Amy Poehler Explains Why ‘Parks and Rec’ Can’t Come Back Right Now

Provided you skip past the episodes where Louis C.K. plays a disquietingly aggressive cop, Parks and Recreation can be a very comforting show — although perhaps not quite to the degree that noted televisual sedative Frasier is. Parks and Rec’s calming effect seems to be the result of its overall chill vibe, lovable characters, and perhaps most importantly, the show’s unrelenting political optimism.

Leslie Knope herself, Amy Poehler, was recently asked by Variety about the possibility of getting more Parks and Rec content this election year, possibly because political optimism isn’t exactly plentiful these days. The idea isn’t all that crazy considering that, five years after the series finale, we got a Zoom reunion in 2020. And it wasn’t just a lazy reading of an old script, like with some other pandemic-era Zoom reunions, it was an in-universe check-in with each character, and genuinely very funny.

And while that may have seemed like a one-off return to the world of Pawnee, when Aubrey Plaza hosted Saturday Night Live in 2023, she did a Weekend Update segment as her character April Ludgate, and was even joined by Poehler’s Leslie.

All of which begs the question: What’s next for Parks and Rec fans? 

Well, probably nothing it turns out.

Poehler noted that the pandemic episode was “really something special” but explained that “Parks and Rec was the art that came out of the ‘Yes we can’ Obama time.” Although she did point that something very similar might be made in the future (should a certain Home Alone 2 cast member not regain power) by a new generation of creatives. “I’ll be really interested after — God willing — Kamala wins, what will be coming out of that. It just feels like some new version that wouldn’t be Parks, but (something) younger people should think of.”

It’s true that a lot of Parks and Recreation feels hopelessly dated now, from Leslie’s fervent belief in the infallibility of legacy Democrats like Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden, to the suggestion that the electoral process will eventually weed out wealthy morons lusting for power. Also, Bobby Newport was dumb, but not “going on prolonged rants about a pro golfer’s genitals during a political rally” dumb.

Sure, the characters faced a number of obstacles and setbacks, but there was still a general sense that goodness, intelligence and hope would conquer all. 

Poehler went on to say that one of the reasons that Parks and Rec “continues to be very watchable” is because of its “lack of contempt and malice for people who don’t necessarily agree.” Which also seems like a pretty outdated premise considering America’s increasingly polarized political discourse. I mean, Leslie Knope was somehow able to remain best friends with Ron Swanson back in the the early 2010s, but he wasn’t raging against microchips in vaccines and dodging questions about his whereabouts on January 6, 2021.

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