Parks and Recreation: American Comedy Television Series

Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series that debuted on NBC on April 9, 2009. It was co-created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, part of the creative team on the NBC version of The Office. The series follows Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), the Deputy Director of the Parks and Recreation department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Knope takes on a project with a nurse named Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) to turn an abandoned construction pit into a park, while trying to navigate her way through the politics of local government.
Despite initial speculation it would be a spin-off of The Office, the two programs are not related beyond using the same mockumentary style and the same actress, Rashida Jones, playing a different character.
On January 29, 2010, Parks and Recreation was renewed for a third season. It was held back as a mid-season replacement and season three started January 20, 2011. On March 17, 2011, the series was renewed for a fourth season.
The series follows the ambitions of perennially upbeat mid-level bureaucrat Leslie Knope, on her quest to better the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. As deputy director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, her sense of enthusiasm is rarely shared by her unmotivated colleagues, who include the wisecracking Tom Haverford, the placid city planner Mark Brendanawicz, the deadpan antigovernment department head Ron Swanson, and his apathetic assistant April Ludgate. Leslie's best friend is local nurse Ann Perkins, whom she meets when Ann's boyfriend, Andy Dwyer, falls into a large pit near Ann's house. Leslie takes on the quest to turn the pit into a park, which becomes her ultimate personal project. However, she finds herself repeatedly frustrated by bureaucrats and townspeople who stand in her way. While the pit-park storyline occupied the show's first season, the pit was filled in during second season.
In the show's second season, the plot gradually began to explore Leslie's other projects and personal issues, including a fledgling romance. The second season also focuses on the personal lives of all the Parks Department employees, as well as Ann's new romance with Mark and April's affections for Ann's ex-boyfriend, Andy. This was Mark's last season due to the departure of Paul Schneider.
The third season added two new characters, Chris Treager and Ben Wyatt, two state auditors who arrive to help bring the Parks department out of bankruptcy which occurred at the end of season two. The addition of these characters has opened up opportunities for new romance storylines, most notably between Ann and Chris. The storyline of the romance between April and Andy is also continued.