Episode 175: Parks and Recreation's Mike Schur Talks Netflix, Master of None, The Leftovers and Star Wars: The Force Awakens

It's Mo here, with a conversation with Mike Schur, executive producer of Parks and Recreation, Master of None, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the upcoming NBC comedy Good Thing. I spoke to Mike when I was in Los Angeles recently, and the shows and ideas we talked about in our wide-ranging discussion include (among other topics): 

• The Leftovers (we talk about certain elements within Season 2 but not after the 40-minute mark. Also, my Variety interview with Damon Lindelof, which we talk about a little, is here and the Andy Greenwald-Lindelof podcast we mention is here)
• Master of None and writing TV in the streaming age, i.e., how creating a show that airs weekly isn't like creating a binge-able show, and why limitations on writing aren't bad things
• What an episode of TV is, should be or can be in the age of streaming, and the difficulties of ending anything, especially a long-running TV show 
• In that context, we talked a little about the endings of Parks and Recreation, The Shield and The Sopranos (no Parks or Shield spoilers, but we do mention the Sopranos ending)
• From minute 66 to the end, we talk about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We discuss what we liked about the movie, one or two things we question and what some of the responses to Rey say about popular culture.  

Be sure to subscribe to the new feed for the podcast here if you like to listen on iTunes. You'll see plenty of ways in each post to stream or download MP3s if you hate iTunes as much as Kylo Ren hates. well, lots of things. You can also subscribe on Stitcher if you like. Options abound.

Also, we have an email for the podcast now! Click here to email us questions for future podcasts.