The Only Parks & Rec Episode Ron Swanson Isn't In
In its 7-year run, Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) had become a staple of the mockumentary TV show, to such an extent that it would be impossible to believe he wasn’t present in all the episodes, and yet there was one in which he didn’t appear. The NBC sitcom was created by Greg Daniels, who adapted the similar mockumentary show The Office for US television, and Michael Shur, who later went on to create Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Parks and Rec was a success both for the critics and the audience alike, boasting a 93% critics score and an 89% audience one on Rotten Tomatoes, and it rapidly became a fan-favorite show of the genre.
Offerman’s Ron Swanson was as central to Parks and Rec as protagonist Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). A grumpy libertarian with a despise for anything government-related, he was head of the parks and recreation division and tried to work against the government by keeping things static. The contrast between him and optimist local government enthusiast Leslie, who always had new ideas to make things work better, created good comedic settings while simultaneously making Offerman and Poehler shine in their roles.
Related: Parks & Rec Had An Amazing Running Gag That Was Never Released
While Poehler’s Leslie Knope was never absent from an episode of NBC’s Parks and Recreation, Ron Swanson came close to that, being present in 125 of the sitcom’s 126 episodes. The only episode devoid of grumpy department head Ron Swanson was Parks and Recreation season 2, episode 3, “Beauty Pageant.” In it, Leslie was invited to be a judge at the Pawnee beauty pageant, where she encountered much opposition as she wanted at all costs to elect a winner with sturdy moral values, who was just as pretty as she was
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