94 Meetings
Encyclopedia
94 Meetings is the 21st episode of the second season
of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation
, and the 27th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC
in the United States on April 29, 2010. In the episode, Ron
is forced to handle 94 meetings in a single day due to an error by his assistant, April
. Meanwhile, Leslie
tries to stop alterations to a historic mansion while dealing with her hidden insecurities about the escalation of Ann
and Mark
's romantic relationship.
The episode was written by Harris Wittels and directed by Tristram Shapeero
. It featured guest appearances by several actors who had appeared in previous episodes, including Susan Yeagley
, Alison Becker
and Yvans Jourdain. It also introduced April Ludgate's family. According to Nielsen Media Research
, "94 Meetings" was seen by 4.03 million household viewers, and received particularly high ratings among males between ages 18 and 34. The episode received generally positive reviews.
(Aubrey Plaza), Ron
(Nick Offerman
) is forced to deal with 93 meetings in a single day. He enlists the aid of April, Andy
(Chris Pratt
), Leslie
(Amy Poehler
) and Ann
(Rashida Jones
) to help handle them, while telling Jerry (Jim O'Heir
) that he is free to go home early. During her first meeting, Leslie learns a historic town monument, the Thornbill mansion, is soon to be altered by its new renter, the former Miss Pawnee beauty pageant winner Jessica Wicks (Susan Yeagley
). Leslie and Tom
(Aziz Ansari
) leave to meet with her at the mansion, where Jessica is planning a birthday party for her extremely old husband, the wealthy Nick Newport Sr. (Christopher Murray), founder of the Sweetums candy company. Leslie is shocked Jessica has already made several alterations, such as hanging up nude portraits of herself and painting the floor.
Leslie is outraged when Jessica reveals her plans to demolish an old gazebo in the backyard, the site of a historic wedding between a Pawnee Native American and white woman, which became a "bloodbath" when knowledge of the wedding became public. Under Leslie's orders, Tom chains Leslie to the front gate to prevent construction crews from entering. However, she mistakenly assumes the gate opens from the middle, allowing the crews to enter right past Leslie and demolish the gazebo. At the end of the day, Ann and Mark
(Paul Schneider
) arrive to free her, and Leslie finally reveals to Tom the true source of her anxiety—Mark's intentions to marry Ann. Leslie feels emotional confusion over this fact. On the one hand, she wants her friends to be happy. On the other hand, she used to have romantic feelings for Mark, she feels insecure about being single, and she worries about losing her two friends. In response, Tom assures her not to worry, thus empowering Leslie to crash and ruin Jessica's party.
Meanwhile, Ron and the others deal with their meetings: April acts as uninterested as possible, Andy makes promises to people against Ron's wishes, and Ann provides several medical consults after revealing she is really a nurse (not a parks and recreation department employee). Although the two had previously been developing a romantic interest, Andy now acts uninterested in April because he feels uncomfortable about the eight-year age difference between them, further upsetting April on a difficult day. Ron, who views the many meetings as an utter nightmare, calls in the others during the middle of the day for a progress report, and angrily berates April for her mistake. After all the meetings, April arranges her own meeting with Ron, where she announces she is quitting. When Andy learns this, he convinces Ron that April is a great assistant. Ron goes to April's house and convinces her to come back by telling her about Andy's compliments. On her first day back, April successfully scares off someone wanting to meet with Ron by scheduling absurd meeting dates and times such as June 50th and 2:65 PM. Ron gives her an approving smile and nod while watching from his office.
. Ron Swanson and his staff handle only 93 meetings in the episode, but the 94th meeting from the episode title refers to April's hastily arranged meeting with Ron in which she quits the job. "94 Meetings" was the first episode to introduce April Ludgate's family, who Ron meets when he goes to April's house to convince her to return to work. The family includes April's extremely chipper mother and father Larry and Rita Ludgate (John Ellison and Terri Hoyos), and April's older sister Natalie Ludgate (Minni Jo Mazzola), who is cynical and brooding very much like April herself. Susan Yeagley
, who previously appeared in "Beauty Pageant
", guest starred in "94 Meetings" as Jessica Wicks, and Alison Becker
reprised her role as reporter Shauna Malwae-Tweep, who was first introduced in "The Reporter
". The episode also featured Yvans Jourdain in his recurring role as Pawnee Councilman Howser.
"94 Meetings" included several references to past Parks and Recreation episodes. The Newport family and their powerful "Sweetums" corporation were first featured in the episode "Sweetums
", where they convinced a public to allow their extremely unhealthy nutrition bars to be sold at a local park. In another scene, April refers to Ron as "Duke Silver", his secret jazz saxophonist alter ego first revealed in the episode "Practice Date". It also features several running gags from throughout the series, including angrily complaining Pawnee citizens, Ann helping parks employees despite not working there, and extremely gory and racist historical Pawnee murals.
Within a week of the episode's original broadcast, a copy of a desk calendar chronicling all of Ron Swanson's meetings from the episode was placed on the official Parks and Recreation website. That site also featured three deleted scenes from the episode. In the first, 80-second clip, Leslie and Jessica get into a fight about the gazebo, and Jessica reveals she has trimmed the mansion's historic hedges into the shape of elephants. The second clip, which lasted one minute, features several more of Ron Swanson's meetings, including one where he tries to literally will a man away with his mind. Andy also tells Ron he accidentally agreed to sell the recreation center to the Quiznos fast food restaurant chain. In the third, 90-second clip, Leslie tries to end Nick Newport Sr.'s birthday party by pulling the plug on the lights, but accidentally disconnects his breathing machine instead.
. It received a 2.0 rating/6 share among viewers between ages 18 and 49, which tied the ratings of the last original episode, "Summer Catalog
", although that episode was seen by around 110,000 more viewers. "94 Meetings" received particularly high ratings among males between ages 18 and 34, a demographic particularly sought after by the networks. The episode received a 2.2 rating in that group, besting the CBS
reality series Survivor
s 2.0 rating.
Alan Sepinwall, television columnist for The Star-Ledger
, said the meetings themselves were very entertaining and allowed for good character development between April and Andy, and Ron and April. However, he said the main plot with Leslie and the historic mansion was not tied strongly enough to Leslie's fear that Mark and Ann would get married. Matt Fowler of IGN
praised the episode, especially the callbacks to previous episodes and the interaction of the characters during the meetings. Although the show was only on hiatus for about a month, he said, "Man, it feels so good to have Parks and Recreation back. [...] I don't think there's another comedy on TV right now that contains such 'miss-able' characters."
The A.V. Club
writer Leonard Pierce said "94 Meetings" was a particularly strong episode that focused equally on the show's premise and developing the relationships between characters. He particularly praised Susan Yeagley, but said Tom Haverford was underused, and felt the scenes between Ann and Mark were lacking. New York
magazine writer Steve Kandell was a fast-paced and funny episode, calling the jokes about the complaining residents "rapid-fire scenes". Kandell criticized Mark, who he said has been resorted to boring "straight-man services", and said he did not mind that Paul Schneider was leaving the series. Kona Gallagher of TV Squad appreciated that the episode reintroduced the fact that Leslie once was in love with Mark, and criticized the show for ignoring that fact all season. Gallagher also criticized the fact that a historic building could so easily be damaged and demolished, which he called unrealistic.
set in the United States on November 30, 2010. The DVD included deleted scenes for each episode.
Parks and Recreation (season 2)
The second season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network starting September 17, 2009, and ended on May 20, 2010. The season was produced by Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, and series co-creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur...
of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
, and the 27th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in the United States on April 29, 2010. In the episode, Ron
Ron Swanson
Ronald Ulysses "Ron" Swanson is a fictional character played by Nick Offerman in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation on NBC. Ron is parks department director in the Indiana city of Pawnee and the immediate superior of protagonist Leslie Knope...
is forced to handle 94 meetings in a single day due to an error by his assistant, April
April Ludgate
April Roberta Ludgate is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is an apathetic college student employed by the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation as Ron Swanson's assistant. She is married to Andy Dwyer. She is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza...
. Meanwhile, Leslie
Leslie Knope
Leslie Barbara Knope is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Amy Poehler. Poehler garnered two Emmy Award nominations for Best Lead Actress in Comedy Series for her role.-Background:...
tries to stop alterations to a historic mansion while dealing with her hidden insecurities about the escalation of Ann
Ann Perkins
Ann Meredith Perkins is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is a nurse and best friend of Leslie Knope. She is portrayed by Rashida Jones.-Season one:...
and Mark
Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is the city planner for Pawnee, Indiana, one of Ann Perkins's ex-boyfriends, and Leslie Knope's colleague. He is portrayed by Paul Schneider...
's romantic relationship.
The episode was written by Harris Wittels and directed by Tristram Shapeero
Tristram Shapeero
Tristram Shapeero is a British director of television comedies, including Brass Eye, Smack the Pony, Green Wing, Community and Absolutely Fabulous.- Director :...
. It featured guest appearances by several actors who had appeared in previous episodes, including Susan Yeagley
Susan Yeagley
Susan Melinda Yeagley is an American actress.-Personal life:Yeagley married fellow actor Kevin Nealon on September 3, 2005 in Bellagio, Italy. She gave birth to their first child, son Gable Ness Nealon, on January 29, 2007 in Santa Monica, California...
, Alison Becker
Alison Becker
Alison Helene Becker is an American actress, comedian, writer, and TV personality. She is the previous host of VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown and currently the co-host/sidekick on the FuelTV panel talk-show The Daily Habit.-Early life:...
and Yvans Jourdain. It also introduced April Ludgate's family. According to Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, "94 Meetings" was seen by 4.03 million household viewers, and received particularly high ratings among males between ages 18 and 34. The episode received generally positive reviews.
Plot
Due to a mistake by AprilApril Ludgate
April Roberta Ludgate is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is an apathetic college student employed by the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation as Ron Swanson's assistant. She is married to Andy Dwyer. She is portrayed by Aubrey Plaza...
(Aubrey Plaza), Ron
Ron Swanson
Ronald Ulysses "Ron" Swanson is a fictional character played by Nick Offerman in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation on NBC. Ron is parks department director in the Indiana city of Pawnee and the immediate superior of protagonist Leslie Knope...
(Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman is an American actor best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. He is also a skilled woodworker.-Early life and career:...
) is forced to deal with 93 meetings in a single day. He enlists the aid of April, Andy
Andy Dwyer
Andrew Maxwell "Andy" Dwyer is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is Ann Perkins' ex-boyfriend, a talented-if-yet-unsuccessful musician, a shoe-shiner at Pawnee City Hall, and April Ludgate's husband. He is portrayed by Chris Pratt.-Background:At the start of the...
(Chris Pratt
Chris Pratt
Christopher Michael "Chris" Pratt is an American actor, best known for his roles as Harold Brighton "Bright" Abbott in the television series Everwood, the recurring character Winchester "Ché" Cook in season 4 of The OC, Andy Dwyer in the television series Parks and Recreation and for portraying...
), Leslie
Leslie Knope
Leslie Barbara Knope is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Amy Poehler. Poehler garnered two Emmy Award nominations for Best Lead Actress in Comedy Series for her role.-Background:...
(Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
) and Ann
Ann Perkins
Ann Meredith Perkins is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is a nurse and best friend of Leslie Knope. She is portrayed by Rashida Jones.-Season one:...
(Rashida Jones
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter and occasional singer. She played Louisa Fenn on Boston Public and Karen Filippelli on The Office as well as roles in the films I Love You, Man and The Social Network...
) to help handle them, while telling Jerry (Jim O'Heir
Jim O'Heir
Jim O'Heir is an American actor. He was active in the Chicago theater during the 1980s and 1990s as part of the theater group White Noise, and appeared in such plays as The Book of Blanche, Stumpy's Gang and Ad-Nauseam with the group...
) that he is free to go home early. During her first meeting, Leslie learns a historic town monument, the Thornbill mansion, is soon to be altered by its new renter, the former Miss Pawnee beauty pageant winner Jessica Wicks (Susan Yeagley
Susan Yeagley
Susan Melinda Yeagley is an American actress.-Personal life:Yeagley married fellow actor Kevin Nealon on September 3, 2005 in Bellagio, Italy. She gave birth to their first child, son Gable Ness Nealon, on January 29, 2007 in Santa Monica, California...
). Leslie and Tom
Tom Haverford
Thomas Montgomery "Tom" Haverford , born Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani, is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee who is revered for his high levels of swagger and unmatched entrepreneurial skills...
(Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian. He currently stars as Tom Haverford on the NBC show Parks and Recreation....
) leave to meet with her at the mansion, where Jessica is planning a birthday party for her extremely old husband, the wealthy Nick Newport Sr. (Christopher Murray), founder of the Sweetums candy company. Leslie is shocked Jessica has already made several alterations, such as hanging up nude portraits of herself and painting the floor.
Leslie is outraged when Jessica reveals her plans to demolish an old gazebo in the backyard, the site of a historic wedding between a Pawnee Native American and white woman, which became a "bloodbath" when knowledge of the wedding became public. Under Leslie's orders, Tom chains Leslie to the front gate to prevent construction crews from entering. However, she mistakenly assumes the gate opens from the middle, allowing the crews to enter right past Leslie and demolish the gazebo. At the end of the day, Ann and Mark
Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is the city planner for Pawnee, Indiana, one of Ann Perkins's ex-boyfriends, and Leslie Knope's colleague. He is portrayed by Paul Schneider...
(Paul Schneider
Paul Schneider (actor)
Paul Andrew Schneider is an American film actor.-Early life and career:Schneider was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the North Carolina School of Arts...
) arrive to free her, and Leslie finally reveals to Tom the true source of her anxiety—Mark's intentions to marry Ann. Leslie feels emotional confusion over this fact. On the one hand, she wants her friends to be happy. On the other hand, she used to have romantic feelings for Mark, she feels insecure about being single, and she worries about losing her two friends. In response, Tom assures her not to worry, thus empowering Leslie to crash and ruin Jessica's party.
Meanwhile, Ron and the others deal with their meetings: April acts as uninterested as possible, Andy makes promises to people against Ron's wishes, and Ann provides several medical consults after revealing she is really a nurse (not a parks and recreation department employee). Although the two had previously been developing a romantic interest, Andy now acts uninterested in April because he feels uncomfortable about the eight-year age difference between them, further upsetting April on a difficult day. Ron, who views the many meetings as an utter nightmare, calls in the others during the middle of the day for a progress report, and angrily berates April for her mistake. After all the meetings, April arranges her own meeting with Ron, where she announces she is quitting. When Andy learns this, he convinces Ron that April is a great assistant. Ron goes to April's house and convinces her to come back by telling her about Andy's compliments. On her first day back, April successfully scares off someone wanting to meet with Ron by scheduling absurd meeting dates and times such as June 50th and 2:65 PM. Ron gives her an approving smile and nod while watching from his office.
Production
"94 Meetings" was written by Harris Wittels and directed by Tristram ShapeeroTristram Shapeero
Tristram Shapeero is a British director of television comedies, including Brass Eye, Smack the Pony, Green Wing, Community and Absolutely Fabulous.- Director :...
. Ron Swanson and his staff handle only 93 meetings in the episode, but the 94th meeting from the episode title refers to April's hastily arranged meeting with Ron in which she quits the job. "94 Meetings" was the first episode to introduce April Ludgate's family, who Ron meets when he goes to April's house to convince her to return to work. The family includes April's extremely chipper mother and father Larry and Rita Ludgate (John Ellison and Terri Hoyos), and April's older sister Natalie Ludgate (Minni Jo Mazzola), who is cynical and brooding very much like April herself. Susan Yeagley
Susan Yeagley
Susan Melinda Yeagley is an American actress.-Personal life:Yeagley married fellow actor Kevin Nealon on September 3, 2005 in Bellagio, Italy. She gave birth to their first child, son Gable Ness Nealon, on January 29, 2007 in Santa Monica, California...
, who previously appeared in "Beauty Pageant
Beauty Pageant (Parks and Recreation)
"Beauty Pageant" is the third episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the ninth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on October 1, 2009...
", guest starred in "94 Meetings" as Jessica Wicks, and Alison Becker
Alison Becker
Alison Helene Becker is an American actress, comedian, writer, and TV personality. She is the previous host of VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown and currently the co-host/sidekick on the FuelTV panel talk-show The Daily Habit.-Early life:...
reprised her role as reporter Shauna Malwae-Tweep, who was first introduced in "The Reporter
The Reporter (Parks and Recreation)
"The Reporter" is the third episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 23, 2009. The episode was written by Daniel J. Goor and directed by Jeffrey Blitz...
". The episode also featured Yvans Jourdain in his recurring role as Pawnee Councilman Howser.
"94 Meetings" included several references to past Parks and Recreation episodes. The Newport family and their powerful "Sweetums" corporation were first featured in the episode "Sweetums
Sweetums (Parks and Recreation)
"Sweetums" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 21st overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 4, 2010. In the episode, the Parks and Recreation Department hosts a public...
", where they convinced a public to allow their extremely unhealthy nutrition bars to be sold at a local park. In another scene, April refers to Ron as "Duke Silver", his secret jazz saxophonist alter ego first revealed in the episode "Practice Date". It also features several running gags from throughout the series, including angrily complaining Pawnee citizens, Ann helping parks employees despite not working there, and extremely gory and racist historical Pawnee murals.
Within a week of the episode's original broadcast, a copy of a desk calendar chronicling all of Ron Swanson's meetings from the episode was placed on the official Parks and Recreation website. That site also featured three deleted scenes from the episode. In the first, 80-second clip, Leslie and Jessica get into a fight about the gazebo, and Jessica reveals she has trimmed the mansion's historic hedges into the shape of elephants. The second clip, which lasted one minute, features several more of Ron Swanson's meetings, including one where he tries to literally will a man away with his mind. Andy also tells Ron he accidentally agreed to sell the recreation center to the Quiznos fast food restaurant chain. In the third, 90-second clip, Leslie tries to end Nick Newport Sr.'s birthday party by pulling the plug on the lights, but accidentally disconnects his breathing machine instead.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "94 Meetings" was seen by an estimated 4.03 million household viewers, according to Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
. It received a 2.0 rating/6 share among viewers between ages 18 and 49, which tied the ratings of the last original episode, "Summer Catalog
Summer Catalog
Summer Catalog is the 20th episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 26th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 25, 2010. In the episode, Leslie reunited a reunion with the last four Pawnee...
", although that episode was seen by around 110,000 more viewers. "94 Meetings" received particularly high ratings among males between ages 18 and 34, a demographic particularly sought after by the networks. The episode received a 2.2 rating in that group, besting the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
reality series Survivor
Survivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...
s 2.0 rating.
Alan Sepinwall, television columnist for The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
, said the meetings themselves were very entertaining and allowed for good character development between April and Andy, and Ron and April. However, he said the main plot with Leslie and the historic mansion was not tied strongly enough to Leslie's fear that Mark and Ann would get married. Matt Fowler of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
praised the episode, especially the callbacks to previous episodes and the interaction of the characters during the meetings. Although the show was only on hiatus for about a month, he said, "Man, it feels so good to have Parks and Recreation back. [...] I don't think there's another comedy on TV right now that contains such 'miss-able' characters."
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
writer Leonard Pierce said "94 Meetings" was a particularly strong episode that focused equally on the show's premise and developing the relationships between characters. He particularly praised Susan Yeagley, but said Tom Haverford was underused, and felt the scenes between Ann and Mark were lacking. New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine writer Steve Kandell was a fast-paced and funny episode, calling the jokes about the complaining residents "rapid-fire scenes". Kandell criticized Mark, who he said has been resorted to boring "straight-man services", and said he did not mind that Paul Schneider was leaving the series. Kona Gallagher of TV Squad appreciated that the episode reintroduced the fact that Leslie once was in love with Mark, and criticized the show for ignoring that fact all season. Gallagher also criticized the fact that a historic building could so easily be damaged and demolished, which he called unrealistic.
DVD release
"94 Meetings", along with the other 23 second season episodes of Parks and Recreation, was released on a four-disc DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
set in the United States on November 30, 2010. The DVD included deleted scenes for each episode.
External links
- "94 Meetings" at the official Parks and Recreation site