaked to television journalist Nikki FinkeNikki Finke
Nikki Finke is an American journalist and blogger. She is Founder and Editor in chief and President of Deadline.com, a website with original content consisting of her and other veteran showbiz journalists' reporting and commentary on the business of the entertainment industry formerly known as...
, focus groups responded poorly to a rough-cut version of the pilot. Many focus group members felt the show was a "carbon copy" of The Office. Some found it predictable, slow paced and lacking in character development, and felt the beginning of the episode needed to better explain the setting and plot. Some viewers said the show lacked strong male characters, particularly a "datable" lead. On the other hand, viewers said the show's portrayal of government bureaucracy was "very believable" and had the potential to generate amusing situations. While Poehler's character drew mixed comments, the actress herself was "well liked". The early feedback left many critics and industry observers skeptical about the show's chances of success. In response to the leak, Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, said the feedback on rough cuts is usually negative, even with ultimately successful shows. Schur said that the pilot had been completely re-edited at least four times since the focus group described in the report were held.
The first season received generally mixed to negative reviews. Many critics said the series was too similar to The Office and its mock documentary style. In particular, several commentators said the naive and well-meaning Leslie Knope character too closely resembled The Office protagonist Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
, the well-intentioned but dimwitted manager of a paper company sales office. Maureen Ryan, television reviewer for the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, said Parks and Recreation surpassed the Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
spin-off Joey
Joey (TV series)
Joey is an American sitcom, which stars Matt LeBlanc reprising his role as Joey Tribbiani from the sitcom Friends. It premiered on the NBC television network, on September 9, 2004, in the former time slot of its parent series, Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m...
as the "worst example of NBC's tendency to extend its franchises well beyond what is desirable or logical." Daniels said of the comparisons between Leslie Knope and Michael Scott, "My sense is that if we had built 'Parks and Recreation' around a 90-year-old Maasai warrior people would still have said, 'He reminds me of Michael Scott'. There was just no way to escape it." Poehler acknowledged that there was some validity to the comparisons, but felt that the series overcame them with the production of "Rock Show": "I think it was something we had to work through in the beginning, and I’m kind of hoping we’re on the other side of that and people will start to judge the show on its own, for what it is and realize it’s just a completely different world in a similar style."
Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
writer Jonah Weiner said of the first season, "Each episode wound up more or less the same way, with the humiliation of Poehler's quixotic, adorably doofy bureaucrat". Some critics said the show's characters and overall tone were too mean-spirited in the early episodes. Rob Owens of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG," is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-Early history:...
said it was particularly "off-putting" to see the optimistic Leslie character "have her dreams stomped on by apathetic bureaucrats". While reviewers praised various cast members in individual episodes, some said the supporting characters in general needed to be more fully developed and provided with better material. Several wrote that some of the subplots were too predictable and risked becoming stale, such as Leslie's long-standing crush on Mark and the question of whether Andy and Ann would keep dating. Others said Leslie was too unintelligent and ditzy. Schur said that was not the intention of the writers, and the feedback prompted changes to the character in the second season. Years after the first season ended, Schur said he believed much of the early criticism stemmed from the fact that audiences were not yet familiar with the characters, and he believed viewers who revisited the episodes enjoyed them more because they had gotten to know the characters better as the series progressed.
Not all reviews were negative. Several commentators said the show had potential, and pointed out that early episodes of The Office had been flat before the series found its footing. The finale, "Rock Show", received the best reviews of the season. Several commentators declared that Parks and Recreation had finally found the right tone both generally and for the Leslie Knope character in particular. The show was praised for providing strong female leads in the characters played by Poehler and Rashida Jones. Several reviewers, even those who did not enjoy the show, applauded Poehler's comedic abilities and said her talent, timing and likability helped elevate the series above some of its flaws. Reviewers also said they particularly liked Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, and Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer. Some commentators approved of the Pawnee setting as offering a good opportunity to satirize small-town government and politics.
Ratings
Parks and Recreations premiere was seen in 6.77 million households. Media outlets described this as a solid result, comparable to the average Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
for 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
, another Thursday-night show on NBC. However, viewership declined almost every week over the rest of the season, culminating in a season low of 4.25 million households for the final episode. The average viewership for the six episodes of season one 5.45 million households. The Office experienced similarly poor ratings during its first season and later became a success. However, the low viewership presented a greater challenge for Parks and Recreation because NBC now trailed CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the ratings, and the move of comedian Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
from The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
to a variety show
The Jay Leno Show
The Jay Leno Show is an American comedy show created by and starring Jay Leno, that aired from September 14, 2009 to February 9, 2010 on NBC following the May 29, 2009 conclusion of Leno's first tenure as host of The Tonight Show...
in NBC's 10 p.m. weeknight slot left less room on the network's primetime schedule.
Retta said acting during the first season was stressful because it was unclear how long the show would stay on the air, due to the poor reviews and ratings. Likewise, Chris Pratt said there was a constant feeling among the Parks staff that the show could be canceled at any time: "At the end of season one Parks and Rec, you hug the people really, really fucking tight because you just don't know."
DVD release
The first season of Parks and Recreation was released on DVD in the United States on September 8, 2009. The DVD included all six episodes, as well as an "Extended Producer's Cut" of the season finale, "Rock Show". The disc also included cast and crew commentary tracks for each episode, as well as about 30 minutes of deleted scenes.External links
- Official Parks and Recreation site at NBC.comNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...