After spending years on the brink of cancellation and existing in a state of uncertainty, Schur decided to close out the series on his own terms, and though it was certainly disappointing to leave Pawnee, Leslie, Ron, Ben, and everyone else behind, it's hard to begrudge him that decision. Read on to find out the reasons why Parks and Recreation really ended. It might seem unbelievable now that Parks and Recreation wasn't always super popular, but for years, the series was constantly on the verge of being cancelled.
In , when asked if he was hopeful that NBC would renew the series for a sixth season, Schur responded, "We feel fairly confident, I'd say. Cautiously optimistic. But I've come to really enjoy the uncertainty. I think it breeds good ideas. Never taking anything for granted is a good way to make sure you're exploring every possibility for a show" via HitFix.
With that said, Schur and his team often prepared in advance for cancellation; in a interview with Yahoo! We did it at the end of Season 4. At this point in the season, April and Andy were separated and had not yet reconciled. Shortly after the episode aired, HitFix television reviewer Alan Sepinwall wrote that the commercial mistakenly used the wrong names and was actually referring to Ron and Tammy's wedding registry. The financial difficulties Pawnee experiences during the third season were reflective of the financial crisis facing the nation and much of the world when the episodes were produced.
The idea of state auditors visiting Pawnee, and the subsequent government shutdown, were inspired by news reports at the time of a number of states that were considering a shut down of schools, parks and other services due to the global recession.
Amy Poehler described one of the early themes of the season as Leslie Knope trying to maintain her optimism about public service in the face of economic cutbacks and cynicism about government: "How does one person work in government and not become cynical?
How does someone believe that change could happen without losing faith? Much of the first seven episodes of the season revolved around the characters organizing a harvest festival, which had previously been a Pawnee tradition before it ended.
The storyline stemmed from serious budget problems facing Pawnee and the major cuts threatened to the parks department, which prompts Leslie to bring the harvest festival back and stake the future of the entire department on its success and failure.
The festival served as a device to bring all the characters together working toward a common goal, similar to efforts to turn a construction pit into a park during the first two seasons.
Schur said the harvest festival story arc was written in part because the first six episodes were written and filmed early, so the writing staff felt having one concise storyline to tie them together kept the show focused. Schur also said the writers were fatigued from working on six third season episodes immediately after the second season, so the harvest festival story arc helped "organize our tired, end-of-the-year brains".
One of the biggest story arcs of the third season was the romance between Leslie and Ben, which slowly developed throughout the series until they officially began dating in the episode "Road Trip" despite a strict policy against workplace dating at city hall. The development of Ben's feelings for Leslie coincide with his growing appreciation for Pawnee; the character never had a firm sense of home due to the excessive amount of traveling with his job, but throughout the season Ben gradually falls in love with the town due to the optimism and enthusiasm Leslie Knope shows for Pawnee and her job.
The no-dating policy, imposed by Chris, stemmed from real life policies in small town governments, which Schur said were considered very important because "these people are handling taxpayer money, so relationships are even more frowned upon than they are in the private sector". During the season finale "Li'l Sebastian", Leslie is encouraged by political operatives to run for office, but is asked whether there any potential scandals that could risk becoming public.
Leslie denies there are any, but it is suggested her secret relationship with Ben could become such a scandal. The first five episodes of the season involve Andy and his attempt to win back the affections of April, who previously had feelings for Andy, but became angry after Ann kissed him in the second season finale, "Freddy Spaghetti".
The two reconcile in "Media Blitz", which Schur described as a "key moment" in their relationship, "almost like Andy's a Knight of the Round Table, and he's got a lot of different obstacles that he's got to overcome in order to win the love of a fair maiden". Andy and April become married during a surprise wedding four episodes later in "Andy and April's Fancy Party". Michael Schur said another goal of the third season was to better demonstrate the comedic abilities of Rashida Jones, whose Ann Perkins character had often been portrayed as a straight man role to the other characters.
This was done by placing Jones in a romantic relationship with Rob Lowe's character Chris Traeger, who is so overly-optimistic and seemingly perfect that Ann has trouble finding any flaws and is taken aback by him.
Schur said: "Rashida is a very intelligent and attractive woman, and it's hard to knock someone like that off balance. And the way to knock that person off balance is to get Rob Lowe in a relationship with you. Afterward, Ann continues to move away her previous straight man role by going on a string of dates with many random men. During the final episodes of the season, Ann takes a part-time job at city hall as the health department public relations director, which Schur described as "the natural full circle from the beginning of the season".
This marked her process of getting over Chris and becoming a "more mature person". Schur also said having Ann work at city hall would make it easier to integrate her into storylines with the other characters. The character Tom Haverford also undergoes changes during the final episodes of the season, in which the character begins to consider leaving his city hall position to pursue his own business ambitions. The storyline is advanced particularly strongly in "The Bubble", when Tom becomes frustrated with an assignment by Chris, and culminates in the season finale "Li'l Sebastian", in which he ultimately quits the parks department to form an entertainment company.
Schur said the writing staff had a general idea of where the newly-introduced storylines should go, but the exact stories had not been completely worked out yet when the episodes broadcast.
Schur said they sought to "write the juiciest, most exciting cliffhanger-y possible scenario you can write, and then you have all summer to figure out how to get yourself out of it". While Parks and Recreation previously aired on p. EST on Thursdays, the third season marked its debut in a p.
Thursday timeslot effective January 20, , airing between the two popular series The Office and 30 Rock. Poehler said of the time-slot, " The Office is such an amazing show and to be behind it is an honor. In some cases, "Producer's Cut" versions of third season episodes were made available on the official NBC website after they were broadcast. These cuts were about five minutes longer than the televised version and included several scenes that were originally cut due to length limitations.
During its original broadcast, the episode "Jerry's Painting" ran for an extended 40 minutes rather than the usual 30 minutes because it followed "Goodbye, Michael", an extended episode of The Office that featured the final appearance of Steve Carell as a regular cast member. The four were stand-alone episodes that were not originally designed to be shown together.
However, because the third season premiered late as a mid-season replacement in January, the episodes aired together so the series' season would conclude at the end of the television season. Parks and Recreation continued to receive critical acclaim, as it did during the second season.
James Poniewozik of Time magazine called it "a fabulous season — the best thing on TV in so far". Maureen Ryan of TV Squad called it one of the ten best shows of , and said the season saw major growth of both its major characters, especially Leslie Knope, along with the expansion of a strong cast of secondary and tertiary characters as well. New York magazine writer Willa Paskin praised the show for comedy grounded in optimism and characters who genuinely like each other, rather than the cynical humor more prevalent in other comedy shows of the time.
With that being said, I undoubtedly believe that Canvassing is one of the weakest episodes in the entire series. Allow me to explain. It isn't necessarily a terrible episode or poorly written or anything.
There are still some good laughs, but the show just doesn't feel like the show it will eventually turn in to in the next season. Both of, at the time, had just come off of massive success writing for The Office US.
Now, despite similarities between both workplace comedies, Parks and Rec will eventually become its own unique and amazing series, separate from The Office. However, in episodes like this one, it feels too similar to its predecessor.
A perfect example of what I am talking about is the scene towards the end at the town hall meeting. Now, we will see many more town hall meetings to come in this show. They are some of my favorite scenes in the entire series, but the type of humor that is displayed in this particular meeting is very different than the later ones. This one feels more cringy and awkward, a little too much like The Office. Where the later ones are more satire-based and a little more goofy than these ones.
The Pawnee citizens were just too harsh and cruel. Not that big of a deal, but just an example of why I believe the writers have not gotten the tone right just yet and episodes like this one are some of the weakest in the series.
Details Edit. Release date April 16, United States. United States. Technical specs Edit. Runtime 21 minutes.
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