Rashida Jones recalls Parks And Recreation cast constantly facing cancellation threats from NBC

According to Rashida Jones, who starred in the show from 2009 to 2015, Parks And Recreation was frequently on the brink of cancellation.

In a recent interview on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, which aired on Monday, July 8th, Jones disclosed that due to its lack of ratings success, the show was constantly on the verge of cancellation.

Jones starred alongside Amy Poehler, Adam Scott, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Rob Lowe, and Nick Offerman in the show. She disclosed that NBC initially canceled the show before reversing their decision.

Talking to O’Brien, Jones clarified: “[Parks and Recreation] is kind of iconic now—It’s like one of those great comedies of that time, which is so awesome…But we didn’t feel that way.”

She added: “Every single season, we were like, this is it. They’re not gonna want us back.”

“At one point we were cancelled and then the president of NBC got off the plane and changed his mind. It was like, ‘Eh, don’t cancel it yet, I guess.’ It was not really a thing at all.”

Regarding ratings, Jones noted, we never succeeded.”

She continued: “The whole time we were just holding on for dear life, hoping we got to do more…which is probably part of why it was so good—because there was no stardom. It wasn’t infiltrated by any outside feelings about us. People kind of liked us if they knew who we were.”

Looking back on the show's success today, Jones remarked, “I think it was five years ago, we went to the Dolby and we did a 10th anniversary thing where we all came out, the whole cast. The reception was so—I felt like the Beatles, it was so nuts.”

“People were screaming so loud [and] we were all crying, because we had never been in a room where anybody cared.”

Parks and Recreation ran for seven seasons between 2009 and 2015. The cast previously reunited in 2019 to mark the show’s tenth anniversary.