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I didn't even remember that this is still on the air!

I thought it wasn't going to be back on the air again until 2024.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about the final season Parks and Rec, but there is a fun cameo for cinephiles in the first episode.

I'm really enjoying how much fun they're having with the time jump. Describing all of the things that have happened in the intervening 3 years has been great. If you didn't laugh hard at "Jaden Smith in Hitch 2: Son of a Hitch" I feel sorry the people in your life.

Elton John will buy out Chick-Fil-A.
Biden will become one of America's most prolific poets.
The Bourne films will get a reboot starring Kevin James.

Morgan Freeman and Shailene Woodley will have a feud that's bigger than Biggie vs Tupac.

I watched this show for the first time catching the double episode the other night.
Is this season typical?
I didn't find it funny at all.

Koukol wrote:I watched this show for the first time catching the double episode the other night.
Is this season typical?
I didn't find it funny at all.

The season has been fine enough, but the last two were both pretty average episodes.

A good comparison is Futurama or The Simpsons; the show of course has it's main cast, but it's really made by the supporting details that create the world they live in. Imagine one of those shows being given a definitive final run where they felt a need to pay homage to every character that anybody might like in a satisfying way over 14 half-hours; that's what you're watching by hopping in to watch a random episode now.

Perhaps I'll get into with reruns like I did with MODERN FAMILY.

Plus, it's the only season set in the future and at a higher level of government.

I know we're only fifteen minutes into tonight's episode (and I know the conceit isn't unique), but it's absolutely slaying me.

There are little Burt Macklins in the studio audience!

Feiereisel wrote:I know we're only fifteen minutes into tonight's episode (and I know the conceit isn't unique), but it's absolutely slaying me.

There are little Burt Macklins in the studio audience!

The two best episodes of this final season (we'll see if the remaining two episodes can equal or surpass them). Those commercial parodies were delightful! I'm going to miss this show along with the bygone era of top shelf network comedy.

A couple of those commercials were straight out of Better Off Ted, which is a welcomed tip of the hat.

When I watched that episode, one of the fake commercials was followed by a spot for "Downy Unstopables" laundry perfumes: "I want my yoga pants to smell like I sweat money." "I want to smell the way champagne tastes. I love champagne!" I couldn't believe it wasn't one of the fake ones. If any commercial ever needed Tom Haverford in it...

Great finale, great final season, great show. Kind of wish they had addressed one thing, even with a throwaway joke, though

Spoiler

Mark Brendanawicz

You want to find out what happened to Mark Brendanawicz? Dig up Lot 48.

Seriously, though, although I feel Parks and Recreation has always been hit or miss, I've been pleased by the quantity and quality of writing that the final season (coupled with the tragic death of Harris Wittels) has produced. Every important show should enjoy the same, although it doesn't always happen. I was especially impressed with Aziz Ansari's detailed tribute to Wittels and this writer-centric oral history of the show, although much of Alan Sepinwall's coverage is also worth reading, especially the two-part Mike Schur interview, which focuses on the background characters and other minutiae around the margins of the show.

domino harvey wrote:Great finale, great final season, great show. Kind of wish they had addressed one thing, even with a throwaway joke, though

Spoiler

Mark Brendanawicz

I'm glad I wasn't the only one hoping for the same and disappointed that it wasn't addressed. Of course, I'm fairly certain

Spoiler

Schneider

has kept his distance from the show. In fact, he's kind of had a fairly low-profile in general over the past few years, with only a few appearances on TV and a handful of roles in independent movies. I heard he had a noteworthy performance in movie at Tribeca last year, but I'm not sure the movie ever received a release.

There's a longer cut of the finale up on Hulu and NBC's website if anyone's interested. It features two additional flash-forward segments, showing the fates of Councilman Jamm and Shauna Malwae-Tweep, as well as the occasional interspersed joke (some of which aren't edited in that well, as you can clearly tell where a few were added without alteration to the scene as broadcast).

Andre Jurieu wrote: I'm glad I wasn't the only one hoping for the same and disappointed that it wasn't addressed. Of course, I'm fairly certain

Spoiler

Schneider

has kept his distance from the show.

I read an interview with him and he said he didn't like how his character changed and wasn't interested in returning. See here

I haven't watched the finale yet but will tonight even though I've been ho-hum on this last season.

And now having watched the finale I'm glad to say it was a great success. In a genre that's often overloaded with series stretching themselves too thin and going out on a whimper, it's nice to see a series that understands its characters and gives them a fitting conclusion. Despite the series ' last two seasons feeling a bit like extra weight on an otherwise well-crafted sitcom, the finale left me wanting to rewatch the show again (and then again and again...). I'll miss you Pawnee, even if you were overrun with fat idiots.