10 Behind The Scenes Dramas That Ruined Great TV Shows
7. Parks And Recreation - Accommodating A Movie Star
Parks and Rec definitely handled this situation with grace, but the show's quality still took a tole. When loveable but lazy Andy Dwyer appeared in the season 6 premiere with the body of a Greek God, fans of the show all simultaneously raised an eyebrow. When he went on to explain the dramatic weight loss, that on the show happened over 1 month, with a line about how he stopped drinking beer, the fans dismissed the flimsy excuse with a collective eye roll.
The last straw came at the end of the episode when the English Lord Covington hired Andy to run his non-profit with him... in London. The storyline was completely out of left field, Andy Dwyer was not the smartest cookie, after all, so picturing him running anything was hard to do.
The truth behind this storyline helps you make sense of things, however. Behind the scenes, Chris Pratt had got himself the starring role in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. This seemed to have really caught the writers of Parks and Rec by surprise as they had to find a way to explain away the character's absence and a complete change in appearance, all while Pratt was already across the globe filming Guardians. You have to give the show credit, they up and moved their cast to London for the first two episodes just so they can feature Pratt.
However, the show seriously fell in quality during the first half of season 6 because of the lack of Pratt. And then, when he did come back, they never really referred to his character's huge accomplishment. His storyline never really took into consideration the changes something like that would have had on Andy's career and life.
At least he did come back to the show though...