Why 'Parks and Recreation' was the perfect Indiana show

There is no town of Pawnee, Ind. There is no JJ's Diner, no Sweetums Candy, no Li'l Sebastian (RIP).

But there are a lot of people in this state like Leslie Knope. And Ron Swanson. And Tom Haverford and all the rest of the Parks Department gang.

And that, ultimately, is why the show resonated so deeply with Hoosiers. In a way few other shows have, these characters capture the spirit of Indiana.

Take a minute and imagine a "Parks and Recreation" that takes place in New York. Or California. Or even Ohio. It's hard to do. The edges would have been sharper, the worldview a little more cynical. But by placing the show in Indiana and then embracing that setting, it allowed a distinctly Hoosier worldview to permeate every aspect of the show.

The show was never Pollyannaish on the challenges faced by the town. Through the show's run, we saw apathetic citizens who thought it was fine to live with a giant pit. We saw corporations that exploited trusting townspeople and politicians who acted in bad faith.

Yeah, we've got all those things in real-life Indiana, too. But our core cast of characters were good people trying to do good things in the humblest of ways. Just like real-life Hoosiers.

Our heroes rose to meet those challenges. Mostly their ambitions were small. Fill in a pit. Stop an infestation of raccoons. Start a business. But those problems were never treated as small. Because in towns like Pawnee, those problems are the world.

Today, TV is increasingly about unceasing darkness. About the search for our inner monsters, or what happens when they become our outer monsters. But "Parks and Recreation" was the odd show that was about how good people can become even better in the right conditions.

We know people like this. We see them every day in our small towns and our big cities and in ourselves. These characters were sunny and optimistic, even when they failed. Sometimes they felt like what they were doing didn't matter, that they were just going through the motions. But they kept pushing and kept working and eventually, great things happened.

Indiana isn't a perfect state. But when we are at our greatest, we are these characters. We are hospitable and generous and simple and ambitious all at the same time. We fail often. Sometimes no one takes us seriously.

But that's OK. If the Parks Department gang proved one thing, it's that underdogs can get a lot done.

There might never be another show that so perfectly captures the absurdities and joys of living in Indiana. So let's raise a glass of Snake Juice and bid farewell to Pawnee.

Allison Carter is an engagement producer with IndyStar. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonLCarter.