Crew Deedle-Dee Productions and
Universal Media Studios produced the first season of
Parks and Recreation; series creators
Greg Daniels and
Michael Schur were executive producers with
Howard Klein.
Dana Gould, Morgan Sackett and
Amy Poehler produced, and
Tucker Cawley and
Norm Hiscock served as consulting producers. Daniel J. Goor was the executive story editor for the season, and
Rachel Axler was a story editor. Dean Holland, an editor on
The Office, also worked as an editor on
Parks and Recreations first season.
Mike Scully, a former executive producer and
show runner for
The Simpsons, joined
Parks and Recreation as a consulting producer starting with the episode "
Boys' Club". Cawley left the show at the end of the first season to create the short-lived
ABC sitcom
Hank, starring
Kelsey Grammer. Gould left to focus on his stand-up career. The other producers all returned for
the second season.
Allison Jones, who worked as a casting director for
The Office, served in the same capacity for
Parks and Recreation, along with Nancy Perkins, for whom the character Ann Perkins was named. The
pilot episode was directed by Greg Daniels,
Jeffrey Blitz, who had directed numerous episodes of
The Office;
Michael McCullers, co-writer of the first two
Austin Powers films, who directed Poehler in the comedy film
Baby Mama; and
Beth McCarthy Miller, a longtime television director who worked with Poehler on the sketch comedy show
Saturday Night Live. Daniels and Schur wrote the pilot episode, and the rest of the season's episodes were written by Axler, Goor, Hiscock, Cawley and
Alan Yang.
Cast came together only after producers learned Amy Poehler (pictured'') would be available to play the protagonist. A principal cast of six actors received star billing in the show's first season. She also felt it took a few episodes before she started "feeling my groove" with the character, but came to realize the cast was extremely talented and "would eventually become like family". Daniels and Schur intended to cast Ansari and Jones (who previously appeared in
The Office as
Karen Filippelli) from the series' earliest stages of development, but the ultimate
Parks and Recreation concept did not coalesce until they learned Poehler would be available to star. After her recruitment, the general concept of the series was established and the script for the pilot episode was written.
Nick Offerman portrayed
Ron Swanson, the director of the parks and recreation department. Offerman had previously auditioned for a part on
The Office, and Schur was impressed with his comedic talents and wanted to cast him, but then Offerman became unavailable because he appeared on
Will & Grace, a show starring his wife,
Megan Mullally. Schur said, "I just wrote his name down on a post-it note and stuck it to my computer and said, 'Someday, I'm going to figure out what to do with that guy.'" The part was written specifically for Plaza. After meeting her, casting director Allison Jones told Schur, "I just met the weirdest girl I've ever met in my life. You have to meet her and put her on your show." Schur confirmed this story, saying "Aubrey came over to my office and made me feel really uncomfortable for like an hour, and immediately I wanted to put her in the show." Although the writers were not immediately sure what direction her character would take. Schneider said that early in the season he was insecure in the role because he was still trying to figure out the character's motivations.
Chris Pratt played
Andy Dwyer, Ann's well-intentioned but lazy and simple-minded boyfriend. Although Pratt appeared in every episode of season 1, he was credited as guest star until the second season, when he was promoted to the main cast. Andy was originally supposed to appear only in the first season, but the producers liked Pratt so much that, almost immediately after casting him, they decided to make Andy a regular character if the show was renewed.
Jim O'Heir and
Retta made regular appearances as
Jerry Gergich and
Donna Meagle, two fellow employees at the Pawnee parks and recreation department. The personalities of the two characters did not become developed until the second season, but Schur said the
Parks and Recreation staff liked the actors, so they decided to include them in the show and "figured we'd work it out later".
Eric Edelstein guest starred in two season 1 episodes, "Canvassing" and "Boys' Club", as
Lawrence, a disgruntled neighbor of Andy's. The idea of an
Office spin-off stemmed from a subplot from the show's
third season that followed characters in an office branch in
Stamford, Connecticut, separate from the show's other characters, who were in
Scranton, Pennsylvania. Silverman felt it could have served as its own series and began asking Daniels about the possibility of a spinoff. Daniels resisted the idea for several years out of fears of diluting the quality of
The Office, but Silverman eventually insisted upon a new show. Daniels and Schur specifically sought to avoid making a political show about a "hypocrite running for office" or "bureaucrat who just makes everything impossible", which they felt were clichéd and overdone stereotypes. as well as the renewed interest in and optimism about politics stemming from the
2008 United States presidential election. The producers insisted their new series would be entirely independent. Nevertheless, their concept for it shared several elements with
The Office, particularly the
mockumentary approach, which allows the actors to look at and directly address the camera. The new show would also include documentary-style interviews, in which the characters speak one-on-one with the camera crew about the day's events. Again as with
The Office, the new series would be scripted but improvisation would be encouraged among the actors. Indiana was identified as a setting for the show because, Daniels said, "it's a Midwestern state that people don’t hear about much (and) didn't have a lot of stereotypes attached to it". The name
Public Service was considered, but ultimately rejected because network officials did not want to be accused of mocking the idea. In a commercial that aired during NBC's
Super Bowl coverage in February, it was announced that the series would be called
Parks and Recreation.
Writing The show's writers spent time researching local California politics and attending
Los Angeles City Council meetings. The
Parks and Recreation staff worked with a number of consultants familiar with local government work, including Scott Albright, a California city planner who provided feedback for the Mark Brendanawicz character. Inspiration for Ron Swanson came from an encounter Schur had in Burbank with an elected official, a Libertarian who favored minimal government and admitted, "I don't really believe in the mission of my job." The show was filmed in Southern California, and the construction pit featured throughout the season was dug by the episode's producers at an undeveloped property in
Van Nuys, a district of Los Angeles. The producers went door-to-door in the neighborhood, seeking residents' permission for the dig. and
paparazzi regularly came to the set to take photos of the actors during filming. The exterior of the Pawnee government building, and several of the hallway scenes, were shot at
Pasadena City Hall. According to Poehler, "For every show, there could probably be a second show of stuff we've edited out."
Parks and Recreation also makes frequent use of the
jump cut technique. For instance, one scene in the pilot episode repeatedly jump cuts between brief clips in which Leslie seeks permission from Ron to pursue the pit project. The six episodes of the first season aired Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. "The Reporter" was originally supposed to be the season's second episode, but the schedule was changed and "Canvassing", originally planned as the third episode, was shown second instead. ==Reception==