Parks and Recollection - Time Capsule (S3E3)

Episode Date: April 26, 2022

Today's episode shines like glitter when Rob Lowe and Alan Yang revisit the third episode of season three of Parks and Recreation. In "Time Capsule" A crackpot handcuffs himself to a pipe in Leslie's office and demands that "Twilight" be placed in the Pawnee time capsule. In today's episode you'll hear why Rob wishes he could work with a giant lizard, what happens when you're required to shoot episodes out of order, how entertaining it is to work with Will Forte, and the divisive nature of DMB. Come for the Parks and Rec trivia, stay for the Kenneth "Baby Face" Edmonds trivia! Got a question for the Pawnee Town Hall? Send us an email: [e-mail] Or leave a 30-Second voicemail at: [phone] Leslie is organizing a Pawnee time capsule, meant to be opened 50 years in the future and filled with items that encapsulate the spirit of the town. A citizen named Kelly Larson comes to Leslie's office and makes a passionate plea for the Twilight books to be included. When Leslie refuses, saying the books have no connection to Pawnee, Kelly handcuffs himself to a pipe in her office hoping she’ll reconsider. Having brought food, water and a pillow Kelly settles in for the long haul. Leslie tries to get Kelly to leave her office to no avail, until she notices the name "Liz Waverly" in one of Kelly's Twilight books. Leslie realizes that Kelly wants to put Twilight into the time capsule to impress his 12 year old daughter and make up for the fact that he and his ex-wife have divorced. Hearing the backstory, Leslie decides to include the book, but Ben points out the slippery slope this could create.To make things right, Leslie decides to hold a public meeting so all citizens can make suggestions for capsule items. The meeting descends into chaos when the citizens begin to argue over including absurd and random objects that have nothing to do with the town. Leslie tries to compromise by making multiple time capsules, but ultimately decides to stick to one capsule and include nothing except a video recording of the meeting, saying it represents Pawnee because it shows "a lot of people with a lot of opinions arguing passionately for what they believed in."Meanwhile, Andy still pines for April, who is now dating the handsome Eduardo. Chris suggests Andy tap into the aspects of his personality April was attracted to in the first place, which Andy decides are that he is nice and that he is in a band. Andy decides to be nice to Eduardo, and the two bond over their love of The Dave Matthews Band. April becomes frustrated because she only dated Eduardo to make Andy jealous and dumps Eduardo.The episode ends with the Pawnee residents, including Kelly and his daughter, watching an outdoor screening of the Twilight film.

We're getting together to talk about all the things we used to do The laughs, the passions, the little Sebastian's, the pets we fell into And we're putting it on in a podcast, then we'll send it up into the sky We're calling it Parks and Recollection Come on little podcast Spread your wings and fly Hello everybody, welcome to Parks and Recollection Alan, how are you? How the heck are you? I'm really good, this is a Monday

Feeling ready to go, done shooting, doing some editing on the show. Rob, I know you're far from done shooting. I know you're in the middle of this beast of a network television season. So how's that all going for you? It's going good. I mean, I literally shot a scene on Friday that airs tonight. You know the famous Indiana Jones running in front of the boulder? That's us. Yeah, I realize that's just network television, man. How many of you guys doing 22 this year?

We're doing 18. 18, by the way, is the new 22. 18 is the new, that's the number of episodes total I want to do for a series. It's three six-episode seasons. That sounds great. Sounds great. Over the course of seven years. I know, but we got it we got good one we got

a good one today where i mean today we're doing time capsule that's right we're doing time capsule that's uh it's it's i remember this episode i distinctly remember writing this episode and being around for this one shall we go through the details here yeah get let's let's let's let's uh let's queue it up for the folks at home who may have forgotten Time Capsule. All right. Because it's one of my favorites. Episode title, Time Capsule, written by Michael Schur, directed by Michael Schur. Yeah.

Show creator, doing double duty on this one. Original air date, February 3rd, 2011. Ironically, the show itself is a Time Capsule now. It's 11 years ago. It really is. And the blurb quickly,

a crackpot handcuffs himself to a pipe in Leslie's office and demands that Twilight, Twilight the book, be placed in the Pawnee time capsule. Chris, That's me. Played by Rob Lowe, tries to help Andy woo April in spite of Anne's reservations.

If you didn't think it was a time capsule episode, the Twilight reference is all you need to know that this was 11 years ago. And I would say it goes beyond a reference. It almost dominates the entire episode. So if you are not familiar with Twilight, we're going to teach you about it a little bit. And by the way, if you were alive during that time

and not aware of Twilight, you need to have your brain checked. It was massive. It was massive. I remember I was working on a show called Brothers and Sisters, and Calista Flockhart would run to the corner after every shot was done to

read this book, Twilight. And I was like, what is this book you're reading? And that was the first I ever heard of it. And then of course it took over the world. Yeah, that's an amazing detail and good to know about Callista. She's a Twilight freak. Very quickly, the notes, notes, notes, notes to start the episode here. In the shooting draft, the episode had a different cold open. It was a standalone little story. This is great. About Chris running memory exercise games with the park staff. At one point, Ben comes into a meeting speaking with a British accent, hopping on one leg, wearing a scarf, and holding a balloon.

He leaves, and then Chris quizzes Leslie, ron and tom about it do you remember that you were shooting this i i do remember shooting this i absolutely like did it ever make it into another episode or was it just cut i don't know if it did it says here that chris's dialogue this is a test of observation invented by the cia for their field agents and then he asked what color ben's socks were well i really remember because when we asked um tom he was like oh it's a three-button suit it's an alfani charcoal pinstripe of 2004 flared lapels paisley pocket liners and i wouldn't be caught dead in it i remember that as a great yeah capper that was the blow that was the blow so uh we just did kind of a recollect a recreation of that cold open and

uh you guys never saw it so that's kind of interesting for this episode i think we again ran short on time so that's why i got cut second nope's note when leslie is listing former town slogans we get the first mention of zorp who we will later learn is zorp the surveyor um this was the cult that was in ponny and he was a 28 foot tall lizard god. A cult called the Reasonblists took over Pawnee in the 70s. That's referred to later. But we never did an episode about that, did we? I think they just keep getting mentioned over and over again. And so this is just the beginning.

I would have loved to work with that big lizard. Yeah, we spend millions of dollars on CGI and then cut that also. It was a cold open. No, this is also the first appearance of the character of Oren. He's introduced, but only by name. We see him for the first time, one of April's friends, in episode 9 of season 3. One of my favorite characters. Yeah, an

amazing character. And of course, this episode was released in the heat of the Twilight movie craze. It came out 6 months after the release of the Twilight Saga Eclipse and 9 months before Twilight Saga Breaking Down. Breaking Dawn? Breaking Down? Breaking Down was release of the twilight saga eclipse and nine months before twilight saga breaking down breaking dawn breaking down breaking down breaking down was uh what uh robert pattinson and kirsten's relationship did after this twilight saga finished yeah it was an international god

remember we were all just on tenterhooks yeah those young kids were going to be able to make it work it wasn't their thing we're like didn't trump weigh in on that it wasn't he like you know what you should dump her robert this is like years before he was president yeah trump trump felt it was worthy of him giving dating advice to robert pattinson an endless tweet thread and i do think that trump's tweet was very similar to retta's talking head yes that's true in this episode yeah we're gonna get to that that's like one of my favorite parts of the episode. So funny. Yeah.

And this is a little behind the scenes info. This was the third episode of the year, but it was shot sixth out of the first six episodes of this season. So these first six episodes were shot actually at the end of season two because Amy Poehler got pregnant. And this is kind of an interesting note.

The reason this one was shot last was because this story had a huge amount of props to place in front of amy to cover her pregnancy most notably the time capsule itself is that why the time capsule is so big yeah it's so we can cover her pregnant belly like i i totally forgot that the time capsule is huge watching i watched this this show before we came in today, and it is hilarious how much crap is placed in front of Amy to hide the belly. Yes. Hopefully, if you were watching it after this episode, then take note of that. But if you've already seen it, then I guess just watch it again and take note.

But it's amazing. All right. So synopsis of the first part of this episode leslie's organizing a pawnee time capsule meant to be open 50 years in the future and filled with items that encapsulate the spirit of the town a citizen named kelly larson played by will forte comes to leslie's office and makes a passionate plea for the twilight books to be included when leslie refuses saying the books have no connection to pawnee kelly handcuffs himself to a pipe in her office hoping she'll reconsider having brought food water and a pillow kelly settles in for the long haul

okay here's my here's my question and i hate watching shows with people like i'm about to become so he brings a pillow brings food brings sleepy time tea all of these things for the long haul where does he go to the bathroom never mentioned never discussed i think he holds it until the workday is done and then runs to the bathroom and comes back or he brought a pot you know maybe he brought some like shark tank invention that disposes of your waste now i'm going to be a bad network executive but how's the audience going to know that don't you think there should be, somebody should have a piece of dialogue explaining it? Oh, man.

Because I just think it's going to really bump people. I want to know why. I want to know why. Like, can you explain? That's the best network note, which is like, just give me more information, more information, more information. I forget who's, I think it was Chris McQuarrie

who wrote Usual Suspects and directed all these Mission Impossible movies. He sometimes gives writing advice. He's's like information is the death of emotion so do as much as you can to get the information across as quickly as succinctly as efficiently as possible and then do scenes do some scenes have some drama have some conflict have some jokes if it's a comedy but man just people explaining information is death so we didn't do that we didn't talk about where he's going to the bathroom. We just showed up.

It was really fun to work with Will. I don't know if you knew Will before this shoot. I certainly knew him socially before this, so it was really fun to have him on the show. I know Mike was friends with him, and of course, Amy from SNL. But yeah, what a fun guest star in this episode. You know, the part of having your story is siloed off because Chris's story is completely separate to the episode's true B story is that I did not get to work with the great Will Forte.

And it's great for scheduling because you don't have to work every day because you're doing your own story. But when guys like Will came in, I was like, I want to work with Will Forte. Yeah. You're like i'm not in the story with will like you know that that happens so but it is such an arbitrary thing like i think the audience doesn't necessarily know that but it's all kind of split up into you know and if it's rob you know having his own story we tend to shoot him out in you know the two days that he needs to shoot that and then will's shooting the other day so they just never

intersect but i just remember distinctly before this episode you know we were talking about mcgruber which had come out pretty recently and and you know people didn't know this at the time because you know it ended up being this minor not minor classic classic classic i think yes but you know we loved the movie and we so you know i went down to talk to will we're like man mcgruber is so funny like it just we can't like it's an amazing movie and just like, yeah, I wish more people had seen it so we could make more of them. But what he didn't realize is it had legs. And years later, he was able to make a show,

a MacGruber show for Peacock, which Parks is also on now. So it all tied together in the end. It's a great, I mean, you know, as I go back and I look at all these shows and we do this together, Alan, the thing that just always blows me away is our bench of supporting actors of guest stars i don't know any other comedy that had this level consistently of just killers yeah it's it's it's massive it's massive massive massive and and yeah i i've been uh i've been working on this movie very,

or helping with the movie very briefly with Bill Murray. And I was like, where did I meet him first? Like he was on Parks. It's like, there's so many people. It's like, they're just on Parks. Like, you know, it's just, it's outstanding. You know, and I don't know, it really is, I don't know, it's a testament to the show

and testament to the environment that Mike and Greg created. There's an interesting thing where this episode starts with a title card that says Wednesday. And it's like, it's not really necessary. The story behind that is the episode originally started with a flash forward. Like it started with like a bunch of people arguing, like time capsule stuff. You didn't know what's going on. Then you flashed back. But that was scrapped in editing so that was the the episode was scripted as like you know some movies do this like hangover or reservoir dogs or american beauty

you start something crazy's happening they wake up and there's like a tiger and mike tyson and whatever and then you flash back so that was kind of the intent in the writing of this episode uh and then uh i guess it was abandoned i guess at some point they're like, you know, I don't think we need to do this. It made me laugh. It's such a hackneyed, dramatic trope to do the smash to black with Wednesday on it. It made me laugh out loud. Yes. Because it's so self-serious.

It's so good. It ended up working in like a sort of, yeah, ironic way, which is really… Very important things we're dealing with. Yes. And then, oh, let's talk about the Donna talking head really quickly because we love the idea that she loved Twilight and it kind of unlocks something about her character moving forward. But she just, you know, she just, I mean, I will literally list the talking head. Now, I love any book about vampires, werewolves, monsters, zombies, sorcerers, beasties, or time time traveling romances and if i had one hour alone with robert pattinson he would forget all about that skinny legs mcgee i'll tell you that much skinny legs skinny legs mcgee and and like

shout out to robert pattinson too this was 11 years ago he's batman now he did good he graduated from twilight and she's doing well and she's probably gonna get nominated for an oscar i mean look that couple i, good for them. And, you know, he does interesting work. I love Good Time. You ever seen the Safdie brothers, Good Time? Watch that movie. He's great in it.

Makes great choices. So yeah, kudos to that couple from Twilight. I like the, right around that area, this area of the episode where, I forget who asks Aziz's character, who asks Tom, who knows about heartbreak? And Tom says, Kenneth Babyface Edmonds? Yeah, that's an amazing joke. That's an amazing joke.

He knows Babyface's real legal name on his driver's license. Kenneth Babyface Edmonds? Of all of the people. It foreshadows his his love of genuine which comes in later too just like old school r&b in the writer's room there must there's the setup of well who knows something about heartbreak and then are there multiple pitches and you settle on kenneth baby's face edmunds i i would guess there's probably probably people saying uh montel jordan uh casey and jojo but like like just listing just over and right is like you know I would guess there's probably people saying Montel Jordan, Casey and JoJo,

just listing over and over, right? It's like Mario, just like a list of R&B artists. Bone Thunks and Harmony, but then you get to eventually Kenneth Babyface Edmonds, which is funny because you're using his pseudonym in the middle. Do you know why he got the nickname Babyface? No, tell me. First of all, let me ask Do you know Babyface? I do

That was the answer I was hoping for and expecting Yes, I do He is the face of a newborn baby Now, did he himself tell you this? Or was this a friend of Babyface's that told you this? A co-worker? This might have been Because I'm nothing if not one of the

Olympic gold medalists in name dropping It might have been, because I'm nothing if not one of the Olympic gold medalists in name dropping, it might have been David Foster, his longtime music producer. David Foster. I mean, one successful producer telling you stories about another. You know, that's the Rob Lowe story there. There you go. Hey, come for the Parks and Rec trivia. Stay for the Kenneth Babyface Legends trivia.

Parks and Rec election. Put that in an ad. All right. page evidence trivia parks of recollection put that in an ad all right all right moving on with the episode andy still pines for april who's now dating the handsome eduardo okay by the way can i just just stop right there please please please so in the in the cold edward eduardo's in the cold open and i clearly need to have the pixels adjusted on my monitor because i was watching going wait a minute i don't think i was in this cold open because in the background i was like is that me because he's got bone structure going for miles eduardo eduardo's he's kind of bringing it.

He's really handsome. Eduardo is in the Venezuelan episode, Sister City, from earlier in season two, the last season. And I think, God, what a wild idea to bring him back. I mean, that is, I think we were just searching for someone for April to date to make Andy jealous. And we just remembered that actor from Sister City. we brought him in but yeah that is a pretty extraordinary moving on the synopsis Chris suggests and he tapped into the aspects of his personality April was attracted to in the first place which Andy sides are that he is nice and that he's in a band this is one of those so I

remember shooting the scene I'm writing on a whiteboard yes I'm writing I remember this too and I and I remember shooting the scene, I'm writing on a whiteboard. Yes. I'm writing. I remember this too. And I remember, because this is still early in my tenure on the show, where I was, you know, finding the character and we were all finding, you know, certain things work better than others. And, you know, what well can you go to and how often can you go to it? And frankly, how deep in the well can you go and and i can so vividly remember being super enthusiastic about everything andy said his traits were i think he said i'm nice i'm like nice yes and i thought that's really broad that's like super big and it worked and people liked it and it was one of the first times i realized playing Chris that there's truly not ever

going to be any such thing as too broad, too enthusiastic, or too happy. Physically impossible to do as Chris Traeger. I felt like Chris was really funny in this episode and kudos to you, Rob, for finding that gear. Because I remember, and by the way, we had gotten to film a few episodes before this, right? We did the five before. So you had started finding it. I remember being on set because I remember you writing that word. So since Mike wrote this episode, he probably wasn't on set the whole time.

So I was probably on set for some of it. And yeah, I remember you writing that thing down. And I remember also the scenes with you and April are really funny because, you know, it's just a great dynamic, right? Because she's always kind of a depressive character and you're just relentlessly positive. And yeah, it just was working. And, you know, the Chris and Andy dynamic also always great. I mean, speaking of Eduardo, when Andy says, Eduardo's like the handsomest guy I've ever seen and present company excluded. And, you know, you're like, thank you. And Andy's like, oh, I was talking about myself, but just like, it's just so funny. And my reaction to by the way is not and this is a like this is like another key to the character my reaction was not to be taken aback or to be like oh i can't believe

you said my reaction was to be like super enthusiastic that he thought he was good looking yes even and don't don't be down about that it's like oh even better i i even better thought of that yeah yeah i excuse me for not assuming that but this is kind of you know start of a chris and andy friendship in some ways it's very cute and and there's that talking head oh where you know where you're you know you're talking about the toe shoes the little toe shoes and he's in the background pretending to be a monkey and it became like a popular gif, became a meme in some ways. I don't know if you've seen that. Super big meme of him running around like an ape. I remember

when I saw Pratt run like an ape, it's one of the funniest. He's such a great physical comedian, but him running as an ape is up there with all, he's in so much physical comedy in the show, but for me, him running as an ape deep in focus in that talking head is is classic the other thing is it's funny it's a lot of chris trager finding the character stuff in this episode but we've talked earlier about how tom cruise was a little bit of a um inspiration for chris and then we kind of moved away from it. But in this, I'm doing some super serious Tom Cruise stuff where I go, I go, why do I want to help Andy?

Because he is a good person and good people like he's, I'm like super focused, super serious. And I'm, it's like, I'm saying the most in it's super intense and like weirdly, like angsty. And, and, and that was, that was my, that was a Tom Cruise talking head. Yeah. And I enjoyed that version of the character, you know, I know it like it sort of drifted away a little bit, but I, I always enjoyed that version maybe because I remember kind of being there for the conception of all that.

But yeah, I mean, this is, this is full speech, full steam ahead into the Andy and April love story. And, you know, it might have been again because the episodes were shot out of order it may you may have thought that we knew where that was headed which is again not to spoil the show well maybe we shouldn't spoil this actually because people might be watching i don't know anyway i think we're good either way we're good either way so so skip a minute ahead if you have to watch the show for some reason spoiler alert andy and april get get married almost immediately after this.

And the question is like, did you guys know that would happen? And the answer was no, because we finished shooting these first six. Then we took a break before, you know, in between seasons. Then we did a writer's retreat and we came up the idea that they would get married almost immediately after that. So we didn't know. They get married three episodes from now. And we just had no idea. So kind of fun.

What is this note that I have here in our notes about a Mike Schur comedy equation? Emotion plus tough decision equals comedy. Is that a classic Mike Schur-ism? In the notes, it says divided by comedy, which is like i don't know uh it was great episode i i i'm not sure on that one i i maybe that's a greg levite producer greg kind of uh got that in there certainly certainly those are like storytelling hallmarks right it's see i love i love knowing what great writers like you guys and showrunners, everybody has their sort of rules, their sort of theories, and I can never get enough of that. I love knowing what people's philosophies are,

whether it's drama or comedy or anything else. Yeah. I mean, there's certainly like really, you know, lampposts that kind of guide you through the forest of the story, right? And there's Greg Dan's classic, you know, he has four, it's like motivation, stakes, turns, and escalation. You know, I might've talked about those at some point. And, you know, for me also, like a biggest, this is so basic, but like at the beginning of a story, whether it's a show or a movie or whatever, what is that character's want and need? What is that character's want and need? And then does the story put them in literally the most uncomfortable position possible for that character or their worst nightmare? And then they

come out the other side and how have they changed? What is the synthesis of who they were originally plus who they became over the course of the story? And then the end, they become that kind of combined synthesis of those two beings. And like that like it's it's easy to just say that but obviously the difficulty is how do you make that an entertaining story and how do you know obviously those are things to look for but yeah emotion plus tough decision divided by comedy i mean sure i mean and by the way decisions are just like the biggest part like let's have this main character be active active active making choices let's not have things happen to them with exceptions of course but you know hopefully they're making decisions, making choices, and those choices have

consequences. So that's a little 30 seconds of writing theory. You want to march through this synopsis a little bit more. Right before that, Leslie tries to get Kelly to leave her office, no avail, until she notices the name Liz Waverly in one of Kelly's Twilight books. Leslie realizes that kelly wants to put twilight into the time capsule to impress his 12 year old daughter and to make up for the fact that he and his ex-wife have divorced during the backstory leslie decides to include the book but ben points out the slippery slope this could create there's some of your emotion for you some empathy for uh will for all will forte there i know and he's the kind

of actor who can bring it yeah super super good super good and i noticed also watching this episode it's like as you said we're still a little bit early in the world of ben and chris and there's still moments where ben is like kind of mean you know later in the show he's so nice but in the beginning he's mean so like this is a transition he has a nice moment at the end and then there's still there's some moments in this one where he's kind of like not an asshole but he's just kind of strict he's like no we can't do that we can't do that and you i i forget that sometimes because you've seen the change in his character over the course of parks and rec but man season three early season three he's still a little bit of a hard ass yeah super dick which made me laugh he came

in as the killer and then and then he just became the lover then he just became a guy making calzones and fucking oh my god it's so good i like the um this also i like any um parks episode that has public forums yeah any public forum was just i just feel like it must have been so fun for you guys to write the public forums because you literally could have people you've never seen before, don't need to explain where they are, who they came from, no backstory, not necessary. And they just stand up and say whatever the funniest thing you guys could possibly think of. I love that. And we had some people come back. Yeah. Like, come back.

Like, it was literally, like, there's a guy, Chance a guy chance from who we named because all he does is chant like that was one of the one of the guys i actually got hey here's a text i got from mike shore like a week ago i don't know why he texted me this out of the blue out of the blue speaking of people in public forums he wrote it's it's nighttime it's like 8 p.m or something mike says i think it's possible that the greatest parks and Rec character ever was the woman that said, but isn't all food bad for you? I've eaten lasagna and muffins every day for 40 years and I feel terrible. And then another joke, excuse me, there's a sign in Ramsett Park that said,

don't drink the sprinkler water. So I made sun tea with it and now I have an infection. And then Mike says, her batting average is like 950. I wrote back, I love that woman. And then he says, she might be America's greatest living comic actress. So it's just... I love that Mike is doing a deep dive

on Parks and Rec at this point. I'm not joking. Later that night, he texted me again. She's also the one who asked for slugs to be removed from her yard in the episode about London. And when Leslie says she did it, the woman yells, I didn't want all of them gone. I wanted most of them gone. I mean, these are good shows. I just, it is funny. I mean, look, the guy, the man deserves it. He's made, you know, 400 episodes of television. But yeah, that character is funny.

It's very funny. Very good. Let's set up the town hall. Go for that. Yeah, let me go through this little section here. Andy decides to be nice to Eduardo, and the two bond over their love of the Dave Matthews band. April becomes frustrated because she only dated Eduardo to make Andy jealous and dumps Eduardo.

So Dave Matthews making a... Forget Twilight. We got Dave Matthews in here. We got everything. I find Dave Matthews very... I would think... Like... And I love... listen, I'm good for, I love Dave Matthews. Love Dave Matthews.

But I feel like Dave Matthews in the world of Parks and Rec would be a very divisive figure. Oh, man. That writer's room. I mean, look, between what's his, Harris and his fish obsession well that was no one no one wanted that like my office was next to harris whittles's office for a long time and i would hear fish every day for years well that's like they play that to torture people in don't i mean i think there are places to all fish fans out there but yeah but i think that's a very acquired taste as is i think dave matthews for certain people yes i think for me you know i was not

well i grew up listening to punk rock and and and uh it was kind of the opposite right the kids who listen to dave matthews uh it's a different crowd not not to say that i you know god bless but uh it in the writer's room i think it was mike was more of a neutral milk hotel fan than a dave matthews band fan that came into play later in the show but uh yeah it was uh but dave matthews yeah there was no one ironically on the show speaking of music this also has one of my favorite references where they're talking about books somebody's talking about what books should go in the uh in the time capsule and somebody says it should be my favorite book crazy from the heat the david lee roth story that's right i i makes me laugh i believe that was a guy i could be wrong i believe it might have been a katie dipple joke but it's

also funny that the this this citizen brought that book like not knowing like just had it with her like because like who knew that would come up he just she just had it on hand which is a lot of it at a certain point the show becomes a cartoon and it's okay you know it's like well this goes to my favorite thing is i look we've talked about this before the more cartoony the better i like it maybe it's because i'm just not as intelligent as other people are but i love like amy to me there are times when leslie nope literally feels to me like spBob SquarePants. Yeah. And what I think that's one of the secret sauces of the show is it has appeal to, you know, different types of comedy fans.

You know, it's got some subtler stuff. It's got a nice blend of a little bit of real emotion. It's got some great acting. You know, it's got great actors in it who can do dramatic acting. But it also it's fast and funny man it's really fast and funny and i think that's that's one of the secret ingredients so to to introduce this public meeting aspect uh to make things right leslie decides to hold a public forum so citizens can make suggestions for capsule items the meeting descends into chaos when the citizens begin to argue over including absurd and random objects that have nothing to do with the town leslie tries to compromise by making multiple time capsules but ultimately decides to stick to one capsule and include nothing in it except a video recording of the meeting itself saying it

represents pawnee because it shows a lot of people with a lot of opinions arguing passionately for what they believed in that's very mike sure it's't this like, this is like a precursor to the good place, Brooklyn, everything. It's like, this is, it's clever. And it's also, you know, glorifying in a good way, you know, the process, right? Glorifying people, figuring out a solution that defines common ground, right? Yeah. And also, we mentioned earlier Chance Frome, one of these, he's a gentleman with a mustache and a beard, and he asked for his cat, his cat Turnip's ashes to be included in the time capsule. And he tries to get the except for Turnip chant going. There's also a stealth Marsha Langman appearance, who is the head of the Society for Family Stability Foundation, the SFSF.

She's in a lot of episodes coming up because she's kind of represents kind of the conservative. Was this her first? I don't know if this is her first appearance. I think she might've done one other one, but then she has sort of big appearances in episodes later on down the road. Yeah, she's super funny. Oh, I mean, that character is a great character. And we have, okay, so there's a list of items. Donna is at a big board and the items include Pony High Trophy, Yearning's a list of items. Donna is at a big board, and the items include Ponty High Trophy, Yearning, a fragrance by Dennis Feinstein, Mayor Gunderson's dog leash.

Remember, we mentioned Bill Murray earlier, Mayor Gunderson. Blueprint for the airport, Sweetums candy, Crazy Ira's rubber chicken. And there's a note from producer Greg. This might be the first mention of Crazy Ira. He appears in real life in the next episode, but since the episodes episodes were shot out of order he might have been on the minds of the props department when they made this list so it's almost like call back that's a call forward wait

wait wait wait the props department was writing the props sometimes sometimes wow if there's uh a book or a thing that's printed out or a bunch of things written on a whiteboard or a bunch of post-it notes on a wall, sometimes that got written by the writer. Sometimes it got written by the writer's assistant. Sometimes it gets written by the script coordinator. Sometimes the props department freelances and we have approval over it. So that's kind of fun. this at at the 17 minute 52nd mark for those of you who are obsessed with time codes andy is playing his guitar and points at eduardo and that is andy's opening credit moment that's i mean i love i love those those are easter eggs to me like there's the the face that tom makes and

i think you're pointing right is it are you i remember you're wearing a tie it's like yes pointing yeah it's pointing. And then there's Ben, it's like shrugging his shoulders. Anyway, I could go on and on. I just like it. But, but that's also a thing, you know, we, we changed the open credits at a certain point to make them more exciting and happier. And so this, this Andy moment was probably added because I think he used to be shown

like with broken legs at some point. But yeah, so yeah, it's, it's it's it was a new it was a turning of a new leaf for parks and rec and that was andy's moment um there's also just a kind of a a sadder easter egg one guy says uh when they uncover this time capsule who knows what's going on people might be wiped out by disease or the flu it's almost a dark covid foreshadowing yes kind of horrifying watching that i'm so tired of people talking about the Simpsons predicting the future. What about us? Yeah, it was in there.

I was like, oh, my God, this is dark, man. I don't want to think about that. Yeah. And they also, you know, in that sort of Mike Shore flourish at the end where they put in a recording, a video recording of the town hall itself. I noticed that it looked to be a DVD. So I hope they still have DVD players in 40 years. Not a lot of DVDs happening now even. So I'm not sure what will happen in another 40 years.

I was also shocked that we're going to put it in for the future 50 years. Half the people would still be alive. Yeah, it's not that long. What's the point of that? Why 50? Why didn't you do 100 years or 200 years? I don't know. I think it's kind of this thing.

So did you yourself ever do this? I feel like I did a time capsule thing when I was in third grade or something. And what's kind of cool about that, in defense of whatever decision we made at the time, I think there's an idea that you uncover it when you yourself are 60 years old or something. And that is kind of interesting. Or if you're 30, you might get it uncovered when you're 80. something. And that is kind of interesting. Or, you know, if you're 30,

you might get it uncovered when you're 80. I mean, that's kind of interesting. See, I feel like it's so much more interesting to be doing a time capsule that you know is going to be opened by the aliens that have come to take over the Earth. Yes. Yeah. I'm just saying.

I mean, 500 years would also be interesting. It's like, will they be able to read the interesting it's like it's like will will they able will they be able to read the english on it it's like will people look different but no i feel you or that i always like that this is a total tangent but i was like you know when they sent out they shot out that stuff into space and it's like have the aliens look at it like what is that stuff like that's crazy that's just i don't know i i like do some research on that that is actually an interesting thing that they sent out in a space it's like the golden record is what i guess it's called and i think it's like johnny b good on it and like the ed sullivan show or

something yeah that's a pretty big honor it's like hey this is we think human beings should see this hey i wrote a song so good that it was used as a representation of human culture. That's pretty good. Oh, cool. Like, I got nominated for a Grammy once, I guess. Or whatever. Yeah. Alright, let's see. Oh my god. I mean, should we go through this? Again, this is good trivia for people. I think it's great. What? I don't

understand it, but I think it's great. I'm talking about this. There was an unused cold open for the episode. there was also an unaired tag oh do you want should we do a little parks and recollection role play where do you want to play will forte or amy puller here i want to play i want to play will forte okay so this is the tag of the episode and what you know just to set it up okay people have seen the episode we know nothing got put into the time capsule except for the video recording of the town hall. Leslie ultimately didn't put Twilight in the time capsule. So now this is a series of talking heads back to back, some by Kelly, played by Will Forte, and some by Leslie, played by Emma Puller, played by me.

What Leslie doesn't know is, I just read the like Chris Traeger, I can't do that. That's not going to work at all. I do your best will. I do my best will. What Leslie doesn't know is that I secretly snuck over and when she wasn't looking, I put a copy of Twilight into the time capsule. I saw him do it and I took it out. I noticed that she saw me do it and took it out, but then later I went back and secretly snuck it back in. I saw that too and I took it out but then later i went back and secretly snuck it back in i saw that too and i took it out again she took it out again but then at the last second i took that one out too so that's the that was the that used to be the end of the episode but it's like i i guess it was i think we liked the idea of a super stacked talking head we're just like it just kept

cutting back and forth faster and faster between the two of them but uh it never aired so i think we shot it though anyway it's pretty good kind of fun kind of fun missing missing cold open missing tag um any final thoughts on this episode rob a really really strong one uh very funny very funny um one of my favorites i I actually remember some of them more than others, as I'm sure same with you. And there's a lot in this that I remember and feel like, oh yeah, it feels like we did that yesterday. And yet, we now know it was 11 years ago. writing on the whiteboard because I feel like this may be a false sense memory. I feel like I was in that room while you were writing nice and band. And I just remember being there. Isn't that so weird? It's so weird how memory works. Cause there's some scenes I just don't remember at all. And then some scenes I remember being there. The other thing I'll just point out is I get super self-conscious when I have to write on a chalkboard or a whiteboard. It's your handwriting. They see your handwriting.

Yes. I get very self-conscious about my handwriting. And yeah, I think I was just remembering, like, because again, you had only been on the show for a few episodes at that point. So I think, you know, again, we're still trying to get to know each other and gelling with the cast and all that stuff.

But I think the proof's in the pudding. You know, this run of episodes, the Harvest Festival arc, I think is a lot of people's favorite arc of the entire show. And this is kind of smack dab in the middle of it. So from essentially when you guys show up in master plan, you know,

episode, you know, in the late episode, episode two, all the way up to the Harvard festival episode, which is coming up. Um, yeah,

it's just great. It's, it's, it's really fun. This is vintage and all series have that all series have, you know, that run where they're just firing on all cylinders. And then eventually maybe you run out of story or a cast member leaves and

it's never quite the same, but whatever, whatever it is, but every series has their, their, their run where it's just happening and we're right in the middle of it with these episodes. Absolutely. Um, who do you think is our episode MVP? Most valuable Pawnean? Most valuable Pawnean. I'm going to give it up to Forte as, as Kelly, um, you know, fun to have him in the show. I, I've just been so happy for Will, everything he's gotten to do before and since this episode, you know, whether you talk about

Nebraska, you know, he did an Alexander Payne movie with Bruce Stern, you know, he did his show last man on earth. He just a guy, from what I understand it, he started on SNL as a writer and became a really versatile actor and a really unique performer and still an amazing writer and creator. So I'm happy to have him on the show, and it's fun that he's in the universe.

Yeah, I concur. He's in the Hall of Fame unanimously. Yeah. So there's a couple of continuity errors and some mistranslations and stuff in this episode, but honestly, the real oops moment... Mooment? Moo.

Yeah. But the real oops moment we're going to get to is in today's Town Howl. do you want to go to the town hall all right should we take a trip to the town howl oh it's a howl today i like when they're howls it's a howl you know i love a town howl where should we do it um i think we we do it inside the hole they bury the time capsule in well i was going to say we do it in the actual time capsule oh let's do it in the capsule can we put an echo effect on this to make it sound like we're in a metal cylinder. I love it. Shelty says yes. The wide echo effect.

My name is Annie Smith, and I was wondering, in episode three, in season three, they mention that Jerry's full name is Gerald, but later in the series, we hear that Jerry's name is Gary. I'm just wondering

if that was just a mistake or if there's a way that they explain that. Thanks so much. Love the show, guys. Thank you, Annie Smith, for... Love Annie Smith.

Rhymes to Granny Smith, the apple. Thank you, Annie Smith. That is literally a Chris Traeger line. Hey, there it goes. I love this. Easy way to remember your name,

Granny Smith. Just like the apple. I love Granny Smith. Healthy and delicious. Anyway, annie that's right uh uh really good question and uh i have two answers for you one is uh oops you caught us i think we did not plan this and i think i think this was just we thought it'd be funny that his name was Gerald, but the second more fun answer is in my head. Canon, uh,

Jerry's mother, uh, also made fun of him and called him Jerry and then called him Gerald at some point. But yeah, I think this was purely just a mistake because, uh, the Gary Joe comes later and later and later.

So, so I think we had just either chosen to forget about this or, or forgotten about it. And, uh, it was lost to the sands of time, but yeah, thank you for the question. Thanks it was lost to the sands of time. But yeah, thank you for the question.

Thanks for the howl. Yeah, Andy Smith. So yeah, hope you're enjoying your rewatch. We've been enjoying watching it with you. Thanks for listening, everybody. Subscribe where you get podcasts. Five-star review at Apple, please. Thanks to producer Greg, producer Schulte.

Goodbye from Pawnee. Goodbye from Pawnee. We will see you next week. Another great episode coming up Parks and Recollection is produced by Greg Levine and me Rob Schulte our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm the podcast is executive produced by Alan Yang for Alan Yang Productions, Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher. Gina Batista, Paula Davis, and Britt Kahn are our talent bookers.

The theme song is by Mouse Rat, a.k.a. Mark Rivers, with additional tracks composed by John Danek. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Parks and Recollection. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.