The Banquet (Parks And Recreation)
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The Banquet (Parks And Recreation)
"The Banquet" is the fifth and penultimate episode of the first season of the American comedy television series ''Parks and Recreation''. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 7, 2009. It was written by Tucker Cawley and directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller. In the episode, Leslie attends an award banquet for her mother, a veteran of local government politics, who encourages Leslie to resort to blackmail in order to get her way with a zoning board official. The episode received positive reviews, with ''Entertainment Weekly'' claiming the series appears to have grown more "settled and focused" after this episode. According to Nielsen Media Research, it was watched by 4.64 million households in its original airing, continuing a downward trend in ratings since the pilot episode, although NBC had already committed to renewing the show for a second season. "The Banquet" and the rest of the first season of ''Parks and Recreation'' was released on DVD in the United States on ...
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Parks And Recreation
''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 episodes, over seven seasons. A special reunion episode aired on April 30, 2020. The series stars Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a perky, mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks Department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. The ensemble and supporting cast features Rashida Jones as Ann Perkins, Paul Schneider as Mark Brendanawicz, Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson, Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate, Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer, Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt, Rob Lowe as Chris Traeger, Jim O'Heir as Garry "Jerry" Gergich, Retta as Donna Meagle, and Billy Eichner as Craig Middlebrooks. The writers researched local California politics for the series and consulted with urban planners and elected officials. Leslie Knope unde ...
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Blackmail
Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to family members or associates rather than to the general public. These acts can also involve using threats of physical, mental or emotional harm, or of criminal prosecution, against the victim or someone close to the victim. It is normally carried out for personal gain, most commonly of position, money, or property. Blackmail may also be considered a form of extortion. Although the two are generally synonymous, extortion is the taking of personal property by threat of future harm. Blackmail is the use of threat to prevent another from engaging in a lawful occupation and writing libelous letters or letters that provoke a breach of the peace, as well as use of intimidation for purposes of collecting an unpaid debt. In many jurisdictions, bla ...
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Paul Schneider (actor)
Paul Andrew Schneider (born March 16, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Mark Brendanawicz on the first two seasons of the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'' and Dick Liddil in ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford''. He won a Best Actor in a Narrative Feature award at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival for his performance in '' Goodbye to All That'' and the Best Supporting Actor Award from the National Society of Film Critics for his performance as Charles Armitage Brown in '' Bright Star''. Early life Schneider was born in Oakland, California, and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Career In 2000, Schneider made his film debut in David Gordon Green's ''George Washington'' and starred in Green's '' All the Real Girls''. As research for his role as Jesse Baylor in '' Elizabethtown'', director Cameron Crowe suggested that Schneider tour with the band My Mo ...
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Mark Brendanawicz
Mark Brendanawicz is a fictional character in the NBC comedy series ''Parks and Recreation''. He is the city planner for Pawnee, Indiana, as well as Leslie Knope's colleague and one of Ann Perkins' ex-boyfriends. He is portrayed by Paul Schneider, who left ''Parks and Recreation'' at the end of the second season; despite the producers' plans to the contrary, Schneider did not reprise the role in any later seasons, and the show made no references to the character after his departure. Background Mark Brendanawicz was a city planner of Polish descent with the Pawnee municipal government. When he studied city planning in college, Mark was optimistic about the field and dreamed of designing huge and impressive cities. However, since graduation, Mark learned most of the career largely involved mundane technical issues, such as regulating the sizes of garages and proposed construction additions to houses. As a result, Mark grew jaded and disillusioned with the career, and became crit ...
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Nick Offerman
Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and carpenter. He is best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received the Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy and was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Offerman is also known for his role in ''The Founder'', in which he portrays Richard McDonald, one of the brothers who developed the fast-food chain McDonald's. His first major television role following the end of ''Parks and Recreation'' was as Karl Weathers in the second season of the FX black comedy crime drama series '' Fargo'', for which he received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries. Since 2018, Offerman has co-hosted the NBC reality competition series, '' Making It'', with Amy Poehler; he and Poehler hav ...
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Ron Swanson
Ronald Ulysses Swanson is a fictional character portrayed by Nick Offerman from the situation comedy television series ''Parks and Recreation'' on NBC, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. In the series, Ron is the director of the Parks and Recreation department of fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, and the immediate superior of series protagonist Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). In demeanor, political philosophy and work ethic, Knope and Swanson are polar opposites: where Knope is sunny and outgoing, decidedly liberal and constantly working, Swanson is distant, and as a staunch libertarian, is a strong advocate for small government—stating his belief that government should be privatized—and therefore believes that the parks department should not even exist. Ron, who has an extremely deadpan and stereotypical masculine personality, actively works to make government less effective and despises interacting with the public. He loves meat, woodworking, hunting, Lagavulin whisky, ...
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Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ismail Ansari (; born February 23, 1983) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series ''Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) and as creator and star of the Netflix series ''Master of None'' (2015–) for which he won several acting and writing awards, including two Emmys and a Golden Globe, which was the first award received by an Indian American and Asian American actor for acting on television. Ansari began performing comedy in New York City, while a student at NYU Stern in 2000. He later co-created and starred in the MTV sketch comedy show ''Human Giant'', after which he had acting roles in a number of feature films. From 2009 to 2015, Ansari gained prominence for his role as Tom Haverford in the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation''. In 2015, Ansari co-created, and starred in the first two seasons of Netflix's critically acclaimed series ''Master of None'' which he also served as a writer and director. As a stand ...
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Tom Haverford
Thomas Montgomery Haverford (born Darwish Sabir Ismail Ghani) is a fictional character on the NBC series ''Parks and Recreation''. He is a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee who—in his own mind—is revered for his high levels of confidence and unmatched entrepreneurial skills. Background Thomas Montgomery Haverford is an Indian American, who changed his name from Darwish Sabir Ismael Ghani to be more appealing in politics. He is often assumed to be an immigrant by much of the Parks and Recreation staff (Leslie often assuming him to be Libyan), though, as he frequently reminds them, he hails from South Carolina, as does Ansari (although he does not have a Southern accent). He initially shared an office with Leslie Knope and worked as her immediate subordinate at the Pawnee parks and recreation department, often serving as her right-hand man. Tom displays an extremely sarcastic, mischievous and cocky attitude, and frequently attempts to secure ...
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Lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction. The concept of "lesbian" to differentiate women with a shared sexual orientation evolved in the 20th century. Throughout history, women have not had the same freedom or independence as men to pursue homosexual relationships, but neither have they met the same harsh punishment as homosexual men in some societies. Instead, lesbian relationships have often been regarded as harmless, unless a participant attempts to assert privileges traditionally enjoyed by men. As a result, little in history was documented to give an accurate description of how female homosexuality was expressed. When early sexologists in the late 19th century began to categorize and describe homosexual behavior, hampere ...
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Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress. Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series ''Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and as Ann Perkins on the NBC comedy series ''Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015). From 2016 to 2019, Jones starred as the lead eponymous role in the TBS comedy series ''Angie Tribeca'', and in 2020, Jones starred as Joya Barris in the Netflix series '' #blackAF''. Jones also appeared in the films ''I Love You, Man'' (2009), ''The Social Network'' (2010), ''Our Idiot Brother'' (2011), ''The Muppets'' (2011), ''Celeste and Jesse Forever'' (2012), which she co-wrote, and '' Tag'' (2018). Jones also co-wrote the story of ''Toy Story 4'' (2019). She worked as a producer on the film ''Hot Girls Wanted'' (2015) and the series '' Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On'' (2017), directing the first episode of the latter. Both works explore the sex industry. In ...
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Ann Perkins
Ann Meredith Perkins, RN, portrayed by Rashida Jones, is a fictional character in the NBC comedy ''Parks and Recreation''. She is a nurse and Leslie Knope's best friend. Storyline Season 1 At the start of the series, Ann Perkins is living with her boyfriend Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt). Ann is far more mature and responsible than Andy, who remains lazy, spoiled, and unemployed. After Andy falls into a large pit next to her house and breaks his legs, Ann is inspired to attend Parks and Recreation meetings to advocate for filling in the pit, which leads Ann to befriend the department's deputy director Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). Eventually, after Andy's leg casts are removed, Ann learns he could have taken them off weeks prior, but did not because he enjoyed being pampered and spoiled by Ann. This leads to an angry confrontation, and eventually the two break up, much to Andy's despair. Season 2 After Andy, Pawnee city planner Mark Brendanawicz ( Paul Schneider) fell into the constr ...
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Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade. The group moved to New York City in 1996, where their act became a half-hour sketch-comedy series on Comedy Central in 1998. Along with other members of the comedy group, Poehler is a founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. In 2001, Poehler joined the cast of the NBC sketch-comedy show ''Saturday Night Live''. She became co-anchor of ''SNL''s ''Weekend Update'' in 2004 until she left the series in 2008 to star as Leslie Knope in the sitcom ''Parks and Recreation''. Poehler is an executive producer on the television series '' Welcome to Sweden'', ''Broad City'', ''Difficult People'', '' Duncanville'', '' Three Busy Debras'', and ''Russian Doll''. Poehler frequently collaborated with Tina Fey on ''SNL'' ...
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