Michael B. Duff

One of the best running jokes in NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” is based on a true story.

The show is set in the fictional town of Pawnee, Ind. – a place that will feel familiar to anyone who grew up in an American small town. The city offices feature an elaborate wall mural that shows settlers slaughtering natives in a variety of hideous ways.

Parts of this wall are so graphic they have to paper it over with memos to hide it from schoolchildren. In the episode commentary we learn that after the show aired, the producers got e-mail from a viewer who saw a similar mural at a real town hall and had to cover up scenes of settler vs. native brutality for his wedding photos. Read the rest of this entry »