Tuesday, NBC will air the very last episode of the hit show Parks and Recreation.
After seven seasons, viewers will finally bid goodbye to Leslie Knope, a hard-working local politician played by Amy Poehler.
For a look back at what life was like behind the scenes, Take Two spoke to two of the shows writers - Joe Mande and Aisha Muharrar.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On researching local California politics to get a sense of what small-town politics is like
AM: In Season 2, we went to a few city council meetings and local government meetings, and we wondered if we had been exaggerating things on the show.
We went to one, and it was pretty much exactly like we had imagined. There was about fifteen minutes spent on a woman arguing over her missing cat named Kitty Pants, and talking about how she was very aggrieved that someone else had adopted it and it was actually her cat, and this went on for a long time - just people over and over saying 'Kitty Pants' in just the most serious tone.
There were like ten comedy writers in the back just trying not too lose it.
JM: But we kind of made up a lot of stuff, and we would hear back from people in parks and recreation departments across the country who'd say, 'You guys got it spot on. This is exactly what it's like.'
On preparing for the final episode
JM: I've been writing since season 5, and was a part of what we thought were three season finales. We always were on the precipice of cancellation or we had no idea if we were going to be renewed or not.
This season, we knew we had thirteen episodes and we were in control and we knew the whole season would take place three years in the future and that was a delight to write.
On the recent loss of Parks and Rec writer and producer, Harris Wittels
AM: With TV, things are made so far ahead of time, so for the writers and the cast and crew, we wrapped December 14, we had a wrap party, Harris was there. So a lot of us were celebrating the run of the show together, that we were all very proud of.
And now this week, obviously, I'll miss Harris tremendously. So that's been the main thing on my mind.
Fortunately, we all had time to share the ending of our show together as a group, and now it's fans' and viewers' chance to have their ending. At least for me, those things are separate, and I'm very thankful they are.
Harris was a great friend of mine, and he was a great friend of the show. It's an indescribable loss. It's been very difficult.