Parks and Rec fans — and general fans of laughing while also being moved — have likely been finding a dearth of quality opportunities for both within NBC’s programming.However, the network seems to be looking to change that, as Deadline announced that they’ve committing to a new comedy series from Parks and Rec co-creator Mike Schur and co-executive producer Matt Hubbard, with Hubbard writing.
The still-untitled project is a single-camera comedy, whose main characters are a married, interracial couple (Andrew and Josie) “whose lives take a turn when they move close to Josie’s family in Missouri.” It’s hard not to wonder why Hubbard and Schur chose Missouri, for the obvious reason that the state became the epicenter/catalyst of wider discussions of race in America after the shooting of Michael Brown and the unrest that ensued. Hopefully, if the show did pick the state for the very reason that even its name alone is now evocative of an institutional imbalance, it’ll manage to use its humor to further a perspicacious and honest discussion of said tensions.
Deadline also notes that NBC likewise has a Tina Fey/Robert Carlock-produced comedy coming. It’s about a mother who gets an internship at the cable news network — where her daughter works. So if all goes well, it’ll be like Parks and Rec and 30 Rock are back on the same network — except not.