It was surprising enough that Paul Schneider, the former Mark Brendanawicz on “Parks and Recreation,” popped up this week on “Newsroom” as the hand-picked magazine profile writer of Will McAvoy who just happened to be the guy that Mackenzie MacHale had cheated on Will with (such an odd construction).
Something about Schneider always makes him the romantic interest even when he’s not. On “Parks and Red” he was the guy who Leslie Knope dreamed of following their one night stand. But it was never meant to be; he’d soon go out with the Pawnee newspaper reporter Shauna Malwae-Tweep in another lapse of journalistic ethics (on her part this time).
So it was funny to see Alison Becker, who played Shauna in six off first season episodes, pop up on the same “Newsroom” episode this week as Sandy Whiddles, a young woman who had been sending flirtatious texts to Congressman Anthony Weiner .
She was just about to be interviewed by McAvoy, and had not crossed paths with Schneider’s character, Brian Brenner, but this was only the first half of the episode. Maybe there will be a look, and a sign of remembrance between the two in part two Sunday.