Rest in peace, Mr. Middlebrooks.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2988689/Windell-D-Middlebrooks-dead-LA-home-age-36.html
► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home - 36yo
- Thread starter Helico-pterFunk
- Start date
Rest in peace, Mr. Middlebrooks.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2988689/Windell-D-Middlebrooks-dead-LA-home-age-36.html
Re: ► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home -
http://www.tmz.com/2015/03/10/miller-high-life-guy-dead-windell-middlebrooks-commercial-dies/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windell_Middlebrooks
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2070606/
http://hollywoodlife.com/2015/03/10/windell-d-middlebrooks-dead-miller-high-life-guy-36/
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/mi...ll-middlebrooks-dead-205720428-us-weekly.html
http://tvline.com/2015/03/10/windell-middlebrooks-dies-dead-body-of-proof/
http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/...-played-miller-high-life-delivery-man-n321096
http://fox6now.com/2015/03/10/tmz-report-windell-middlebrooks-the-miller-high-life-guy-dead-at-36/
Filmography
Weekends at the DL (2 episodes, 2005) (TV)
The Bernie Mac Show (Every episode, 2005) (TV)
Julie Reno, Bounty Hunter (1 episode, 2006) (TV)
All of Us (1 episode, 2006) (TV)
My Name Is Earl (1 episode, 2007) (TV)
Veronica Mars (1 episode, 2007) (TV)
Hannah Montana (1 episode, 2007) (TV)
Entourage (1 episode, 2007) (TV)
Chocolate News (2 episodes, 2008) (TV)
ER (1 episode, 2008) (TV)
Ace in the Hole (2009) (TV)
Enlightened! (2009)
Miss March (2009)
Parks and Recreation (1 episode, 2009) (TV)
Scrubs (6 episodes, 2009–2010) (TV)
The Suite Life on Deck (2008–2011)
Cougar Town (2010) (TV)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2010) (TV)
Body of Proof (2011–2013) (TV)
Mighty Med (2 episodes, 2014) (TV)
http://www.tmz.com/2015/03/10/miller-high-life-guy-dead-windell-middlebrooks-commercial-dies/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windell_Middlebrooks
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2070606/
http://hollywoodlife.com/2015/03/10/windell-d-middlebrooks-dead-miller-high-life-guy-36/
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/mi...ll-middlebrooks-dead-205720428-us-weekly.html
http://tvline.com/2015/03/10/windell-middlebrooks-dies-dead-body-of-proof/
http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/...-played-miller-high-life-delivery-man-n321096
http://fox6now.com/2015/03/10/tmz-report-windell-middlebrooks-the-miller-high-life-guy-dead-at-36/
Filmography
Weekends at the DL (2 episodes, 2005) (TV)
The Bernie Mac Show (Every episode, 2005) (TV)
Julie Reno, Bounty Hunter (1 episode, 2006) (TV)
All of Us (1 episode, 2006) (TV)
My Name Is Earl (1 episode, 2007) (TV)
Veronica Mars (1 episode, 2007) (TV)
Hannah Montana (1 episode, 2007) (TV)
Entourage (1 episode, 2007) (TV)
Chocolate News (2 episodes, 2008) (TV)
ER (1 episode, 2008) (TV)
Ace in the Hole (2009) (TV)
Enlightened! (2009)
Miss March (2009)
Parks and Recreation (1 episode, 2009) (TV)
Scrubs (6 episodes, 2009–2010) (TV)
The Suite Life on Deck (2008–2011)
Cougar Town (2010) (TV)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2010) (TV)
Body of Proof (2011–2013) (TV)
Mighty Med (2 episodes, 2014) (TV)
Re: ► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home -
I hope he wasn't living the Miller High Life too hard. RIP
I hope he wasn't living the Miller High Life too hard. RIP
Re: ► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home -
R.I.P.
R.I.P.
Re: ► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home -
Rest in peace to that man. Like ShaneBP1978 and Robin Harris he didn't make it to 37.
Rest in peace to that man. Like ShaneBP1978 and Robin Harris he didn't make it to 37.
Re: ► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home -
Yes ...
http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/parks-and-recreation-producer-dead-harris-wittels-1201437460/
http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/amy...ucers-death-today-i-lost-a-friend-1201437574/
Yes ...
http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/parks-and-recreation-producer-dead-harris-wittels-1201437460/
http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/amy...ucers-death-today-i-lost-a-friend-1201437574/
Re: ► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home -
I was about to say the same.
I thought the bruh was in his 40's.
I was about to say the same.
I thought the bruh was in his 40's.
Re: ► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home -
yea fat makes you look older but I could see
him being 36...
damn shame dude was cashing checks fo real tho!!
riparadise
yea fat makes you look older but I could see
him being 36...
damn shame dude was cashing checks fo real tho!!
riparadise
Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
Re: Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
Only 36, always thought he was at least 46!
Only 36, always thought he was at least 46!
Re: Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
R.i.p
R.i.p
Re: Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
Wonder what hommie dude from!
Wonder what hommie dude from!
Re: Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
I was thinking the same thing. I'm 38, there are a lot of guys dying around my age. Damn
I was thinking the same thing. I'm 38, there are a lot of guys dying around my age. Damn
Re: Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
Dam. I saw a interview of him about a year ago and he seemed to be a humble happy young brother. Hate to hear this.
RIP young man.
Dam. I saw a interview of him about a year ago and he seemed to be a humble happy young brother. Hate to hear this.
RIP young man.
Re: Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
Damn...36?
Damn...36?
Re: Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
I was talking to my girl about why our parents and grandparents lived into their 80s and 90s. She replied that they ate better than us younger people. Fast food and sugary drinks were almost nonexistent.
I was talking to my girl about why our parents and grandparents lived into their 80s and 90s. She replied that they ate better than us younger people. Fast food and sugary drinks were almost nonexistent.
Re: Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
Damn! I thought he was older than 36 too! I'm 36! This makes it even sadder. His commercials were funny and were getting a lot of play. R.I.P to the brother
Re: Miller High Life Actor Windell Middlebrooks Dies at 36
Dayumm sad news r.i.p any idea the cause of death?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Dayumm sad news r.i.p any idea the cause of death?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: ► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home -
Definitely an eye-opener for many of us forum members as we fall between the 20 - 40yo age range.
Definitely an eye-opener for many of us forum members as we fall between the 20 - 40yo age range.
Re: ► Parks And Recreation actor Windell D. Middlebrooks found dead at his LA home -
http://www.tmz.com/2015/03/14/windell-middlebrooks-cause-of-death-blood-clot-pulmonary-embolism/
3/14/2015 12:10 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
Windell D. Middlebrooks -- the Miller High Life delivery guy -- died from a pulmonary embolism ... TMZ has learned, but we're told weight was definitely a contributing factor.
http://www.tmz.com/2015/03/14/windell-middlebrooks-cause-of-death-blood-clot-pulmonary-embolism/
3/14/2015 12:10 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
Windell D. Middlebrooks -- the Miller High Life delivery guy -- died from a pulmonary embolism ... TMZ has learned, but we're told weight was definitely a contributing factor.
Where the Parks and Rec Characters Are Now, According to the Reunion Special
By Rebecca Alter
Photo: NBC
When Parks and Recreation aired its final season in 2015, we got a reassuring glimpse into the characters’ futures: Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt got jobs in DC, Donna moved to Seattle with Joe, and by the 2040s,Jerry Garry Gergich had served ten terms as the beloved mayor of Pawnee. At the time, showrunner Mike Schur and star Amy Poehler seemed to have definitively closed the book on Parks and Rec, even agreeing against a reunion. But tonight, NBC aired A Parks and Recreation Special, which reunited the writers and cast (minus poor Mark Brendanawicz) via the Gryzzl cloud to show fans how their big-hearted optimism is helping them manage the coronavirus pandemic. Here is what the characters of Pawnee’s Parks and Recreation department are up to in 2020:
Leslie Knope has spent her entire life convincing others that she herself is an essential service, and so her coronavirus schedule at the Department of the Interior has been full of creating and chairing response committees. She’s operating on “only two hours of sleep instead of my usual four, but she still finds the time to organize the daily phone tree with her old Parks Department buddies. Speaking of parks, she’s closed all of the national parks in her jurisdiction for the foreseeable future.
While Leslie’s in the office, Congressman Ben Wyatt is having a hard time homeschooling the kids because he keeps accidentally getting high off the cleaning products. Ben is in many ways the person best-suited to self isolation: He’s got his Letters to Cleo shirt on, and working on a Cones of Dunshire Claymation Movie. It’s all his passions in one.
Okay, maybe Ron Swanson is the person best-suited to self isolation. As he says in the reunion, “I’ve been practicing social distancing since I was four.” He and Diane are riding out the pandemic at their secluded cabin, where he went “to hunt meat so I don’t have to go to the grocery store.”
April Ludgate and Andy Dwyer have been putting all their clothes in garbage bags, picking out five random things at a time to wear. (She’s also drumming now?) Andy gets locked in the shed for two days, but he’s too proud to ask April to let him out. On the bright side, he does reprise his role as children’s entertainer Johnny Karate to record a PSA, telling kids to wash their hands even though he himself never has.
Ann Perkins is working as a nurse, helping with outpatient care in Michigan. She’s isolated to “the southeast part of the house,” a.k.a. the living room, so she doesn’t infect Chris Traeger and the kids. Meanwhile, the CDC has Chris donating his blood four times a week because he’s a “super healer” whose blood type is “just positive.” While quarantining, he’s ground down their StairMaster into “a smooth ramp.”
Tom Haverford says he’s in Bali, but it sure looks a lot like a fakeZoom Gryzzl background, and by the end of the episode he’s wearing a turtleneck with an Alpine backdrop.
Of course Donna Meagle has reached Elite Grizzyl Gold Status, and she’s coming to you from a massive walk-in closet at home in Seattle. Her husband, schoolteacher Joe, is doing the lord’s work.
Mayor Garry Gergich had to cancel Pawnee’s “Annual Popsicle Lick n’ Pass,” though it was an unpopular but necessary decision. He also gets his face stuck in the following unmayoral filters: dog, juggalo, poo, and baby.
Bobby Newport doesn’t even know there’s a pandemic going on, because he’s at his family’s private fox hunting estate in Switzerland.
Joan Callamezzo is hosting Pawnee Today’s “At Home with Joan” segment from, you guessed it, from home, where she sits on a velvet couch in front of a portrait of herself, performing for an audience of very creepy dolls. (Did Mo Collins just have those dolls … lying around her house?)
Dennis Feinstein, the mastermind behind fine colognes like Sideboob and Allergic for Men, is venturing into disaster capitalism with his latest fragrance. It’s called Miracle Cure, and it is “proven to kill anything it comes into contact with.”
Perd Hapley is hosting Ya Heard? With Perd from his home. Good for Perd.
Dr. Jeremy Jamm has given himself a pretty sweet quarantine haircut and is trying to pivot his business to contact-less “home dental delivery,” which is even less safe than it sounds.
Jean-Ralphio got run over by a Porsche and is now flush with cash, so he’s running ads on Pawnee TV for his phone number (930)-1-RALPHIO because he got banned from Cameo.
Tammy 2 is tied up and gagged in Ron’s shed.
Lil’ Sebastian, still in horsie heaven.
By Rebecca Alter
Photo: NBC
When Parks and Recreation aired its final season in 2015, we got a reassuring glimpse into the characters’ futures: Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt got jobs in DC, Donna moved to Seattle with Joe, and by the 2040s,
Leslie Knope has spent her entire life convincing others that she herself is an essential service, and so her coronavirus schedule at the Department of the Interior has been full of creating and chairing response committees. She’s operating on “only two hours of sleep instead of my usual four, but she still finds the time to organize the daily phone tree with her old Parks Department buddies. Speaking of parks, she’s closed all of the national parks in her jurisdiction for the foreseeable future.
While Leslie’s in the office, Congressman Ben Wyatt is having a hard time homeschooling the kids because he keeps accidentally getting high off the cleaning products. Ben is in many ways the person best-suited to self isolation: He’s got his Letters to Cleo shirt on, and working on a Cones of Dunshire Claymation Movie. It’s all his passions in one.
Okay, maybe Ron Swanson is the person best-suited to self isolation. As he says in the reunion, “I’ve been practicing social distancing since I was four.” He and Diane are riding out the pandemic at their secluded cabin, where he went “to hunt meat so I don’t have to go to the grocery store.”
April Ludgate and Andy Dwyer have been putting all their clothes in garbage bags, picking out five random things at a time to wear. (She’s also drumming now?) Andy gets locked in the shed for two days, but he’s too proud to ask April to let him out. On the bright side, he does reprise his role as children’s entertainer Johnny Karate to record a PSA, telling kids to wash their hands even though he himself never has.
Ann Perkins is working as a nurse, helping with outpatient care in Michigan. She’s isolated to “the southeast part of the house,” a.k.a. the living room, so she doesn’t infect Chris Traeger and the kids. Meanwhile, the CDC has Chris donating his blood four times a week because he’s a “super healer” whose blood type is “just positive.” While quarantining, he’s ground down their StairMaster into “a smooth ramp.”
Tom Haverford says he’s in Bali, but it sure looks a lot like a fake
Of course Donna Meagle has reached Elite Grizzyl Gold Status, and she’s coming to you from a massive walk-in closet at home in Seattle. Her husband, schoolteacher Joe, is doing the lord’s work.
Mayor Garry Gergich had to cancel Pawnee’s “Annual Popsicle Lick n’ Pass,” though it was an unpopular but necessary decision. He also gets his face stuck in the following unmayoral filters: dog, juggalo, poo, and baby.
Bobby Newport doesn’t even know there’s a pandemic going on, because he’s at his family’s private fox hunting estate in Switzerland.
Joan Callamezzo is hosting Pawnee Today’s “At Home with Joan” segment from, you guessed it, from home, where she sits on a velvet couch in front of a portrait of herself, performing for an audience of very creepy dolls. (Did Mo Collins just have those dolls … lying around her house?)
Dennis Feinstein, the mastermind behind fine colognes like Sideboob and Allergic for Men, is venturing into disaster capitalism with his latest fragrance. It’s called Miracle Cure, and it is “proven to kill anything it comes into contact with.”
Perd Hapley is hosting Ya Heard? With Perd from his home. Good for Perd.
Dr. Jeremy Jamm has given himself a pretty sweet quarantine haircut and is trying to pivot his business to contact-less “home dental delivery,” which is even less safe than it sounds.
Jean-Ralphio got run over by a Porsche and is now flush with cash, so he’s running ads on Pawnee TV for his phone number (930)-1-RALPHIO because he got banned from Cameo.
Tammy 2 is tied up and gagged in Ron’s shed.
Lil’ Sebastian, still in horsie heaven.
The Parks and Recreation Reunion Special Is a Wonderful Gift
By Jen Chaney@chaneyj
Leslie (Amy Poehler) and Ron (Nick Offerman), together again, albeit apart. Photo: YouTube
A Parks and Recreation Special, the socially-distanced, one-off reunion episode of the beloved NBC comedy, is an act of service. That’s true in the sense that it exists to raise money for Feeding America. But it’s also true because the whole episode was well-executed, heartfelt fan service.
The term “fan service” usually applies in a negative sense to moments that cater too blatantly to fan desires. The Parks and Rec reunion, in keeping with that concept, was packed with callbacks and Easter eggs designed to strike a chord with loyal viewers of the show, which ended its run in 2015 after a final season that flash-forwarded Pawnee’s finest to 2017. But all the shout-outs didn’t feel like pandering so much as gifts from the team that worked on the series and wanted to do something nice for the people who love and miss it.
In the socially distanced reunion, set in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, every central character returned: Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott), Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza), Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt), Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), Donna Meagle (Retta), Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe), and even Jerry/Garry Gergich (Jim O’Heir). So did many supporting favorites, including Jean-Ralphio Saperstein (Ben Schwartz), his hair looking as full as ever; talk show host Joan Callamezzo (Mo Collins); “newsman” Perd Hapley (Jay Jackson); City Councilman/orthodontist Jeremy Jamm (Jon Glaser); and, kicking off the whole show, Leslie’s former political opponent Bobby Newport (Paul Rudd), who learned before our eyes that the world is in the midst of a pandemic: “Is something going on? I haven’t watched the news lately. [Long pause] What?”
On top of all the returning faces, there were tons of familiar jokes and references to old episodes. Ben’s obsessions with stop-motion animation and his self-created board game, Cones of Dunshire, reared their heads immediately. Later, so did Andy’s alter egos Bert Macklin and Johnny Karate, Tom’s penchant for ridiculous business ideas such as face masks with other people’s teeth on them (“Stay safe and look fresh as hell with Timotheé Chalamet’s smile”), and everyone’s disdain for Jerry/Garry. Even the teleconferencing platform the characters used was powered by Gryzzl, the insidious Amazon/Google-esque company that figured prominently in the final season. According to her profile, Donna, naturally, has achieved Elite Gryzzl Gold Status.
All of that “hey remember this?” nostalgia could have felt cheap, but it didn’t. In addition to having an all-star cast who were able to slide easily right back into character, Parks and Rec assembled an Avengers-level group of its former writers to script this extremely DIY production, including creator Mike Schur, Megan Amram, Dave King, Joe Mande, Aisha Muharrar, Matt Murray, and Jen Statsky, all of whom also worked on The Good Place, which shared the same skeptical yet warm-hearted sensibility that Parks always had.
The structure of the episode was, admittedly and understandably, loose. Leslie forced all of her former co-workers to maintain a phone (or Gryzzl) tree to make sure everyone is staying safe, and the episode was built around those conversations, as well as a couple of talk show appearances and commercials thrown in for fun. But it held together well enough. The writers also wrote new material that was funny on its own merits, but even funnier because it was steeped so deeply in character. The idea that Jeremy Jamm thinks it’s a good idea to run a dental delivery service in which he drops off tools and talks people through root canals online is ridiculous. But it’s even more satisfyingly ridiculous because it’s so in keeping with the kind of jackass behavior that Jamm engaged in during the show’s run.
To their credit, the writers did sho some restraint in the fan service department. I waited for the moment between Tom and Donna when they would inevitably say, “Treat yo’ self.” It didn’t come. It would have been an easy gag and one that fans probably would have enjoyed. But in the midst of a pandemic when a lot of people can’t afford to pay their rent, it might have sounded a wrong note. Seeing a Haverford/Meagle reunion was just as enjoyable, even without their catchphrase.
This is an obvious observation, but nevertheless worth repeating since the people making TV often seem to forget it: Memorable characters are what turn a good show into a truly beloved one that people will revisit over and over again, for years and years. Parks and Recreation created a wonderfully idiosyncratic gang of lovable weirdos, then crafted storylines that were consistent with who those people were. Because of that, A Parks and Recreation Special landed the same way that a Zoom call with high school classmates or former co-workers from a decade ago does. It made us feel like we were reconnecting with old friends. It also traveled the path that those conversations tend to travel, one that inevitably leads to reminiscing about all the crazy things that were said and done back when we were all together. Even the simple sight of the Parks and Rec opening titles — remember watching those before each brand-new episode, instead of ones we’ve streamed a hundred times? — brought a rush of happiness back to the heart.
Did it make sense that Leslie Knope, a woman whose life is based on amassing enough knowledge to fill every binder in the Office Depot national warehouse, wouldn’t realize that Gryzzl allowed people to have group chats? Technically, it did not. But it allowed the episode to build to where you knew it would eventually go: with all the characters distanced from each other, but back together in the same frame of television, singing “5,000 Candles in the Wind,” the tribute to the late, great Lil’ Sebastian. And wow, that was heartwarming to watch.
Was it fan service-y? Yeah, for sure. But even that felt right. At its core, Parks and Recreation, a series about the dysfunctionality and good deeds done by local government workers, was always about how to be of service to your community, both the community at large and the community you build among your friends. By raising funds for a worthy cause, the reunion special did a service to the broader community. By raising the spirits of its audience for a half-hour, it performed a service for its friends, too.
By Jen Chaney@chaneyj
Leslie (Amy Poehler) and Ron (Nick Offerman), together again, albeit apart. Photo: YouTube
A Parks and Recreation Special, the socially-distanced, one-off reunion episode of the beloved NBC comedy, is an act of service. That’s true in the sense that it exists to raise money for Feeding America. But it’s also true because the whole episode was well-executed, heartfelt fan service.
The term “fan service” usually applies in a negative sense to moments that cater too blatantly to fan desires. The Parks and Rec reunion, in keeping with that concept, was packed with callbacks and Easter eggs designed to strike a chord with loyal viewers of the show, which ended its run in 2015 after a final season that flash-forwarded Pawnee’s finest to 2017. But all the shout-outs didn’t feel like pandering so much as gifts from the team that worked on the series and wanted to do something nice for the people who love and miss it.
In the socially distanced reunion, set in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, every central character returned: Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott), Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza), Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt), Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), Donna Meagle (Retta), Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe), and even Jerry/Garry Gergich (Jim O’Heir). So did many supporting favorites, including Jean-Ralphio Saperstein (Ben Schwartz), his hair looking as full as ever; talk show host Joan Callamezzo (Mo Collins); “newsman” Perd Hapley (Jay Jackson); City Councilman/orthodontist Jeremy Jamm (Jon Glaser); and, kicking off the whole show, Leslie’s former political opponent Bobby Newport (Paul Rudd), who learned before our eyes that the world is in the midst of a pandemic: “Is something going on? I haven’t watched the news lately. [Long pause] What?”
On top of all the returning faces, there were tons of familiar jokes and references to old episodes. Ben’s obsessions with stop-motion animation and his self-created board game, Cones of Dunshire, reared their heads immediately. Later, so did Andy’s alter egos Bert Macklin and Johnny Karate, Tom’s penchant for ridiculous business ideas such as face masks with other people’s teeth on them (“Stay safe and look fresh as hell with Timotheé Chalamet’s smile”), and everyone’s disdain for Jerry/Garry. Even the teleconferencing platform the characters used was powered by Gryzzl, the insidious Amazon/Google-esque company that figured prominently in the final season. According to her profile, Donna, naturally, has achieved Elite Gryzzl Gold Status.
All of that “hey remember this?” nostalgia could have felt cheap, but it didn’t. In addition to having an all-star cast who were able to slide easily right back into character, Parks and Rec assembled an Avengers-level group of its former writers to script this extremely DIY production, including creator Mike Schur, Megan Amram, Dave King, Joe Mande, Aisha Muharrar, Matt Murray, and Jen Statsky, all of whom also worked on The Good Place, which shared the same skeptical yet warm-hearted sensibility that Parks always had.
The structure of the episode was, admittedly and understandably, loose. Leslie forced all of her former co-workers to maintain a phone (or Gryzzl) tree to make sure everyone is staying safe, and the episode was built around those conversations, as well as a couple of talk show appearances and commercials thrown in for fun. But it held together well enough. The writers also wrote new material that was funny on its own merits, but even funnier because it was steeped so deeply in character. The idea that Jeremy Jamm thinks it’s a good idea to run a dental delivery service in which he drops off tools and talks people through root canals online is ridiculous. But it’s even more satisfyingly ridiculous because it’s so in keeping with the kind of jackass behavior that Jamm engaged in during the show’s run.
To their credit, the writers did sho some restraint in the fan service department. I waited for the moment between Tom and Donna when they would inevitably say, “Treat yo’ self.” It didn’t come. It would have been an easy gag and one that fans probably would have enjoyed. But in the midst of a pandemic when a lot of people can’t afford to pay their rent, it might have sounded a wrong note. Seeing a Haverford/Meagle reunion was just as enjoyable, even without their catchphrase.
This is an obvious observation, but nevertheless worth repeating since the people making TV often seem to forget it: Memorable characters are what turn a good show into a truly beloved one that people will revisit over and over again, for years and years. Parks and Recreation created a wonderfully idiosyncratic gang of lovable weirdos, then crafted storylines that were consistent with who those people were. Because of that, A Parks and Recreation Special landed the same way that a Zoom call with high school classmates or former co-workers from a decade ago does. It made us feel like we were reconnecting with old friends. It also traveled the path that those conversations tend to travel, one that inevitably leads to reminiscing about all the crazy things that were said and done back when we were all together. Even the simple sight of the Parks and Rec opening titles — remember watching those before each brand-new episode, instead of ones we’ve streamed a hundred times? — brought a rush of happiness back to the heart.
Did it make sense that Leslie Knope, a woman whose life is based on amassing enough knowledge to fill every binder in the Office Depot national warehouse, wouldn’t realize that Gryzzl allowed people to have group chats? Technically, it did not. But it allowed the episode to build to where you knew it would eventually go: with all the characters distanced from each other, but back together in the same frame of television, singing “5,000 Candles in the Wind,” the tribute to the late, great Lil’ Sebastian. And wow, that was heartwarming to watch.
Was it fan service-y? Yeah, for sure. But even that felt right. At its core, Parks and Recreation, a series about the dysfunctionality and good deeds done by local government workers, was always about how to be of service to your community, both the community at large and the community you build among your friends. By raising funds for a worthy cause, the reunion special did a service to the broader community. By raising the spirits of its audience for a half-hour, it performed a service for its friends, too.
A Parks and Recreation Reunion Episode Was Off the Table. Then a Pandemic Hit.
By Maria Elena Fernandez@writerchica
Photo: Jordin Althaus/NBC
Parks and Recreation showrunner Mike Schur says he felt “like crying a little bit” when he e-mailed Amy Poehler and the show’s other nine lead actors three weeks ago about participating in a charity reunion episode of the NBC comedy, and they all responded within 45 minutes that they were interested.
Universal Television president Pearlena Igbokwe had approached Schur about doing a table read of a favorite Parks episode, but as he considered which episode to choose, he thought it would be a waste to gather the show’s superstar cast to go over “previously trod ground.” Schur says he and Poehler agreed against a Parks reunion long ago, but the pandemic provided the “most compelling reason” to do so. The episode will air Thursday night on NBC after the Paley Center’s salute to the series.
Leslie Knope “is eternally optimistic and believes in the power of community to hold people together,” Schur said during a conference call with press on Tuesday. “She believed that incremental moments of connection and togetherness were crucial and vital to the social fabric, and she believed that government could be a force for good and could really help people in small but meaningful ways. What you’re seeing on a national scale and local scale is governments are where we’re all turning [to]. We need information. We need help. We need assistance … The government in these moments of crisis becomes the place where people have to turn.”
Schur teamed up with six of the original Parks writers to turn the script around in three days. Their biggest challenge was remembering where they left each character and how they would fit into a story set in 2020. The series finale, which aired in 2015, covered the lives of the characters from 2017 to 2065, and almost none of them were in Pawnee when the story ended, except for Jerry (Jim O’Heir), who was left as mayor. Ben (Adam Scott) and Leslie (Poehler) are in D.C., where he is a congressman and she’s working for the Department of the Interior. Ann and Chris (Rob Lowe) are in Michigan, where he works in the University of Michigan admissions department.
“Any fan who cares about canon should consider this canon,” Schur said. “It did present a weird situation because ordinarily you could just make everything up and start from scratch. But we had already said what had happened to everyone in years past this, so we had to go back and retrofit everything and make sure it makes sense.”
In the new story, none of the characters has suffered or is suffering from COVID-19, but Ann (Rashida Jones), who has returned to nursing, will address why she’s not on the front lines. Since the actors are all quarantined in their homes across the country and even in London (Aziz Ansari is there), the writers also had to find creative ways to explain why some of the married couples are not seen in the same rooms. In addition to the entire main cast, half a dozen special guest stars will pop up in the episode. In fact, the first person on camera will be one of them.
“It’s not about the disease; it’s about people coping with it, trying to navigate their daily lives,” Schur said. “Leslie Knope was a person who believed in friendship. She was a very loyal person. She was a very friendly person. She put all of her eggs in the basket of the power of friendship, and so it’s really just about her connecting with people and holding the group of characters together through a time when they’re unable to even leave their home.”
But as tricky as working out the story was, logistics became the biggest challenge. Production delivered or shipped every actor a small rig with a tripod, an iPhone, a small light, and a microphone so they could be their own camera crews. The “slow and laborious” process took four days, Schur said. Director Morgan Sackett, executive producer Dean Holland, script supervisor Valeria Collins, and Schur watched on Zoom as the actors recorded on their iPhones. “The actors would send a screenshot to show what their framing was and we would be able to listen and watch from a weird, oblique angle as they recorded themselves,” Schur said. Then the graphics and effects team from The Good Place worked on the episode “to make it not look like everyone was just sitting alone in their houses.”
Although Schur praised the Parks team for working on the special, especially because it is raising money for Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund, he was quick to note that it should not be a model for Hollywood returning to work when the quarantine ends.
“TV is a team sport, from the very beginning to the very end,” he said. “It’s about groups of people functioning in holistic ways with each other, and collaborating and being in the same room at the same time. I don’t think there’s any way that this is a sustainable method for making television. I don’t want to downplay it. It was fun to have the crew back together. I took a bunch of screen grabs when we did a table read because it was the first time that this group of people has been together for a while, even if it’s only virtually. It was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work, but I don’t think it’s any kind of model for what we’re doing going forward.”
By Maria Elena Fernandez@writerchica
Photo: Jordin Althaus/NBC
Parks and Recreation showrunner Mike Schur says he felt “like crying a little bit” when he e-mailed Amy Poehler and the show’s other nine lead actors three weeks ago about participating in a charity reunion episode of the NBC comedy, and they all responded within 45 minutes that they were interested.
Universal Television president Pearlena Igbokwe had approached Schur about doing a table read of a favorite Parks episode, but as he considered which episode to choose, he thought it would be a waste to gather the show’s superstar cast to go over “previously trod ground.” Schur says he and Poehler agreed against a Parks reunion long ago, but the pandemic provided the “most compelling reason” to do so. The episode will air Thursday night on NBC after the Paley Center’s salute to the series.
Leslie Knope “is eternally optimistic and believes in the power of community to hold people together,” Schur said during a conference call with press on Tuesday. “She believed that incremental moments of connection and togetherness were crucial and vital to the social fabric, and she believed that government could be a force for good and could really help people in small but meaningful ways. What you’re seeing on a national scale and local scale is governments are where we’re all turning [to]. We need information. We need help. We need assistance … The government in these moments of crisis becomes the place where people have to turn.”
Schur teamed up with six of the original Parks writers to turn the script around in three days. Their biggest challenge was remembering where they left each character and how they would fit into a story set in 2020. The series finale, which aired in 2015, covered the lives of the characters from 2017 to 2065, and almost none of them were in Pawnee when the story ended, except for Jerry (Jim O’Heir), who was left as mayor. Ben (Adam Scott) and Leslie (Poehler) are in D.C., where he is a congressman and she’s working for the Department of the Interior. Ann and Chris (Rob Lowe) are in Michigan, where he works in the University of Michigan admissions department.
“Any fan who cares about canon should consider this canon,” Schur said. “It did present a weird situation because ordinarily you could just make everything up and start from scratch. But we had already said what had happened to everyone in years past this, so we had to go back and retrofit everything and make sure it makes sense.”
In the new story, none of the characters has suffered or is suffering from COVID-19, but Ann (Rashida Jones), who has returned to nursing, will address why she’s not on the front lines. Since the actors are all quarantined in their homes across the country and even in London (Aziz Ansari is there), the writers also had to find creative ways to explain why some of the married couples are not seen in the same rooms. In addition to the entire main cast, half a dozen special guest stars will pop up in the episode. In fact, the first person on camera will be one of them.
“It’s not about the disease; it’s about people coping with it, trying to navigate their daily lives,” Schur said. “Leslie Knope was a person who believed in friendship. She was a very loyal person. She was a very friendly person. She put all of her eggs in the basket of the power of friendship, and so it’s really just about her connecting with people and holding the group of characters together through a time when they’re unable to even leave their home.”
But as tricky as working out the story was, logistics became the biggest challenge. Production delivered or shipped every actor a small rig with a tripod, an iPhone, a small light, and a microphone so they could be their own camera crews. The “slow and laborious” process took four days, Schur said. Director Morgan Sackett, executive producer Dean Holland, script supervisor Valeria Collins, and Schur watched on Zoom as the actors recorded on their iPhones. “The actors would send a screenshot to show what their framing was and we would be able to listen and watch from a weird, oblique angle as they recorded themselves,” Schur said. Then the graphics and effects team from The Good Place worked on the episode “to make it not look like everyone was just sitting alone in their houses.”
Although Schur praised the Parks team for working on the special, especially because it is raising money for Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund, he was quick to note that it should not be a model for Hollywood returning to work when the quarantine ends.
“TV is a team sport, from the very beginning to the very end,” he said. “It’s about groups of people functioning in holistic ways with each other, and collaborating and being in the same room at the same time. I don’t think there’s any way that this is a sustainable method for making television. I don’t want to downplay it. It was fun to have the crew back together. I took a bunch of screen grabs when we did a table read because it was the first time that this group of people has been together for a while, even if it’s only virtually. It was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work, but I don’t think it’s any kind of model for what we’re doing going forward.”