Amy Poehler
KNOPE CAN DO! On a thoroughly charming Parks and Recreation finale, eternal idealist Leslie Knope achieves her lifelong dream of being voted into office — and Amy Poehler captures every nail-biting emotion, from overwhelmed pride at casting a vote for herself to premature despair, an ultimately genuine joy and gratitude to all the friends who made this possible. Her opponent Bobby Newport isn't the only one who's relieved — and geez, show, Paul Rudd is such an adorable boob (the way he stares at a boom mike like it's a chew toy), can't he stick around as a mascot or something? Pawnee City Council may not be Washington, D.C. (where Ben appears to be heading, casting a long-distance pall over the celebration), and a 21-vote margin of victory isn't much of a mandate, but who cares when you have friends like a whisky-laden Ron Swanson, who tells Leslie when she's down that the team rallied to her cause because "that's what you do when you care about someone: You support 'em win, lose or draw." Awww.
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Amy Poehler, John Krasinski
NBC has renewed The Office, Parks and Recreation, Whitney and Up All Night, TVGuide.com has confirmed.
The Office will enter its ninth season. As of Thursday, NBC was working on a deal to sign John Krasinski, Ed Helms and Jenna Fischer to return. A contract has not yet been worked out for star/writer/executive producer B.J. Novak. The Office's Season 8 finale on Thursday drew 4.4 million viewers and a 2.2 in the adults 18-to-49 demographic — its lowest-rated season finale ever.
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The Big Bang Theory
One small gesture can be worth a thousand punch lines. This becomes clear in the last moments of The Big Bang Theory's funny and ultimately touching season finale (CBS, 8/7c), as the gang prepares to watch Howard Walowitz — or "Froot Loops," to his fellow astronauts (you'll learn why) — go into space. But not before hastily arranging an accelerated wedding for Howard and his beloved, Bernadette (Don't Call Her Ma), whose one condition is that ...
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Scott Bakula and Marcia Cross
Our top moments of the week:
12. Most Disturbing Use of Ear Muffs: Things get complicated quickly on Suburgatory when Eden — Noah's surrogate and George's lady friend — asks her baby doctor to say why having sex is good for the baby in front of Noah, George, Noah's wife Jill , George's daughter Tessa, and nosy neighbor Sheila. A fight breaks out between the overly protective Noah, George and Jill, at which point the doctor tells everyone to calm down because the baby is not reacting well to the tension. Cut to a sonogram of the fetus very clearly putting hands over his or her ears. The baby is not even born yet and needs a...
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Peyton List and John Slattery
I'll have what he's having. (Well, maybe not the divorce.)
Roger Sterling's exhilarating LSD trip on Sunday's Mad Men set the tone and raised the bar for another wacky week in the world of TV. The disorienting centerpiece of another masterful episode exploring the needs and dashed desires of its central characters, Mad Men's acid trip (played to the tune of The Beach Boys' "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times") was harrowing
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Tina Fey
TGS invaded Saturday Night Live's Studio 8H for 30 Rock's second cameo-filled live show on April 26, which found the cast reminiscing about some of the strangest (and thankfully fictitious) live TV to ever come out of NBC.
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Danny Pudi, Donald Glover
Welcome to May sweeps (albeit still in April) and, more important, the countdown to the end of the official broadcast season on May 23. Meaning an end, for now, to those pesky repeats and the start-and-stop scheduling of favorite shows. Reason enough to celebrate? Wait until you see what NBC has in store for you tonight (or at least for those choosy few who gravitate toward the network's better Thursday night comedies).
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Adam Pally
It's the end of the season for Happy Endings tonight (9:31/8:31c, ABC) and that makes us anything but happy. We're gonna miss this gang of Chicago pals who talk really fast, abbreviate like champs and use ancient Serbian memory-erasing techniques on one another. But before they go, we grabbed a few minutes with Adam Pally, whose Max is easily the greatest gay character on TV right now, to talk about the season finale, Madonna tunes and why his tattoo may strike a chord with a certain criminal element. Because when you have someone as hilarious as Pally, these are the things that must be addressed...
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Amy Poehler
As Super Tuesday drew to a close, the candidate on everyone's mind at Parks and Recreation's PaleyFest event was Pawnee City Council hopeful Leslie Knope.
There are only a few weeks left in the NBC comedy's fictional campaign, but the race could go either way. Two endings were shot for the season finale — one in which Mouse Rat performs "Catch Your Dream" and the other in which they sing "Screw Your Dream" (you get the idea). "For a long time, we didn't know what it was going to be," star and producer Amy Poehler told TVGuide.com at Tuesday's event, which featured a panel moderated by TV Guide Magazine's Michael Schneider.
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Saturday Night Live
Maya Rudolph returned to her old Saturday Night Live stomping grounds as host and got a little help from friends Amy Poehler and Justin Timberlake.
After a 14-month "hiatus," the latest installment of "Bronx Beat" reunited Rudolph and Poehler. Watch for a surprise appearance by frequent host — and devoted Jodi and Betty admirer — Timberlake...
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