“Parks and Recreation” Star Says Cast Was Like Catching 'Lightning in a Bottle'

Mitchell Haaseth/NBC(LOS ANGELES) — The series finale of Parks and Recreation aired on NBC Tuesday night.

For cast member Jim O’Heir, it wasn’t easy to say goodbye to the cult favorite after seven seasons. O’Heir, who played associate director Jerry Gergich on the comedy, says he’s experienced a sense of “melancholy” because he and the rest of the Parks and Recreation cast and crew were so tight-knit.

He explains to ABC News Radio, “[W]e all kind of fell in love. The odds of finding this mix again, lightning in a bottle, it probably won’t happen.”

O’Heir recalls shedding a tear or two after the finale was taped. He notes that star Amy Poehler and series creator Mike Schur got emotional, too: “Amy tried to give a little speech and she lost it, and Mike gave a speech, he got worked up.”

Parks and Recreation, which premiered in 2009, starred Poehler as a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana. Her co-stars through the years included Chris Pratt, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Aziz Ansari, Rashida Jones, Rob Lowe and Adam Scott.

The finale jumped around from the show’s present day, 2017, to 2023, 2035, and beyond — to give fans closure about their favorite characters’ fates. Vice President Joe Biden made a second cameo appearance on the series. His wife, Dr. Jill Biden, also appeared.

The cast of Parks & Recreation visited NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers Tuesday to celebrate the series finale by sharing memories from the show’s run and their feelings about the final episode.

Pratt, who played Andy Dwyer, revealed that he pitched an idea for what happens to his character and Plaza’s character, April Ludgate. 

“I’d thought just…a little line about how everybody died…and the first one, when you saw April it would be that she died of a broken heart,” he shared.

“And then you would see that Andy died ’cause he was left in a hot car with the windows rolled up,” Pratt added.

 

 


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