One of the many reasons why I love this show so much, and why YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING THIS SHOW

I don’t know if we’ve shied away from political satire. I think we still do political and social commentary and satire. It’s not the point of our show at all, but when the opportunity arises to do it, I think we do do it. And I think we enjoy doing it. I mean, I’m very proud of the episode “Sweetums” from season two, which was an entire network comedy show episode based on the absurdity of the corn lobbyists and the corn syrup lobbyists. Corn syrup is a terrible thing that makes kids get fat, and we managed to tell an entire story about companies that pretend to be creating healthy products that aren’t. So, for me, that’s political commentary disguised as a comedy story about an evil corporation. But it’s still commentary. 

I think that all of the media commentary that we do on the show is the same thing. It’s not the point of our show, and the point of our show is not to grind axes and try to educate people or anything like that. It’s to be funny. But because we’re telling a show about a town and about a government, when the opportunity arises to maybe make a point or two, or at least raise an issue for discussion, we always like to do it. A large point of “Harvest Festival” was to say, “If the media would just cool it and stick to reporting facts and informing people, instead of trying to be sensationalistic and grab ratings, then I think the world would be a better place.” 

The A.V. Club: Michael Schur walks us through Parks And Recreation’s third season (Part 2 of 4)