We’ve known for some time that ‘Parks and Recreation’ would bring Leslie Knope’s tale to a close with the seventh and final season, and while we at last have a 2015 premiere date, there’s good news and bad. NBC will run new ‘Parks and Recreation’ episodes beginning mid-January, albeit back-to-back to burn off Pawnee’s last hurrah before February’s end.

According to NBC’s official press release, the final season of ‘Parks and Recreation’ will premiere on Tuesday, January 13, airing back-to-back new episodes at 8PM ET. Blessed though we are to have double the Pawnee Parks Department premiering in 2015, subsequent weeks will see NBC continuing to air two new episodes each Tuesday, ostensibly burning through the final season in lead-up to its hour-long February 24 series finale.

Granted, we hadn’t expected much in the way of prime placement for a series of little financial value to the network, though between ‘Parks’’ final fate and the recent migration of Tina Fey’s ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ to Netflix, the latest scheduling serves as a stark reminder that NBC has few ducks aligned in the way of a strong comedy lineup.

Along with the previously announced returns of ‘Mad Men’’s Jon Hamm, Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones to the fold, ‘Parks and Recreation’’s seventh and final season will also see Nick Offerman’s real-life wife Megan Mullally putting in another appearance as Ron’s ex Tammy 2, reviving an aborted season 6 plot that saw the trouble-making librarian coupled with Leslie’s nemesis Councilman Jamm (Jon Glaser). Additionally, Natalie Morales will reprise her role for multiple episodes as Tom’s ex Lucy, having not been seen since the second season, while Werner Herzog will also put in an appearance, for some reason.

We’ll be back in Pawnee before we can spit, with two new episodes per week but what say you? Are you optimistic about ‘Parks and Recreation’’s seventh and final season?

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