Might Amy Poehler's Non-Spin-Off At Least Crossover with The Office?
Rashida Jones and Amy Poehler
This much we know: NBC's new and as-yet-untitled comedy starring Saturday Night Live alumna Amy Poehler as the chairwoman of the Department of Parks and Recreation in a small Indiana town is not a spin-off of The Office — even though that is what Office exec producer Greg Daniels originally was asked by the network to explore.
But since both comedies employ a "mockumentary"-style storytelling approach, and since their central figureheads share a certain sensibility (Poehler's Leslie Knope, like Michael Scott, has big dreams but horrible execution), might there one day be a crossover between these two casts?
"Actually, theoretically, we can't," Michael Schur, an exec producer on the new show, tells TVGuide.com, "because Rashida Jones is playing a different human being — unless [the new show's] Ann Logan and Karen Fillipelli are identical twins who don't know the other one exists."
Are the new show's bosses at all bummed that these worlds can never collide? "The network might be more disappointed than I am," Daniels tells us, adding, "I've never been a huge fan of those kinds of stunts."
Jones, whose Karen will pay The Office a visit in an episode airing after the Feb. 1 Super Bowl showcase, echoes Daniels' point of view, saying that "It's almost good in a way. You should feel like [this new show takes place] in a different world."
Poehler's new series premieres April 9.