Parks & Rec: Ron Swanson Coffee Machine Gag Wasn’t Originally In “The Fight”

Parks & Recreation is full of memorable gags, among those the one in the opening scene of “The Fight”, which originally wasn’t part of the episode. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, Parks & Recreation debuted on NBC in 2009 and came to an end in 2015 after seven seasons. The series had a rough start, as season 1 failed to connect with the audience, but the writers found the right tone for the story and characters and subsequent seasons were better received.

Parks & Recreation followed the ups and downs in the lives of Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her friends and coworkers from the Parks Department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Over the course of seven seasons, the audience got to meet Leslie and company quite well, with some of them becoming fan-favorites, such as Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman). The group often found themselves in silly situations that made way for some truly memorable one-liners and gags, among those the one in the opening scene of “The Fight”, all thanks to Ron Swanson.

Parks & Recreation season 3 episode “The Fight” saw the group attending the launch of Tom Haverford’s (Aziz Ansari) “Snake Juice”, a drink that turned out to have dangerous amounts of alcohol, making everyone drunk very quickly. Once at the bar, Leslie and Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) got into a heated argument, marking their first fight. “The Fight” is considered the best episode of Parks & Recreation thanks to its good balance of comedy and drama, showing a new side of Leslie and Ann’s friendship, and for leaving a lot of memorable moments, beginning with the opening scene at the Parks Department.

In it, the group was standing around the coffee machine, which was broken. Ron then demanded to know who broke it, and when everyone started arguing and blaming each other, Ron told the camera that it was he who broke it because it burned his hand, so he punched it. He then decided to pretend he didn’t know as things in the office were starting to get a bit “chummy”, and a bit of action was needed. This became one of the most memorable scenes in Parks & Recreation, but it wasn’t always part of the episode. As it turns out, the series finale isn’t the only one that has a producer’s cut, and many other episodes do, among those “The Fight”. The producer’s cut of this episode included four minutes of additional material, including the opening scene about the coffee machine.

The producer’s cut of “The Fight” was made available on the official NBC website immediately after the first version aired, and it’s the one that can be found in streaming services around the world. Given the impact that the scene had on the audience, it’s hard to imagine “The Fight” without Ron creating conflict among his coworkers for his amusement, which was not only funny but it also helped the audience get to know Ron and his sense of humor a bit better.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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