Parks and Recreation is an American mockumentary comedy television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur which follows Leslie Knope, the deputy head of the Parks and Recreation department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana.
Knope takes on a project with a nurse named Ann to turn a construction pit into a park, while trying to mentor a bored, college-aged intern.
The series premiered in the USA on NBC on 9 April, 2009.
Parks and Recreation premiered in South Africa on M-Net on Tuesday 2 June 2009, at 19h00. It was moved to DStv's Vuzu channel after the first season, to M-Net Series for Season 4 and to M-Net Series Showcase for Season 5. It later began airing on DStv's Comedy Central channel and on M-Net Series Zone (from Season 4). See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 2 originally aired on Vuzu from 4 April to 10 September, 2010, initially on Sundays at 19h00. After the sixth episode (which aired on Sunday 9 May 2010) the show moved to the Friday 19h30 timeslot, from 14 May, 2010.
Season 2 premiered on Comedy Central on Monday 18 June 2012, at 19h40. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 24 episodes in the second season.
Synopsis
From Emmy Award-winning executive producers Greg Daniels (The Office, King of the Hill) and Michael Schur (The Office, Saturday Night Live) comes a new mockumentary that looks at the exciting world of local government.
The half-hour comedy examines the mundane but necessary ways that people interact with their government, and ask why it's frequently so complicated - as everyone knows from standing in line at the DMV, applying for home construction permits, or trying to get the city to fix a pothole.
The documentary cameras follow Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana.
In an attempt to beautify her town - and advance her career - Leslie takes on what should be a fairly simple project: help local nurse Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) turn an abandoned construction pit into a community park.
Opposing them are defensive bureaucrats, selfish neighbours, real estate developers and single-issue fanatics - whose weapons are lawsuits, the jumble of city codes and the very democratic process that Leslie loves so much.
Leslie is alternately helped and undermined by her colleague, Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), who cheerfully exploits his government position for personal gain. She is also thwarted by her boss Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), who is philosophically opposed to government in any form.
Helping Leslie and Ann navigate the Pawnee bureaucracy is charismatic city planner Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider), whose outlook has been soured by 15 years of public service.
If they can pull it off, Leslie hopes that she also will have inspired her uninterested college intern April (Aubrey Plaza) and April's whole generation - all the while moving one step closer to her ultimate goal: becoming the first female president of the United States.
Parks and Recreation is a production of Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios. Along with Daniels and Schur, Howard Klein also serves as executive producer for the series.
Seasons
db = double bill
Note: the show moved from M-Net to Vuzu for Season 2, from Vuzu to M-Net Series for Season 4 and from M-Net Series to M-Net Series Showcase for Season 5. The first three seasons did not air on M-Net Series Zone and Season 4 did not air on Vuzu.
Season 1 (6 episodes)
Channel: M-Net | Premiere: 2 Jun 2009 | Finale: 7 Jul 2009 | Tue, 19h00
Channel: Vuzu | Premiere: 2 Apr 2010 | Finale: 7 May 2010 | Fri, 19h30
Channel: Comedy Central | Premiere: 7 May 2012 | Finale: 11 Jun 2012 | Mon, 19h40
Season 2 (24 episodes)
Channel: Vuzu | Premiere: 4 Apr 2010 | Finale: 10 Sep 2010 | Sun, 19h00/Fri, 19h30
Channel: Comedy Central | Premiere: 18 Jun 2012 | Finale: 26 Nov 2012 | Mon, 19h40
Season 3 (16 episodes)
Channel: Vuzu | Premiere: 20 Apr 2011 | Finale: 3 Aug 2011 | Wed, 20h00
Channel: Comedy Central | Premiere: 15 Jul 2013 | Finale: 2 Sep 2013 | Mon, 20h55 (db)
Season 4 (22 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 9 Jun 2012 | Finale: 3 Nov 2012 | Sat, 18h30
Channel: MS Zone | Premiere: 9 Jan 2014 | Finale: 28 Jan 2014 | Mon-Thu, 17h30 (db)
Season 5 (22 episodes)
Channel: MS Showcase | Premiere: 12 Jul 2013 | Finale: 6 Dec 2013 | Fri, 19h00
Channel: Vuzu | Premiere: 18 Apr 2014 | Finale: 19 May 2014 | Weekdays, 17h00
Season 6 (22 episodes)
Channel: MS Showcase | Premiere: 21 Apr 2014 | Finale: 15 Sep 2014 | Mon, 19h30 |
