It was written by series co-creator Michael Schur with Megan Amram, Dave King, Joe Mande, Aisha Muharrar, Matt Murray, and Jen Statsky, and was directed by Morgan Sackett.

Each character offers a glimpse into their day-to-day lives: Leslie and Ben appear on talk shows with Joan Callamezzo (Mo Collins) and Perd Hapley (Jay Jackson) to discuss the pandemic.

In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, NBC announced they would air a special episode of Parks and Recreation, centered on Leslie trying to stay connected with the other residents of Pawnee during social distancing.

The show's cast, including Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Jim O'Heir, and Retta, returned for the special, which served as a fundraiser for Feeding America's COVID-19 Response Fund.

[2] The episode was written by Schur along with former Parks and Recreation writers Megan Amram, Dave King, Joe Mande, Aisha Muharrar, Matt Murray, and Jen Statsky, and was directed by Morgan Sackett.

[3] Originally, Universal Television executive Pearlena Igbokwe had reached out to Schur about reuniting the cast for a remote table read of an existing episode.

[4] One of the writers pitched the idea of using fake commercials, which Schur quickly found "perfect" because it allowed guest stars to appear and prevented the episode from feeling like other shows carried out via Zoom calls.

"[4] In its original airing, "A Parks and Recreation Special" was seen by 3.67 million American viewers, roughly on par with the show's final season five years earlier.

The website's consensus reads, "Against all odds the delightful cast and crew of Parks and Recreation pull off a socially distant reunion that's warm, funny, and very, very special.

[16] Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall remarked that the challenges of remote production limited the special's humor, but found the show's "warm hug [...] felt more welcome now".

[20] Vanity Fair's Sonia Saraiya enjoyed revisiting the series's optimism, sweetness, and light comedy but also remarked on how different the current world was from the show's original seasons.

[21] For their work on the episode, Brent Findley, Jason Tregoe Newman, Bryant J. Fuhrmann, and Michael Jesmer were nominated for a Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Live Action Under 35:00.