Of all the television comedies in the past decade, “Parks and Recreation” stands out as one of the funniest and most heartwarming. Millions of fans fell in love with Leslie Knope and followed her through the many misadventures that she and her coworkers went on in their efforts to beautify their beloved hometown.
“Parks and Recreation” is a laugh-out-loud, feel-good show that can be watched over and over again, making it the perfect show to binge-watch with friends out under the stars.
The Parks and Recreation Binge Watch starts Friday at 9 p.m. on the UA mall. The event is a collaboration between the Loft Cinema, UA Campus Health and UA Residence Life and is one of many Cats After Dark events being held this semester.
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The free screening will be projected onto the Loft’s gigantic inflatable movie screen using their solar-powered van, and students are welcome to spread out their blankets, grab some free popcorn and enjoy five episodes of “Parks and Recreation” with their friends.
“There traditionally isn’t much that happens late, late on campus so we’ve been trying to push that a little bit more,” said Mike Schilling, chairperson of Cats After Dark and a Residence Life community director.
The binge watch event—and others like it presented by Cats After Dark—is meant to give students an alternative late-night activity instead of partying. The original idea for the event came from UA Campus Health as a tie-in to Red Cup Week.
“They had this idea of doing a binge-watching night to sort of compare it with the concept of binge drinking,” Schilling said. “Part of doing late-night events is trying to do them at times when students who don’t have anything else to do might decide to go out and drink alcohol instead.”
The event will also feature its very own “Li’l Sebastian” lookalike from the Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids. TRAK will be bringing their mini horse Samson along with some goats, chickens and rabbits in their mobile petting zoo.
Schilling said he referenced students, Residence Life co-workers and online lists to find the best five episodes—that didn’t reveal too many spoilers—to show at the screening. The list includes episodes from seasons two through four, featuring “Hunting Trip,” “Telethon,” “Flu Season,” “Li’l Sebastian” and “The Comeback Kid.”
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“We’re really excited to be doing this collaboration with [the] UA,” said Jeff Yanc, program director at the Loft Cinema. “Getting this partnership with Residence Life and Campus Health sort of opened the door to all of that.”
The Loft Cinema has brought their mobile screen to various places around Tucson for outdoor screenings in the past, including the UA mall earlier this semester for a special screening of “Jurassic World.” Yanc said he and the Cats After Dark committee is working to plan the next collaboration event for late October or early November but has not yet solidified the details.
“I think this is going to be a long-term partnership with the UA,” Yanc said. “We’ve had good luck. At our ‘Jurassic World’ screening there were over 2,000 people there; it was pretty great.”
So instead of going out to drink this Friday, students can grab their friends, a blanket and some free popcorn (all with proof of a CatCard ) and enjoy binging “Parks and Recreation” under the stars.
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