S04E02 - Ron and Tammys

Celebrate a very rare LEAP DAY with a very rare and awesome Pawnee Spotlight! Once again, Mark and Allen managed to snag a great person to interview, and what an interview it was! We were extremely lucky to have this opportunity to chat with Yvans in early January 2024. Nice, funny, talented, down-to-earth, a great conversationalist, and just a fascinating person overall. We had a blast talking with him, finding out a little more about him, and seeing what he thought of some of our "Parks and Rec" opinions, especially regarding the City Council. What a great interview ... another in a stream of wonderful guests we've had the privilege to invite on our show.

Join us as Mark and Allen discuss Parks, Grey's Anatomy, mental health and more with Yvans (aka Councilman Howser) who had great insights on all of these! This was an amazing Pawnee Spotlight from an amazing guest - what a treat! We hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we learn Craig sees therapist Dr. Richard Nygard, thereby adding him to the known list of Nygardians! Frustrated, but still looking for a way to defeat Gryzzl, Leslie is surprised when she receives a free gift box at her front door via a Gryzzl "SKYPAL" drone. Leslie and Ben find out later that Donna also received a free "Gryzzlbox", however Donna angrily explains her gifts are based on detail that could only have come from private text and phone conversations. When Leslie opens her box and sees the very personal-related artifacts in it, Ben deduces that Gryzzl must be data mining, which is not only an extreme invasion of privacy, but Ben made sure it was illegal via language he chose for the contract between Gryzzl and Pawnee. A public forum discussing the subject reveals that, for once, the town is 100% behind Leslie. Leslie also hopes to sway Ron, but he is harder to convince, maintaining that it's foolish for people to own and use devices that can be tracked in the first place. Donna sets up a private tour of Gryzzl for Leslie and Ben so that they can snoop around and maybe dig up some dirt, but when Leslie asks Gryzzl vice-president Roscoe about data mining, he openly and cheerfully admits to the practice, talking about how great it is for everyone. At this, Leslie challenges Roscoe to debate these questionable practices on TV, convinced that she will not only win, but humiliate Gryzzl as she presents her evidence. Meanwhile, sensing that Tom is trying to distract himself from Lucy visiting her boyfriend in Chicago, Andy presents him with an opportunity to become his agent and help him renegotiate a contract he was offered by station manager Hank Muntak. Not only is Andy not getting paid much, and tasked with lots of extra duties, the contract clearly says that Andy does NOT own the rights to the character "Johnny Karate". Tom agrees to help Andy with his contract, and the pair end up meeting with station manager Hank Muntak, who is a tough negotiator and offers only minor upgrades, which Tom is just not satisfied with. Finally, Craig asks April to deliver a welcome speech to the new potential Parks Department interns, seeing as she got HER start as a Parks intern. After some badgering by Craig, April reluctantly agrees, but is actually hell bent on making sure none of the candidates are successful, believing that her current "aimlessness in life" all started when she was a Parks intern, and if these youngsters become Parks interns, they will essentially be throwing their lives away, just like she did. While talking to the potential interns, April latches on to a girl named Jen, who is VERY much like she was when she first started (i.e. snarky, morbid, unmotivated, no charisma, no passion for the work ahead, etc). Focusing her energy on Jen, April tells her to not go through with the internship. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... Will Roscoe agree to debate Leslie on live TV, and if so, what venue will they use? Can Tom get a better contract for Andy? Does Jen end up quitting the intern program? Is Gryzzl breaking the law, or did Ben miss something in Gryzzl's contract with the city of Pawnee? Does Andy end up owning the rights to the character "Johnny Karate"? Can anyone set April straight regarding how she started and what she's accomplished? Does Ron remain neutral, or does something happen that changes Ron's mind about Gryzzl? What is Tom's secret negotiating weapon? What can April do to make amends to Craig? Loyal viewers, the series may be ending, but things are really heating up! Can Leslie conquer the flying robots? Stay tuned to find out! Many thanks to our incredible sponsor, "The Perdples Court".

This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we learn Craig is now head of the Parks department! Leslie and Ron have been trapped together by the gang in their old stomping grounds, the Parks Department. The gang refuses to let them out until [a] they work out their differences, or [b] 8:00 am the next morning is here. Neither wants to be alone with the other for 10 hours, but are unable to escape. Leslie proposes they simply wait a few minutes, turn on the baby monitor Ben left for them, LIE to him that they made up, and wait for Ben to come release them.  Unfortunately, the two cannot agree on what their fake apology should sound like, and Leslie ends up smashing the baby monitor on the ground, destroying their only means of an early exit. Ron chooses to sit in silence while Leslie pesters him to get him to talk. He eventually can't take any more of Leslie's nonsense, and agrees to speak with her for three minutes. Leslie uses a whiteboard to draw a timeline including a number of key events that may have contributed to the demise of her friendship with Ron, culminating in the infamous "Morningstar" incident. It is revealed that Morningstar was a luxury apartment complex built by Ron's company, positioned adjacent to Leslie's park, Pawnee Commons. Leslie was furious with Ron for not telling her in advance about the plans, especially since it included the removal of many surrounding houses, including Ann's old house. Ron tells Leslie, "that's not the whole story" ... but then Leslie's three minutes is up, Ron goes into his old office, closes the door. As a result of Ron's unwillingness to converse, Leslie begins quizzing him directly outside his office. Ron eventually has enough and commits to using excessive measures to escape. He finds his old "partially defused" claymore mine that Leslie gave him 10 years ago, but is disappointed to discover that what he always thought was an actual landmine was merely a gimmick that Leslie bought as an anniversary gift for being Parks Director for five years—she had bought the empty shell online and filled it with balloons and confetti. A couple of hours go by, and as Leslie is searching through documents, she stumbles across something very interesting ... her original Parks Department job application, including a written description of Ron's very first impressions of her. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... What was Ron's REAL first impression of Leslie? Can Ron forgive Leslie for the fake claymore mine? Is there a way Leslie and Ron can escape before 8am? Why did Ron really leave the Parks Department? Will Leslie and Ron ever be friends again? Loyal podcast viewers, we triple-dog-dare you to not get emotional during this episode. You'd have to be a freakin robot to not cry at this one. (NOTE: No offensive, Robonstantine.) Many thanks to our amazing sponsor, the often imitated but never duplicated "JJ's Diner".

This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we learn that Jerry has fulfilled a life-long dream and become a Notary Public! Trying to come up with reasons the Newport land parcel should be turned into a park rather than a corporate campus, Leslie examines any historical ties that will help her case. Bill Haggerty from the Pawnee Historical Society tells Leslie that the 9th United States President, William Henry Harrison, had a hunting lodge on that land. Leslie hopes this could make it qualify for Historic Landmark status, but finds out the "hunting lodge" has been reduced to a few remaining boulders and bricks. Determined to make the most of it, Leslie stays positive, and next travels to the nearby William Henry Harrison museum in Vincennes, in an attempt to gather everything she can related to the former president. After hearing that Annabel Porter from Bloosh is on board with Gryzzl (see B-Story), Leslie fights fire with fire, and looks for a face for HER bid. Bill Haggerty tells her that William Henry Harrison has a distant nephew, Zach Harrison, living in the area. Gathering everything together, Leslie plans to have a press conference regarding these new William Henry Harrison-related finds. Meanwhile, When Gryzzl learns about Leslie's efforts to strengthen her case, they call a meeting with Ron, Tom, and Donna, suggesting that they get a local Pawnee celebrity as a minority owner. Ron is reluctant, but when he is made aware of Leslie's further progress, he realizes the potential need to counter, and grudgingly agrees to meet with Annabel Porter of Bloosh (last seen on 6.07 "Recall Vote") to be the celebrity face of Gryzzl's bid. They meet with Annabel at Bloosh company headquarters, and while Tom and Donna are enamored with her, Ron is repulsed by everything to do with Bloosh. However, upon hearing that Leslie is preparing a press conference (see A-Story), Ron accelerates his plans and gives Annabel the green light to prepare their own press conference on behalf of Gryzzl. Also meanwhile, Realizing the land both Leslie and Ron are bidding for lies within Pawnee city limits, Ben (acting as City Manager) has a highly-important Point of Sale document that requires official signatures from both Leslie and Ron. Knowing it will be awkward, due to Leslie and Ron feuding, Ben enlists the help of Jerry, who recently fulfilled a lifelong dream and became a Notary Public. This way Leslie and Ron don't have to be in the same room at the same time - Ben and Jerry can travel to one, and then travel to the other. While this sounds good on paper, things keep going wrong, and Ben has great difficulties getting the signatures he needs - which starts to drive him crazy. Finally, ever since the last episode, when April heard Joan's "Walk of Fame" speech, she has been trying to figure out what she really wants to do with her life. This continues in this episode as well, and we find April brainstorming with Andy about various possibilities. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... Can Leslie get Zach Harrison to help with her press conference? Does Annabel Porter agree to spearhead the Gryzzl press conference? Will Ben ever get his documents correctly and officially signed? Can April draw inspiration from the William Henry Harrison museum? Does Leslie manage to get the giant tin-and-paper ball all the way from the museum to the press conference? Will the Gryzzl press conference go well enough to secure their bid for the Newport Land Parcel? Can Jerry ever stop talking about all the cool things having to do with Notary Publics? Does Andy figure out how to help April? Does Ron try to do anything to ambush Leslie? Will Leslie's press conference succeed in getting the Newport Land Parcel preserved? Loyal podcast viewers, the old adage says "what goes up, must come down". Will that hold true for Season 7 here in the 3rd episode? Stay tuned to find out! Many thanks to our fantastic sponsor, "Pawnee Supersuites".

This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we learn that Councilman Jeremy Jamm and Ron's ex-wife Tammy 2 have actually been in a "real" relationship! With the Pawnee city council voting on re-zoning the Newport land for commercial use, Leslie wants them to vote "No", as this will eliminate Gryzzl from the land competition altogether. When she finds out the deciding vote is held by Councilman Jeremy Jamm, Leslie pays him a visit, only to find that [a] he's made himself look like Ron (somewhat), and [b] apparently he's now with Tammy, who completely controls him in all ways, including how he votes. Leslie tries to convince Tammy to side with her in order to torture Ron. This seems like a sure thing, but later when the council heard arguments, Jamm immediately declares his intention to side with Ron and Gryzzl ... a move orchestrated by Tammy to try and win back Ron. Leslie tries to break up Jamm and Tammy, but in the process realizes that Jamm is a broken, miserable shell of a man. Leslie puts her vote agenda on the back burner, instead wanting to help Jamm escape the clutches of Tammy ... even if that means teaming up with Ron to do it. Meanwhile, Ben and April attend a Pawnee "Walk of Fame" inductee ceremony to honor Joan Callamezzo. Despite being quite crazy in many, many ways, Joan delivers a speech which hits April hard, and makes her start thinking about her job, and what she finally wants to do with her life. April ends up confiding in Ben, and he tries to help her figure things out, including having her take an online vocational test, and dialoguing with her about what she might want to do. It then occurs to April that she *might* want to be a mortician ... Finally, Andy celebrates Tom's success with him, but finds out Tom isn't content just being a big-time mogul ... he wants to have someone in his life. As Tom and Andy discuss things (and drink), Andy sees a GryzzlText come through from Lucy, prompting him to drunkenly suggest he and Tom go to Chicago to meet up with Lucy! The pair sober up during the LONG cab ride there, get out, and as fate would have it, immediately bump into Lucy. Andy makes up a story as to why they are there, and they spend the day with Lucy. Tom realizes how much he misses Lucy, and wonders if she could be the one ... but considers how (or if) it could work between them with Lucy living in a different city. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... Will Leslie and Ron put aside their differences to help Jamm? What is the result of April's online vocational test? Is Lucy interested in Tom? Can Jamm escape the clutches of the dreaded Tammy 2? Can Ben convince April to not live under a bridge and ask people riddles before they cross? Will Tom ask Lucy to come back to Pawnee with him? How will Jamm vote regarding the Newport land re-zoning? Will April decide to become a mortician? Does Andy finally get to go to Ben & Jerry's? Loyal viewers, Season 7 started out with a bang - will the greatness continue, or will it fall flat? Stay tuned to find out! Many thanks to our fantastic sponsor, "Tam-Away".

This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we are first introduced to the "Johnny Karate Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show"! Continuing a few seconds after the Season 6 finale concludes ... we see Leslie and Ben exit the elevator and make their way to an assembly in Council Chambers, where lawyer Trevor Nelsson (on behalf of Jessica Wicks) announces the Newport Family Trust intends to sell a 25-square mile parcel of land. While Leslie wants the land for a new national park, tech company Gryzzl wants it for a new Pawnee campus. Furthermore, Gryzzl has hired Ron, who is now a private business owner running the "Very Good" building and development company. During the City Hall assembly, Leslie and Ron see each other, and it is clear they are not on good terms, and haven't been for some time. Leslie learns the land will likely sell for around $90M, and with only $2-4M available to her, realizes she can't go toe to toe with Gryzzl. Later that night, at the Pawnee Bicentennial Gala honoring Ben, Leslie confronts Ron about "stealing" Tom and Donna away from her (Tom is looking to build a new restaurant on the Gryzzl campus, while Regal Meagle Realty was hired by Ron to broker the deal), and when Ron brings up something called "Morningstar", Leslie flies into a rage. Meanwhile, in 2017 we see April and Andy living a stable, normal life together. In many ways this could be considered a good thing. However, the day of the Pawnee Bicentennial Gala, April looks around and has a bit of an epiphany ... she and Andy have gone from spontaneous and weird, to boring and organized. Andy assures her that's not true - they are still young, fun and crazy, and he promises they will prove it that night at the Pawnee Bicentennial Gala. When April and Andy arrive at the gala, they immediately start brainstorming various crazy things they can do, but appear to have some difficulty when their acquired maturity and sensibilities take some steam out of their actions. Finally, Andy comes up with the perfect solution that can't fail ... he's going to streak the stage. Finally, Ben is being honored at the Pawnee Bicentennial Gala, a black tie event taking place that night, for all of his work organizing festivities for the celebration of Pawnee's 200th year.  Tom, who has done extremely well with Tom's Bistro and is a successful business owner, is scheduled to introduce Ben at the gala.  Given Tom's track record, Ben is a little nervous about how Tom's introduction will go, despite Tom assuring him everything will be fine. That night, at the event, Tom gets onstage and begins speaking at the microphone, and at first everything seems to be going well ... but then we see Tom put away the cards with his planned speech, and starts using the stage time in front of Pawnee's rich and famous to promote himself. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... Why are Leslie and Ron fighting? Will Andy streak the stage as planned? Does Tom course-correct during his introduction speech? Can Leslie raise enough money to compete with Gryzzl? Does April feel better after the gala? Will the rest of the gala go well for Ben? Is there any other strategy Leslie can employ? What happens the following day that turns their lives around? Can Tom make amends with Ben for grabbing the spotlight for himself? What is "Morningstar"? Loyal podcast viewers, we're here ... the FINAL season of this great series! Will Season 7 be as amazing as the prior seasons? Stay tuned to find out! Many thanks to our fantastic sponsor, "???????".

As you might expect from the title, this week Mark and Allen are combing over the details of Season 6 in the way only they can do. There's a lot of stuff in this one, including interviews, some delightful banter, and a lot of fun. As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... What interviews are we talking about? Will our score analysis be interesting? How does Season 6 compare to past seasons? All this and MORE coming up right now! Stick around, true believers. C'mon. You know you wanna. Did we mention we have free pizza?

Join us for a  message from the man we all love (especially Mark), the mustachioed legend...Ron Swanson himself! We drug Ron out of the Swanson cabin (geo-location undisclosed) just in time for our Live from Pawnee exclusive to kick off your 2024 with panache! We hope you will take a few minutes to relax, listen, and take in some of the greatest advice ever given!

From Mark, Allen, and Ron and all of us at Live from Pawnee and the LFP Worldwide Headquarters, we wish all of you, our viewers, a very Happy and Safe New Year!

This week Mark and Allen complete their breakdown the Episode where we finally meet the Department of the Interior's resident "bad boy", Liam Bonneville!  Leslie is in San Francisco, scheduled to speak at the National Parks Conference about the Pawnee/Eagleton merger. At the conference, Leslie bumps into Grant Larson, who invites her to lunch and introduces her to a number of her idols, including Michelle Obama. Grant tells a starstruck Leslie he needs a final decision from her by tomorrow, and after all this, Leslie is heavily leaning towards taking the job. Later, Leslie gives her speech at the conference, describing the Pawnee/Eagleton merger completing in 6-12 months, but her timeline is ridiculed by the audience, with two department heads suggesting the merger will need 10 years of constant hands-on management, or else risk her precious town losing its cityhood and becoming "unincorporated territory". Needless to say, this shakes Leslie to her core, and despite meeting her idols earlier, and how perfect this job seems ... she is now considering not taking it.  Meanwhile, Tom's Bistro is set to open in 6 weeks, but when investor Mitch Savner mentions how great it would be for the restaurant to be ready in time for the Unity Concert, Tom jumps the gun and promises to have the place ready for a soft opening the next day, and be ready for officially opening at the end of the week. Tom desperately brings all hands on deck, recruiting April, Craig, Ron and Donna to help him get the restaurant serviceable. Things do not go well: Ron is unable to make 20 chairs in time, Craig is unable to do his job as sommelier due to sinus/allergy issues, and Jerry Gergich orders the menus with ... uh ... let's just say, the wrong background image. As the night goes on, Mitch becomes more and more concerned and upset with the way Tom is running things.  Also meanwhile, Ben and Andy are also in San Francisco to meet with tech company "Gryzzl", who is giving away free Wi-Fi to a few cities across the US. Ben meets with them to pitch the idea of Pawnee being one of the cities. Unfortunately, they are only focusing on big cities, so they turn Ben down. After some time to think, Ben is determined to not take no for an answer, and goes back with Andy a 2nd time.  This time, however, he sees a large group of Gryzzl employees - including the Gryzzl owners he spoke to in the first meeting - playing the board game HE invented.  That's right ... they are playing "The Cones of Dunshire"!  Finally, we witness the day we've all been waiting for ... the Unity Concert is here! April and Andy lead the final Unity Concert planning meeting, with a main goal of getting 2000 signatures in support of the Pawnee-Eagleton merger. Andy also tries one last time (unsuccessfully) to get Ron to play as Duke Silver during the concert. Later, we see the Unity Concert in full swing, with headline acts The Decemberists, Ginuwine, Letters to Cleo, Bobby Knight Ranger, and Land Ho bringing in huge crowds. Andy performs as Johnny Karate on the children's stage, and afterwards bumps into Burly. The two reminisce over Mouse Rat's break up and it brings back memories for Andy as he misses being a part of a band. On a similar note, Diane encourages Ron to get up on stage and have fun, but Ron has no intention of doing so.  As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... Will Leslie take the job? Will Tom's investor, Mitch Savner, back out of the deal? How did Gryzzl get their hands on the Cones of Dunshire? Can Andy find a way to deal with the fact that he misses being in a band? Will Leslie move away from Pawnee? Could there be another opportunity for Tom's Bistro to be redeemed? Can Ben leverage the Cones of Dunshire to his advantage? Does Ron become convinced to play as Duke Silver at some point? Can Leslie find a way to have it all? Does Tom find a way to turn things around? Will Pawnee get free WiFi? Will the gang manage to collect 2000 signatures in support of the Pawnee-Eagleton merger?  Loyal viewers, we MADE IT! We are at the END of Season 6! Can you even believe it?!? Will this 53 MINUTE extravaganza blow everything else out of the water? Tune in and find out! Many thanks to our sponsor Entertainment 720 and their award-hopeful film: "Identity Crisis: This is Mouse Rat."

This week Mark and Allen break down the Episode where we finally meet the Department of the Interior's resident "bad boy", Liam Bonneville!  Leslie is in San Francisco, scheduled to speak at the National Parks Conference about the Pawnee/Eagleton merger. At the conference, Leslie bumps into Grant Larson, who invites her to lunch and introduces her to a number of her idols, including Michelle Obama. Grant tells a starstruck Leslie he needs a final decision from her by tomorrow, and after all this, Leslie is heavily leaning towards taking the job. Later, Leslie gives her speech at the conference, describing the Pawnee/Eagleton merger completing in 6-12 months, but her timeline is ridiculed by the audience, with two department heads suggesting the merger will need 10 years of constant hands-on management, or else risk her precious town losing its cityhood and becoming "unincorporated territory". Needless to say, this shakes Leslie to her core, and despite meeting her idols earlier, and how perfect this job seems ... she is now considering not taking it.  Meanwhile, Tom's Bistro is set to open in 6 weeks, but when investor Mitch Savner mentions how great it would be for the restaurant to be ready in time for the Unity Concert, Tom jumps the gun and promises to have the place ready for a soft opening the next day, and be ready for officially opening at the end of the week. Tom desperately brings all hands on deck, recruiting April, Craig, Ron and Donna to help him get the restaurant serviceable. Things do not go well: Ron is unable to make 20 chairs in time, Craig is unable to do his job as sommelier due to sinus/allergy issues, and Jerry Gergich orders the menus with ... uh ... let's just say, the wrong background image. As the night goes on, Mitch becomes more and more concerned and upset with the way Tom is running things.  Also meanwhile, Ben and Andy are also in San Francisco to meet with tech company "Gryzzl", who is giving away free Wi-Fi to a few cities across the US. Ben meets with them to pitch the idea of Pawnee being one of the cities. Unfortunately, they are only focusing on big cities, so they turn Ben down. After some time to think, Ben is determined to not take no for an answer, and goes back with Andy a 2nd time.  This time, however, he sees a large group of Gryzzl employees - including the Gryzzl owners he spoke to in the first meeting - playing the board game HE invented.  That's right ... they are playing "The Cones of Dunshire"!  Finally, we witness the day we've all been waiting for ... the Unity Concert is here! April and Andy lead the final Unity Concert planning meeting, with a main goal of getting 2000 signatures in support of the Pawnee-Eagleton merger. Andy also tries one last time (unsuccessfully) to get Ron to play as Duke Silver during the concert. Later, we see the Unity Concert in full swing, with headline acts The Decemberists, Ginuwine, Letters to Cleo, Bobby Knight Ranger, and Land Ho bringing in huge crowds. Andy performs as Johnny Karate on the children's stage, and afterwards bumps into Burly. The two reminisce over Mouse Rat's break up and it brings back memories for Andy as he misses being a part of a band. On a similar note, Diane encourages Ron to get up on stage and have fun, but Ron has no intention of doing so.  As always, we tackle the tough questions, such as ... Will Leslie take the job? Will Tom's investor, Mitch Savner, back out of the deal? How did Gryzzl get their hands on the Cones of Dunshire? Can Andy find a way to deal with the fact that he misses being in a band? Will Leslie move away from Pawnee? Could there be another opportunity for Tom's Bistro to be redeemed? Can Ben leverage the Cones of Dunshire to his advantage? Does Ron become convinced to play as Duke Silver at some point? Can Leslie find a way to have it all? Does Tom find a way to turn things around? Will Pawnee get free WiFi? Will the gang manage to collect 2000 signatures in support of the Pawnee-Eagleton merger?  Loyal viewers, we MADE IT! We are at the END of Season 6! Can you even believe it?!? Will this 53 MINUTE extravaganza blow everything else out of the water? Tune in and find out! Many thanks to our incredible sponsor "Pawnee City Hall's 4th Floor".