Parks and Recreation 2x4

Practice Date

“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.