Making it season 4

When Amy Poehler—self-described DIY know-nothing and admirer-of-all-things handmade—set out to create a crafting-competition show, her goal was an uplifting contest: “We wanted each maker to feel encouraged to take risks and also allowed to do what they do best,” she said in an e-mail.

Finding a simpatico co-host as her company developed the contest was a no-brainer—which is why she set her sights on Nick Offerman, her old Parks and Recreation co-star, and a woodworking whiz in his own right.

“I knew Nick loves and works in that world, and so he completely understood the tone of what we were going for,” she said. “Plus, we didn’t have to memorize any lines and we could both wear various forms of relaxed denim, which is always a plus.”

Offerman needed no convincing, and also signed on as a producer.

“They wanted to pair her with somebody who knew their way around a glue gun,” said the actor, known offscreen for his passion for furniture-making—which is superseded only by his love for his wife, actress Megan Mullally.

Offerman and Poehler’s handiwork is all over Making I