'Parks and Recreation' star Amy Poehler Says The Sitcom Was Inspired By Barack Obama

[Brian Damage]

Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler has admitted that the show was inspired by the election of US President Barack Obama.

The actress told the Los Angeles Times that the NBC sitcom was designed to explore "the minutia and politics that go along with city hall".

"I started the show right after Obama was elected, when it was all, 'Yes we can!' and 'Let's do this!'" she explained. "There's certainly a lot of comedy to be had in the reality of how slow things [actually] move [in government], how little changes [and] how hard it is to change things. Like, even to get a park built in your town becomes your life's work."

Poehler also insisted that the show's characters are intended to be likeable, despite the criticism of local politics.

"At the end of the day, the show is just a workplace character comedy," she said. "You hopefully kind of like these characters. But the setting is a small fictional Indiana town, and creators Mike [Schur] and Greg [Daniels] and myself were interested in following characters who have a small amount of power."

The third season of Parks and Recreation begins on January 20 on NBC.

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