Last night, one of my favorite sitcoms ended its run. Parks and Recreation never was a huge hit, but for its loyal fanbase it was one of the funniest and sweetest shows around. Parks and Recreation is the reason that I knew Chris Pratt was eventually going to be a star and brought the awesomeness that is Ron Effing Swanson into my life – not to mention reinforce the comedic genius that is Amy Poehler. When The Office ended its run, I was ready for it to go; that isn’t the case with Parks and Recreation, which has given us some of the funniest episodes in its final season. I’m so sad that we now live in a world without Pawnee, Indiana.
Ironically, I almost gave up on Parks and Recreation. As a political scientist, I was psyched for a show that was based in the world of local government and had high hopes. When the show finally debuted, I just didn’t dig it. That first six episode season was rocky – they hadn’t figured out the Leslie character and she was too close to simply being a female version of Michael Scott. I decided the show just wasn’t for me after that and had to be talked back into watching the second season; one of my friends assured me that the show had found their groove and was vastly improved. I was skeptical, but after his constant badgering I conceded, gave it another look and was instantly smitten. Since then, I haven’t looked back.
So in honor of the end of Parks and Recreation, “treat yo self” to this week’s pop culture round up. You deserve it.
- An oral history of the creation (and evolution) of Parks and Recreation.
- The most inappropriate murals from the set of Parks and Rec.
- The Indiana Tourism Office wrote a nice farewell to the show.
- Ron Swanson get the Shepard Fairey treatment:
- Retta (Donna) remembers how she met each member of the P&R cast.
- The 50 best P&R supporting characters.
- Did you catch the Marvel Easter egg in the finale?
- Play an 8-bit L’il Sebastian game.
- Uproxx pays tribute to forgotten Parks & Rec character Mark Brendanawicz.
- A tribute to all the food featured on the show.
- The complete collection of Parks and Rec references to 2017.
- 28 of the best running gags from the show.
- All of the times Jerry screwed up during the run of the series.
- Flavorwire writes a defense of Jerry.
- This is silly, but made me laugh: Tom Haverfoods.
- Ben Schwartz, who played Jean-Ralphio, is posting behind the scene photos from the show on Instagram.
- All of Tom Haverford’s business ideas on Parks and Rec ranked by viability.
- Alan Sepinwall over at Hitfix did a slew of great interviews with the cast.
- All the fake commercials that aired during last week’s Johnny Karate episode of P&R.
- The full legal disclaimer from Johnny Karate.
On to non-Parks and Recreation related news…….
- The Oscar ratings weren’t great this year.
- So not only was that Will Arnett at the Oscars, he was wearing Val Kilmer’s Batsuit.
- I didn’t watch much of the Red Carpet coverage, but I missed this earlier John Travolta creeper moment:
- Steven Spielberg has been thanked more often in Oscar speeches than God.
- Richard Linklater might make an actual (rather than “spiritual”) sequel to Boyhood.
- Now Jason Jones is leaving The Daily Show too. Wife Samantha Bee seems to be staying put.
- Wesley Snipes will play a Vegas pit boss in a new series on NBC.
- Stephen Colbert will appear on The Mindy Project.
- Conan and Billy Eichner try out Grindr:
- A new Pee-Wee Herman movie, produced by Judd Apatow, will debut on Netflix.
- DuckTales (who-hoo!) is returning to TV in 2017
- Broadchurch has been renewed for a third season; David Tennant and Olivia Colman to return.
- More bloopers from Game of Thrones:
- Lena Dunham is headed to Scandal.
- Marisa Tomei will play Gloria Steinem in HBO miniseries.
- NYPD is reportedly using Road House as a training tool.
- Rob Riggle and Jane Curtain to star in a pilot for Fox.
- Chris Hemsworth is hosting Saturday Night Live on March 7th.
- Paula Patton will star in a pilot about a gunrunning cartel for ABC.
- Angela Kinsey (The Office) to star in a new comedy at ABC.
- The cast for Kurt Sutter’s new show The Bastard Executioner has been announced and contains some familiar names.
- So here’s a sentence I’d never thought I’d utter – I would totally hook up with Aquaman:
- A Friends fan figured out how much money Joey owes Chandler.
- Orange is the New Black just got infinitely better – Jason Biggs won’t appear in the third season.
- Mo’Nique claims that since her Oscar win she’s been blackballed by Hollywood.
- Happy 1st anniversary to Late Night with Seth Meyers.
- Donald Glover may retire Childish Gambino soon.
- Peter Gould, co-creator of Better Call Saul, is developing a Wall Street movie for HBO.
- Even Jimmy Page thinks these pint sized percussionists rock:
- ABC has announced the new cast of Dancing with the Stars.
- According to IMDB rankings, these are the worst five movies to win Best Picture Oscars.
- Dave Foley has joined Ken Jeong’s ABC pilot.
- Colin Firth is rocking a killer stache in True Detective 2:
https://twitter.com/TD_HBO/status/568910023147069440
- You know the Lakers are bad when Jack Nicholson is looking to sell his tickets.
- The Magnificent Seven remake has found its female lead.
- Adam Scott and Joe Mande are developing a marijuana dispensary comedy for NBC.
- A new poster for The Avengers: Age of Ultron:
- Barbershop 3 is a thing that is happening.
- An unpublished Dr. Seuss book is coming in July.
- Rooney Mara doesn’t think that there will be any additional Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movies.
- Scarlett Johansson has formed a new super-pop girl band.
- Margo Martindale has joined Bryan Cranston’s CBS pilot.
- Who knew Christina Aguilera was so good at impressions?
- Cartoon Network has announced a Powerpuff Girls reboot.
- Niecy Nash has been added to Scream Queens.
- Chris Brown was denied entry to Canada.
- The LEGO Movie sequel has landed a new director and is officially called The LEGO Movie Sequel.
- Kurt Cobain’s credit card is now up for auction.
- The Kimmel School of Perfect Acting:
- Sam Smith is going out on tour this summer.
- David Fincher has a new lead for his HBO comedy.
- Here’s what’s scheduled to expire from Netflix in March.
- James Bond will have an age appropriate love interest in SPECTRE.
- Calista Flockhart will play Cat Grant on CBS’s Supergirl.
- James Burrows to direct a CBS comedy pilot.
- Do you want to see a NSFW version of The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers staring James Van Der Beek and Katee Sackhoff? Of course you do:
- Diane von Furstenberg convinced Naomi Campbell to accept her role on Empire.
- Thomas Felton (aka Draco Malfoy) is making a documentary about Harry Potter fans.
- Snoop Dogg threw his son a Coming to America themed 18th birthday party.
- Bob’s Burgers employs a new way to animate that also saves trees.
- Nicolas Cage has joined Oliver Stone’s Edward Snowden movie. So has Timothy Olyphant.
- CNN will air the Glen Campbell documentary in June.
- This is from a few weeks ago, but cracked me up – Kid Theater with Michael Keaton:
- Jessica Chastain will appear in The Huntsman.
Time for some trailers….
- The final season of Mad Men:
- Only a few more days until the third season of House of Cards:
- A new teaser for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D:
- The Goldbergs are doing a Ferris Bueller themed episode (including a Charlie Sheen cameo):
- Wayward Pines, the new series from M Night Shyamalan:
- Kristin Wiig in Welcome to Me:
- HBO’s Scientology documentary, Going Clear:
- Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana in Infinity Polar Bear:
- A trailer for Street Fighter V:
- A trailer for a movie about Marshawn Lynch, starring Marshawn Lynch:
- A sneak peek at the new animated short, Frozen Fever:
- The Pixies are hitting the road.
- Paul Feig says the new Ghostbusters movie is “inspired by The Walking Dead.”
- An 11-year old girl who wrote DC asking for more female superheroes in comics is now a superhero.
- An American hero is listening to Nickleback for 168 hours straight for charity.
- Grantland is doing a bracket competition to find the best second banana/sidekick.
- You can now make the iconic pastry from Grand Budapest Hotel.
- Vince Vaughn is taking the Polar Plunge in Chicago.
- CSI is coming to Netflix.
- Sleater-Kinney teamed up with Bob’s Burgers for their new video:
- Kirk Cameron swept the Razzies.
- This is a pretty cool Delorean iPhone 6 case.
- Dick Van Dyke will guest star on The Middle.
- Sadie Robertson, from Duck Dynasty, walked in New York Fashion Week.
- So the Two and a Half Men series finale sounds like it was coo coo ca choo.
- MTV is making a cooking show.
- Erika Christensen will star in a pilot for ABC’s L.A. Crime.
- Bob Odenkirk was turned into a cake:
https://twitter.com/SideserfCakes/status/569203336571789313
- Laurel and Hardy are getting a new cartoon. What year is this exactly?
- A former Walking Dead cast member is heading over the Chicago Fire spinoff.
- R.I.P. Starbucks cds.
- Taylor Swift donated a bunch of money to NYC public schools.
- Guy Fieri officiated 101same-sex marriages over the weekend, making me slightly like Guy Fieri.
- Benji Madden had his wife Cameron Diaz’s name tattooed on his chest. Ah, modern love:
https://instagram.com/p/zcM0FsnG6D/
- Michael Phelps is engaged.
- A Florida man’s obituary lists his cause of death as “uppercut from Batman.”
- Billy Bob Thornton married lucky wife #6.
- The director of the Paradise Lost trilogy passed away.
- Ben Woolf, who played Meep on American Horror Story, passed away after an accident.
- Leonard Nimoy was rushed to the hospital with severe chest pains.
- Naya Rivrea is pregnant with her first child.
- R.I.P. Harris Wittels, executive producer on Parks and Recreation, creator of the term #humblebrag and all around funny guy.
As always, we end with the supercuts and mashups.
- Frozen meets John Carpenter’s The Thing:
- Parks and Recreation as children’s books:
- Sesame Street parodies House of Cards:
- Sesame Street also took a shot at a Birdman parody:
- A medley of songs from SpongeBob Squarepants:
- A supercut of Danny DeVito’s best moments from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
- Warren G and Kenny G got together to perform “Regulate”
- And finally, Limp Bizkit meets Seinfeld:
As Heather's World Turns 