We demand ‘Philly Justice,’ the courtroom comedy created by the cast of ‘Parks and Recreation’

Philly justice takes on many forms, from the storied Eagles court at Veterans Stadium for drunk and unruly fans to the Philadelphia court of public opinion, which has ruled in favor of everything from librarians to Gritty and against everyone from Ben Simmons to the Atlanta Braves mascot Blooper.

But there’s a Philly justice that exists that’s never been seen before in the City of Brotherly Love, or anywhere else for that matter — Philly Justice, the fake-but-kind-of-real TV show created by the cast and crew of Parks and Recreation. It’s been whispered about for more than a decade, but has never been seen.

Now, thanks to an article in the Independent this week, we know a Philly Justice script and footage exist.

We the people of Philadelphia must see this footage. We demand justice. Philly Justice. (dun dun)

From what I find, the first mention of Philly Justice was during a Parks and Rec panel at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills in 2012. Series star Amy Poehler and co-creator and showrunner Michael Schur explained that Philly Justice was created during downtime on the set of Parks and Rec, which ran on NBC from 2009 to 2015.

They were inspired to create the show after members of the cast, including Poehler, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, Paul Rudd, and Rashida Jones, took a very serious picture in suits one day.

“They were on set and they had someone take that picture and they decided to pretend that they were all in a show called Philly Justice about Philly lawyers,” Schur said at the panel.

According to the backstory the cast and crew created, as told by Poehler, the Philly Justice pilot was made in 2003 and all of the characters have been named and given backstories (Scott is “loose cannon” Nick Bellows and Jones plays Joanna “Joey” Suarez, who “likes to stop gang violence”).

Lore from the made-up backstory was that Rudd didn’t connect with the show’s producers and was replaced after the pilot with Dylan McDermott, who was later replaced by Dermot Mulroney.

“It’s difficult to explain to you how intricate this bit has gotten,” Schur said. “These five people got so into this idea that they had been in a fake show together and that Paul Rudd had been replaced by Dylan McDermott that Adam Scott created a fake email address for Dylan McDermott and started emailing everybody about how excited he was to be on the show.”

The show’s tagline: “Without them, there is no justice.”

“I will say it’s a real promising show. It’s on after Joan of Arcadia,” Poehler said. “They recently had to reshoot some of the pilot because Elizabeth Smart was found. They do a lot of ripped-from-the-headlines stuff.”

In the comments on the Paley Center’s YouTube video, people call for a real version of Philly Justice, a web series, a TV special, an SNL skit, and a crossover episode with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

“[I] think about this video once a month,” someone posted in the comments two years ago.

But in an obvious travesty of justice, nothing ever came of the show and not much was spoken of it, that is, until now.

In its look back at Parks and Rec upon the 15th anniversary of the premiere, the Independent interviewed members of the cast and crew including Jones, who talked about creating the “David Kelly-style procedural show called Philly Justice.”

“We became obsessed with it and so did the writers,” she said. “They ended up writing it as an entire episode of a different show which we started to actually shoot. We shot 15 pages of a show that doesn’t exist with our free time.”

A tape is out there, somewhere, and to the cast and crew of Parks and Rec: The time has to come to finally release it. Philadelphia is a party to this too and justice delayed is justice denied.

It’s not clear why they chose to set the show here in Philly, but whatever the reason, it was an excellent choice. In fact, I’d like to join the chorus of folks calling for Philly Justice to actually be made.

Sure, the 2001 legal series Philly, starring Kim Delaney and Tom Everett Scott flopped, but that was a drama and we already have enough drama in our courts here. PBS’ Independent Lens did an eight-part documentary on our district attorney, for Pete’s sake.

But comedies, that’s where Philly shines. Two of the best currently on TV — Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia — are set right here.

And we’ve got plenty of “ripped-from-the-headlines” stories Philly Justice could play off. Real-life plotlines could include: The legal team represents a greased pole climber; the legal team takes on the entire state of Rhode Island; and the legal team holds a news conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

So in a final plea, I ask the cast and crew of Parks and Rec to release the lost Philly Justice footage and consider making the show. It’s the right thing to do. It just is.

And if you won’t do it for us here in Philly, do it for Li’l Sebastian.