History Trivia / ParksAndRecreation

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Because everyone was in quarantine, the writers had to find reasons for the show's official couples to be not appear together in the COVID-19 special, with Leslie and Ben forced to quarantine in separate states, Ann self-isolating in a separate part of the house from Chris because she's working in a hospital, and Andy accidentally locking himself in a shed away from April.

* VindicatedByReruns: ''Parks and Rec'' was never quite able to shake off the bad first impression its [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness clumsy first season]] left on most critics and initial audiences that wrote it off as a pale imitation of ''The Office'', and even after growing the beard in Season 2 and continuing to improve from there, it was still largely a QuietlyPerformingSisterShow in comparison to ''The Office'' and struggled in the Nielson ratings for its whole run on NBC, though it did manage to avoid cancellation and lasted seven seasons (125 episodes in total) thanks to its small but very loyal fanbase. Eventually, reruns on FXX and other networks (as well as help from streaming services) led to good word-of-mouth and a bump in fans that missed the show's initial run. Moreover, thanks to having lasted longer than its ratings would've normally allowed, ''Parks'' has also managed to avoid the "critically beloved but short-lived" label that usually plagues shows that go through this, with most critics and TV fans considering it equal to, and in some cases, ''better'' than its parent show.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: "[[Recap/ParksAndRecreationAParksAndRecreationSpecial A Parks and Recreation Special]]" has been completely unavailable on official sources following the first few months after its premiere, even the NBC-owned Creator/{{Peacock}} service.

* AbsenteeActor:
** Creator/AzizAnsari does not appear in three consecutive episodes during the final season, "Mrs. Ludgate-Dwyer Goes to Washington", "Pie-Mary", and "The Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show". He is seen in the next episode "Two Funerals", returning from a trip to New York.
** "Beauty Contest" is the only episode in the series not to feature Creator/NickOfferman, whose character is written off as recovering from his hernia in the previous episode.
** Similarly, Creator/AubreyPlaza is absent from "Kaboom", though her character's absence is not addressed.
** Creator/ChrisPratt was missing from several episodes in the first half of Season 6 because he was busy filming ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''.
** Before having been PutOnABus, Creator/RashidaJones was absent from the episode "How a Bill Becomes Law". Leslie briefly addressed her absence by mentioning Ann was out of town.
** Creator/RobLowe does not appear in the Season 3 episode "Harvest Festival". He had originally only been contracted to appear in eight episodes so Chris was written out in the previous episode. However, the character was so popular that Lowe signed a multi-year contract and Chris was written back in in the next episode.
* ActorAllusion:
** A picture of [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Madam Secretary]] on [[Creator/AmyPoehler Leslie's]] wall. Similarly, when Leslie meets Joe Biden in the fifth season, she thinks he's going to ask her to replace "Madam Secretary".
** Tom's angry insistence on a high thread count in his bed sheets is a reference to Creator/AzizAnsari's standup bit about buying Luxury Linens brand sheets, only to find out the package lied about the thread count.
** Tom tells Ann that he couldn't afford to get toppings on two pizzas, because he's not [[Film/TheSocialNetwork Zuckerberg]].
** Creator/NickOfferman is a real life carpenter, and his character Ron shows several projects he's actually completed. He was also trained in stage fighting, which he uses for a scene in which Ron trains his coworkers in self-defense techniques.
** One episode has Donna live-[[Website/{{Twitter}} tweeting]] a movie, which is based on Retta's real life live-tweets of shows.
** Chris being shown in "Campaign Ad" to be a Japanophile, much like his role in ''Film/ThankYouForSmoking''.
** A [[http://i.imgur.com/EYzr3Tx.jpg very special]] [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy trick-or-treater]] shows up on April and Andy's doorstep on Halloween night, 2023.
** Adam Scott shares his character, Ben's, love of the band U2.
** Councilman Pilner (Bradley Whitford) is first introduced having a WalkAndTalk with Leslie. His office contains a framed napkin with the words "[[Series/TheWestWing Pilner for Pawnee]]" written on it.
** Leslie shows the mayor of Patridge (J. K. Simmons) a video of Ben saying that he never really [[Film/WhipLash gave Miles Davis]] proper shrift.
** Ron Swanson was married to Tammy II. In real life, Creator/NickOfferman (Ron) and Creator/MeganMullally (Tammy II) have also been married, but unlike their characters, they're still married and happily so.

** Rob Swanson's carpentry hobby was due to Creator/NickOfferman inviting the writers to his workshop.

** During the episode "Tom's Divorce", many viewers could not help but notice that the stripper Leslie hired (played by Cheryl Texiera) to give Tom a lap dance looked uncannily like Wendy (played by Jama Williamson). ''Definitely'' deliberate on the part of the casting department.

** Like Creator/AzizAnsari, Tom is a Muslim Indian-American from South Carolina.

* VindicatedByReruns: ''Parks and Rec'' was never quite able to shake off the bad first impression its [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness clumsy first season]] left on most critics and initial audiences that wrote it off as a pale imitation of ''The Office'', and even after growing the beard in Season 2 and continuing to improve from there, it was still largely a QuietlyPerformingSisterShow in comparison to ''The Office'' and struggled in the Nielson ratings for its whole run on NBC, though it did manage to avoid cancellation and lasted seven seasons (125 episodes in total) thanks to its small but very loyal fanbase. Eventually, reruns on FXX and other networks (as well as help from streaming services) led to good word-of-mouth and a bump in fans that missed the show's initial run. Moreover, thanks to having lasted longer than its ratings would've normally allowed, ''Parks'' has also managed to avoid the [[TooGoodToLast "critically beloved but short-lived"]] label that usually plagues shows that go through this, with most critics and TV fans considering it equal to, and in some cases, ''better'' than its parent show.

* EnforcedMethodActing: Creator/ChrisPratt revealed that when he needed to show up naked at Ann's door in "Kaboom", he was failing to elicit a proper reaction from Amy Poehler until he went completely naked without telling her. Her wide-eyed shock is the take they used.

* ThePeteBest: Paul Schneider (Mark) was this, having played a fairly prominent role in the first two seasons before leaving at the end of Season 2, which was largely agreed to be the point the show was [[GrowingTheBeard starting to figure itself out and found its own distinct identity]] away from its [[Series/TheOfficeUS parent series]], and Mark's role as the StraightMan[=/=]OnlySaneMan[=/=]LoveInterest of Leslie being supplanted by Ben, who was much more well-received by the fans. In addition his role as Leslie's mentor gradually shifted over to Ron, as unlikely as that initially seemed.
* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/SamElliott as Ron Dunn, Ron Swanson's counterpart in Eagleton who at first appears to be the same rugged, curt individual, but soon discovered to actually be something of a GranolaGirl ''except'' with a very similar personality as Ron Swanson. He ends up as his SitcomArchNemesis.

* SerendipityWritesThePlot: For the filming of "A Parks and Recreation Special", set during the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the actors who play the married characters are couples living together in real life. Thus, the show gives a bunch of explanations as to why they're all in different rooms -- Leslie is working in D.C. away from Ben, Andy locked himself in the shed, and Ann is working as a nurse so she is self-isolating away from Chris. Meanwhile, since Creator/NickOfferman and Creator/MeganMullally are an actual married couple, they were able to have the bit where Tammy-2 breaks into Ron's cabin.

* StarMakingRole: For Nick Offerman, Rashida Jones (coupled with ''The Office''), Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt (coupled with ''The LEGO Movie'' and ''Guardians of the Galaxy''), Adam Scott and Retta. In other words, basically the entire cast other than Amy Poehler (who already had fame from ''SNL'') and Rob Lowe, who also already had a career.

** "Correspondents' Lunch" was directed by Nick Offerman.
** "Article Two" was directed by Amy Poehler.

* ThePeteBest: Paul Schneider (Mark) was this, having played a fairly prominent role in the first two seasons before leaving at the end of Season 2, which was largely agreed to be the point the show was [[GrowingTheBeard starting to figure itself out and found its own distinct identity]] away from its [[Series/TheOfficeUS parent series]], and his role as the StraightMan[=/=]OnlySaneMan[=/=]LoveInterest of Leslie being supplanted by Adam Scott's Ben, who was much more well-received by the fans. In addition his role as Leslie's mentor gradually shifted over to Nick Offerman's Ron Swanson, as unlikely as that initially seemed.

** Late in the series, Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, played by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Schwartz Ben Schwartz]], introduces his twin sister, Mona Lisa, played by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Slate Jenny Slate]]. Despite the actors not being related, they practically match the trope for HalfIdenticalTwins.

* VindicatedByReruns: ''Parks and Rec'' was never quite able to shake off the bad first impression its [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness clumsy first season]] left on most critics and initial audiences that wrote it off as a pale imitation of ''The Office'', and even after growing the beard in Season 2 and continuing to improve from there, it was still largely a QuietlyPerformingSisterShow in comparison to ''The Office'' and struggled in the Nielson ratings for its whole run on NBC, though it did manage to avoid cancellation and lasted seven seasons (125 episodes in total) thanks to its small but very loyal fanbase. Eventually, reruns on FXX and other networks (as well as help from streaming services) led to good word-of-mouth and a bump in fans that missed the show's initial run. Moreover, thanks to having lasted longer than its ratings would've normally allowed, ''Parks'' has also managed to avoid the [[TooGoodToLast "critically beloved but short-lived"]] label that usually plagues shows that go through this.

* DirectedByCastMember: "Correspondents' Lunch" was directed by Nick Offerman.
* "Article Two" was directed by Amy Poehler.

* PostScriptSeason: The show has had shaky ratings from the start. According to Mike Schur, every season finale after season 2 (with possibly the exception of season 5) has been a potential series finale. As such, pretty much every season has been a postscript season. Season 7 might be the most obvious example, since season 6 ends with a [[spoiler: DistantFinale taking place 3 years later.]]

** April being of half-Puerto Rican descent. However, in the real-life case of Creator/AubreyPlaza, it's from her father's family, versus April's mother.

* ThePeteBest: Paul Schneider (Mark) was this, having played a fairly prominent role in the first two seasons before leaving at the end of Season 2, which was largely agreed to be the point the show was [[GrowingTheBeard starting to figure itself out and found its own distinct identity]] away from its [[Series/TheOfficeUS parent series]], and his role as the StraightMan[=/=]OnlySaneMan[=/=]LoveInterest of Leslie being supplanted by Adam Scott's Ben, who was much more well-received by the fans.

* TheCastShowoff:
** Chris Pratt gets to sing every now and then as Andy's the lead singer of Mouse Rat.
** Donna sings opera during [[spoiler:Leslie and Ben's wedding]].
** Nick Offerman is a talented saxophone player -- though the writers didn't know this when they came up with Duke Silver.

** Andrew Burlinson plays Burly, Andy's bandmate in Mouse Rat. Late in the series it is revealed Burly is short for Andrew Burlinson.

* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: Adam Scott's Series/PartyDown co-star Martin Starr showed up as a museum employee who interacts with Ben.

** Nick Offerman (Ron) and Megan Mullally (Tammy 2) are married in real life.

** Mark was originally intended to periodically return to the series with a running gag of "[[NewJobAsThePlotDemands Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?]]" to emphasize the unpredictability of working for the government, but lack of interest in the character led to him being phased out of the universe entirely. Ironically, during the interview where this was stated, Mike Schur emphasized that Mark wasn't going to be wiped out of the show completely, which is exactly what ended up happening.