“Parks and Recreation” comes to an end with tonight's hour-long series finale, premiering at 10 on NBC. Over the last week, we've run a lot of stories about the show – mostly happy, but one very sad – and wanted to put easy links to them in one place on finale morning. So without further ado:
* My essay on what made this one of TV's best comedies of all time;
* My interview with Amy Poehler, looking at the start and end of this journey;
* Part 1 and Part 2 of a long history of Pawnee discussion with co-creator Mike Schur, and you can read all my previous Schur interviews here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here , here and here;
* Jim O'Heir recalling the long, strange journey of Garry/Jerry/Larry/Terry/Garry Gergich;
* Ben Schwartz looking back on the life of Jean-Ralphio Saperstein;
* Our favorite “Parks and Rec” episodes ever;
* Drew McWeeny with a look at what made April and Andy's romance so special;
* Drew on the loss of longtime “Parks” writer (and periodic guest star) Harris Wittels(*);
(*) I would also highly recommend reading Aziz Ansari's essay on Wittels, who was his friend and collaborator well before either man was hired by “Parks.”
and
* All my episodic reviews of this season (and going all the way back to late in season 2; you can find the earliest episodes on my old blog). UPDATE: Here's my review of the finale.
One last day with Leslie, Ron and company, folks. Enjoy it while you can. I should have a review of the finale up shortly after it ends at 11 p.m. So one more time, get on your feet and give it up for this great show: