Parks and Recreation was originally planned as a spin-off to this popular workplace sitcom (here's how it became a standalone show)

NBC's Parks and Recreation is one of the most popular workplace comedies on television, but it almost started as a spin-off of another popular NBC sitcom.

After Greg Daniels created the breakthrough series The Office for the network, they wanted to bank on that success and make another workplace sitcom as its spin-off.

As revealed in actor Jim O'Heir's memoir, Parks and Recreation was initially envisioned as a spin-off of The Office and Steve Carell was also set to appear in the first episode as Michael Scott.

After Daniels worked with his co-creator, Michael Schur, they also wrote the first draft of a story that would connect both shows.

Read on to find out how Parks and Recreation became a standalone show.

How was Parks and Recreation envisioned as a spin-off to The Office?

Since Parks and Recreation shares many similarities with The Office, it is not surprising that it was initially envisioned as its spin-off. However, the sitcom went on to become its own thing, even inspiring other shows.

Paul Lieberstein (who plays Toby in The Office), one of the executive producers on both the sitcoms, revealed how a broken copy machine would have acted as a link between the two sitcoms.

Ardent fans of The Office would remember the storyline about a broken copier featured in one of the episodes.

It was initially envisioned that the copier would be transferred from the Scranton branch to a warehouse and would eventually find its way to Pawnee, Indiana, to become the official copier of the Parks and Recreation team.

As absurd as this idea sounds right now, the creators were passionate about making this storyline a reality and envisioned the sitcom as a spin-off of The Office.

How did Parks and Recreation become a standalone show?

While NBC and the creator were down in expanding Parks and Recreation as a spin-off to The Office, there was one major roadblock that eventually led to a standalone (and successful) show.

Actor Rashida Jones, who played Karen in The Office, was one of the first actors to be cast in the envisioned spin-off. Karen was introduced in Season 2, when Jim transferred from the Scranton branch. He even dated Karen for a little while, after which they both transferred to Scranton but eventually broke up.

Jones was already cast in Parks and Recreation as Ann Perkins, a nurse who became a Parks department employee. Since Jones was playing two different characters in the same universe, it would have been confusing, and the writers instead developed Parks and Rec as a standalone show.

While NBC still wanted a spin-off, Schur and Daniels influenced them with an idea about a workplace comedy set in the public sector. As Schur revealed to the Television Academy:

''We had this revelation that in the same way Greg had created this masterful satire of corporate culture, we could do the same thing for the public sector, but at a very micro level.''

He added:

''So we set the show in a middling department of a middling government of a middling city in a middling state, and thought, "This can stand in for Anytown, USA." That just became the most exciting idea, even though NBC still wanted a spinoff. We were like, "Yeah, this is the best idea. We're going to pursue this." And to their credit, they let us do it.''

Jones played two different characters in both sitcoms, which became two of the most successful workplace comedies in their own right.

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