‘PARKS AND RECREATION’ TO BEGIN LANDMARK FAREWELL SEASON ON TUESDAY, JAN. 13 AT 8 P.M.

Celebrating With a Seven-Week Comedy Event, NBC’s Beloved Series Will Say Farewell With Back-to-Back Episodes Each Week Leading to an Emotional Hourlong Series Finale on Tuesday, Feb. 24 Following “The Voice”

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — Dec. 1, 2014 — In the first TV event of the new year, NBC is giving its landmark comedy “Parks and Recreation” a sendoff that will maximize the show’s cultural impact. The seventh and final season of this critically-acclaimed and beloved series will begin Tuesday, Jan. 13 with back-to-back episodes (8-9 p.m. ET/PT) and continue with back-to-back episodes each week until the hourlong series finale on Tuesday, Feb. 24 following “The Voice.”

The return of the series, in fact, will be scheduled to premiere in the afterglow of the Jan. 11 “72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards,” co-hosted by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.

“Mike Schur and Amy Poehler, along with their incredible producers, cast, and crew, have given us one of the great television comedies of all time, and we’re inordinately proud of ‘Parks and Recreation,’” said NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt. “In an effort to give it the send-off it deserves, we wanted to ‘eventize’ the final season to maximize the impact of these episodes, which really do take the show to a new level. The highly-anticipated one-hour finale will air behind ‘The Voice’ in order to lead the largest audience possible into what promises to be a very special hour of television.”

“Critics, viewers and all of us at NBC fell in love with this endearing, funny, heartfelt show and its authentic cast of characters,” added Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment. “After seven amazing seasons, saying goodbye to the folks of Pawnee will be bittersweet, so we want to give the show and its fans the most impactful final season possible.”

Starring Golden Globe winner Amy Poehler as a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Ind., “Parks and Recreation” has been Emmy Award nominated and is a winner of the Television Critics Assn. Award for best comedy, AFI Award, American Comedy Award and the highly prestigious Peabody Award.

The series also stars Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Jim O’Heir and Retta.

Last season, “Parks and Recreation” averaged a 1.6 rating, 5 share in adults 18-49 and 3.8 million viewers overall in “live plus seven day” averages from Nielsen Media Research. “Parks” was the #3 most upscale primetime series on the Big 4 in its concentration of adults 18-49 living in homes with $100K+ incomes with a 161 index (100 represents an average concentration of those homes). “Parks” was also the youngest show on ABC, CBS or NBC last season, with a median age for its audience of 41.7.

“Parks and Recreation” is a production of Deedle-Dee Productions, Fremulon, 3 Arts Entertainment and Universal Television.  Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, Howard Klein, David Miner, Morgan Sackett and Dean Holland serve as executive producers for the series.

Photo by Jordin Althaus/Courtesy of NBC