'Parks and Recreation' has boosted cast's careers
"Parks and Recreation" premiered on NBC on April 9, 2009. Can you remember this distant past? It was a time before emoji and Instagram, a time before Blue Ivy and the McConaissance. Taylor Swift was still a country star; Lorde was still a 12-year-old.
It was into this dark age that the relentless beam of sunshine that is city servant Leslie Knope first brightened our lives. After a not-quite-there debut season, "Parks" found its heartfelt, hilarious groove. Despite the show's dwindling ratings, it has hung on as a cult favorite, and the intervening years have been pretty incredible for just about everybody in Pawnee.
The entire cast has benefited from the "Parks" bump, but some have experienced more popularity growth than others. As the final season begins Tuesday, we've assigned a 1-10 rating to determine just how good has "Parks" been to this lovable crew and find out who got the biggest bump of all.
Amy Poehler
Pre-"Parks": Poehler was already beloved in comedyland for her winning performances on "Saturday Night Live" and as a founder of Upright Citizens Brigade. She was nominated for an Emmy in 2008 for her work on "SNL"; later that year, she famously played Hillary Clinton to Tina Fey's Sarah Palin. She also had a couple of notable movie roles, most memorably as Regina George's "not like a regular mom, a cool mom" in "Mean Girls."
Post-"Parks": A three-time co-hosting gig at the Golden Globes with Fey; a best-selling memoir/advice book, "Yes Please"; a self-esteem-boosting Web series, "Smart Girls at the Party"; an executive producer role on Comedy Central breakout delight "Broad City"; a nod on Time magazine's 2011 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World; a Golden Globe in 2014 for her portrayal of Leslie Knope; generally being one of the most widely adored people in entertainment.
"Parks" bump: A solid 6. She managed to improve on her stellar reputation while avoiding the fate of so many former "SNL" cast members: acting in endless mediocre movies (hello, "Baby Mama,") without ever finding the just-right outlet for her warmth and talent.
Nick Offerman
Pre-"Parks": Offerman was mostly a theater guy until "Parks" gave him his big television break. Before becoming the gruff, mustachioed, bacon-eating libertarian we all know and admire today, Offerman had only bit parts in such shows as "Gilmore Girls" and "The West Wing."
Post-"Parks": Offerman's Ron Swanson might just be the most GIF-able character, not just on "Parks," but on all of TV. He wrote a book, "Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living," that blurred the line between Offerman and his on-screen character. Basically, the odds that you'd heard of Swanson before "Parks" are slim to none; now, he's up there on the TV Mount Rushmore of Beloved Father Figures, right next to Coach Taylor.
"Parks" bump: 9. From zero name recognition to most quotable woodworker in the land!
Aziz Ansari
Pre-"Parks": Ansari was already years into his stand-up career by the time he got cast as wannabe-entrepreneur and master-abbreviator Tom Haverford. He co-wrote and co-starred on "Human Giant," an MTV cult favorite that aired for two seasons.
Post-"Parks": Ansari's stand-up career has been growing steadily since "Parks" made him (more of a) household name. His debut DVD, "Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening," came out in 2010; that same year, he took his "Dangerously Delicious" national tour to Carnegie Hall. Two more national tours followed: "Buried Alive" and "Aziz Ansari Live!," which sold out a two-night stint at Madison Square Garden. He's also so in with Jay Z and Kanye.
"Parks" bump: 6. Would his stand-up skills have gotten him here without the aid of "Parks"? We may never know.
Aubrey Plaza
Pre-"Parks": Plaza started out as an NBC page. She'd been performing at Upright Citizens Brigade for several years before landing her "Parks" role and had a few notable roles in such Web series as "The Jeannie Tate Show" and ESPN's "Mayne Street." She was in "Funny People" in 2009, too, as Seth Rogen's love interest.
Post-"Parks": Plaza hasn't really expanded beyond her deadpan, you-can't-tell-if-she's-kidding-or-not signature style, but her profile is still rising. She co-starred in 2012's quiet-but-sweet indie flick "Safety Not Guaranteed." In 2013, Plaza nabbed her biggest role yet as the star of the teen sex comedy "The To Do List"; last year, she played a back-from-the-dead ex-girlfriend in the romantic zombie comedy (zom-com?) "Life After Beth."But "About Alex," also in 2014, didn't click, and her voicing of Grumpy Cat in "Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever," shockingly, has not resulted in a tremendous amount of popular or critical acclaim.
"Parks" bump: 6. Yes, she's more famous than she was before "Parks." But ... not that much more famous. She seems almost in danger of pigeonholing herself as variations of April Ludgate.
Chris Pratt
Pre-"Parks": Before becoming endearing goofball Andy Dwyer, this community college dropout was sleeping in a van on a beach in Maui before getting discovered, moving to L.A. and landing his breakout role on "Everwood," a drama on the WB (now The CW) that aired for four seasons.
Post-"Parks": Your imaginary boyfriend is officially a movie star. After a string of impressive supporting roles - notably in "Zero Dark Thirty," "Moneyball" and "Her" - Pratt's career skyrocketed in 2014. "Guardians of the Galaxy" raked in almost $800 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the year. "The Lego Movie," featuring Pratt's voice, was also a blockbuster and a critical smash. He's starring in 2015's highly anticipated "Jurassic World." Pratt is now in that realm of guys who earn the fanboy GQ cover story treatment, host "Saturday Night Live" and get the first-runner-up slot on People's annual Sexiest Man Alive ranking.
"Parks" bump: Do you even have to ask? A perfect 10.
Retta
Pre-"Parks": The one-name-only star was working the stand-up circuit as far back as the late-'90s. She also sang opera, a skill she busts out every now and then on the late-night circuit.
Post-"Parks": Alongside her "Parks" notoriety, Retta has made a name for herself as one of the funniest, sharpest live-tweeters out there. She delivers on-point play-by-plays of all her favorite shows and sometimes even live-tweets awards ceremonies that she's attending. Her fandom is massive: She has 257,000 followers on Twitter. (Jezebel named her the best TV recapper on the Internet.) She's so well-known for her 140-character-a-pop witticisms that "Parks" added live-tweeting to her character Donna Meagle's repertoire and essentially built an entire plot around Donna live-tweeting "Death Canoe 4: Murder at Blood Lake."
"Parks" bump: 7. "Parks" is what got the word out about Retta, but a huge segment of her following cares just as much, if not more, about what she's tweeting than what she's up to in Pawnee.
Rashida Jones
Pre-"Parks": As the daughter of two celebrities (Peggy Lipton and Quincy Jones), Jones has always been famous by proxy, if not super-famous in her own right. She had a teeny part on "Freaks and Geeks," a bigger part on "Boston Public" and a main role for a few seasons on "The Office." She had a handful of movie credits and - fun fact! - sang backup vocals on the first two Maroon 5 albums. She wrote the graphic novel "Frenemy of the State," about a socialite who joins the CIA. (She sold the movie rights years ago and was slated to co-write the script, but it's still reportedly in development.) Oh, and she went to Harvard. Not too shabby.
Post-"Parks": It doesn't seem like "Parks" has done for Jones what it has done for many of her castmates, maybe because she was already a familiar name or maybe because Ann Perkins, beautiful land mermaid though she may be, is usually the straight woman to everybody else's crazy, especially her BFF, Leslie. Jones was a lawyer in "The Social Network" and co-wrote and co-starred in the unsuccessful "Jesse and Celeste Forever."
"Parks" bump: 5. It's not as if being on "Parks" hurt Jones's profile, but it doesn't look like it's given her some gigantic boost, either.
Jenny Slate
Pre-"Parks": Slate made the comedy rounds in the early to mid-2000s before joining the cast of "SNL" for what would be her only season, in fall 2009. She infamously swore on the air during her first episode and, it seems, never totally recovered in the eyes of the show.
Post-"Parks": 2010 brought us a tiny, wonderful gift: "Marcel the Shell With Shoes On," a stop-action animated short co-written and voiced by Slate, about this anthropomorphic shell and all the things he uses to just get by in his little shell life. It is exactly what it sounds like and is also too strange and sweet to describe properly. It went viral, and Slate made two follow-up installments. She also starred in the excellent film "Obvious Child" as an out-of-work comedian who gets an abortion after a one-night stand that becomes a more-nights-stand.
"Parks" bump: 8. Slate has been making more opportunities outside of "Parks" than she's had in the world of the show, but her recurring role as Tom's brief love interest and general slacker Mona Lisa Saperstein - just ask her brother; she's the wooooorst - is actually the best.
Rob Lowe
Pre-"Parks": He was just this ugly, undiscovered weirdo - no, obviously, he was a gorgeous, uber-famous movie star. He was the beautiful Sodapop in "The Outsiders," the beautiful Sam Seaborn on "The West Wing," the handsomest man on "Brothers & Sisters" and your run-of-the-mill '80s heartthrob in all those "St. Elmo's Fire"-era hits with the rest of the Brat Pack. And yes, Brat Pack is a ridiculous name, but there's nothing we can do about it now.
Post-"Parks": He played the plastic surgeon in "Behind the Candelabra," that 2013 HBO biopic about Liberace; you may recall how incredibly creepy Lowe made his face for the part. Since he took on the role of hypervigilant health fanatic Chris Traeger, he's made a couple of interesting made-for-TV choices, too, playing John F. Kennedy in "Killing Kennedy" on National Geographic, the prosecutor in a Lifetime movie about Casey Anthony and - the oddest pick of all - true-life murder suspect Drew Peterson in "Drew Peterson: Untouchable." In 2011, Lowe published his first memoir, the well-reviewed "Stories I Only Tell My Friends." His second, "Love Life," came out in April.
"Parks" bump: 6. A surprise left up the sleeve of someone about whom we probably thought we knew everything: He's, literally, hilarious! Let's just hope he stops with the bizarro TV movies about probable psycho killers.
Adam Scott
Pre-"Parks": Scott was best known for playing the lead on the gone-too-soon "Party Down," an absolutely perfect series about failing actors working as cater-waiters in L.A. Honestly, I can't explain why it was canceled, but just know that the world is a cruel, cold place. Way back when, he was a bully on "Boy Meets World" and appeared on "Party of Five," "Six Feet Under," "Tell Me You Love Me" and "Eastbound & Down."
Post-"Parks": Scott starred in "Friends With Kids," this sort-of-comedy, sort-of-drama, only sort-of-good movie, and "Bachelorette," which reunited him with "Party Down" love Lizzy Caplan. With Poehler, he starred in the poorly received "A.C.O.D."
"Parks" bump: 4. Playing Ben Wyatt, the dream boyfriend/husband of universally adored Leslie Knope, can only have meant good things for this guy. But he hasn't had much success cashing in on all that hard-earned goodwill.