--- title: Parks and Recreation Finale Comes Amid Ratings Dropoff description: NBC's Parks and Recreation was suffering from a ratings drop that started long before Tuesday night's series finale. canonical: https://time.com/3719655/parks-recreation-nbc-ratings/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-24T14:27:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:26.513Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Why We Should Be Happy Parks and Recreation Got This Far At All og:description: The NBC show has long suffered from falling ratings og:url: https://time.com/3719655/parks-recreation-nbc-ratings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fed423962f88e2b/698780a40b72e3356a6ddd3a/parks-recreation-finale-nbc-ratings-viewers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: "Parks And Recreation" 100th Episode Celebration og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why We Should Be Happy Parks and Recreation Got This Far At All twitter:description: The NBC show has long suffered from falling ratings twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fed423962f88e2b/698780a40b72e3356a6ddd3a/parks-recreation-finale-nbc-ratings-viewers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why We Should Be Happy _Parks and Recreation_ Got This Far At All  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Feb 24, 2015 2:27 PM CUT  Amy Poehler speaks at the "Parks and Recreation" 100th episode celebration held at CBS Studios - Radford on Oct. 16, 2013 in Studio City, Calif. Amy Poehler speaks at the "Parks and Recreation" 100th episode celebration held at CBS Studios - Radford on Oct. 16, 2013 in Studio City, Calif.Michael Tran—FilmMagic  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Feb 24, 2015 2:27 PM CUT Tuesday night’s _Parks and Recreation_ series finale is bound to be bittersweet. While the episode is already emotionally supercharged (it pays tribute to producer [Harris Wittels, who died unexpectedly](http://time.com/3716106/parks-and-recreation-coproducer-harris-wittels-dead/ "undefined") last week) the show’s conclusion is also a goodbye to yet another primetime comedy that’s suffered from low ratings yet high acclaim. Due to its flagging ratings—viewers have dropped by almost one-half since season one—the NBC series’ final season had already been bumped from its lucrative Thursday night slot to Tuesday. It was also crammed into a 7-week period. As TIME’s Jim Poniewozik [wrote](http://time.com/3612697/parks-and-recreation-finale-nbc/# "undefined") in December: “It’s fortunate enough that we’re getting seven seasons of the show at all, that it wasn’t just abruptly cancelled, and that it can more or less end in the manner of its makers’ choosing.” Here’s a look at _Parks and_ _Recreation’s_ historical viewership, alongside other NBC primetime comedies to which we’ve bid farewell: The golden age of network TV comedy has arguably already ended, with critically-acclaimed network shows like _Seinfeld_ having once pulled in audiences greater than those of the Oscars. Some recent comedies, like CBS’s _The Big Bang Theory,_ have amassed increasingly large audiences. But that proves the opposite point: Shows that are less well-received by critics can still pull in big rating from a mass audience. ### Photos: Parks and Recreation Cameos  Joe Biden as himself NBC/Getty Images  Kristen Bell, right, as Ingrid de Forest NBC/Getty Images  Michelle Obama as herself NBC/Getty Images  Nick Kroll, right, as The Douche NBC/Getty Images  Paul Rudd as Bobby Newport NBC/Getty Images  Megan Mullally as Tammy 2 NBC/Getty Images  J.K. Simmons, right, as Mayor Stice NBC/Getty Images  Jason Mantzoukas, left, as Dennis Feinstein NBC/Getty Images  Mo Collins as Joan Callamezzo NBC/Getty Images  Ben Schwartz, left, as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein NBC/Getty Images  John McCain as himself NBC/Getty Images  Will Arnett, left, as Chris NBC/Getty Images  Heidi Klum, right, as Ulee Danssen NBC/Getty Images  June Diane Raphael, right, as Tynnyfer NBC/Getty Images  Billy Eichner as Craig NBC/Getty Images  Keegan-Michael Key, right, as Joe NBC/Getty Images  Ginuwine as himself NBC/Getty Images  Jenny Slate, left, as Mona-Lisa Saperstein NBC/Getty Images  Jon Hamm, left, as Ed NBC/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3719655/parks-recreation-nbc-ratings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3719655/parks-recreation-nbc-ratings/"},"headline":"Why We Should Be Happy Parks and Recreation Got This Far At All","datePublished":"2015-02-24T14:27:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:26.513Z","description":"The NBC show has long suffered from falling ratings","url":"https://time.com/3719655/parks-recreation-nbc-ratings/","keywords":["Television","NBC","parks and recreation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fed423962f88e2b/698780a40b72e3356a6ddd3a/parks-recreation-finale-nbc-ratings-viewers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fed423962f88e2b/698780a40b72e3356a6ddd3a/parks-recreation-finale-nbc-ratings-viewers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Parks And Recreation\" 100th Episode Celebration","caption":"\"Parks And Recreation\" 100th Episode Celebration","creditText":"Michael Tran—FilmMagic","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/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3719655/parks-recreation-nbc-ratings/","name":"Why We Should Be Happy Parks and Recreation Got This Far At All"}}]}] ```