Practice Date
| "Practice Date" | |
|---|---|
| Parks and Recreation episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 4 |
| Directed by | Alex Hardcastle |
| Written by | Harris Wittels |
| Original air date | October 8, 2009 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Practice Date" is the fourth episode of the second season of Parks and Recreation, and the tenth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on October 8, 2009. In the episode, Ann takes Leslie to dinner to help prepare for her first date, while the rest of the parks department tries to learn secrets about each other as part of a game.
The episode was written by Harris Wittels and directed by Alex Hardcastle. It featured stand-up comedian Louis C.K. in his third guest appearance as Dave Sanderson, a Pawnee police officer who develops a romantic interest in Leslie. The episode also featured a fictional sex scandal mirroring the real-life 2009 scandal of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford.
"Practice Date" was the first episode to establish the personality of Jerry as the co-worker everyone else in the office picks on, and marked the first of several appearances by Jay Jackson as news reporter Perd Hapley. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by 4.97 million household viewers, an improvement over the previous week's episode, "Beauty Pageant". "Practice Date" received generally positive reviews, with several commentators praising it for fleshing out the characters of Ron and Tom.
The episode opens with Leslie (Amy Poehler) and the rest of the Parks department watching media coverage of Pawnee Councilman Bill Dexhart (Kevin Symons), a married man, admitting to having four-way sex in a Brazilian cave while pretending to be "building houses for the underprivileged". He tries to justify it by saying that it was his birthday on the day of the foursome, and that he "...really wanted to do it." Tom (Aziz Ansari) insists nobody could find any scandalous information about him, prompting the parks department employees to start a game to see who can get the most dirt on each other. Meanwhile, Leslie tells Ann (Rashida Jones) she is nervous about her first date with Pawnee police officer Dave Sanderson (Louis C.K.). Ann offers to take Leslie on a practice date to help Leslie prepare for the real date. During the practice date, Ann realizes that Leslie has a serious problem: Leslie brought note cards with "topics of conversation" and engages in fake-sounding "practice laughing."
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