Parks and Recreation co-creator and showrunner Michael Schur explains what improvised line from Amy Poehler helped change the course of the show. Schur is well known for his comedy shows. He did some writing and starred as Mose Schrute in The Office, which is considered to be among the best American comedy shows. He also created Brooklyn Nine-Nine with Dan Goor, and The Good Place. Schur also has credits on shows such as Saturday Night Live, Hacks, and Q-Force.
Parks and Recreation released in 2009 and aired on NBC until 2015, eventually ending its run with seven seasons. The show followed Leslie Knope (Poehler), as she worked to make the Parks and Receration Department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana as functional and productive as possible. The show followed a mockumentary style, like The Office. It was nominated for and won many awards throughout its time on television. Parks and Recreation also starred Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman, Rob Lowe, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Retta, and Jim O'Heir. Recently, there was a special episode in 2020 that aired during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, showing what the characters have been up to.
Now, Schur has revealed what line helped the creative team shift the show for the better. The character of Leslie Knope was initially not well-received, with many thinking that she was too similar to Steve Carrell's Michael Scott from The Office. In the AMA on Reddit, Schur was asked by u/Sagebea what his favorite improvised line was. He responded with a Leslie Knope quote, and mentioned how it shaped the future of her character. Check out Schur's comment below:
"Amy did an improvised talking head in the very early days -- like the 3rd or 4th episode -- where she had just accidentally knocked over a table in the courtyard and smashed a bunch of bottles. Her line was about how she was shattering those bottles like she was shattering the glass ceiling, or something kind of meh, and she got super cocky and looked back at the men sweeping up and improvised something like, 'Am I breaking into the boys' club? I dunno. I mean, just look at all those bitches cleaning up after me.' It was obviously way funnier than what we had written, but also a light bulb went off for us, where we realized in that moment we had been writing her character wrong -- that she should be more fun and loose and not so uptight and 'politician'-y. Changed the course of the show with that one line."
This quote from Schur shows how he and the creative team were taking the reception of Leslie Knope into consideration. The show did not truly find its footing until the second season, which also sees a shift in her character. Since Knope was the main character, nailing her personality was definitely one of the most important things to do. This change was for the better, as she became very well-received after, even going on to nab a Golden Globe for Poehler. Many fans would agree that the characters of Parks and Rec are the best part of it because of how fun they all are, so changing Leslie to give her that vibe instead of being more uptight like Schur said definitely helped.
It is also exciting for fans to hear about the improvisation that occurred on the show. This will probably come as no surprise to many since the cast are all very talented and funny, but it is still a great tidbit from Schur. Parks and Rec could also have introduced many new people to these actors and actresses, so their improv would have helped audiences connect to these characters even more. It also true that Poehler's improv helped to shape Parks and Recreation into a top-tier comedy show by helping it stand apart and avoid being compared too much with The Office.
Source: Michael Schur/Reddit