Parks and Recreation (season 3)
Encyclopedia
The third season of Parks and Recreation
originally aired in the United States on the NBC
television network between January 20 and May 19, 2011. Like the previous seasons, it focused on Leslie Knope
(Amy Poehler
) and her staff at the parks and recreation department of the fictional Indiana
town of Pawnee. The season featured 16 episodes, most of which were approximately 22 minutes long each and aired at 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays.
All of the members of the original cast returned for the third season except Paul Schneider
, who previously played city planner Mark Brendanawicz
. Rob Lowe
and Adam Scott
, who appeared as guest stars in the second season
, began season three as regular cast members playing Chris Traeger
and Ben Wyatt
, respectively. The season also featured guest appearances by Megan Mullally
, Will Forte
and Parker Posey
, among others.
To accommodate Amy Poehler's pregnancy, the first six episodes of the third season were filmed immediately after season two wrapped so they could be saved for a projected September 2010 air date. However, after the episodes were finished, NBC postponed the season premiere until January to accommodate their new series, Outsourced
. The third season consisted of several major story arcs, including a complete shutdown of the Pawnee government for budgetary reasons, inspired by the real-life global financial crisis
. Other storylines included the parks department's organization of a harvest festival, a romance between Leslie and Ben, and the dating and eventual marriage of Andy Dwyer
(Chris Pratt
) and April Ludgate
(Aubrey Plaza).
As in the previous season, Parks and Recreation was critically acclaimed during its third season, and was declared by several reviewers to be one of the best comedies on television. Entertainment Weekly
featured it on its cover in February 2011 and declared it "the smartest comedy on TV". The episodes "Harvest Festival
" and "Li'l Sebastian
" received particularly positive reviews, as did Nick Offerman
in his role as parks director Ron Swanson
. Parks and Recreation received its first nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
for its third season, and Poehler received her second nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Nevertheless, Parks and Recreation continued to struggle in the Nielsen ratings
and averaged about 4.75 million household viewers per week.
, who previously played city planner Mark Brendanawicz
. Schneider departed from the series to focus on his film career. Jim O'Heir and Retta, who made regular appearances as parks employees Jerry Gergich and Donna Meagle during the first two seasons, were considered members of the regular cast starting in season three, although they still do not appear in the opening credits. Adam Scott, who portrayed state auditor Ben Wyatt in the final two episodes of the second season
, became a regular cast member starting in season three, and Rob Lowe, who appeared in the same two second season episodes as state auditor Chris Traeger, also joined the cast in season three. Lowe was originally meant only to make a string of performances in seasons two and three and then depart the show, but he instead become a regular cast member starting with the third season, having signed a multi-year contract to remain on the show. After actor Charlie Sheen
was fired from the CBS
comedy series Two and a Half Men
in March 2011, rumors circulated that Rob Lowe would depart Parks and Recreation and replace Sheen, but they proved unfounded.
Nick Offerman's wife Megan Mullally, who previously played Ron Swanson's ex-wife Tammy in the episode "Ron and Tammy
", reprised that role in "Ron & Tammy: Part Two", and briefly appeared as the character in the season finale "Li'l Sebastian". Will Forte, a comedian who previously starred on the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live
along with Amy Poehler, guest-starred in "Time Capsule" as a Pawnee resident demanding the Twilight books be added to the town's time capsule. Parker Posey, who previously starred with Poehler in the 2009 comedy film Spring Breakdown
, appeared in "Eagleton" as Leslie's former best friend and rival official from a neighboring town. Posey had been in discussions with the Parks and Recreation staff to make a guest appearance since the show debuted, and grew frustrated when it took several months before she received an invitation.
Several actors who had appeared in previous seasons of Parks and Recreation continue to appear in the third season, including Ben Schwartz
as Tom's cocky and entrepreneurial friend Jean-Ralphio Saperstein; Natalie Morales as bartender and Tom's girlfriend Lucy; Jama Williamson as Wendy, Tom's ex-wife who starts dating Ron; Pamela Reed as Leslie's mother Marlene Griggs-Knope; Alison Becker
as newspaper reporter Shauna Malwae-Tweep; Darlene Hunt
as conservative activist Marcia Langman; Mo Collins
as morning talk show host Joan Callamezzo; Jay Jackson as television newscaster Perd Hapley; Andy Forrest as Andy's frequent shoeshine customer Kyle, and Kirk Fox
as sleazy sewage department employee Joe. Eric Pierpoint
appeared in "Ron & Tammy: Part Two" and "Eagleton" as Hugh Trumple, chief of the Pawnee police department. Comedians Matt Besser
and Nick Kroll
appeared in "Media Blitz" as "Crazy Ira and The Douche", the hosts of a Pawnee morning zoo
-style radio show. Besser had previously been on the sketch comedy show and troupe Upright Citizens Brigade
with Poehler. Detlef Schrempf
, a retired Indiana Pacers
basketball player who played himself in the second season episode "Telethon
", appeared again in "Li'l Sebastian". Jonathan Joss, who previously voiced John Redcorn
in the animated television series King of the Hill
— which was co-created by Parks and Recreation co-creator Greg Daniels
— guest starred in "Harvest Festival" as the local Native American tribe leader.
became pregnant and the producers of the show were forced to go into production on season three early and film an additional six episodes to accommodate not only Poehler's pregnancy, but also a projected September 2010 air date. Amy Poehler said the cast was "a little fried" by the intense shooting schedule, but that the addition of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe to the cast provided an energy boost. Since Poehler was six months pregnant at the time of filming the first six episodes, she was often strategically placed behind items to conceal her belly. Although the third episode to be shown, "Time Capsule" was the last of these six episodes to be filmed because the story presented the highest amount of props to place Poehler in front of objects to hide her pregnancy, most notably the time capsule itself.
However, NBC eventually opted not to put the show on the fall schedule, and instead delayed the premiere of the third season until the beginning of 2011. This allowed for the network to run its new comedy, Outsourced
, in two-hour comedy schedule block rather than Parks and Recreation. The schedule change meant that all sixteen episodes from the third season would be filmed before any of them were shown; the rest of the episodes, starting with the seventh, were filmed in the fall of 2010. NBC chief executive officer Jeff Gaspin
said this move was not a reflection on Parks and Recreation, and suggested the extended hiatus would not only have no negative effect on the show, but could actually build anticipation for its return. Series co-creator Michael Schur
said the schedule changes were frustrating, but said: "It sounds a little corny, maybe even a little community theater-ish, but when we got the bad news our thinking was to just put our heads down and keep making the best show we could." Amy Poehler said of the hiatus, "It was an NBC decision and certainly we were confused. But I think, weirdly, there's a momentum that comes from people waiting for us, which is nice." Poehler also said it gave them the luxury of time to go back and reedit episodes or shoot and add new material.
As in previous seasons, filming of the third season of the series included a large amount of improvisation
from the cast. For example, during one scene in "The Fight" in which almost the entire cast becomes intoxicated at the Snakehole Lounge bar, each actor spent about two days on their own filming their own individual scenes. Much of the filming was improvised, including shots used in a montage sequence that showed how drunk each character had become by the end of the night. Amy Poehler described the filming as "the most fun I've ever had". Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally also improvised a great deal of their scenes during the filming of "Ron & Tammy: Part Two". The third season continued to use several visual and camera techniques that had been introduced in past seasons. In the past, Poehler would improvise several different jokes during a take, and they would be intermingled into a montage of jump cut
s featuring many of the jokes. That technique was used prominently in "Indianapolis" during a scene in which Leslie comforts Ann with stories about multiple times Leslie was dumped in the past. The same technique was used by Aziz Ansari in "Soulmates", during a scene in which Tom describes many slang nicknames he has given to foods, and in "The Fight", in which Tom describes many strange entrepreneurial idea he has come up with.
The "Harvest Fesvial" episode featured an elaborate festival setting and corn maze sets. Due to budget restraints, the Parks and Recreation set department did not build the set, but instead used a real-life setting at Los Angeles Pierce College
, a community college in California which holds an annual festival event. Michael Schur said the aerial shot of the harvest festival at the end of the episode was the most expensive shot in the entire series. The episode was filmed out of sequence from the rest of the season so the weather would be cooler when the scenes were shot; Schur jokingly said if this was not done, "the week that we would have been shooting it was like 148 degrees here and the actors would be dead now". The Eagleton public forum scene in the episode "Eagleton" was shot at the Toluca Lake Sports Center in the Toluca Lake district of Los Angeles. The season finale "Li'l Sebastian" saw the introduction of the headquarters for Tom and Jean-Ralphio's new company, Entertainment 720. The setting was a completely white 15000 square feet (1,393.5 m²) room with modern decor and unusual furniture, and Michael Schur described the setting as, "Maybe the craziest thing that's ever been on our series ... It's truly nuts. It's like a hallucinogenic nightmare."
After the original broadcast of "Ron & Tammy: Part Two", NBC ran a commercial advertising "April and Andy's wedding registry" on the official Parks and Recreation website. 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. However, after "Andy and April's Fancy Party" aired, Schur admitted the commercial was intended to run with that episode, but ran with "Ron & Tammy: Part Two" due to an error by NBC employees: Schur said afterward, "We sincerely hope that fans of the show are cool with us gently lying to them, in an effort to maintain the surprise nuptials as much as we could."
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". Schur said the decision to have them marry after only briefly dating stemmed from the writing staff's desire to "avoid the standard-issue TV romance plots: fights, other men/women driving them apart, and so on". They decided a fast marriage was funny, but also made sense because the characters are "two impulsive goofballs who don’t approach their lives in a responsible, adult manner".
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." Ann is further taken out of her element when it is revealed in "Indianapolis" that Chris broke up with her, but did so in such a positive and upbeat way that Ann did not realize it for several days. 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. "Li'l Sebastian" ends with several cliffhanger
twists including Tom's departure from city hall, Leslie being approached to run for office, and the arrival of Ron's first ex-wife Tammy, although the actress who will play her was not revealed. 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".
. Poehler said of the time-slot, "'The Office' is such an amazing show and to be behind it is an honor." The Parks producers hoped the Office lead-in would bring new viewers, and so the season premiere "Go Big and Go Home" included an introductory sequence that described the previous events of the series. 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. The episodes to receive "Producer's Cuts" included "Harvest Festival", "The Fight" and "Li'l Sebastian".
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 Fight" and "Road Trip" ran back-to-back during their original broadcast on May 12, 2011, as did "The Bubble" and "Li'l Sebastian" on May 19. 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.
, where it was called "the smartest comedy on TV" and which included the article "The 101 Reasons We Love Parks and Recreation". James Poniewozik
of Time
magazine called it "a fabulous season – the best thing on TV in 2011 so far". Maureen Ryan of TV Squad called it one of the ten best shows of 2011, 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. Alan Sepinwall of HitFix called it a "remarkable season of TV comedy" without a single bad episode. Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
said although he considered Parks and Recreation the funniest sitcom on television during its second season, "it somehow got even better" during the third. Scott Meslow of The Atlantic said during the third season, Parks and Recreation was "the funniest, sweetest, most consistent sitcom on television", and that the way the characters were seeking new opportunities outside the parks department by the end of the season demonstrates the show is willing to change and is "not content to simply spin its wheels". Eric Sundermann of Hollywood.com said he believed third season "will become to be recognized as one of the best seasons of any sitcom ever", and that the characters and setting of Pawnee were so fully developed that he felt a close, personal connection to them. Henry Hanks of CNN
called it a "a near-flawless season".
"Harvest Festival" received particularly strong reviews, with New York magazine writer Steve Kandell calling it the most pivotal episode of the season in terms of "resolving and resetting narrative stakes". Likewise, "Li'l Sebastian" was praised by several reviewers as one of the best episodes of the season, and Henry Hanks called it "one of the funniest half-hours of any show this season". As in past seasons, Nick Offerman continued to receive critical acclaim for his performance as Ron Swanson. By the third season, the character had taken on a cult status
, and the term "Ron Swanson" was so commonly discussed on the social-networking website Twitter
after "Andy and April's Fancy Party" aired that it was listed among the site's trending topic
s, which are indicative of being the most popular topics being discussed on Twitter at a given moment. Rob Lowe received particularly strong reviews for his performance in "Flu Season" where his normally extraordinarily-physically fit character becomes extremely ill and hallucinatory when infected with the flu. Aziz Ansari received very positive reviews for his performance in "Soulmates", as did Adam Scott for his performance in "Media Blitz". While some commentators felt the Ann Perkins character seemed adrift and not working as well as the other cast members, others said they liked the new direction the character had taken this season. Eric Sundermann declared the relationship between Chris and Ann was described as "one of the most interesting parts of the show", whereas Joel Keller of TV Squad felt it was poorly handled and made Ann too passive. Some reviewers said the town of Pawnee itself has developed into a rich and interesting setting, comparing it to Springfield
in the Fox
animated series The Simpsons
.
, just as it had during the second season. The average viewership for the 16 episodes of season three were 4.75 million household viewers, a slight increase over season two's 4.68 million average, but lower than season one's average of 5.45 million households. Michael Schur partially attributed the continually low viewership to a decline in ratings for NBC in general, as well as changing viewer trends due to a large amount of available channels. He added: "I would love it if our ratings went up and up, and we've done a pretty good job of making our show inviting and friendly, welcoming to new viewers. Other than that, I'm not sure what else we can do. It’s very disconcerting."
Parks and Recreation saw a slight increase in viewership during its first episodes. The season debut, "Go Big or Go Home", was seen by an estimated 6.19 million household viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, with a 3.2 rating/8 share among viewers between ages 18 and 49. It marked the series' highest rating in that demographic, and the highest overall viewership since the series premiere episode from April 2009, which was seen by 6.77 million household viewers. The ratings quickly dropped, however, and by the third episode "Time Capsule" had dipped to 4.95 million household viewers, a more than 17 percent decline from the previous episode, "Flu Season". By the seventh episode, "Harvest Festival", viewership had dropped to 4.08 million households, one of the lowest ratings of the series.
The ratings increased slightly after that point, with the viewership for the next episode "Camping" jumping up 39 percent to 5.15 million households. Ratings for the eleventh episode, "Jerry's Painting", were expected to be high due to a lead-in from Steve Carell's final episode as a regular cast member on The Office. However, the Parks and Recreation episode was seen by an estimated 4.71 million household viewers, a drop from the previous episode "Soulmates". Ratings were unusually low for Parks and Recreation during its last four episodes due to the timeslot changes and back-to-back pairing of the episodes: "The Fight" and "Road Trip" were seen by 4.55 million and 3.54 million households, respectively, while "The Bubble" and season finale "Li'l Sebastian" were seen by 4.27 and 3.72 million households, respectively.
, the first such nomination for the series. Amy Poehler received her second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Poehler said she was considering submitting the episodes "Flu Season" or "The Fight" for Emmy Award consideration. In June 2011, Parks and Recreation was nominated for three of the inaugural Critics’ Choice Television Awards. The show itself was nominated for "Best Comedy Series", Amy Poehler was nominated for "Best Actress in a Comedy Series" and Nick Offerman was nominated for "Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series". Also that month, Parks and Recreation was nominated for four TCA Awards
: Program of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Comedy and Individual Achievement in Comedy awards for Offerman and Poehler. Offerman will also host the TCA Awards ceremony this year.
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
originally aired in the United States on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television network between January 20 and May 19, 2011. Like the previous seasons, it focused on Leslie Knope
Leslie Knope
Leslie Barbara Knope is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Amy Poehler. Poehler garnered two Emmy Award nominations for Best Lead Actress in Comedy Series for her role.-Background:...
(Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
) and her staff at the parks and recreation department of the fictional Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
town of Pawnee. The season featured 16 episodes, most of which were approximately 22 minutes long each and aired at 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays.
All of the members of the original cast returned for the third season except Paul Schneider
Paul Schneider (actor)
Paul Andrew Schneider is an American film actor.-Early life and career:Schneider was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the North Carolina School of Arts...
, who previously played city planner Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is the city planner for Pawnee, Indiana, one of Ann Perkins's ex-boyfriends, and Leslie Knope's colleague. He is portrayed by Paul Schneider...
. Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
and Adam Scott
Adam Scott (actor)
Adam Scott is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Henry Pollard in the Starz comedy series Party Down and as Ben Wyatt in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation....
, who appeared as guest stars in the second season
Parks and Recreation (season 2)
The second season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network starting September 17, 2009, and ended on May 20, 2010. The season was produced by Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, and series co-creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur...
, began season three as regular cast members playing Chris Traeger
Chris Traeger
Christopher "Chris" Traeger is a fictional character played by Rob Lowe in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation on NBC. He began on the show as an Indiana state auditor who visits the fictional city of Pawnee to help solve their crippling budget problems, and eventually...
and Ben Wyatt
Ben Wyatt (Parks and Recreation)
Benjamin "Ben" Wyatt is a character in the TV series Parks and Recreation. The character guest starred in two episodes of season two and was upgraded to a regular in season three. Ben is a state auditor who comes into Pawnee with Chris Traeger to evaluate the town's funds at the end of the second...
, respectively. The season also featured guest appearances by Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally is an American actress and singer.After working in the theatre in Chicago, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and began to appear in supporting roles in film and television productions. She made her Broadway debut in Grease in 1994 and she has since appeared in several Broadway...
, Will Forte
Will Forte
Orville Willis Forte IV, better known as Will Forte , is an American actor, voice actor, comedian and writer best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002–2010 and for starring in the SNL spin-off film MacGruber.-Early life:Forte was born in Alameda County, California, the son of...
and Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
, among others.
To accommodate Amy Poehler's pregnancy, the first six episodes of the third season were filmed immediately after season two wrapped so they could be saved for a projected September 2010 air date. However, after the episodes were finished, NBC postponed the season premiere until January to accommodate their new series, Outsourced
Outsourced (TV series)
Outsourced is an American television sitcom set in an Indian workplace. It was based on the John Jeffcoat film of the same name and adapted by Ken Kwapis and Universal Media Studios for NBC. The series originally ran from September 23, 2010 to May 12, 2011...
. The third season consisted of several major story arcs, including a complete shutdown of the Pawnee government for budgetary reasons, inspired by the real-life global financial crisis
Late-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...
. Other storylines included the parks department's organization of a harvest festival, a romance between Leslie and Ben, and the dating and eventual marriage of Andy Dwyer
Andy Dwyer
Andrew Maxwell "Andy" Dwyer is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is Ann Perkins' ex-boyfriend, a talented-if-yet-unsuccessful musician, a shoe-shiner at Pawnee City Hall, and April Ludgate's husband. He is portrayed by Chris Pratt.-Background:At the start of the...
(Chris Pratt
Chris Pratt
Christopher Michael "Chris" Pratt is an American actor, best known for his roles as Harold Brighton "Bright" Abbott in the television series Everwood, the recurring character Winchester "Ché" Cook in season 4 of The OC, Andy Dwyer in the television series Parks and Recreation and for portraying...
) and April Ludgate
April Ludgate
April Roberta Ludgate is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is an apathetic college student employed by the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation as Ron Swanson's assistant. She is married to Andy Dwyer. She is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza...
(Aubrey Plaza).
As in the previous season, Parks and Recreation was critically acclaimed during its third season, and was declared by several reviewers to be one of the best comedies on television. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
featured it on its cover in February 2011 and declared it "the smartest comedy on TV". The episodes "Harvest Festival
Harvest Festival (Parks and Recreation)
"Harvest Festival" is the seventh episode of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 37th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 17, 2011. In the episode, Leslie and her co-workers hold Pawnee's ...
" and "Li'l Sebastian
Li'l Sebastian
"Li'l Sebastian" is the sixteenth episode and season finale of the third season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 46th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 19, 2011...
" received particularly positive reviews, as did Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman is an American actor best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. He is also a skilled woodworker.-Early life and career:...
in his role as parks director Ron Swanson
Ron Swanson
Ronald Ulysses "Ron" Swanson is a fictional character played by Nick Offerman in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation on NBC. Ron is parks department director in the Indiana city of Pawnee and the immediate superior of protagonist Leslie Knope...
. Parks and Recreation received its first nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...
for its third season, and Poehler received her second nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Nevertheless, Parks and Recreation continued to struggle in the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
and averaged about 4.75 million household viewers per week.
Episodes
In the following table, "№" refers to the episode's number within the entire series, whereas "#" indicates the episode's number within that particular season. "U.S. viewers (million)" refers to the number of Americans who viewed the episode on the night of broadcast. † denotes an extended episode.| № | # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cast
Almost the entire original cast from season two returned for the third season, including Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza and Chris Pratt. The only permanent cast member not to return was Paul SchneiderPaul Schneider (actor)
Paul Andrew Schneider is an American film actor.-Early life and career:Schneider was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the North Carolina School of Arts...
, who previously played city planner Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is the city planner for Pawnee, Indiana, one of Ann Perkins's ex-boyfriends, and Leslie Knope's colleague. He is portrayed by Paul Schneider...
. Schneider departed from the series to focus on his film career. Jim O'Heir and Retta, who made regular appearances as parks employees Jerry Gergich and Donna Meagle during the first two seasons, were considered members of the regular cast starting in season three, although they still do not appear in the opening credits. Adam Scott, who portrayed state auditor Ben Wyatt in the final two episodes of the second season
Parks and Recreation (season 2)
The second season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network starting September 17, 2009, and ended on May 20, 2010. The season was produced by Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, and series co-creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur...
, became a regular cast member starting in season three, and Rob Lowe, who appeared in the same two second season episodes as state auditor Chris Traeger, also joined the cast in season three. Lowe was originally meant only to make a string of performances in seasons two and three and then depart the show, but he instead become a regular cast member starting with the third season, having signed a multi-year contract to remain on the show. After actor Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
was fired from the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
comedy series Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
in March 2011, rumors circulated that Rob Lowe would depart Parks and Recreation and replace Sheen, but they proved unfounded.
Nick Offerman's wife Megan Mullally, who previously played Ron Swanson's ex-wife Tammy in the episode "Ron and Tammy
Ron and Tammy
"Ron and Tammy" is the eighth episode of the second season of Parks and Recreation, and the fourteenth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on November 5, 2009. In the episode, the library department tries to take control of a vacant lot where Leslie plans...
", reprised that role in "Ron & Tammy: Part Two", and briefly appeared as the character in the season finale "Li'l Sebastian". Will Forte, a comedian who previously starred on the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
along with Amy Poehler, guest-starred in "Time Capsule" as a Pawnee resident demanding the Twilight books be added to the town's time capsule. Parker Posey, who previously starred with Poehler in the 2009 comedy film Spring Breakdown
Spring Breakdown
Spring Breakdown is a comedy film starring Amy Poehler, Parker Posey, and Rachel Dratch. Three years after principal photography, and after the film's owner, Warner Independent Pictures, was shut down by its parent company, it was released direct-to-video in 2009.-Plot:The film begins with Gayle,...
, appeared in "Eagleton" as Leslie's former best friend and rival official from a neighboring town. Posey had been in discussions with the Parks and Recreation staff to make a guest appearance since the show debuted, and grew frustrated when it took several months before she received an invitation.
Several actors who had appeared in previous seasons of Parks and Recreation continue to appear in the third season, including Ben Schwartz
Ben Schwartz
Ben Schwartz is a writer, actor and comedian. His feature film credits include Peep World with Rainn Wilson, Michael C. Hall and Sarah Silverman as well as Everybody's Fine with Robert DeNiro...
as Tom's cocky and entrepreneurial friend Jean-Ralphio Saperstein; Natalie Morales as bartender and Tom's girlfriend Lucy; Jama Williamson as Wendy, Tom's ex-wife who starts dating Ron; Pamela Reed as Leslie's mother Marlene Griggs-Knope; Alison Becker
Alison Becker
Alison Helene Becker is an American actress, comedian, writer, and TV personality. She is the previous host of VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown and currently the co-host/sidekick on the FuelTV panel talk-show The Daily Habit.-Early life:...
as newspaper reporter Shauna Malwae-Tweep; Darlene Hunt
Darlene Hunt
Darlene Hunt is an American actress and producer of television best known for creating and executive producing the Showtime series The Big C.- Career :...
as conservative activist Marcia Langman; Mo Collins
Mo Collins
Maureen "Mo" Ann Collins is an American actress and comedian. Collins is perhaps best known for being a member of the ensemble on FOX's sketch comedy series MADtv. She became well known for several characters during her tenure on the show...
as morning talk show host Joan Callamezzo; Jay Jackson as television newscaster Perd Hapley; Andy Forrest as Andy's frequent shoeshine customer Kyle, and Kirk Fox
Kirk Fox
Kirk Fox is an American actor, screenwriter, and stand-up comedian.-Career:Fox has been acting in television and film since the early 1990s. In 2003 he received attention for his work with Pauly Shore as co-writer and co-star of the film Pauly Shore Is Dead, and in 2005 he wrote, co-produced, and...
as sleazy sewage department employee Joe. Eric Pierpoint
Eric Pierpoint
Eric Pierpoint is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as George Francisco on Fox Network's Alien Nation. He has appeared on all of the Star Trek spin-offs. He played five characters in the four series from 1993 to 2005.He is the son of retired CBS news correspondent Robert...
appeared in "Ron & Tammy: Part Two" and "Eagleton" as Hugh Trumple, chief of the Pawnee police department. Comedians Matt Besser
Matt Besser
Matthew Gregory "Matt" Besser is an American actor and comedian best known as one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe who also had their own show on Comedy Central from 1998-2000....
and Nick Kroll
Nick Kroll
Nick Kroll is an American actor and comedian best known for appearing in television shows such as Best Week Ever, Cavemen and Sit Down, Shut Up. He co-stars in the shows The Life & Times of Tim and The League....
appeared in "Media Blitz" as "Crazy Ira and The Douche", the hosts of a Pawnee morning zoo
Morning zoo
Morning zoo is a format of morning radio show common to English-language radio broadcasting. The name is derived from the "wackiness and zaniness" of the activities, bits, and overall personality of the show and its hosts...
-style radio show. Besser had previously been on the sketch comedy show and troupe Upright Citizens Brigade
Upright Citizens Brigade
The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational comedy and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The most recent incarnation consists of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh...
with Poehler. Detlef Schrempf
Detlef Schrempf
Detlef Schrempf is a retired German NBA basketball player.-High school and college career:...
, a retired Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
basketball player who played himself in the second season episode "Telethon
Telethon (Parks and Recreation)
Telethon is the 22nd episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 28th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 6, 2010. In the episode, Leslie volunteers to host a charity telethon and is given the...
", appeared again in "Li'l Sebastian". Jonathan Joss, who previously voiced John Redcorn
John Redcorn
John Redcorn III , is a character in the animated series King of the Hill. He is addressed or referred to as "John Redcorn" or "Mr...
in the animated television series King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
— which was co-created by Parks and Recreation co-creator Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
— guest starred in "Harvest Festival" as the local Native American tribe leader.
Filming
Toward the end of production on the second season, lead actor Amy PoehlerAmy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
became pregnant and the producers of the show were forced to go into production on season three early and film an additional six episodes to accommodate not only Poehler's pregnancy, but also a projected September 2010 air date. Amy Poehler said the cast was "a little fried" by the intense shooting schedule, but that the addition of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe to the cast provided an energy boost. Since Poehler was six months pregnant at the time of filming the first six episodes, she was often strategically placed behind items to conceal her belly. Although the third episode to be shown, "Time Capsule" was the last of these six episodes to be filmed because the story presented the highest amount of props to place Poehler in front of objects to hide her pregnancy, most notably the time capsule itself.
However, NBC eventually opted not to put the show on the fall schedule, and instead delayed the premiere of the third season until the beginning of 2011. This allowed for the network to run its new comedy, Outsourced
Outsourced (TV series)
Outsourced is an American television sitcom set in an Indian workplace. It was based on the John Jeffcoat film of the same name and adapted by Ken Kwapis and Universal Media Studios for NBC. The series originally ran from September 23, 2010 to May 12, 2011...
, in two-hour comedy schedule block rather than Parks and Recreation. The schedule change meant that all sixteen episodes from the third season would be filmed before any of them were shown; the rest of the episodes, starting with the seventh, were filmed in the fall of 2010. NBC chief executive officer Jeff Gaspin
Jeff Gaspin
Jeffrey "Jeff" Gaspin is an American television executive and was most recently the Chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment. Gaspin resigned his position in late 2010, as a precursor to Comcast taking controlling ownership of the now newly rechristened NBCUniversal, which occurred on...
said this move was not a reflection on Parks and Recreation, and suggested the extended hiatus would not only have no negative effect on the show, but could actually build anticipation for its return. Series co-creator Michael Schur
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
said the schedule changes were frustrating, but said: "It sounds a little corny, maybe even a little community theater-ish, but when we got the bad news our thinking was to just put our heads down and keep making the best show we could." Amy Poehler said of the hiatus, "It was an NBC decision and certainly we were confused. But I think, weirdly, there's a momentum that comes from people waiting for us, which is nice." Poehler also said it gave them the luxury of time to go back and reedit episodes or shoot and add new material.
As in previous seasons, filming of the third season of the series included a large amount of improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
from the cast. For example, during one scene in "The Fight" in which almost the entire cast becomes intoxicated at the Snakehole Lounge bar, each actor spent about two days on their own filming their own individual scenes. Much of the filming was improvised, including shots used in a montage sequence that showed how drunk each character had become by the end of the night. Amy Poehler described the filming as "the most fun I've ever had". Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally also improvised a great deal of their scenes during the filming of "Ron & Tammy: Part Two". The third season continued to use several visual and camera techniques that had been introduced in past seasons. In the past, Poehler would improvise several different jokes during a take, and they would be intermingled into a montage of jump cut
Jump cut
A jump cut is a cut in film editing and vloging in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit causes the subject of the shots to appear to "jump" position in a discontinuous way...
s featuring many of the jokes. That technique was used prominently in "Indianapolis" during a scene in which Leslie comforts Ann with stories about multiple times Leslie was dumped in the past. The same technique was used by Aziz Ansari in "Soulmates", during a scene in which Tom describes many slang nicknames he has given to foods, and in "The Fight", in which Tom describes many strange entrepreneurial idea he has come up with.
The "Harvest Fesvial" episode featured an elaborate festival setting and corn maze sets. Due to budget restraints, the Parks and Recreation set department did not build the set, but instead used a real-life setting at Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College
Los Angeles Pierce College, also known as Pierce College, Pierce, is a community college that serves more than 23,000 students in the northern Chalk Hills of Woodland Hills, a community within the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.The college began with 70 students...
, a community college in California which holds an annual festival event. Michael Schur said the aerial shot of the harvest festival at the end of the episode was the most expensive shot in the entire series. The episode was filmed out of sequence from the rest of the season so the weather would be cooler when the scenes were shot; Schur jokingly said if this was not done, "the week that we would have been shooting it was like 148 degrees here and the actors would be dead now". The Eagleton public forum scene in the episode "Eagleton" was shot at the Toluca Lake Sports Center in the Toluca Lake district of Los Angeles. The season finale "Li'l Sebastian" saw the introduction of the headquarters for Tom and Jean-Ralphio's new company, Entertainment 720. The setting was a completely white 15000 square feet (1,393.5 m²) room with modern decor and unusual furniture, and Michael Schur described the setting as, "Maybe the craziest thing that's ever been on our series ... It's truly nuts. It's like a hallucinogenic nightmare."
After the original broadcast of "Ron & Tammy: Part Two", NBC ran a commercial advertising "April and Andy's wedding registry" on the official Parks and Recreation website. 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. However, after "Andy and April's Fancy Party" aired, Schur admitted the commercial was intended to run with that episode, but ran with "Ron & Tammy: Part Two" due to an error by NBC employees: Schur said afterward, "We sincerely hope that fans of the show are cool with us gently lying to them, in an effort to maintain the surprise nuptials as much as we could."
Writing
The financial difficulties Pawnee experiences during the third season were reflective of the financial crisisLate-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...
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
Freddy Spaghetti
"Freddy Spaghetti" is the second season finale of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 30th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 20, 2010...
". 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". Schur said the decision to have them marry after only briefly dating stemmed from the writing staff's desire to "avoid the standard-issue TV romance plots: fights, other men/women driving them apart, and so on". They decided a fast marriage was funny, but also made sense because the characters are "two impulsive goofballs who don’t approach their lives in a responsible, adult manner".
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
Straight man
Straight man may refer to:* Straight Man, a novel by Richard Russo* A member of a double act who plays a stooge, feed, or comic foil in theatrical comedy...
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." Ann is further taken out of her element when it is revealed in "Indianapolis" that Chris broke up with her, but did so in such a positive and upbeat way that Ann did not realize it for several days. 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. "Li'l Sebastian" ends with several cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
twists including Tom's departure from city hall, Leslie being approached to run for office, and the arrival of Ron's first ex-wife Tammy, although the actress who will play her was not revealed. 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".
Broadcast
While Parks and Recreation previously aired on 8:30 p.m. EST on Thursdays, the third season marked its debut in a 9:30 p.m. Thursday timeslot effective January 20, 2011, airing between the two popular series The Office and 30 Rock30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
. Poehler said of the time-slot, "'The Office' is such an amazing show and to be behind it is an honor." The Parks producers hoped the Office lead-in would bring new viewers, and so the season premiere "Go Big and Go Home" included an introductory sequence that described the previous events of the series. 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. The episodes to receive "Producer's Cuts" included "Harvest Festival", "The Fight" and "Li'l Sebastian".
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
Goodbye, Michael
"Goodbye, Michael" is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 148th episode overall. The episode was written by series developer and executive producer Greg Daniels and was directed by Paul Feig. The episode originally aired on April...
", an extended episode of The Office that featured the final appearance of Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
as a regular cast member. "The Fight" and "Road Trip" ran back-to-back during their original broadcast on May 12, 2011, as did "The Bubble" and "Li'l Sebastian" on May 19. 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.
Reviews
Parks and Recreation continued to receive critical acclaim, as it did during the second season. The show was featured on the February 11 cover of Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, where it was called "the smartest comedy on TV" and which included the article "The 101 Reasons We Love Parks and Recreation". James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik
James Poniewozik is an American journalist and television critic. He writes Times Tuned In column and has a blog with the same name.Originally from Monroe, MI, Poniewozik attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a BA in English. He subsequently attended the graduate program...
of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine called it "a fabulous season – the best thing on TV in 2011 so far". Maureen Ryan of TV Squad called it one of the ten best shows of 2011, 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
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
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. Alan Sepinwall of HitFix called it a "remarkable season of TV comedy" without a single bad episode. Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
said although he considered Parks and Recreation the funniest sitcom on television during its second season, "it somehow got even better" during the third. Scott Meslow of The Atlantic said during the third season, Parks and Recreation was "the funniest, sweetest, most consistent sitcom on television", and that the way the characters were seeking new opportunities outside the parks department by the end of the season demonstrates the show is willing to change and is "not content to simply spin its wheels". Eric Sundermann of Hollywood.com said he believed third season "will become to be recognized as one of the best seasons of any sitcom ever", and that the characters and setting of Pawnee were so fully developed that he felt a close, personal connection to them. Henry Hanks of CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
called it a "a near-flawless season".
"Harvest Festival" received particularly strong reviews, with New York magazine writer Steve Kandell calling it the most pivotal episode of the season in terms of "resolving and resetting narrative stakes". Likewise, "Li'l Sebastian" was praised by several reviewers as one of the best episodes of the season, and Henry Hanks called it "one of the funniest half-hours of any show this season". As in past seasons, Nick Offerman continued to receive critical acclaim for his performance as Ron Swanson. By the third season, the character had taken on a cult status
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
, and the term "Ron Swanson" was so commonly discussed on the social-networking website Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
after "Andy and April's Fancy Party" aired that it was listed among the site's trending topic
Trending topic
A trending topic is a word, phrase or topic that is posted multiple times on the social networking and microblogging service Twitter. Trending topics become popular either through a concerted effort by users or because of an event that prompts people to talk about one specific topic...
s, which are indicative of being the most popular topics being discussed on Twitter at a given moment. Rob Lowe received particularly strong reviews for his performance in "Flu Season" where his normally extraordinarily-physically fit character becomes extremely ill and hallucinatory when infected with the flu. Aziz Ansari received very positive reviews for his performance in "Soulmates", as did Adam Scott for his performance in "Media Blitz". While some commentators felt the Ann Perkins character seemed adrift and not working as well as the other cast members, others said they liked the new direction the character had taken this season. Eric Sundermann declared the relationship between Chris and Ann was described as "one of the most interesting parts of the show", whereas Joel Keller of TV Squad felt it was poorly handled and made Ann too passive. Some reviewers said the town of Pawnee itself has developed into a rich and interesting setting, comparing it to Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
in the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
animated series The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
.
Ratings
Despite the critical success, the third season of Parks and Recreation continued to suffer in the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, just as it had during the second season. The average viewership for the 16 episodes of season three were 4.75 million household viewers, a slight increase over season two's 4.68 million average, but lower than season one's average of 5.45 million households. Michael Schur partially attributed the continually low viewership to a decline in ratings for NBC in general, as well as changing viewer trends due to a large amount of available channels. He added: "I would love it if our ratings went up and up, and we've done a pretty good job of making our show inviting and friendly, welcoming to new viewers. Other than that, I'm not sure what else we can do. It’s very disconcerting."
Parks and Recreation saw a slight increase in viewership during its first episodes. The season debut, "Go Big or Go Home", was seen by an estimated 6.19 million household viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, with a 3.2 rating/8 share among viewers between ages 18 and 49. It marked the series' highest rating in that demographic, and the highest overall viewership since the series premiere episode from April 2009, which was seen by 6.77 million household viewers. The ratings quickly dropped, however, and by the third episode "Time Capsule" had dipped to 4.95 million household viewers, a more than 17 percent decline from the previous episode, "Flu Season". By the seventh episode, "Harvest Festival", viewership had dropped to 4.08 million households, one of the lowest ratings of the series.
The ratings increased slightly after that point, with the viewership for the next episode "Camping" jumping up 39 percent to 5.15 million households. Ratings for the eleventh episode, "Jerry's Painting", were expected to be high due to a lead-in from Steve Carell's final episode as a regular cast member on The Office. However, the Parks and Recreation episode was seen by an estimated 4.71 million household viewers, a drop from the previous episode "Soulmates". Ratings were unusually low for Parks and Recreation during its last four episodes due to the timeslot changes and back-to-back pairing of the episodes: "The Fight" and "Road Trip" were seen by 4.55 million and 3.54 million households, respectively, while "The Bubble" and season finale "Li'l Sebastian" were seen by 4.27 and 3.72 million households, respectively.
Awards
In 2011, Parks and Recreation was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy SeriesPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...
, the first such nomination for the series. Amy Poehler received her second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Poehler said she was considering submitting the episodes "Flu Season" or "The Fight" for Emmy Award consideration. In June 2011, Parks and Recreation was nominated for three of the inaugural Critics’ Choice Television Awards. The show itself was nominated for "Best Comedy Series", Amy Poehler was nominated for "Best Actress in a Comedy Series" and Nick Offerman was nominated for "Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series". Also that month, Parks and Recreation was nominated for four TCA Awards
TCA Awards
The TCA Awards are awards presented by the Television Critics Association in recognition of excellence in television excellence. There are eleven categories, which are presented every summer.-Categories:...
: Program of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Comedy and Individual Achievement in Comedy awards for Offerman and Poehler. Offerman will also host the TCA Awards ceremony this year.
External links
- Official Parks and Recreation site at NBC.comNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...