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 season stars Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, and Aubrey Plaza.
The comedy series focuses on Leslie Knope (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 reviews, and several commentators found it too similar to The Office. The premiere episode was watched by 6.77 million viewers, but the viewership declined almost every week in the Nielsen ratings. A season low of 4.25 million viewers 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.
Cast
Main Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the Pawnee parks department, who has not let politics dampen her sense of optimism; her ultimate goal is to become President of the United States. She has a strong love for her home town of Pawnee, and desires to use her position to improve it. Rashida Jones as Ann Perkins, a nurse who begins a friendship with Leslie after they collaborate to turn an empty pit next to Ann's house into a park. She slowly becomes more involved in the Pawnee government as a result of her friendship with Leslie. Paul Schneider as Mark Brendanawicz, a city planner with the Pawnee municipal government. He has long been disillusioned with government after being unable to achieve his career ambitions. Leslie harbors a strong crush on Mark due to a romantic encounter they had several years ago, but Mark does not return her feelings. Mark assists Leslie with her plan to turn the pit next to Ann's house into a park, despite believing that the plan has no chance of success. Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, Leslie's self-absorbed and underachieving subordinate. While he is an employee at the parks department, he cares little about his job, and instead focusing on his entrepreneurial ambitions. He takes great pride in his personal appearance and regularly pursues women despite being married. Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson, the cynical director of the parks department and Leslie's boss. He holds very negative views on politics and government, and regularly works to make his department as inefficient as possible. This leads him to butt heads with Leslie on a number of occasions, as her philosophy regarding politics is the polar opposite. Despite ideological differences, both he and Leslie have a large amount of respect for one another. Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate, an apathetic young intern at the parks department. She cares little for her internship, and often shows annoyance at having to complete tasks. Due to her rebellious and emotionless attitude, she is often annoyed by her co-workers, especially Leslie.
Recurring Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer, Ann's boyfriend and lead singer of a band called "Mouse Rat". Before the start of the series, Andy falls into the pit next to Ann's house and breaks both his legs. Andy is shown to be immature and lazy, expecting Ann to pamper him non-stop while his legs are broken. Jim O'Heir as Jerry Gergich, an incompetent and widely ridiculed employee at the parks department. Retta as Donna Meagle, the no-nonsense office manager at the parks department. Pamela Reed as Marlene Griggs-Knope, Leslie's mother. Marlene is a successful politician and figure in Pawnee's school system. Due to her success, Leslie constantly strives to impress her mother, despite the fact that Marlene has low expectations regarding her daughter's success. Marlene is also significantly less optimistic when it comes to politics, and is not above making under-the-table deals to get what she wants.
Guest stars Alison Becker as Shauna Malwae-Tweep, a newspaper journalist for The Pawnee Journal. Brian Huskey as Morgan, a sex offender who expresses interest in the park for dubious reasons. Jim Meskimen as Martin Housely, an MC at many special events around Pawnee. Lennon Parham as Kate Speevak, a mother who opposes the construction of Leslie's park. Phil Reeves as Paul Iaresco, the Pawnee city manager who supports Leslie's plan for a new park. Ian Roberts as Ian Winston, an angry citizen who complains about lewd behavior in one of Pawnee's parks. Cooper Thornton as Dr. Harris, Ann's boss at Pawnee's hospital. Jama Williamson as Wendy Haverford, a surgeon and Tom's attractive wife.
Episodes
denotes an extended episode.
Production
Crew Deedle-Dee Productions 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. Dana Gould, Morgan Sackett and Amy Poehler produced, and Tucker Cawley and Norm Hiscock served as consulting producers.The story erroneously refers to Norm Hiscock as "Tom". Each of the six Parks and Recreation episodes on the first season DVD credit him as "Norm Hiscock". 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".On the Parks and Recreation first season DVD, Mike Scully is credited as a consulting producer in the latter three episodes of the season (starting with "Boys' Club") but not the first three episodes. Cawley left the show at the end of the first season to create the short-lived ABC sitcom Hank, starring Kelsey Grammer. Gould left to focus on his stand-up career. 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.
Cast
A principal cast of six actors received star billing in the show's first season. Poehler portrayed the lead character, Leslie Knope, the naive but well-meaning, eager-to-please deputy director of the parks and recreation department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Poehler said, upon reading the script provided by Michael Schur, "it took me five minutes to realize Leslie Knope was the best character ever written for me". She also felt it took a few episodes before she started "feeling my groove" with the character, but came to realize the cast was extremely talented and "would eventually become like family". Other stars in the cast included 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. Offerman had previously auditioned for a part on The Office, and Schur was impressed with his comedic talents and wanted to cast him, but then Offerman became unavailable because he appeared on Will & Grace, a show starring his wife, Megan Mullally. Schur said, "I just wrote his name down on a post-it note and stuck it to my computer and said, 'Someday, I'm going to figure out what to do with that guy.'" Aubrey Plaza played April Ludgate, a sarcastic and uninterested 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 confirmed this story, saying "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 they 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.
Conception