Rashida Jones On Why ‘Parks And Rec’ Cast Was “Holding On For Dear Life”

Rashida Jones recalls her time on Parks and Recreation and reveals why the cast felt they were “holding on for dear life” throughout its run on NBC.

In a new interview, Jones opened up about the roller coaster of a ride starring in the sitcom as the ratings did not favor the show.

“Every single season, we were like, this is it. They’re not gonna want us back,” Jones said on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast. “At one point we were canceled and then the president of NBC got off the plane and changed his mind. It was like, ‘Eh, don’t cancel it yet, I guess.’ It was not really a thing at all.”

Parks and Recreation has recently gained popularity as viewers have discovered it via streaming services, saying that the show “is kind of iconic now” and that “it’s like one of those great comedies of that time, which is awesome.”

The comedy series was a mockumentary and starred Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a mid-level bureaucrat running the Parks Department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. The cast also included Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Paul Schneider, Rob Lowe, Him O’Heir, Retta, Billy Eichner, and many more.

Jones noted that the show “never succeeded” in the ratings, which she feels kept everyone grounded.

“The whole time, we were just holding on for dear life, hoping we got to do more,” she said. “Which is probably part of why it was so good—because there was no stardom. It wasn’t infiltrated by any outside feelings about us. People kind of liked us if they knew who we were.”

As new audiences discovered the show, Jones recalled the shift during a cast reunion.

“I think it was five years ago, we went to the Dolby, and we did a 10th-anniversary thing where we all came out the whole cast,” she said. “The reception was so—I felt like the Beatles, it was so nuts. People were screaming so loud [and] we were all crying because we had never been in a room where anybody cared.”

Parks and Recreation ran on NBC for seven seasons between April 2009 and February 2015.

Watch Jones on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend