'Parks & Rec' Alumni Release Trailer For Fake Show 'Philly Justice'

PHILADELPHIA — "Philly Justice" could be the best Philadelphia-based intellectual property you'll never see. And that's because the courtroom drama was an on-set joke during production of the hit NBC series "Parks and Recreation."

"Parks and Rec" ran from 2009 to 2015, and during that run, stars Amy Poehler, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Paul Rudd, and Kathryn Hahn found themselves hamming it up as high profile attorneys on set under the premise of shooting "Philly Justice," with Scott playing a fictional Philadelphia District Attorney.

Poehler had "Parks and Rec" creator Mike Schur on her podcast, Good Hang, Tuesday, and the two discussed how "Philly Justice" came about, and even released a "trailer" for their gag show.

"'Philly Justice' is a fake TV show that we made up on the set of 'Parks and Rec' one day because we looked at a picture of ourselves and laughed, and we said, 'oh we look like we're in a show called "Philly Justice,"'" Poehler said.

She said that little joke grew into "a beast that is still discussed today."

Schur recalled the photo in question was a wardrobe photo of Poehler, Jones, Hahn, Rudd, and Scott that started the bit, which he likened to a mid 2000s David E. Kelley show, a la "Boston Legal" or "Ally McBeal."

Schur and writers on "Parks" learned of the cast doing background on their "Philly Justice" characters and improvising scenes on set, and eventually the writing staff wrote a script for "Philly Justice."

The production team used the often-shown council chamber for Pawnee, the fictional city in "Parks," for their "Philly Justice" scenes.

Rudd was unable to shoot the scene, so they replaced him with Dylan McDermott to play Scott's rival in their fake courtroom drama. They also enlisted "Parks" star Nick Offerman to play the show's judge.

Watch the trailer for the fictional "Philly Justice" online here.