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Great News for 'Parks And Recreation' Fans!

By Kristy Puchko | TV | April 24, 2020 |

By Kristy Puchko | TV | April 24, 2020 |


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Parks and Recreation is returning to television! Five years after its seven-season run wrapped, the cast of the beloved Mike Schur/Greg Daniels sitcom is reuniting for a very special episode. It will be a fundraiser for Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund, which is aiding food banks in acquiring nourishment for the most vulnerable members of our communities.

Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Jim O’Heir, and Retta will all reprise their roles for this Parks and Recreation reunion.

The scripted half-hour episode will pick up in the present day, where Leslie Knope (Poehler) is looking to reconnect with her friends while responsibly social distancing. So, if you’ve been wondering what Ron Swanson, Ben Wyatt, Chris Traeger, April Ludgate, Andy Dwyer, and Donna Meagle would be up to in quarantine, you’ll have that answered.

The difficulties of producing a TV show during this pandemic means this Parks and Recreation episode will be made like the Saturday Night Live special. As Poehler teased on Twitter (above), the scenes will be shot in the stars’ homes, likely lensed by the cast themselves and/or whoever they’re quarantining with. So, expect the Pawnee crew on video chats. As some special guests might pop in, I’m thinking Jeremy Jamm, DDS will Zoom bomb. Plus, it seems pretty likely Offerman’s real-life wife Megan Mullally will make a Tammy Two cameo.

In a statement, Schur shared how this Parks and Recreation reteam for charity came about:

“Like a lot of other people, we were looking for ways to help and felt that bringing these characters back for a night could raise some money. I sent a hopeful email to the cast and they all got back to me within 45 minutes. Our old Parks and Rec team has put together one more 30-minute slice of (quarantined) Pawnee life and we hope everyone enjoys it. And donates!”

As to how the charity angle is working, THR reports State Farm and Subaru are each donating $150,000, while NBCUniversal, the cast and producers of Parks and Recreation will contribute a total of $500,000 in matching donations through May 21.

To promote the upcoming ep, Adam Scott has revealed a bit of the script, via Instagram:

Parks and Recreation returns to television on April 30.



Header Image Source: NBC