Parks and Recreation
Because parks don't grow on trees.
Parks and Recreation (2009-2015)
Seasons: 7,
episodes: 122
Episode runtime: 22 min
Average rating:
8.5/10
372 987
Status
Ended
Country
Network
NBC
Genre
Creators
Michael Schur, Greg Daniels
Actors
Scenario
Harris Wittels, Michael Schur
Producer
David Hyman, Amy Poehler, Morgan Sackett, Dean Holland, Alan Yang, Daniel J. Goor, Aisha Muharrar, Dave King, Emily Spivey, Michael Schur
Camera operator
Composer
Editing
Short description
In an attempt to beautify her town — and advance her career — Leslie Knope, a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana, takes on bureaucrats, cranky neighbors, and single-issue fanatics whose weapons are lawsuits, the jumble of city codes, and the democratic process she loves so much.
Seasons
| Season | Episodes | Release date | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
Season 1 A place where nothing ever gets done... small town government.
|
6 | 2009-04-09 | 7.3 |
| 24 | 2009-09-17 | 7.8 | |
| 16 | 2011-01-20 | 7.9 | |
| 22 | 2011-09-22 | 7.7 | |
| 22 | 2012-09-20 | 7.6 | |
| 20 | 2013-09-26 | 7.7 | |
| 12 | 2015-01-13 | 7.8 |
What's left behind the scenes
- Jay Jackson, who played the narrator, previously worked as a journalist and TV presenter in San Diego and Los Angeles. In the mid-2000s, he left journalism and, thanks to the manager of one of his actor friends, landed a small role as a journalist in one of the episodes of the project "Dexter" (2006-2013). After that, he allowed his manager to pitch him roles in other films and series, on the condition that they were roles of journalists or TV reporters. Thus, Jackson appeared in the series "Scandal" (2012), "Revenge" (2011-2015), "Cold Case" (2005-2012), "The Mentalist" (2008-2015), "Body of Proof" (2011-2013), and "Brainless" (2016), as well as in the films "Fast Five" (Justin Lin, 2011) and "Battleship" (Peter Berg, 2012).
- Like his character in the series, Nick Offerman is passionate about woodworking. The actor has already released a DVD providing a detailed guide on how to build a canoe yourself. Additionally, alongside his acting career, he runs a woodworking shop.
- Andy Dwyer is a huge fan of the grunge band Pearl Jam. When Andy sings, he copies the performance style of the band's frontman, Eddie Vedder.
- The DVD features humorous commercials for Tom's bistro, a teen clothing rental store, a dental office, and more.
- The series repeatedly shows Ron sitting at work solving crossword puzzles.
- Jean-Ralphio was almost made Leslie's lover, but the show's writers decided he was too young for that.
- The scenes inside the city council were filmed at the Pasadena City Hall in California.
- Ron Swanson's second ex-wife is played by Megan Mullally. An actress, comedian, TV host, and singer, Mullally is married to Nick Offerman, who played Ron in the series.
- After filming several takes of each scene according to the script, the actors would then play the scene with improvisations to make it as funny as possible.
- The idea for the series was first suggested by park employees in El Segundo, California.
- On Ron Swanson's desk lies an M18A1 Claymore—a directional anti-personnel fragmentation mine. The casing of the mine bears the inscription: 'Front Toward Enemy'.
- In several episodes, the role of the bassist for the band Mouse Rat was played by the show's producer, Alan Yang.
- The character named April has a sister named Natalie. In reality, this is the name of Aubrey Plaza's younger sister (the actress who plays April), and the actress used many of her sister's personality traits to develop the character.
- The role of Andy was originally intended to be a supporting part appearing only in the first season; however, Chris Pratt was so likable in the role that starting from the second season, his character was promoted to one of the leads.
- Initially, NBC ordered 13 episodes, but due to Amy Poehler's pregnancy, only 6 episodes were included in the first season.
- The opening credits are shown against the backdrop of two landmarks located along the highway in Montpelier, Indiana: a giant ice cream sculpture near an ice cream parlor outside of town and a Native American statue in the town center.
- One of the characters in the series, Ron Swanson, secretly plays the saxophone. When coming up with this plot point, the show's writers did not know that the actor playing the role, Nick Offerman, is actually quite good at playing the saxophone.
- Amy Poehler is the only member of the series cast who appears in every episode.
- Due to Amy Poehler's pregnancy, 24 episodes of Season 2 and 6 episodes of Season 3 were filmed back-to-back. The remaining 10 episodes of Season 3 were filmed later.
- Jim O'Heir, who played Jerry, originally auditioned for the role of Ron Swanson. The producers liked him so much that they kept him in the series on the principle of "let him stay, and we'll figure something out later."
- The project was originally conceived as a spin-off of the series 'The Office' (2005-2013), but it was later decided to make it a standalone show while retaining the mockumentary style. Executive producers of 'Parks and Recreation,' Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, also worked on 'The Office,' where the former was the creator and the latter was a writer and executive producer.
- An inverted map of Muncie, Indiana, is used as the map of the town of Pawnee.
- The Landmark Diner on Cheshire Bridge Road in Atlanta, Georgia, served as the set for the cafe.
- In the episode "London," Ben asks Andy, "So you just stopped drinking beer?" to which he replies, "Yeah, and I lost almost 22 kilograms in a month." This is a reference to a real-life episode involving actor Chris Pratt. While preparing for the role of Peter Quill (also known as Star-Lord) in James Gunn's sci-fi action movie "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014), the actor lost 27 kilograms.
- The rusty 'sculpture' in Ron Swanson's office is a 'hedgehog,' or a World War II-era anti-tank obstacle.
- Ben Schwartz originally auditioned for the role of Dave Sanderson, but ended up playing Jean-Ralphio Saperstein.
- Nick Offerman and Aubrey Plaza, who play Ron and April, were born on the same day—June 26. Jason Schwartzman, who appears on screen as a guest star, was also born on this day.
- Initially, Tom Haverford was going to be named Darwish Sabir Ismail Ghani. Aziz Ansari, who played the character, borrowed the name from his own cousin. Ansari and his character Haverford have something in common: their parents are from India, but they themselves were born and raised in South Carolina, USA.
- Chris Pratt, who played Andy, proved to be a brilliant improviser and a godsend for the screenwriters. They frequently wrote phrases like "Andy does something here" into the script, fully confident that the actor wouldn't let them down and would indeed come up with something on the fly.
- Nick Offerman originally auditioned for the role of Mark Brendanawicz, but he was cast as Ron Swanson instead.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
