ALSO READ: "Lowe and Scott On-Set at 'Parks' (video)."
If adding Mr. Pretty Face TV Star Rob Lowe to the much-loved (but still underwatched) "Parks and Recreation" sounds like just the sort of stunt a network suit would suggest to boost ratings, that's because it was.
It turns out that Lowe's casting was the brainchild not of "Parks" producers but of NBC Entertainment chief Angela Bromstad (left). She and other NBC brass love the show, but believe it could benefit from some added star wattage.
And that's where Lowe -- as well as several other notable changes coming to the ficitional town of Pawnee, Ind. -- comes in.
"They want Rob to be their Alec Baldwin," one agent familiar with NBC's thinking says.
It's not that "Parks" -- already picked up for a third season -- needs more comic genius, a la Baldwin. The show already boasts one of the hottest comedy ensembles on TV, including the blowing-up Aziz Ansari, cult comedy hero Nick Offerman and, of course, star Amy Poehler.
Instead, what NBC is hoping is that the supremely good-looking Lowe, like Baldwin, will help lure more viewers -- particularly females -- who otherwise would never consider checking out the Poehler-led "Parks." Airing Thursdays at 8:30, "Parks" currently does much better with young guys than women, with its overall adults 18-49 rating averaging around a 2.3.
"He's the world's handsomest male. He's like a very bright beam of light," "Parks" exec producer Mike Schur admitted, only half-kiddingly. "We wrote a line for Amy in Rob's first episode in which she says that she accidentally looked into his eyes and it was like staring at the sun."
So the producers of "Parks" are secretly fuming over Lowe's arrival, were forced to hire him and are convinced he's going to ruin everything that's awesome about the show, right?
Actually, no.
While Bromstad had the idea of going after Lowe following his decision to exit ABC's "Brothers and Sisters," his character (more on what he'll play later) came from an idea pitched to NBC by the producers at the end of last year.
In other words, it's not as if the network told the producers to whip up some excuse to bring Lowe to Pawnee.
VIDEO: Check out Lowe and Scott on-set in "Parks"
That said, Schur and fellow exec producer Greg Daniels took a beat before they fully sorted through NBC's Lowe logic. "It wasn't instantaneous," Schur explained.
As they mulled, Bromstad's boss -- NBC Universal entertainment chief Jeff Gaspin -- caught wind of the possibility of bringing in Lowe. He was so high on the concept, he summoned the producers to his office to lobby them on Lowe's behalf -- and assure them the network didn't want to change the fundamental DNA of "Parks" to make Lowe fit in.
Gaspin, Schur explained, insisted the "goal was to add him to what we've already got. (Lowe was) not going to suddenly get half the screen time," he says.
