♪ call one eight hundred, eight million >> do you know joe biden? he's on my celebrity sex list. >> trust me, you can do better than joe. >> no, i don't think i can! in the summer of 2008, the economy had collapsed. obama was running for president, and the government would be playing a much more active role in people's lives. >> parks and rec was actually called public service at one point. we liked the idea of a boring title like the office. >> we're just taking the template of the office, but the office takes place in one of three rooms in the same dreary building.