It only just dawned on me that The 10 Best GIFs From Last Night’s NBC Comedies is no more. Now, before heading out to Hallmark to buy me a hyper-specific “condolences for the loss of your GIF-based blog post,” take comfort in the fact that Parks and Recreation is still around. Otherwise, though, NBC is going to look very different come September 26th. Gone are The Office, 30 Rock, and Community (for now); they’ve been replaced by Welcome to the Family (Latin family vs. white family culture clash), Sean Saves the World (a Victor Fresco show, which is good, about a daughter moving in with her gay dad played by Sean Hayes, which is bad), and The Michael J. Fox Show, the only one of the three new series that could be promising. So, really: it’s Parks and Rec, and the rest.
But that’s essentially what it was like after 30 Rock went off the air earlier this year, too: Parks was the only consistently great Thursday night sitcom, with Community rarely showing a creative glimmer of its former self and The Office bankrupt of fresh ideas. Next season sounds highly promising, too, even with the eventual departures of Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones. Parks has been hiring great guest stars left and right, time after time, so much so that it’s been tough to keep up with. Here’s a helpful guide to who they’ve already got, and who they should get.
Henry Winkler as Jean-Ralphio’s father
Kristen Bell as Eagleton Leslie Knope
Billy Eichner as Eagleton Donna Meagle
Sam Elliott as Eagleton Ron Swanson
June Diane Raphael as Eagleton April Ludgate
Heidi Klum as Women in Government recipient
Tatiana Maslany as Tom’s love interest
Creator Michael Schur also says that “Tom’s doppelganger is a spoiler. It’s not who the actor is – it’s the concept behind it,” which either means the return of Mark Brendanawicz or Maslany as Tom 2, too.
(via Getty Image)
