By Jessie Peterson
It’s always hard to say goodbye. Thankfully, the folks in Pawnee understand that.
The seventh and final season of the Amy Poehler-led Parks and Recreation has been a love letter to the show’s fans, complete with callbacks, cameos and, eventually, a conclusion.
Speaking of cameos, last week’s episode, “Two Funerals,” introduced us to the show’s oft-referenced but never-seen Mayor Walt Gunderson, who was played (as a corpse and a prerecorded message) by Bill Murray.
Murray’s status as Pawnee mayor has long been something of a pipe dream for Poehler. Murray was first mentioned as “a dream get” as early as 2011 during a PaleyFest panel. Poehler’s gone as far as offering Murray “$250 to do one episode of my show.”
Murray’s appearance on Parks and Rec instantly elevated that cameo to near-mythic status. It also inspired us to consider all of the other great fictional mayors of television. Below is our list of the all-time best (sorry Jerry Springer, you’ll have to wait for our list of notable real life mayors).
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8. Mayor Adam West (Family Guy)
A celebrity entering politics isn’t exactly a groundbreaking event. We’ve already had an actor-turned-president (Ronald Reagan) and another who became governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger). On Family Guy, Mayor West might be a paranoid, oftentimes delusional madman, but this former crimefighter just so happens to be the very mayor that a beer-soaked Quahog needs.
See the rest of TV’s Best Mayors on Radio.com
