Here are links to all of the sources that informed my book Parks and Rec, including Nick Offerman on why Amy Poehler is a legend, the audience testing that almost sank the show, and the episode that turned the series’ fortunes around.
Trump will win a second term, CNN projects, in historic comeback after losing four years ago, CNN.com, 2024
Pete Buttigieg ‘04 Calls Local Government ‘Salvation’ for Dems Under Trump, The Harvard Crimson, 2024
‘Parks and Recreation’ ‘The Wire’ and the Politics of Pawnee, Huffpost, 2015
Barack Obama says you should embrace ‘relentless optimism’ to be successful, CNBC.com, 2017
Is 2008 the ‘Year of the Woman’?, NPR, 2008
An Interview with Michael Schur, The Believer, 2015
A Conversation with David Foster Wallace by Larry McCaffrey, Dalkey Archive Press, 2013
‘Parks and Recreation’ Gets Political: Amy Poehler and Mike Schur Talk Pawnee Debate Night, Huffpost, 2012
Pawnee, World History Encyclopedia, 2024
The Evolution of Aziz Ansari, Vulture, 2015
Retta Has a Story to Tell, Vulture, 2018
Nick Offerman: Amy Poehler is a ‘legend of comedy,’ Big Issue, 2019
Obsessed: Woodworking, Huffpost, 2013
Nick Offerman Talks Woodworking, the Value of Craftsmanship, and Americana, Sotheby’s, 2017
Already Great, Dissent, 2019
A-List: Amy Poehler, Advocate, 2009
Problems with NBC’s ‘Parks and Recreation,’ Deadline, 2009
CBS Wins 2008-2009 TV Ratings Race, While NBC Places Fourth, Vulture, 2009
Ben Silverman, the Consummate TV Executive, Observer, 2009
It’s Ten O’Clock. Do You Know Where Your Network President Is?, Esquire, 2009
Misguided, She Yearns to Guide, The New York Times, 2009
The Poehler Effect, New York, 2009
Top NBC Primetime Shows, May 11-17, 2009, TV by the Numbers via Internet Archive
Parks and Recreation, “Rock Show”: Mouse-Rat! Mouse-Rat!, What’s Alan Watching?, 2009
Parks and Recreation’s Aziz Ansari Is 30 Years Old and Writing a Book About Modern Love, Daily Beast, 2013
‘Parks and Rec’ Boss Mike Schur Pens Tribute to Harris Wittels: ‘He Was Basically a Human Teddy Bear,’ The Hollywood Reporter, 2015
Final 2009-10 Broadcast Primetime Show Average Viewership, TV by the Numbers via Internet Archive, 2010
Wealthier People Watch ‘Parks and Rec,’ ‘Modern Family,’ Huffpost, 2013
A Sitcom Grows Up and Finds Its Identity, The New York Times, 2011
Rashida Jones: “I’m the town slut,” Salon, 2012
Parks and Recreation—TV Review, The Hollywood Reporter, 2011
After a Year of Ruin, Some Hope, The New York Times, 2009
Official from Pawnee, Ind., Buttonholes Senators, The New York Times, 2012
Ron Swanson: The man and the mustache, IndyStar, 2015
Patton Oswalt’s ‘Parks and Recreation’ Rant Was Copied by Disney’s ‘Book of Boba Fett,’ Deadline, 2024
Spending, Ron Swanson-style, Politico, 2010
Joe Wilson: Right-wing folk hero, Politico, 2009
Polarization, Democracy, and Political Violence in the United States: What the Research Says, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2023
Political Polarization in the American Public, Pew Research Center, 2014
As Partisan Hostility Grows, Signs of Frustration with the Two-Party System, Pew Research Center, 2022
How to Be a Better Person: The Ethics of Now with Michael Schur, Duke.edu, 2022
I’m a Type-A Know-It-All. Leslie Knope Showed Me That’s a Good Thing., The New York Times, 2020
Obama angers midwest voters with guns and religion remark, The Guardian, 2008
Full 2012-2013 TV Season Series Rankings, Deadline, 2013
Parks and Recreation: “Swing Vote,” AV Club, 2013
Newt Gingrich Calls ‘Parks and Rec’ Cameo ‘Great Fun,’ ABC News, 2012
Big Four Nets Embrace Changes in Skedding Patterns This Fall, Variety, 2013
Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones Will Be Leaving “Parks and Recreation,” BuzzFeed, 2013
The Laws of Dunshire, Cephalofair, 2014
WGN America Nabs ‘Parks and Recreation’ Reruns, The Hollywood Reporter, 2013
‘Office’ swings into syndication, Variety, 2009
Inside the final season of ‘Parks and Recreation,’ Entertainment Weekly, 2015
NBC Announces Plans to Burn Off Final Parks and Recreation Season, Time, 2014
The Brilliant, Utterly Depressing ‘Parks and Rec’ Premiere—and the End of a Comedy Era, Daily Beast, 2015
Werner Herzog to Cameo in ‘Parks and Rec,’ Which He’s Never Seen Before, Vulture, 2014
‘Parks and Recreation’: Amy Poehler announces that she wants Bill Murray to play the mayor of Pawnee, Entertainment Weekly, 2011
‘Parks and Recreation’ got Bill Murray to play Mayor Gunderson!? How they did it, Entertainment Weekly, 2015
‘Parks and Rec’ Writer Harris Wittels’ Death at 30: Humblebrags and the Specter of Heroin, The Hollywood Reporter, 2015
Knope and Change, Time, 2015
Do Liberals Want ‘Parks and Rec’ or ‘House of Cards’?, US News, 2015
And Now You May Laugh, National Review, 2014
All the Presidents’ TV Shows: Series That Defined Each Era, Rolling Stone, 2021
How ‘Parks and Rec’’s Ron Swanson Became the Unlikely Libertarian Hero of the Obama Era, Daily Beast, 2015
A letter to America from Leslie Knope, regarding Donald Trump, Vox, 2016
If You Haven’t Heard of “Hopepunk,” Allow Me to Gently Introduce You, Repeller via Internet Archive, 2019
Hopepunk, the latest storytelling trend, is all about weaponized optimism, Vox, 2018
Parks and Relocation: Streaming’s Musical Chairs Problem, Vulture, 2020
Netflix Users Are Spending More Time Streaming ‘The Office’ Than Any Other Show—Report, IndieWire, 2019
Aziz Ansari Addresses Sexual Misconduct Allegation in Netflix Special: “I Just Felt Terrible,” The Hollywood Reporter, 2019
Aubrey Plaza and Nick Offerman Have a Parks and Rec Reunion Riding Dragons in Mountain Dew Super Bowl Commercial, People, 2024
People left stunned after only just realizing ‘Galentine’s Day’ was invented by a popular sitcom character, Daily Mail, 2024
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Parks and Recreation creator Mike Schur breaks down the uplifting reunion special, Entertainment Weekly, 2020
TV Ratings: ‘Parks and Recreation’ Special Scores for NBC, The Hollywood Reporter, 2020
‘Parks and Recreation’: 5 questions about NBC’s coronavirus-themed special, answered, USA Today, 2020
The 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, The Guardian, 2019
The 100 greatest TV series of the 21st Century, BBC, 2021
Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 50 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (So Far), The Hollywood Reporter, 2023
Watching Out for Democracy, Center for Media and Social Impact, 2022