Parks and Recreation and Harry Potter: The best references

Parks and Recreation was arguably one of the best comedies on television but the best part may have been their continually references to Harry Potter.

Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation labeled herself as a Harry Potter fan and the rest is history. Or at least it is for me. As someone who loves both these things, to know that my favorite character on television was most likely a Gryffindor too makes me so happy.

I mean, it is simple to categorize our favorite characters into the Hogwarts houses. Almost everyone does it. But for a show you love to make references back to Harry Potter and his friends is something else entirely.

I think it was mainly to make jokes about how Leslie and Ben were nerds but still it made me happy. There is one episode where Leslie is sick and she references the Chamber of Commerce as having to go to the Chamber of Secrets and it is so silly and dumb yet still sticks out in my mind.

Why? Because these characters are fully realized and have moments where we, as the audience, can relate to them because it is something we also love. I think shows that poke fun at nerd culture aren’t great (looking at you The Big Bang Theory) but Parks and Recreation did it in a way that was not making fun of these fandoms but rather including them.

Ben Wyatt loved Star Trek and wanted to talk about it all the time but they never made it out like Star Trek was lame. So the same goes for Leslie Knope and Harry Potter. Her love of the series was not bashing the fans of the series but rather praising them and showing them that people like Leslie were one of them.

Next: Will we ever forget Harry Potter or is it always going to be there for us?

What’s your favorite Harry Potter reference in a TV show? Sound off in the comments and let us know!