Telethon (Parks and Recreation)
Encyclopedia
Telethon is the 22nd episode of the second season
of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation
, and the 28th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC
in the United States on May 6, 2010. In the episode, Leslie
volunteers to host a charity telethon and is given the unappealing 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. shift.
The episode was directed by Troy Miller and written by Amy Poehler
, who stars as the protagonist Leslie Knope, her first script for the series. "Telethon" featured a guest appearance by retired basketball player Detlef Schrempf
, as well as several actors who had previously appeared in Parks and Recreation, including Mo Collins
and Jay Jackson.
The episode received generally positive reviews and, according to Nielsen Media Research
, was seen by 4.03 million household viewers, roughly the same as the previous week's episode, "94 Meetings
". Amy Poehler was nominated for a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award
for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series based on her performance in "Telethon".
(Amy Poehler
) has volunteered to work on the 24-hour "Pawnee Cares" diabetes telethon and orders everyone in the office to work the phones for multiple shifts. Tom
(Aziz Ansari
) is assigned to pick up retired basketball player Detlef Schrempf
from the airport, the special guest for the telethon. Leslie is excited because she has been allowed to program her own four-hour block, but her co-workers are upset to learn it runs from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Additionally, she has already been up for 24 hours creating T-shirts for her staff to wear for the telethon.
During lunch, Mark
(Paul Schneider
) tells Leslie that he is going to propose to Ann
(Rashida Jones
). Ann suggests that Leslie get some sleep, but she plans on consuming Sweetums
bars to stay awake for another 24 hours. As the telethon begins, Leslie is already exhausted and is falling asleep. With time to kill, Tom brings Detlef to the Snakehole Lounge, but the owner, Freddy (Andy Milder
), refuses to let him go because Detlef is bringing a lot of business, delaying Leslie's big headliner. Andy
's (Chris Pratt
) band, Mouse Rat, is asked to replace Detlef, but when they complete all of their songs, Leslie has nothing else to put on the air. Ron
(Nick Offerman
) volunteers to demonstrate how to cane a chair, but his presentation is so boring that the telethon actually starts to lose money.
Desperate for something to put on, Leslie tells Mark that he should propose to Ann in front of the camera and he agrees. Not long after, however, Ann confides in Leslie that she wants to break up with Mark, citing that he is simply not the one. Meanwhile, April
(Aubrey Plaza) tries to make Andy jealous by flirting with someone over the phone, but it backfires when it turns out to be Joe (Kirk Fox
) from the Pawnee sewer department. Andy is forced to kick Joe out of the studio when he actually arrives to bring April to his van.
The telethon's talent pool becomes so low that Leslie is forced to flip a coin in front of the camera and talk about her favorite episodes of Friends
. Jerry (Jim O'Heir
) is allowed to play the piano, but everyone dismisses his skilled playing as a racket. Mark finally returns to propose and walks on the set with the ring, but Leslie stops him by mooning the camera. Detlef Schrempf and Tom finally arrive at the end of Leslie's programming block. Detlef presents a check for $5,000, allowing the telethon to bypass its $20,000 mark. Despite being awake for two days straight, Leslie goes to Ann's house so they could talk about Mark. She then promptly falls asleep on Ann's couch for 22 hours.
that she wanted to write an episode, but they agreed she would wait for a filming hiatus before doing so. Poehler said the scenes in which Leslie uses sugar rushes to re-energize herself at night, only to crash later, was reminiscent of some of her own all-night experiences working on the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live
.
"Telethon" featured a guest appearance by Detlef Schrempf, a retired basketball player who played for the Indiana Pacers
; Parks and Recreation is set in Indiana. Prior to filming the episode, Schrempf's acting skills had been limited to appearances on the American comedy series Married... with Children
and the German soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
. Schur said of his performance, "For a guy who literally never acted before in his life, he was really funny." Aziz Ansari joked about the performance, "We're going to write a spin-off for him called That's So Detlef, so look forward to that." "Telethon" also featured guest appearances by several actors who had appeared in previous episodes, including Mo Collins
as Pawnee Today television host Joan Callamezzo and Jay Jackson as Pawnee television news reporter Perd Hapley. John Balma also made a guest appearance as Barney, a local teacher who gave the audience an extremely boring accounting presentation, just as he did in "Leslie's House
".
In addition to the performances, "Telethon" included several references to previous episodes. During the telethon, Andy and his band perform a song called "Sex Hair". This is a reference to "Galentine's Day
", in which he claims to have written a song about how one can tell whether someone had sex because their hair is matted. A music video for the song was made available on the official NBC.com Parks and Recreation website shortly after the episode was broadcast. Also in "Telethon," the television event is sponsored by the candy manufacturer Sweetums, and Leslie constantly eats their Nutri-Yum bars in order to stay awake. Both the company and candy bars were prominently featured by "Sweetums
", where Leslie and Ann fought to prevent the unhealthy snacks from being sold in Pawnee parks. In other scenes, Tom takes Detlef Schrempf to the Snakehole Lounge, a nightclub where Tom previously purchased shares in the episode "Woman of the Year
".
Amy Poehler was nominated for a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award
for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and her performance in "Telethon" was the one submitted for Emmy award consideration. The award ultimately went to Edie Falco
for her performance in the Showtime comedy series Nurse Jackie
.
. While intoxicated, Tom starts to sing music by rapper Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
. In order to stall for time during the telethon, Leslie starts talking about her favorite episodes of Friends, a sitcom that previously aired on NBC. She specifically refers to the fourth season episode "The One with Chandler in a Box", in which Monica Geller
prepares a Thanksgiving dinner, and Chandler Bing
agrees to spend the holiday in a box as punishment for kissing Joey Tribbiani
's girlfriend.
Donna mentions that her brother is in Liberia, in real life Retta Sirleaf's aunt is the president of Liberia.
. It received a 2.8 rating/5 share among overall viewers, and a 2.0 rating/7 share among viewers between ages 18 and 49. This rating was about even from the previous episode, "94 Meetings
". "Telethon" was outperformed in the 8:30 p.m. timeslot by the CBS
reality series Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and the Fox
crime drama Bones
, but Parks and Recreation outperformed the CW Network
supernatural fantasy series The Vampire Diaries
and the ABC
science-fiction drama FlashForward
.
"Telethon" received generally positive reviews. Matt Fowler of IGN
praised the many inside jokes and character quirks featured in the episode. He said although The Office (another comedy series by Parks and Recreation co-creator Greg Daniels
) is limited mainly to one setting, "Telethon" demonstrates how the Parks characters can be placed into a myriad of settings and situations. Entertainment Weekly
writer Margaret Lyons said, "If that wasn’t the best episode of Parks and Recreation yet, it’s at least top five." Lyons said every character and subplot was in strong form except for Ann and Mark, which she said has consistently been the show's "Achilles' heel", and that this episode demonstrated how poorly it fit with the other elements of the series. Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
called the episode "one of the greats", claiming it served as a spotlight of the strong characters and subplot developed throughout the second season. Heisler also said the episode contained some of the season's strongest one-liners. New York
magazine writer Steve Kandell said although "Telethon" advanced the eventual break-up of Mark and Ann, the episode basically served as an excuse "to showcase Amy Poehler in varying stages of exhaustion-related delirium".
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 28th 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 May 6, 2010. In the episode, 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:...
volunteers to host a charity telethon and is given the unappealing 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. shift.
The episode was directed by Troy Miller and written by 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...
, who stars as the protagonist Leslie Knope, her first script for the series. "Telethon" featured a guest appearance by retired basketball player Detlef Schrempf
Detlef Schrempf
Detlef Schrempf is a retired German NBA basketball player.-High school and college career:...
, as well as several actors who had previously appeared in Parks and Recreation, including Mo Collins
Mo Collins
Maureen "Mo" Ann Collins is an American actress and comedian. Collins is perhaps best known for being a member of the ensemble on FOX's sketch comedy series MADtv. She became well known for several characters during her tenure on the show...
and Jay Jackson.
The episode received generally positive reviews and, 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...
, was seen by 4.03 million household viewers, roughly the same as the previous week's episode, "94 Meetings
94 Meetings
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...
". Amy Poehler was nominated for a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series based on her performance in "Telethon".
Plot
LeslieLeslie 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...
) has volunteered to work on the 24-hour "Pawnee Cares" diabetes telethon and orders everyone in the office to work the phones for multiple shifts. 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....
) is assigned to pick up retired basketball player Detlef Schrempf
Detlef Schrempf
Detlef Schrempf is a retired German NBA basketball player.-High school and college career:...
from the airport, the special guest for the telethon. Leslie is excited because she has been allowed to program her own four-hour block, but her co-workers are upset to learn it runs from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Additionally, she has already been up for 24 hours creating T-shirts for her staff to wear for the telethon.
During lunch, 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...
) tells Leslie that he is going to propose to 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...
). Ann suggests that Leslie get some sleep, but she plans on consuming 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...
bars to stay awake for another 24 hours. As the telethon begins, Leslie is already exhausted and is falling asleep. With time to kill, Tom brings Detlef to the Snakehole Lounge, but the owner, Freddy (Andy Milder
Andy Milder
Andy Milder is an American actor and voice actor. He has appeared in such films as Apollo 13, Armageddon, Rumor Has It…, Frost/Nixon, Transformers and Domino...
), refuses to let him go because Detlef is bringing a lot of business, delaying Leslie's big headliner. 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...
's (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...
) band, Mouse Rat, is asked to replace Detlef, but when they complete all of their songs, Leslie has nothing else to put on the air. 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:...
) volunteers to demonstrate how to cane a chair, but his presentation is so boring that the telethon actually starts to lose money.
Desperate for something to put on, Leslie tells Mark that he should propose to Ann in front of the camera and he agrees. Not long after, however, Ann confides in Leslie that she wants to break up with Mark, citing that he is simply not the one. Meanwhile, 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...
(Aubrey Plaza) tries to make Andy jealous by flirting with someone over the phone, but it backfires when it turns out to be Joe (Kirk Fox
Kirk Fox
Kirk Fox is an American actor, screenwriter, and stand-up comedian.-Career:Fox has been acting in television and film since the early 1990s. In 2003 he received attention for his work with Pauly Shore as co-writer and co-star of the film Pauly Shore Is Dead, and in 2005 he wrote, co-produced, and...
) from the Pawnee sewer department. Andy is forced to kick Joe out of the studio when he actually arrives to bring April to his van.
The telethon's talent pool becomes so low that Leslie is forced to flip a coin in front of the camera and talk about her favorite episodes of Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
. 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...
) is allowed to play the piano, but everyone dismisses his skilled playing as a racket. Mark finally returns to propose and walks on the set with the ring, but Leslie stops him by mooning the camera. Detlef Schrempf and Tom finally arrive at the end of Leslie's programming block. Detlef presents a check for $5,000, allowing the telethon to bypass its $20,000 mark. Despite being awake for two days straight, Leslie goes to Ann's house so they could talk about Mark. She then promptly falls asleep on Ann's couch for 22 hours.
Production
"Telethon" was directed by Troy Miller and written by Amy Poehler, who stars as Parks and Recreation protagonist Leslie Knope. It was the first episode she had written for the show. Early in the series, Poehler had expressed to Parks co-creator Michael SchurMichael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
that she wanted to write an episode, but they agreed she would wait for a filming hiatus before doing so. Poehler said the scenes in which Leslie uses sugar rushes to re-energize herself at night, only to crash later, was reminiscent of some of her own all-night experiences working on the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
.
"Telethon" featured a guest appearance by Detlef Schrempf, a retired basketball player who played for the Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
; Parks and Recreation is set in Indiana. Prior to filming the episode, Schrempf's acting skills had been limited to appearances on the American comedy series Married... with Children
Married... with Children
Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...
and the German soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten
Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten is a German television soap opera.In 1990, the first commercial channel in the Netherlands, RTL 4 had a spectacular ratings success with its soap Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden, a remake of the Australian soap-opera The Restless Years...
. Schur said of his performance, "For a guy who literally never acted before in his life, he was really funny." Aziz Ansari joked about the performance, "We're going to write a spin-off for him called That's So Detlef, so look forward to that." "Telethon" also featured guest appearances by several actors who had appeared in previous episodes, including Mo Collins
Mo Collins
Maureen "Mo" Ann Collins is an American actress and comedian. Collins is perhaps best known for being a member of the ensemble on FOX's sketch comedy series MADtv. She became well known for several characters during her tenure on the show...
as Pawnee Today television host Joan Callamezzo and Jay Jackson as Pawnee television news reporter Perd Hapley. John Balma also made a guest appearance as Barney, a local teacher who gave the audience an extremely boring accounting presentation, just as he did in "Leslie's House
Leslie's House
Leslie's House is the fourteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the twentieth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 21, 2010...
".
In addition to the performances, "Telethon" included several references to previous episodes. During the telethon, Andy and his band perform a song called "Sex Hair". This is a reference to "Galentine's Day
Galentine's Day
"Galentine's Day" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 22nd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 11, 2010. In the episode, Leslie and her boyfriend Justin seek to...
", in which he claims to have written a song about how one can tell whether someone had sex because their hair is matted. A music video for the song was made available on the official NBC.com Parks and Recreation website shortly after the episode was broadcast. Also in "Telethon," the television event is sponsored by the candy manufacturer Sweetums, and Leslie constantly eats their Nutri-Yum bars in order to stay awake. Both the company and candy bars were prominently featured by "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 Leslie and Ann fought to prevent the unhealthy snacks from being sold in Pawnee parks. In other scenes, Tom takes Detlef Schrempf to the Snakehole Lounge, a nightclub where Tom previously purchased shares in the episode "Woman of the Year
Woman of the Year (Parks and Recreation)
"Woman of the Year" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 23rd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 4, 2010. In the episode, Ron is presented with a woman of the year...
".
Amy Poehler was nominated for a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and her performance in "Telethon" was the one submitted for Emmy award consideration. The award ultimately went to Edie Falco
Edie Falco
Edith "Edie" Falco is an American television, film and stage actress, known for her roles in Oz as Diane Wittlesey, as Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, and as the titular character on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie...
for her performance in the Showtime comedy series Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie is an American series that premiered on June 8, 2009, on Showtime, Movie Central and The Movie Network.The series stars Edie Falco as the title character Jackie Peyton, an emergency room nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New York City...
.
Cultural references
Tom describes his clothing as "Brooks Brothers Boys", a fictional children-size line from the men's clothier chain Brooks BrothersBrooks Brothers
Brooks Brothers is the oldest men's clothier chain in the United States. Founded in 1818 as a family business, the privately owned company is now owned by Retail Brand Alliance, also features clothing for women, and is headquartered on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York City.-History:On April 7,...
. While intoxicated, Tom starts to sing music by rapper Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
DeAndre Cortez Way , better known by his stage name Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, or simply Soulja Boy, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, entrepreneur, and internet personality....
. In order to stall for time during the telethon, Leslie starts talking about her favorite episodes of Friends, a sitcom that previously aired on NBC. She specifically refers to the fourth season episode "The One with Chandler in a Box", in which Monica Geller
Monica Geller
Monica E. Geller Bing is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends, portrayed by Courteney Cox. Monica is known as the "Mother Hen" of the group and her Greenwich Village apartment was one of the group's main gathering places. She was also known for her obsessive personality...
prepares a Thanksgiving dinner, and Chandler Bing
Chandler Bing
Chandler Muriel Bing is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television sitcom Friends, portrayed by Matthew Perry.-Background:Chandler Muriel Bing was born on April 8, 1968, the son of an erotic novelist mother and a cross-dressing Las Vegas star and is of Scottish ancestry. Chandler was Ross...
agrees to spend the holiday in a box as punishment for kissing Joey Tribbiani
Joey Tribbiani
Joseph Francis "Joey" Tribbiani, Jr. is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television sitcom Friends and the title character in the spin-off, Joey , portrayed by Matt LeBlanc....
's girlfriend.
Donna mentions that her brother is in Liberia, in real life Retta Sirleaf's aunt is the president of Liberia.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Telethon" 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 2.8 rating/5 share among overall viewers, and a 2.0 rating/7 share among viewers between ages 18 and 49. This rating was about even from the previous episode, "94 Meetings
94 Meetings
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...
". "Telethon" was outperformed in the 8:30 p.m. timeslot by 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: Heroes vs. Villains and the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
crime drama Bones
Bones (TV series)
Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...
, but Parks and Recreation outperformed the CW Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
supernatural fantasy series The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries is a young adult vampire horror series of novels written by L. J. Smith. The story centers around Elena Gilbert, a high school girl torn between two vampire brothers. The series was originally a trilogy published in 1991, but pressure from readers led Smith to write a fourth...
and the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
science-fiction drama FlashForward
Flashforward
A flashforward is an interjected scene that takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future...
.
"Telethon" received generally positive reviews. 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 many inside jokes and character quirks featured in the episode. He said although The Office (another comedy series by Parks and Recreation co-creator Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
) is limited mainly to one setting, "Telethon" demonstrates how the Parks characters can be placed into a myriad of settings and situations. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
writer Margaret Lyons said, "If that wasn’t the best episode of Parks and Recreation yet, it’s at least top five." Lyons said every character and subplot was in strong form except for Ann and Mark, which she said has consistently been the show's "Achilles' heel", and that this episode demonstrated how poorly it fit with the other elements of the series. Steve Heisler of 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...
called the episode "one of the greats", claiming it served as a spotlight of the strong characters and subplot developed throughout the second season. Heisler also said the episode contained some of the season's strongest one-liners. 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 said although "Telethon" advanced the eventual break-up of Mark and Ann, the episode basically served as an excuse "to showcase Amy Poehler in varying stages of exhaustion-related delirium".
DVD release
"Telethon", 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
- "Telethon" at the official Parks and Recreation site