It's been 15 years since fan-favorite NBC comedy Parks and Recreation first premiered, and The Independent is paying homage to the series with a deep-dive piece on the show's enduring appeal — including interviews with the show's co-creator Michael Schur and stars Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Aziz Ansari and Rashida Jones.
One of the most intriguing anecdotes shared in the profile is one by Rashida Jones, who played Ann Perkins on Parks and Recreation, which centered on the city government goings-on in the fictional every-town of Pawnee, Indiana. Jones elaborated how a silly cast photo taken on-set started out as an inside joke and then nearly turned into a legit spinoff series.
The pic in question involved series regulars Jones, Amy Poehler (who memorably portrayed lead Leslie Knope) and Adam Scott (who played Ben Wyatt) — as well as a couple beloved recurring characters, played by Paul Rudd and Kathryn Hahn.
Rudd and Hahn both appeared in seasons 4 and 7 of Parks and Rec in enduring cameos. Rudd was the heir to Sweetums, a local unscrupulous candy corporation in Pawnee, who ends up running against Leslie Knope in a city council election. Hahn, meanwhile, played political strategist Jen Barkley.
Rashida Jones delved into what made this group so special. “The season where we had Paul Rudd and Kathryn Hahn on was the absolute best,” Jones said.
“During our free time on set, we took a picture of me, Kathryn, Amy, Adam Scott and Rudd and we had this fantasy of being in like a Nineties, David Kelley-style procedural show called Philly Justice where we were all playing law clerks in Philadelphia,” Jones explained, referring to the prolific showrunner of legal-themed series like Ally McBeal and The Practice.
Sounds like the venture began as a goofy on-set inside joke but then took on a life of its own. Jones admits that the Parks and Rec writers wrote “an entire episode of a different show,” based on the Philly Justice idea, “which we started to actually shoot.”
“We became obsessed with it and so did the writers,” Jones added. “We shot 15 pages of a show that doesn’t exist with our free time.”
As recounted by People magazine, the faux-spinoff has actually been discussed publicly before, at the 2012 media event PaleyFest during the Parks and Rec panel with Michael Schur and Amy Poehler.
So what exactly is Parks and Rec faux-spinoff Philly Justice?
During the panel, Schur shared that there was “a pilot that was made in 2003” based on the photo of Poehler, Scott, Hahn, Rudd and Jones.
The line between fact and fiction continued to blur as Poehler quipped that Paul Rudd's character “didn't really connect with the producers and he was replaced after the pilot with Dylan McDermott,” who starred in David Kelley's The Practice. However, Poehler joked that McDermott was also replaced, this time by another actor he is frequently confused with, Dermot Mulroney.
Schur then decided to set the record straight-ish by giving as genuine of an answer to “What is Philly Justice?” as he could muster.
“Actually what this is, is we – they were on set and they had someone take that picture and they decided to pretend that they were all on a show called Philly Justice about Philadelphia lawyers,” Schur explained.
“It's difficult to explain to you how intricate this bit has gotten,” Schur continued. “These actors, these five people, got so into this idea that they had been in this fake show together.”
Sounds like the happy vibes that came through on-screen throughout Parks and Recreation‘s illustrious seven season run were equally present behind the scenes with the cast and crew, even if faux-spinoff Philly Justice never actually made it to air.
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