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Rock Show (Parks and Recreation)
Encyclopedia
"Rock Show" is the sixth episode and season finale of the first season
of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation
. It originally aired on NBC
in the United States on May 14, 2009. It was written by Norm Hiscock
and directed by Michael Schur
. In the episode, Andy
gets the casts removed from his legs, and Ann
starts reevaluating their relationship when she learns he kept them on longer than necessary so she would keep pampering him. An intoxicated Mark
flirts with Leslie
, who feels conflicted about whether she wants to move forward when he is drunk.
The episode generated positive reviews. Several commentators claimed "Rock Show" represented a turning point in the series, in which the show found its own tone and broke away from similarities to The Office. According to Nielsen Media Research
, it was watched by 4.25 million viewers in its original airing, the lowest viewership for the season. "Rock Show", along with an "Extended Producer's Cut" of the episode, was included on the Parks and Recreation Season One DVD
, which was released in the United States on September 8, 2009.
(Chris Pratt
) having his leg casts removed, and Ann
(Rashida Jones
) invites everybody to a local bar to hear Andy's first rock concert since he broke his leg. Leslie
(Amy Poehler
) is disappointed she cannot go, because her mother
(Pamela Reed
) has set up a business meeting with a local town manager. Later at the hospital, Ann learns from Dr. Harris (Cooper Thornton) that Andy could have had his casts removed two weeks earlier, but that he postponed it because he wanted Ann to keep pampering him. Angry, Ann begins reevaluating her relationship with Andy. Later that evening, Leslie realizes the dinner with 62-year-old George Gernway (Ron Perkins) is actually a blind date set up by her mother. George, who tells the documentary camera crew he is getting "very positive signals", agrees to go with Leslie to the rock show.
Mark
(Paul Schneider
) feels lonely because he is the only one at the concert without a date: Tom
(Aziz Ansari
) is with his attractive surgeon wife Wendy Haverford (Jama Williamson
), Ron
(Nick Offerman
) is dating his ex-wife's sister Beth (Stephanie Erb) and April
(Aubrey Plaza) is with, "like the gayest person I've ever met, but I make out with him when I'm drunk sometimes." Noticing Ann is angry with Andy, Mark makes a pass at her, but Ann angrily rejects him. Leslie and George show up and are mocked by Tom. After the concert ends, Andy tries to stay as long as possible to avoid a fight with Ann, but she insists they leave. George goes home because he was falling asleep and Leslie starts to leave, but an intoxicated Mark asks her to stay and have a beer with him.
When Leslie notes to the camera crew that they seem to be getting along just like when they made love five years earlier, she realizes he was drunk then too. When the bar closes, the two decide to keep drinking alongside the pit outside Ann's house, which Leslie plans to turn into a park. When Leslie asks whether she thinks the park will ever be made, a pragmatic Mark says it will be a difficult process with a lot of red tape, but she remains optimistic. During a fight, Andy admits to Ann that he postponed having the casts removed, but explains it was because, "I really, really like it when you serve me food." Ann throws him out, and Andy sees Mark kiss Leslie. Leslie stops his advances because she does not want to move forward when he is drunk. As Mark starts to leave, he falls into the pit. An amused Andy tells Ann, who rushes out to help him while Andy goes back inside and watches television.
finale of Parks and Recreation was written by Norm Hiscock
and directed by series co-founder Michael Schur
. Schur said he felt "Rock Show" marked a change in tone for the series and struck a better balance between personal and professional stories than any of the other episodes from the season. Schur said: "We treated that whole six-episode season like a pilot. If you go back and watch those episodes now, you can see us making changes. The sixth episode is different in tone than the first. And we made some character tweaks, like every show ever does". Amy Poehler said she believed "Rock Show" would end what she described as the inevitable comparisons between Parks and Recreation and The Office, which is also produced by Parks creators Schur and Greg Daniels
. Poehler said, "I think it was something we had to work through in the beginning, and I’m kind of hoping we’re on the other side of that and people will start to judge the show on its own, for what it is and realize it’s just a completely different world in a similar style.” Schur made his directorial debut with "Rock Show", and had only one day of preparation before directing the episode. While preparing to direct the episode, Schur was asked to make an appearance on The Office as Mose Schrute, the cousin of Dwight Schrute
and a popular minor character, in the fifth season finale episode, "Company Picnic
". Schur regretfully declined because he needed the time to work on "Rock Show", leading Office episode writers Paul Lieberstein
and Jennifer Celotta
to create the character Rolf, Dwight's friend played by James Urbaniak
, as an alternative.
Andy's bandmates during the rock show scene were played by Mark Rivers (drums), Andrew Burlinson (guitar) and Alan Yang
(bass). All four actors performed their own instruments live during the filming. Originally, they planned to pre-record the songs and pantomime them for the episode, but after practicing a few times around the extras, they decided to shoot it live. The band performed each song twice, and Schur said he tried to shoot and direct it as if it were a music video. Yang is a writer with Parks and Recreation, and wrote the previous first season episode, "Boys' Club
". Rivers is a composer who has worked on the sketch comedy show Human Giant
, which starred Parks star Aziz Ansari. Rivers wrote the songs performed in "Rock Show", which Pratt said took him only "about fifteen minutes". Hiscock wrote the lyrics for "The Pit" in the initial outline for the episode and they were handed to Rivers who then fleshed them out. The songs were designed to resemble the music of the American rock band Hootie & the Blowfish
. The only song not written by Rivers was "Ann", a romantic ballad Andy played for Ann, which was written by Pratt himself. "Ann" first appeared in "Boys' Club".
Like most episodes of Parks and Recreation, a great deal of the scenes in "Rock Show" were improvised by the actors. Paul Schneider made up his own dialogue during the scene in which he and Poehler sit next to the pit and he talks about it as if it is already a park. Poehler's laughter at his jokes in this scene is her genuine reaction. Pratt also improvised much of his own dialogue, including his rationale to Ann for why he lied about his leg casts: "I really, really like it when you serve me food." Pratt also changed the reaction his character had to Mark falling into the pit. The script originally called for Andy to be serious and concerned, but Pratt changed it so his character thought the fall was funny. Pratt also improvised the songs he sang during an early scene in the episode, in which Andy makes up songs about random items in Ann's living room out of boredom from wearing the casts for so long. One of the songs he sings is about a lamp, and included the lyrics, "I wish you were a lamp that would light up when you get touched." Pratt thought of the song because he had recently gotten such a lamp as a gift from a friend.
During a scene when Andy describes his style of music, April responds that she completely understands him, although the other characters seemingly do not. That like was improvised by Aubrey Plaza, and later helped inspire the writing staff to place the April and Andy characters into a romantic relationship. Schur said of this, "At the time, it was this little nothing, throwaway thing, but when we watched it, we thought there might be something there." The scene with Mark making a pass at Ann at the rock show, and Ann's angry reaction to the attempt, were a last-minute addition to the episode. Although Mark and Ann would develop a romantic relationship in the second season, the Parks and Recreation writers had not decided what would happen between the developing romantic plotlines between Leslie and Mark, or Leslie and Ann, at time "Rock Show" aired. Immediately after "Rock Show" was originally broadcast, NBC set up an official website for "Scarecrow Boat", Andy's band featured in the episode. The site, at scarecrowboat.com, included ringtones, band posters, songs for download and photos.
George Gernway was played by Ron Perkins, the husband of Parks and Recreation casting director Nancy Perkins. Aubrey Plaza conceived the idea of her character dating a gay man who she occasionally makes out with. Her "gay boyfriend" would become a major part of April's character in the second season. The scenes about Mark's efforts to have a speed bump lowered were inspired by Scott Albright, a California
city planner who works as a consultant on the show. Albright said it would only be realistic for a city planner to lower a speed bump if a large number of residents complained about it. The hospital scenes in "Rock Show" were filmed on-location in an actual California hospital.
and The Fray
. George says his favorite rock band is The Everly Brothers
, a country-influenced rock band from the 1950s and 60s. Andy finds Ann's lost iPod
, a portable music player by Apple Inc., inside his leg cast after it is removed. When Andy starts watching television while Ann rushes off to help Mark at the end of the episode, he is watching the reality series The Real Housewives of Atlanta
.
The scene between Mark and Leslie at the pit was mirrored in the second season
finale "Freddy Spaghetti
", which aired in May 2010 and was Mark's final appearance as a regular cast member. During that scene, the two overlook what was once the pit, but was not a filled-in lot, and Mark gives her construction plans for a park before kissing her goodbye on the cheek and leaving. Schur said of the scene, "It's great because Leslie and Mark, it was such a disastrous moment last time (at the pit) and he didn't really respect her, and a lot's happened in a year." Goor said of using that setting, "I liked the symmetry of having it play a critical, and opposite role in this finale. Last year, they sat on the bench and kissed, and it seemed like they might be getting back together. This year, they sat on the bench and Mark kissed Leslie goodbye."
During one scene, Andy goes through a list of previous names his band has had. Pratt said about half the band names featured in the episode came directly from the script, but after he made up one on the spot, the directors encouraged him to keep improvising. Pratt said he went through about 200 fake band names during the take. The various names of Andy's rock band include:
, marking the lowest viewership for the season. Although the rating was almost the same as the previous week's episode, "The Banquet
", Bill Gorman of TV By the Numbers still called the rating "pitiful." The episode received a 1.9 rating/7 share among viewers aged between 18 and 34, and a 2.0 rating/6 share among viewers between 18 and 49.
"Rock Show" received generally positive reviews. The scene in which Leslie rejects Mark's kiss in the pit was considered by some reviewers to be a critical turning point both for the show and for the development of Leslie Knope's character. Kona Gallagher of TV Squad wrote in a 2010 article, "Leslie finally realized that she can move on from Mark and the show realized that it could actually make her a real character".
Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
said after six episodes, he felt "Rock Show" was the episode where the Parks and Recreation found the right tone for the series and Leslie Knope character. Sepinwall said all the characters were very likable, the jokes seemed natural and the awkwardness of the show was turned down enough to work properly. The Hollywood Reporter
writer Tim Goodman said while the first five episodes of the season had been disappointing, "Rock Show" marked an improvement in which "the characters were more defined, their quirks and rhythms understood". Matt Fowler of IGN
said he did not find the episode especially funny but that it did a good job of fleshing out the characters. He said Chris Pratt was especially funny, and that his band's song "The Pit" was stuck in his head after the episode. The A.V. Club
writer Keith Phipps, who had mixed feelings about Parks and Recreation throughout the season, said "Rock Show" was very funny and restored his faith in the potential of the series. Phipps said he believed the show would become very popular in the second season, and that people would later claim to like the first season more than they did the first time they saw it. In October 2009, while reviewing the second season episode "Sister City
", A.V. Club writer Leonard Pierce said he believed Parks and Recreation showed a streak of vast improvement that started with "Rock Show" and continued into the second season.
Jeremy Medina of Entertainment Weekly
said the episode was "solid all-around" and especially liked Leslie's blind date with the elderly man and Chris Pratt, especially his listing of all his previous band names. Medina said, "Parks and Recreation is only six episodes in, and it's already better than I anticipated. It has its own tone, a talented cast, and a plot that's advancing toward something, at least as fast as governmental red tape will allow it to." Richard Lawson of Gawker
said the episode was the best of the season and that he liked the wistful pacing and Poehler's performance. Lawson said, "Anyone who dismissed this show after its first sorta underwhelming episode made a mistake. The show has only gotten tighter and sharper, culminating in last night's funny/sad finale." Time
television reviewer James Poniewozik said the episode was the best yet for developing Poehler into a "more multi-facted, less risible character". He also said the supporting staff played "flawlessly" off each other in the rock show scene, and thinks there is "huge potential" in the dynamic between Leslie and her undermining mother. Not all reviews of the episode were positive. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
said the Leslie Knope character was unappealing in "Rock Show" and throughout the first season, which she said surpassed the Friends
spin-off Joey
as "as the worst example of NBC's tendency to extend its franchises well beyond what is desirable or logical."
set in the United States on September 8, 2009. The DVD included cast and crew commentary tracks for each episode, as well as about 30 minutes of deleted scenes. The disc also included an "Producer's Extended Cut" of "Rock Show", which incorporated scenes that were cut from the originally broadcast episode. Many of the deleted scenes were improvised dialogue from the actors in brief extensions of episodes already included in the originally broadcast episode. In one of the cut scenes, Marlene Knope tells the audience that Leslie's business meeting is actually a date. The producers decided to cut the moment, so the audience would find out at the same time Leslie learns it. In another cut scene, Andy tries to convince Ann that the doctor lied to her about Andy requesting more time with the leg casts because the doctor wanted more money. One of the longest cut scenes from the extended edition was a conversation between Leslie and Mark at the bar, in which Mark explains his ideals about city planning when he attended college are much different than the practical, technical aspects of his job. Although the scene was cut, Michael Schur said the monologue did a great deal to help develop Mark's character.
Parks and Recreation (season 1)
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...
of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation
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...
. It originally aired on 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...
in the United States on May 14, 2009. It was written by Norm Hiscock
Norm Hiscock
Norm Hiscock is an Emmy Award winning screenwriter and producer. He is known for his work on Saturday Night Live, King of the Hill, The Kids in the Hall, Corner Gas and most recently Parks and Recreation...
and directed by 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...
. In the episode, Andy
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...
gets the casts removed from his legs, and Ann
Ann Perkins
Ann Meredith Perkins is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is a nurse and best friend of Leslie Knope. She is portrayed by Rashida Jones.-Season one:...
starts reevaluating their relationship when she learns he kept them on longer than necessary so she would keep pampering him. An intoxicated Mark
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...
flirts with Leslie
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:...
, who feels conflicted about whether she wants to move forward when he is drunk.
The episode generated positive reviews. Several commentators claimed "Rock Show" represented a turning point in the series, in which the show found its own tone and broke away from similarities to The Office. According to Nielsen Media Research
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...
, it was watched by 4.25 million viewers in its original airing, the lowest viewership for the season. "Rock Show", along with an "Extended Producer's Cut" of the episode, was included on the Parks and Recreation Season One DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, which was released in the United States on September 8, 2009.
Plot
The parks and recreation department have cake to celebrate AndyAndy 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...
) having his leg casts removed, and Ann
Ann Perkins
Ann Meredith Perkins is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is a nurse and best friend of Leslie Knope. She is portrayed by Rashida Jones.-Season one:...
(Rashida Jones
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter and occasional singer. She played Louisa Fenn on Boston Public and Karen Filippelli on The Office as well as roles in the films I Love You, Man and The Social Network...
) invites everybody to a local bar to hear Andy's first rock concert since he broke his leg. Leslie
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...
) is disappointed she cannot go, because her mother
Marlene Griggs-Knope
Marlene Griggs-Knope is a fictional character played by Pamela Reed in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. She is the mother of the show's protagonist, Leslie Knope, and an important political figure in the school system at the fictional Indiana town of Pawnee, where Leslie...
(Pamela Reed
Pamela Reed
Pamela Reed is an American actress. She is known for playing Ruth Powers in various episodes of TV's The Simpsons, as Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic partner in the 1990 movie Kindergarten Cop and as the matriarch Gail Green in Jericho...
) has set up a business meeting with a local town manager. Later at the hospital, Ann learns from Dr. Harris (Cooper Thornton) that Andy could have had his casts removed two weeks earlier, but that he postponed it because he wanted Ann to keep pampering him. Angry, Ann begins reevaluating her relationship with Andy. Later that evening, Leslie realizes the dinner with 62-year-old George Gernway (Ron Perkins) is actually a blind date set up by her mother. George, who tells the documentary camera crew he is getting "very positive signals", agrees to go with Leslie to the rock show.
Mark
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...
(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...
) feels lonely because he is the only one at the concert without a date: Tom
Tom Haverford
Thomas Montgomery "Tom" Haverford , born Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani, is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee who is revered for his high levels of swagger and unmatched entrepreneurial skills...
(Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian. He currently stars as Tom Haverford on the NBC show Parks and Recreation....
) is with his attractive surgeon wife Wendy Haverford (Jama Williamson
Jama Williamson
Jama Williamson is an American actress. She was active in New York City theater throughout the early 2000s, during which she appeared in such shows as Avery Crozier's Eat the Runt, Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl, A. R. Gurney's Sylvia and Simon Mendes da Costa's Losing Louis...
), Ron
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...
(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:...
) is dating his ex-wife's sister Beth (Stephanie Erb) and April
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) is with, "like the gayest person I've ever met, but I make out with him when I'm drunk sometimes." Noticing Ann is angry with Andy, Mark makes a pass at her, but Ann angrily rejects him. Leslie and George show up and are mocked by Tom. After the concert ends, Andy tries to stay as long as possible to avoid a fight with Ann, but she insists they leave. George goes home because he was falling asleep and Leslie starts to leave, but an intoxicated Mark asks her to stay and have a beer with him.
When Leslie notes to the camera crew that they seem to be getting along just like when they made love five years earlier, she realizes he was drunk then too. When the bar closes, the two decide to keep drinking alongside the pit outside Ann's house, which Leslie plans to turn into a park. When Leslie asks whether she thinks the park will ever be made, a pragmatic Mark says it will be a difficult process with a lot of red tape, but she remains optimistic. During a fight, Andy admits to Ann that he postponed having the casts removed, but explains it was because, "I really, really like it when you serve me food." Ann throws him out, and Andy sees Mark kiss Leslie. Leslie stops his advances because she does not want to move forward when he is drunk. As Mark starts to leave, he falls into the pit. An amused Andy tells Ann, who rushes out to help him while Andy goes back inside and watches television.
Production
"Rock Show", the first seasonParks and Recreation (season 1)
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...
finale of Parks and Recreation was written by Norm Hiscock
Norm Hiscock
Norm Hiscock is an Emmy Award winning screenwriter and producer. He is known for his work on Saturday Night Live, King of the Hill, The Kids in the Hall, Corner Gas and most recently Parks and Recreation...
and directed by series co-founder 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...
. Schur said he felt "Rock Show" marked a change in tone for the series and struck a better balance between personal and professional stories than any of the other episodes from the season. Schur said: "We treated that whole six-episode season like a pilot. If you go back and watch those episodes now, you can see us making changes. The sixth episode is different in tone than the first. And we made some character tweaks, like every show ever does". Amy Poehler said she believed "Rock Show" would end what she described as the inevitable comparisons between Parks and Recreation and The Office, which is also produced by Parks creators Schur and Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
. Poehler said, "I think it was something we had to work through in the beginning, and I’m kind of hoping we’re on the other side of that and people will start to judge the show on its own, for what it is and realize it’s just a completely different world in a similar style.” Schur made his directorial debut with "Rock Show", and had only one day of preparation before directing the episode. While preparing to direct the episode, Schur was asked to make an appearance on The Office as Mose Schrute, the cousin of Dwight Schrute
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
and a popular minor character, in the fifth season finale episode, "Company Picnic
Company Picnic
"Company Picnic" is the fifth season finale of the American comedy television series The Office, and the 100th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009...
". Schur regretfully declined because he needed the time to work on "Rock Show", leading Office episode writers Paul Lieberstein
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein is an American screenwriter, actor and television producer. An Emmy Award winner, he is most widely known as a writer, producer, and as supporting cast member Toby Flenderson on the U.S...
and Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Ann Celotta is an American television producer and writer. Among her credits are Home Improvement, Malcolm in the Middle, Greg the Bunny, Andy Richter Controls The Universe and The Office...
to create the character Rolf, Dwight's friend played by James Urbaniak
James Urbaniak
James Christian Urbaniak is an American actor. Urbaniak was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. He lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife Julie and their twins, son Severn Jerzy and daughter Esme Maeve....
, as an alternative.
Andy's bandmates during the rock show scene were played by Mark Rivers (drums), Andrew Burlinson (guitar) and Alan Yang
Alan Yang
Alan Yang is an American screenwriter for the NBC sitcom, Parks and Recreation.-Career:His previous credits include the Carson Daly's Late Night Show and South Park. In 2009, he was named by Variety magazine as one of "10 Screenwriters to Watch". He currently has three screenplays in development,"...
(bass). All four actors performed their own instruments live during the filming. Originally, they planned to pre-record the songs and pantomime them for the episode, but after practicing a few times around the extras, they decided to shoot it live. The band performed each song twice, and Schur said he tried to shoot and direct it as if it were a music video. Yang is a writer with Parks and Recreation, and wrote the previous first season episode, "Boys' Club
Boys' Club (Parks and Recreation)
"Boys' Club" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 30, 2009. It was written by Alan Yang and directed by Michael McCullers...
". Rivers is a composer who has worked on the sketch comedy show Human Giant
Human Giant
Human Giant is a sketch comedy show on MTV, starring writer/performers Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer and directed primarily by Jason Woliner.The show has completed two seasons. The status of a third season is unknown...
, which starred Parks star Aziz Ansari. Rivers wrote the songs performed in "Rock Show", which Pratt said took him only "about fifteen minutes". Hiscock wrote the lyrics for "The Pit" in the initial outline for the episode and they were handed to Rivers who then fleshed them out. The songs were designed to resemble the music of the American rock band Hootie & the Blowfish
Hootie & the Blowfish
Hootie & the Blowfish is an American rock band that enjoyed popularity in the second half of the 1990s. They were originally formed in 1986 at the University of South Carolina by Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Jim Sonefeld, and Mark Bryan. The band has recorded five studio albums to date, and has...
. The only song not written by Rivers was "Ann", a romantic ballad Andy played for Ann, which was written by Pratt himself. "Ann" first appeared in "Boys' Club".
Like most episodes of Parks and Recreation, a great deal of the scenes in "Rock Show" were improvised by the actors. Paul Schneider made up his own dialogue during the scene in which he and Poehler sit next to the pit and he talks about it as if it is already a park. Poehler's laughter at his jokes in this scene is her genuine reaction. Pratt also improvised much of his own dialogue, including his rationale to Ann for why he lied about his leg casts: "I really, really like it when you serve me food." Pratt also changed the reaction his character had to Mark falling into the pit. The script originally called for Andy to be serious and concerned, but Pratt changed it so his character thought the fall was funny. Pratt also improvised the songs he sang during an early scene in the episode, in which Andy makes up songs about random items in Ann's living room out of boredom from wearing the casts for so long. One of the songs he sings is about a lamp, and included the lyrics, "I wish you were a lamp that would light up when you get touched." Pratt thought of the song because he had recently gotten such a lamp as a gift from a friend.
During a scene when Andy describes his style of music, April responds that she completely understands him, although the other characters seemingly do not. That like was improvised by Aubrey Plaza, and later helped inspire the writing staff to place the April and Andy characters into a romantic relationship. Schur said of this, "At the time, it was this little nothing, throwaway thing, but when we watched it, we thought there might be something there." The scene with Mark making a pass at Ann at the rock show, and Ann's angry reaction to the attempt, were a last-minute addition to the episode. Although Mark and Ann would develop a romantic relationship in the second season, the Parks and Recreation writers had not decided what would happen between the developing romantic plotlines between Leslie and Mark, or Leslie and Ann, at time "Rock Show" aired. Immediately after "Rock Show" was originally broadcast, NBC set up an official website for "Scarecrow Boat", Andy's band featured in the episode. The site, at scarecrowboat.com, included ringtones, band posters, songs for download and photos.
George Gernway was played by Ron Perkins, the husband of Parks and Recreation casting director Nancy Perkins. Aubrey Plaza conceived the idea of her character dating a gay man who she occasionally makes out with. Her "gay boyfriend" would become a major part of April's character in the second season. The scenes about Mark's efforts to have a speed bump lowered were inspired by Scott Albright, a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
city planner who works as a consultant on the show. Albright said it would only be realistic for a city planner to lower a speed bump if a large number of residents complained about it. The hospital scenes in "Rock Show" were filmed on-location in an actual California hospital.
Cultural references
Andy describes the style of his band's music as a mix between Matchbox TwentyMatchbox Twenty
Matchbox Twenty is an American rock band, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995...
and The Fray
The Fray
-Literature:*Fray, a phenomenon in Terry Pratchett's The Carpet People*Fray , a comic book series by Joss Whedon**Melaka Fray, titular character of the comic book series-Music:*"Fray", a song from the album 14 Shades of Grey by Staind...
. George says his favorite rock band is The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
, a country-influenced rock band from the 1950s and 60s. Andy finds Ann's lost iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
, a portable music player by Apple Inc., inside his leg cast after it is removed. When Andy starts watching television while Ann rushes off to help Mark at the end of the episode, he is watching the reality series The Real Housewives of Atlanta
The Real Housewives of Atlanta
The Real Housewives of Atlanta is an American reality television series on the Bravo cable network that premiered in the fall of 2008. Following the format of its predecessors , in 2009 the Atlanta series was not only the highest rated show of the The Real Housewives of... franchise, it was the...
.
The scene between Mark and Leslie at the pit was mirrored 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...
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...
", which aired in May 2010 and was Mark's final appearance as a regular cast member. During that scene, the two overlook what was once the pit, but was not a filled-in lot, and Mark gives her construction plans for a park before kissing her goodbye on the cheek and leaving. Schur said of the scene, "It's great because Leslie and Mark, it was such a disastrous moment last time (at the pit) and he didn't really respect her, and a lot's happened in a year." Goor said of using that setting, "I liked the symmetry of having it play a critical, and opposite role in this finale. Last year, they sat on the bench and kissed, and it seemed like they might be getting back together. This year, they sat on the bench and Mark kissed Leslie goodbye."
During one scene, Andy goes through a list of previous names his band has had. Pratt said about half the band names featured in the episode came directly from the script, but after he made up one on the spot, the directors encouraged him to keep improvising. Pratt said he went through about 200 fake band names during the take. The various names of Andy's rock band include:
- A.D. and the D Bags
- The Andy Andy Andies
- Andy Dwyer Experience
- Angel Snack
- Death of a Scam Artist
- Department of Homeland Obscurity
- Everything Rhymes with Orange
- Fiveskin
- Flames For Flames
- Fourskin
- God Hates Figs
- Hand Grill Suicide
- Jet Black Pope
- Just The Tip
- Mouse Rat
- Muscle Confusion
- Ninja Dick
- Nothing Rhymes with Blorange
- Nothing Rhymes with Orange
- Penis Pendulum
- Possum Pendulum
- Punch Face Champions
- Puppy Pendulum
- Rad Wagon
- Razordick
- Teddy Bear Suicide
- Threeskin
- Two Doors Down
- Scarecrow Boat
- Mouse Rat
Reception
In its original American broadcast on May 14, 2009, "Rock Show" was watched by 4.25 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen 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...
, marking the lowest viewership for the season. Although the rating was almost the same as the previous week's episode, "The Banquet
The Banquet (Parks and Recreation)
"The Banquet" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 8, 2009. It was written by Tucker Cawley and directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller...
", Bill Gorman of TV By the Numbers still called the rating "pitiful." The episode received a 1.9 rating/7 share among viewers aged between 18 and 34, and a 2.0 rating/6 share among viewers between 18 and 49.
"Rock Show" received generally positive reviews. The scene in which Leslie rejects Mark's kiss in the pit was considered by some reviewers to be a critical turning point both for the show and for the development of Leslie Knope's character. Kona Gallagher of TV Squad wrote in a 2010 article, "Leslie finally realized that she can move on from Mark and the show realized that it could actually make her a real character".
Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
said after six episodes, he felt "Rock Show" was the episode where the Parks and Recreation found the right tone for the series and Leslie Knope character. Sepinwall said all the characters were very likable, the jokes seemed natural and the awkwardness of the show was turned down enough to work properly. The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
writer Tim Goodman said while the first five episodes of the season had been disappointing, "Rock Show" marked an improvement in which "the characters were more defined, their quirks and rhythms understood". Matt Fowler of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
said he did not find the episode especially funny but that it did a good job of fleshing out the characters. He said Chris Pratt was especially funny, and that his band's song "The Pit" was stuck in his head after the episode. 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...
writer Keith Phipps, who had mixed feelings about Parks and Recreation throughout the season, said "Rock Show" was very funny and restored his faith in the potential of the series. Phipps said he believed the show would become very popular in the second season, and that people would later claim to like the first season more than they did the first time they saw it. In October 2009, while reviewing the second season episode "Sister City
Sister City (Parks and Recreation)
"Sister City" is the fifth episode of the second season of Parks and Recreation, and the eleventh overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on October 15, 2009...
", A.V. Club writer Leonard Pierce said he believed Parks and Recreation showed a streak of vast improvement that started with "Rock Show" and continued into the second season.
Jeremy Medina of 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...
said the episode was "solid all-around" and especially liked Leslie's blind date with the elderly man and Chris Pratt, especially his listing of all his previous band names. Medina said, "Parks and Recreation is only six episodes in, and it's already better than I anticipated. It has its own tone, a talented cast, and a plot that's advancing toward something, at least as fast as governmental red tape will allow it to." Richard Lawson of Gawker
Gawker.com
Gawker is a newsmagazine/blog based in New York City that bills itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the media industry....
said the episode was the best of the season and that he liked the wistful pacing and Poehler's performance. Lawson said, "Anyone who dismissed this show after its first sorta underwhelming episode made a mistake. The show has only gotten tighter and sharper, culminating in last night's funny/sad finale." 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...
television reviewer James Poniewozik said the episode was the best yet for developing Poehler into a "more multi-facted, less risible character". He also said the supporting staff played "flawlessly" off each other in the rock show scene, and thinks there is "huge potential" in the dynamic between Leslie and her undermining mother. Not all reviews of the episode were positive. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
said the Leslie Knope character was unappealing in "Rock Show" and throughout the first season, which she said surpassed the Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
spin-off Joey
Joey (TV series)
Joey is an American sitcom, which stars Matt LeBlanc reprising his role as Joey Tribbiani from the sitcom Friends. It premiered on the NBC television network, on September 9, 2004, in the former time slot of its parent series, Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m...
as "as the worst example of NBC's tendency to extend its franchises well beyond what is desirable or logical."
DVD release
"Rock Show", along with the five other first season episodes of Parks and Recreation, was released on a one-disc DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
set in the United States on September 8, 2009. The DVD included cast and crew commentary tracks for each episode, as well as about 30 minutes of deleted scenes. The disc also included an "Producer's Extended Cut" of "Rock Show", which incorporated scenes that were cut from the originally broadcast episode. Many of the deleted scenes were improvised dialogue from the actors in brief extensions of episodes already included in the originally broadcast episode. In one of the cut scenes, Marlene Knope tells the audience that Leslie's business meeting is actually a date. The producers decided to cut the moment, so the audience would find out at the same time Leslie learns it. In another cut scene, Andy tries to convince Ann that the doctor lied to her about Andy requesting more time with the leg casts because the doctor wanted more money. One of the longest cut scenes from the extended edition was a conversation between Leslie and Mark at the bar, in which Mark explains his ideals about city planning when he attended college are much different than the practical, technical aspects of his job. Although the scene was cut, Michael Schur said the monologue did a great deal to help develop Mark's character.
External links
- "Rock Show" at the official Parks and Recreation site
- "Rock Show" at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...