--- description: The show comes to an end on Feb. 24. Its star answered questions from TIME readers right before the sitcom started title: Read What Amy Poehler Had to Say About the Debut of 'Parks and Rec' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45f6ac0e45872aed/69877f933c1639ccf2451cdd/poehler.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read What Amy Poehler Had to Say About the First Episode of _Parks and Rec_  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 24, 2015 4:00 PM CUT  Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and RecreationColleen Hayes—NBC  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Feb 24, 2015 4:00 PM CUT The gang from Pawnee, Ind., will say goodbye on Tuesday night, in _Parks and Recreation_‘s series finale. In the course of the show’s six seasons, star Amy Poehler has turned Leslie Knope into one of her best-known characters — and along the way she’s rounded out her résumé with movies and award-show hosting. But when the show debuted back in April of 2009, Poehler was still known primarily for her time on _Saturday Night Live_. So it’s no surprise that, given the opportunity to pose questions to Poehler on the occasion of _Parks and Rec_‘s premiere, TIME readers were more curious about the past — which celebrity was the most difficult to impersonate (Julia Roberts) and whether she thinks _SNL_ should have term limits (no) — than the future. In fact, the only thing Poehler had to say about her new venture was that fans of another one of the era’s top comedies would probably find it funny: --- > “” --- The lack of curiosity about the new show, however, did not dampen its success. By the end of 2009, _Parks and Rec_ had made it onto TIME critic James Poniewozik’s list of the best shows of the year. “Leslie fights doggedly for a pet project (turning an abandoned pit into a park), battling red tape, an evil library department and her own overenthusiasm. This sly but optimistic civic satire may be the first distinctive comedy of the Obama era,” he wrote. And it turned out that Poehler had been prescient in her earlier interview: the show that tied with _Parks_ for its spot on that top-ten list was, naturally, _The Office._ **_Read the rest of the interview here, in the TIME Vault:_** [10 Questions for Amy Poehler](http://time.com/vault/issue/2009-04-13/page/6 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3711840/amy-poehler-parks-and-recreation-2009/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3711840/amy-poehler-parks-and-recreation-2009/"},"headline":"Read What Amy Poehler Had to Say About the First Episode of Parks and Rec","datePublished":"2015-02-24T16:00:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:28:30.661Z","description":"The beloved show comes to an end on Feb. 24","url":"https://time.com/3711840/amy-poehler-parks-and-recreation-2009/","keywords":["Television","Amy Poehler","TV","parks and recreation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45f6ac0e45872aed/69877f933c1639ccf2451cdd/poehler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45f6ac0e45872aed/69877f933c1639ccf2451cdd/poehler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Parks and Recreation - Season 6","caption":"Parks and Recreation - Season 6","creditText":"Colleen Hayes—NBC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3711840/amy-poehler-parks-and-recreation-2009/","name":"Read What Amy Poehler Had to Say About the First Episode of Parks and Rec"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for Amy Poehler","description":"The SNL alum stars in the new TV comedy Parks and Recreation. 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