Parks and Recreation marks 100th episode
N this groundbreaking era of TV, comedies have to raise the bar if they are to enjoy longevity. With Modern Family, Mom,
IVeep and How I Met Your Mother proving to be success stories, it isn’t easy mirroring that. But Amy Poehler (who is synonymous with comedy, given her exploits in Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock and Arrested Development) proved to be a hit as the protagonist in mockumentary sitcom Parks and Recreation, in which she plays Leslie Knope, the councilwoman of Pawnee.
Aside from the comedy attracting numerous nominations over its five-season run, we now get to see the sixth instalment, which marks the exit of Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe and celebrates its 100th episode too.
In a chat with TV Guide, executive producer and co-creator Michael Schur hinted at a few twists.
He said: “There are a couple different things going on. The main thing that’s happening is that Leslie is obviously being recalled from office. She is in the middle of this fight for her life. She’s broken her recall defence into 40 different phases. One of the phases is called Think Outside the Box. During this phase, April (Aubrey Plaza) nominated her for an award for the International Woman in Leadership group. She’s won the award and there’s a number of women from all over the world who have won it. “The ceremony is in London, so for that reason Leslie heads to the British capital. Other people tag along for various reasons. Andy and Ben (Adam Scott) are working on putting together an international version of one of their charity projects. April is there because Andy is going. There’s a couple of different things that happen when they’re actually there.”
As for how Leslie is handling this career setback, he says,
“Obviously, it’s a huge bummer. That’s part of what this story is in the first chunk of episodes. She works so hard and she’s such a dedicated person to her job. The fact that they’re trying to boot her out of office is really vexing to her. It’s going to be a slog.
“She’s attacking it with her usual brand of enthusiasm and nose-to-the-grindstone kind of attitude, but it does begin to bum her out a little bit that people have this ‘get out of here’ attitude towards her.”
Viewers will be delighted to see Kristen Bell ( House of Lies) pop up on screen in her guest role as a city councillor from Eagleton.
Meanwhile, Ben is crucial to Leslie’s fight this season.
Schur says, “Everything Leslie does is a team effort. Obviously he’s the most important person in her life, so he’s right beside her the whole time. She is very lucky in that she has a lot of people in her life who give her advice. She can lean on a lot of shoulders and she does that in the premiere and in the first chunk of episodes. You’ll see her looking to different people, as she’s always done, for guidance and support. Ann (Jones) and Chris (Lowe) play a role in that.”
Other major storylines this season include Diane learning that she is pregnant.
Politics has the proclivity of getting ugly and Parks and Recreation imbues the challenges with refreshing humour and slice of-life drama in season six.
Parks and Recreation airs on Monday on M-Net Series Showcase (DStv Channel 113) at 6.30pm.