For the final season of 'Parks And Recreation', the show was set in the "future" - 2017. It's only a jump of two years, and I'm fairly certain we won't see very many changes here in the Trueniverse. But P&R contributed plenty of events that should be set in stone on the Toobworld timeline even if they don't happen in our world.
There have been shows in the past which were set in their own future which has since come and gone, and for the most part they have been integrated into the dimension of Earth Prime-Time. For example - 'Land Of The Giants'. The show was broadcast from 1968 until 1970, but the storyline began in 1984 when the sub-orbital flight of the Spindrift entered a dimensional rift that landed him on the giants' world of Brobdingnag. Nothing about that violates life as we view it in Toobworld, especially since most of it happens off-world. The existence of the Spindrift and its disappearance and that of its crew can be easily absorbed into a world where lunar expeditions have been happening since the 1950s.
Speaking of the Moon, another example is 'Space: 1999'. This was a show that would be a major Zonk to the dynamic of Toobworld, considering it's established in the first episode that the Moon was ripped out of its orbit and sent hurtling into space. Such a cataclysmic event meant that the Earth was severely damaged by the loss of its satellite's gravity. There is no way that could ever be incorporated into Toobworld. So I came up with a different splainin: when the nuclear fuel dumps exploded on the far side of the Moon, the explosion left Commander Koenig in a coma. Everything we saw in the show, including the existence of shape-changer Maya, was part of the dream Koenig had in his coma. (He may still be in that coma at this point.)
The Jupiter 2 still blasted off in 1997; anything else that happened on 'Lost In Space' after that took place in another part of the galaxy and had no effect on Toobworld.
Don't get me started on the futures established by 'Star Trek', 'Babylon 5', and ...... They are set in stone as well but it's not like we'll ever be around to confirm it one way or the other.
So now that we've got all of that out of the way, let's get working on how 'Parks And Recreation' has changed the future of Toobworld......
LIFE IN 2017
Shia LaBeouf has a line of wedding dresses which he designed. And he's also the designer of jewelry pieces.
Hey, this is a world in which Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin dealt with time travelers, and Franklin and Mark Twain actually traveled forward into the future. In fact, Twain even went into space. So this change in LaBeouf's career path is no big deal. It can easily be accepted for his televersion.
Elton John owns Chick-Fil-A.
The same situation applies in this case. In fact, despite the singer's high profile as a gay and as an advocate for gay issues, this would be under the radar in Toobworld. Who cares about the financial holdings of celebrities unless it involves making fur coats out of dead puppies......
The Cubs will have won the World Series.
The Cubs last won the Series in 1908. Hope schwings eternal as Wayne Campbell would say, and Baseball can be a magical world of miracles and wonder. But I'm not about to hold my breath over this happening. Still, Toobworld is not our world and when the Tele-Cubs win the Series either this year or next, it won't have any major impact on the world at large. Sorry to break it to you, those who live and die by the "Show", but Baseball is not the be-all and end-all.
The "Jason Bourne" franchise has been rebooted, but this time? Kevin James is the lead.
In Toobworld, Jason Bourne was a real person, as real as he was in the Cineverse and originally in BookWorld. So any mention of a movie about Jason Bourne would be biographical. However, calling it a reboot could mean that the movie producers were breaking free of the limitations of "reality" and planned to do a spoof of his life. There's no other way to justify the idea of Kevin James as Jason Bourne because I can't see him going through a massive reboot of his own physique in the same way that Chris Pratt did for "Guardians Of The Galaxy", can you?
Everybody seems to be using the Gryzzlepad as their tablet of choice.
If other shows don't have tablets with 3-D holographic screens by 2017, we can just say that Gryzzle was still beta-testing the product near their home-base only.
The latest fashion fad: diamonds embedded into the elbow area.
They could be doing this on other TV shows in 2017 as well. But only those characters whom we never see in short sleeves.....
The televersions of the following people are guaranteed to still be alive in 2017:
- Jimmy Carter (Not seen, but mentioned and in such a way as to presume he was still alive)
- Jon Ceda
- John McCain
- Barbara Boxer
- Cory Booker
- Madeline Albright
- Kirsten Gillibrand
- Orrin G. Hatch
If they die in real life, their appearance in 2017 cameos on this show will guarantee them some extra time on Earth Prime-Time. Additionally, Barbara Boxer was addressed as Senator and seen in what I assume was her office. However at some point after she filmed her cameo, Senator Boxer announced that this term would be her last in office. This can be easily splained away: she will always be addressed as "Senator Boxer" in retirement; it's a tradition. As for her office, perhaps retired Senator Boxer rented a new office in the nation's capital and had it decorated to resembler the office she used while in office.
The televersions of Vice President Biden and his wife Jill get a guarantee of at least ten more years of life in Toobworld since Ben and Leslie were seen in their home in 2025. The assumption for the audience was that Biden was now the President of the United States since Ben mentioned that Leslie always got a little excited when in their home. Why would she get excited over being in someone's home, even if it was Biden's unless it was something about the house itself. As in could they have been in the White House, the residence section? I can't say. I don't know where that particular scene was filmed. But who the President is by 2025 has to be set in stone to be the same as he or she is in the real world. If it's Biden, then fine. No Zonk to be disabled. But here's my splainin if needed (should I not be around then to address the situation): They were in the private residence of the former Vice President and if it looks like the interior of the White House then the Bidens had it decorated that way.
There will be only eight corporations in the future. One of these will be a merger of Verizon, Exxon, and Chipotle.
This will never happen in the real world, but I don't see anything about the idea that would have any real impact on Toobworld at large.
Ethel Beavers is still alive and will deliver a rather scandalous eulogy at the funeral for Mayor Gunderson.
Ms. Beavers is played by Helen Slayton-Hughes. She falls into the same category as the actors from 'Star Trek'. DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, and Leonard Nimoy have passed away, but their iconic characters are not yet even born. So their deaths have no impact on their characters, Gods forbid that Ms. Slayton-Hughes should die before then, but like the real life people mentioned above, it would have no impact on her character of Ethel Beavers.
With the final episode, there were time jumps all over the place as the cast took "One Last Ride" before splitting up to go their separate ways.
2022
The United States will run out of beef. No reason is given for this calamity, but I'm guessing it would be some kind of virus that wipes out the herds of cattle all across the country. Mad Cow Disease on an epic scale perhaps. Hopefully it is a short-term disaster so that if somebody is shown eating meat in 2023 and beyond on some other show, there won't be any Zonk involved. Perhaps in a move reminiscent of 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home', somebody went back in Time to bring forward enough herds of cattle from the past to replenish the need for beef. Sounds like a job for the Doctor and his TARDIS, which is bigger on the inside......
2023
Donna's husband mentioned that Middle Korea is a beautiful place.
In the coming eight years, it could be that there will be some kind of conflagration between North and South Korea that leads to war, considering the nutjob in charge of North Korea. But I think it would be only in Toobworld that a third country springs up to act as a buffer between the two. It also could be just a geographical turn of phrase that signifies an unofficial area of either or both of the two Koreas.
Tom Haverford will publish a best-seller: "Failure: A Success Story".
Lots of TV characters have published books over the years and there is no impact between those and the real world. And there's no reason why they should be acknowledged in Toobworld either.
A Space Haystack was being constructed around the Space Needle in Seattle.
This is a project that would have to be eliminated in order to maintain harmony in Toobworld. At some point after the year 2023, Seattle will be seen on TV in some show or another and there won't be a Space Haystack to be seen around the Space Needle. How to get rid of it? Sadly, terrorism wil be an option, but I'll go with wiser heads prevailing in the City Council and the funding for the project will be rescinded. What was already completed would be dismantled.
I have one other note from the finale but I don't think I even knew what it meant when I jotted it down: "Jack Dwyer Baby". If anyone has a splainin for this, let me know.
2025
As mentioned earlier, Leslie always gets excited when she visits the Bidens' "home" and the scene suggests that it's taking place in the White House. So without stating it, they seem to be claiming that by 2025, Biden would be the POTUS. I don't think so. But who knows? If by 2025, Biden is NOT the President, then a splainin will have to be provided to keep P&R in the system. As I stated earlier, I think that scene took place in the actual residence of Joe and Jill Biden and not in the White House.
2048
Mayor Garry Gergich dies at the age of 100.
God bless the luckiest man in Toobworld. Okay, so they spelled his name wrong on the tombstone ("Girgich"), but that could never diminish what he had in life - an immortal wife who never turned him into the Undead.
Here's the big puzzler - at the graveside service for Garry, a bodyguard leaned in to the elderly Leslie and whispered that it was time to go. Everything about the two bodyguards suggested Secret Service agents, so could it be that by 2048 Leslie Knope was the President of the United States? Only in the alternate Toobworld which also houses 'Mr. President', 'Hail To The Chief', 'Nancy', and 'Cory In The House'. For Earth Prime-Time, those bodyguards should be just that - bodyguards. Perhaps they were assigned to escort the former Governor of the state of Indiana.
I think I covered it all. Let me know if I left any future Zonks unattended....
BCnU!
