The Master Plan 

Everyone is excited about celebrating April's 21st birthday except Leslie, who is preoccupied with the prospect of her budget being cut by the state auditor's office.

Director:

Dean Holland

Writers:

Greg Daniels (created by), Michael Schur (created by)

Stars:

Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Amy Poehler	...	Leslie Knope
Rashida Jones	...	Ann Perkins
Paul Schneider	...	Mark Brendanawicz
Aziz Ansari	...	Tom Haverford
Nick Offerman	...	Ron Swanson
Aubrey Plaza	...	April Ludgate
Chris Pratt	...	Andy Dwyer
Adam Scott	...	Ben Wyatt
Rob Lowe	...	Chris Traeger
Phil Reeves	...	Paul Iaresco
Natalie Morales	...	Lucy
Jim O'Heir	...	Jerry Gergich
Retta	...	Donna Meagle
Alison Becker	...	Shauna Malwae-Tweep
Ben Schwartz	...	Jean-Ralphio

Storyline

Leslie is disappointed when her new park plans are put on hold by a visit from two state auditors. April has plans for Andy at her birthday party, and Ann tries to piece together a romantic mystery.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

At one point, Leslie says "that's what government does it provides services." As a strict libertarian, Ron should've responded that government doesn't provide services but protects rights.

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Goofs

When Ben is talking to the camera about being a mayor when he was 18, viewers see a newspaper from 1993 with two articles side-by-side; the first one is about Ben as the young mayor of a Minnesota town, while the second article on the right is about a fire in Pawnee (no state named). Both articles' reporters have bylines of "Minnesota Enterprise Reporter," which appears to be the name of the newspaper. As there is no Pawnee, Minnesota, this does not make sense; if a fire in Pawnee was large enough to make national news, it would list the state as there are multiple cities named Pawnee across the country.

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Quotes

Andy Dwyer: [after April snubs him and hangs out with Jean-Ralphio at her birthday party because she was jealous of Ann flirting with Andy] I thought she liked me. I guess I'm super bad at picking up signals. But that Ralph Macchio guy is a total douche.

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Soundtracks

Danger Zone
(uncredited)
Written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock
Performed by Rashida Jones

User Reviews

First episode of the rest of the show

This episode changed the format of the entire show, the introduction of Ben and Chris changed everything. After this episode, the show became the show that everyone knows and loves, everything before this is like watching a different show. This could probably be considered the most important episode

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 2010 (USA)

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Deedle-Dee Productions, 3 Arts Entertainment, Fremulon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

21 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1