Leslie Knope and the rest of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation department will leave behind a legacy of great laughs and will be missed. The seventh and final season of NBC’s Parks and Recreation starts tonight and the cast has already said goodbye.
Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, started life as a simple The Office knock-off, following Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her quest to get a park built in Pawnee, Indiana. About halfway through season two though - once Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) finally started getting involved in the action - the cast began to gel and the show took on a life of its own.
We’ve seen Andy (Chris Pratt) fall in love with former intern April (Aubrey Plaza), then Ann (Rashida Jones) went off to Michigan to start a life with Chris (Rob Lowe). Leslie found love in Ben (Adam Scott), creating the perfect power couple on TV. Even Ron, after two Tammys, found the love of his life. While some shows usually stagnate when the couples get together, Parks managed to avoid that, thanks to some great supporting characters and never forgetting the real story - Leslie’s unending quest to make Pawnee a better city.
Plus, as long as Jerry or Terry or Larry (Jim O’Heir) continues to screw up, Parks always had a reason to keep viewers tuned in.
“I had the greatest job because I would go in in the morning and basically my job as Leslie was to stand in front of all of my friends and tell them how wonderful they were,” Poehler said in an interview with Variety. “And also tell them the plans for the day. It combined two things I really enjoy: telling my friends how much I love them and also telling them what to do.”
Parks’ final season will also feature plenty of recurring characters making appearances. Jon Hamm, Rob Lowe, Rashida Jones and Megan Mullally will all be back. E! News reports that Arizona Sen. John McCain even filmed a new scene.
NBC may be trying to burn off Parks quickly by airing two episodes a night, but Parks is never going away. We still have to learn how to play the Cones of Dunshire!
The final season starts tonight at 8 p.m.
image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com