PARKS AND RECREATION at TCA: Live-Blog

The cast and producers of PARKS AND RECREATION are at TCA to celebrate the show’s final season.

Follow along for live updates…

5:31 PM: “The state of network television is in flux,” Mike Schur says of PARKS AND REC possibly being able to last in this day and age.

5:32 PM: What do they think of streaming shows? “We’re developing a show you watch in the back of your eyelids,” Amy Poehler jokes.

“The most important streamer right now is Netflix and they won’t tell anyone how many people watch their shows,” Schur noted.

5:34 PM: Everyone is in the last moments of the show, Schur teased. They say goodbye to some of the supporting (guest) characters earlier, but the main people will be there until the very end.

5:36 PM: “To be honest, I think some of the other characters have been more protective of Jerry than I have,” Jim O’Heir says. He says that Chris Pratt objected once to something mean Andy was doing to him, and O’Heir wanted him to pile on more. It works, still, because Jerry has the best life possible at home.

5:37 PM: “We didn’t think about the end until [after] we made the time jump,” Schur says. It was nice to get notice that this would be the end, for sure, versus having to shoot a potential ending just in case.

5:38 PM: Schur is delighted by the Cones of Dunshire kickstarter. Poehler, however, hates the game. (She thinks it’s cool that it’s taken off so much.)

5:39 PM: “It’s a glorified extra,” Retta recalls her manager saying to her about the original role of Donna. But then slowly they started giving her more.

O’Heir recalls he originally auditioned for Ron, but then they wanted him to come in for another role. While he knew it was kind of an extra-esque role, but given the way the writers worked the supporting cast on THE OFFICE, he knew there was potential. He’s recalling how he was treated as part of the team. He was in an airport in season 2 when he found out they wanted to make him a series regular.

5:43 PM: “There are certain things that are going to happen this season that will be more enjoyable for those who are close watchers of the series,” Schur teases. He notes it’ll be in the margin, because it’s possible there could be new viewers, etc.

There will be a few moments where people come back for events, so there is room for nostalgia in the final season.

5:45 PM: No, no one on the set has a park named after them. But Retta notes that real parks and rec workers sometimes tweet her, and “they think they’re fucking cool as shit.”

5:46 PM: “There’s a family element to the show that’s really nice,” Poehler notes.

Schur says it’s “harder and harder to remember that community is important as the days go on.”

5:49 PM: Why stick with the show? “Money,” Retta retorts quickly. She asks, more seriously, “Why would you want to leave PARKS?”

Chris Pratt says it “never once occurred to him” to leave. “I would never, fucking, ever leave the show.”

“We’re all leaving now!” Aziz Ansari retorts.

“I’ve been doing this business 15 years,” Pratt says. What matters is “the relationships you have while doing. For me, this show, likely…I would hope I’d have the fortune of having a group of people like this, but I doubt I ever will…I wouldn’t abandon ship…you have the opportunity to make Amy Poehler laugh, or Adam Scott laugh…I never would have thought…I didn’t know that was an option.”

5:52 PM: Pratt cracks up recalling the season premiere scene where Ben and Tom are weeping over Tom’s speech for Ben.

Ansari loves a Perd joke that he’s not sure if it made it in.

O’Heir loves the “powder her vagina” joke.

5:53 PM: “I loved living in the pit,” Pratt says of which version of Andy has been his favorite. Schur and Pratt recall cut scenes where he was in the pit and he befriended gophers.

At one point, they thought the show was going to end with Andy being the mayor, Schur says. That’s why they had him being so social with people in the earlier run.

5:56 PM: Schur says they started talking in the middle of season 6 about possibly ending the show. And he and Poehler both felt it was right to end it the next season, and it should be a short season. They didn’t even know if NBC wanted them back at that point, but they had a big meeting with the network, and the network agreed with them. Schur acknowledges they feel “very, very fortunate” that they were able to end the show on their own terms.

“One of the things I’m going to miss most is hearing what’s going to happen to Leslie next year,” Poehler says. She used to have meetings with Schur twice a year to find out what’s happening, and she’ll miss it.

5:59 PM: “Treat yo self,” is something Poehler didn’t expect to take off the way it did. Retta didn’t know it was going to be as big as it was, either.

Ansari notes he didn’t expect for Tom’s food names to catch on the way it did.

O’Heir says “Dammit Jerry!” is making the rounds.

6:02 PM: The cast is insanely busy, so don’t expect anyone to pop up on BROOKLYN NINE-NINE any time soon. Schur notes they hit the lotto with this cast.

Schur has only praise for the guest stars who have been on the show. In an upcoming episode, Kathryn Hanh insults Ben and Leslie about 5 times in 20 seconds. And Paul Rudd flew in for one day to shoot on the show again this season.

6:05 PM: “It wasn’t, honestly,” Schur says when asked whether the HIMYM finale played into their minds when writing this finale. “The HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER finale was the way the creators wanted to end the show. That show was really funny and good for a really long time…we didn’t care about that.

6:07 PM: “There’s a lot of people wanting to forecast what’s happening,” Poehler says. She allows that talented people on a good show will get noticed “most of the time.” The rest of it is “speculation, discussion.” She says “television is so interesting right now…and creative people working in television.” And while she doesn’t believe TV is in trouble, she’s “always excited about what’s next.”

Pratt’s advice: “Don’t read the fucking comments…Screw everybody that writes comments. If you have time to read comments,you can be rewriting your jokes.”

“Did you just read some comments?” Ansari asks.