‘Everwood’s Chris Pratt Joins ‘Parks and Recreation’

Nice casting news here! Entertainment Weekly reports that NBC’s forthcoming highly anticipated mockumentary sitcom Parks and Recreation, brought to us by the Office folks, has added Everwood alum Chris Pratt to its cast.

For those who didn’t watch the excellent Treat Williams family drama, which ended prematurely back in 2006 when The WB and UPN merged to form The CW, Pratt played the initially not-so-bright character Bright, the son of a snooty small-town doctor. Bright was a huge attraction on the show because he was devilish, funny, and very down-to-earth.

Pratt’s latest gig will have him portraying an unemployed musician who somehow still manages to be lucky enough to have Rashida Jones as a girlfriend, or at least the character she plays.

The star of Parks and Recreation is Saturday Night Live veteran and Tina Fey co-conspirator Amy Poehler, of course. Also in the cast are Scrubs and Human Giant actor Aziz Ansari and Mayne Street actress Aubrey Plaza.

According to NBC’s description, Parks and Recreation is a documentary-style comedy “that looks at the exciting world of local government [following] Leslie Knope (Poehler), a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana. In an attempt to beautify her town — and advance her career — Leslie takes on what should be a fairly simple project: help local nurse Ann Logan (Jones) take on defensive bureaucrats, selfish neighbors, real estate developers, and single-issue fanatics — whose weapons are lawsuits, the jumble of city codes, and the very democratic process that Leslie loves so much.”

Come to think of it, that plotline couldn’t sound less funny and more dull, so let’s hope the actresses make it work like the people over at The Office do.

Find a quickie Super Bowl XLIII promo for the buzzworthy sitcom below and look for the series to hit a small screen near you on Thursday, May 9, at 8:30pm EST, right after a special 8pm showing of its predecessor The Office.