Colleen Hayes/NBC Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe in a scene from “Parks and Recreation.â€As the enthusiastic “Parks and Recreation†character Chris Traeger might put it, this could literally be the saddest day in the history of that NBC comedy: the actors Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones are preparing to leave “Parks and Recreation,†according to a report on BuzzFeed.com. They would be the first substantial departures in the run of this show about an office of dysfunctional government employees in a fictional Indiana town.
Press representatives for NBC and for Mr. Lowe and for Ms. Jones did not immediately comment on the BuzzFeed report. But according to the site, Mr. Lowe, who plays the overeager bureaucrat Chris Traeger, and Ms. Jones, who plays the well-intentioned Ann Perkins, will be leaving after the 13th episode of the coming sixth season of “Parks and Recreation,†which makes its debut in September. Two people familiar with plans at “Parks and Recreation†said that Mr. Lowe and Ms. Jones were each signed for only 13 episodes of the show’s coming season. These people declined to speak for attribution because NBC had not made an official announcement.
“Parks and Recreation,†which was created by the “Office†producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur and stars Amy Poehler as the plucky local politician Leslie Knope, had featured Ms. Jones as a co-star since its 2009 premiere. Mr. Lowe, a veteran of “The West Wing†and numerous film roles, first appeared on the series near the end of its second season. (His entrance helped offset the departure of the actor Paul Schneider, who left midway through that second year.)
The characters of Chris Traeger and Ann Perkins shared a short-lived romance on “Parks and Recreation,†and a recent plot line saw them pursuing the possibility of having a child together while maintaining a platonic friendship. But there was literally no indication, as of Wednesday, about how the characters might exit the series.
