Go Big or Go Home

Meanwhile, Andy continues to harbor feelings for April, while a youth basketball game is ruined by Tom's jealousy over Ron dating his ex-wife Wendy.

It was filmed immediately after the second season concluded due to Amy Poehler's pregnancy, but NBC ended up placing the show on hold to accommodate their new series, Outsourced.

Leslie excitedly declares "mission accomplished", accidentally giving away her scheme and prompting Chris to leave, hurt that Ann had an ulterior motive for the date.

Inspired by her own advice, Leslie proposes restoring the parks department with a Harvest Festival, which was once a Pawnee tradition until eliminated by budget cuts.

However, to accommodate their new comedy series Outsourced, NBC opted not to put Parks and Recreation on the fall schedule, and instead delayed the third season premiere to a mid-season date of January 20, 2011.

[6] NBC chief executive officer Jeff Gaspin said this move was not a reflection on Parks and Recreation, and suggested the extended hiatus would not only have no negative effect on the show, but could actually build anticipation for its return.

"[10] In anticipation of new viewers due to the Office lead-in, "Go Big and Go Home" included an introductory sequence describing the previous events of the series.

[11] "Go Big or Go Home" introduced the subplot of restoring the parks department budget through a harvest festival, which continued to be a major story arc throughout the first seven episodes of the season.

A poster of this pyramid was included in promotional materials given to media in advance of the episode's broadcast,[16][17] and images of it were later placed on the official Parks and Recreation website.

[25] "Go Big or Go Home" lost about a quarter of the viewership of the episode of The Office ("Ultimatum"), which was seen by 8.3 million households, but New York magazine described this as a "respectable drop-off" given the popularity of that series.

[19][27][28][29] HitFix writer Alan Sepinwall said the episode was effective in appealing to both new and old viewers, developing various character subplots and establishing the harvest festival story arc.

[8] Time magazine writer James Poniewozik called the episode an "excellent start" to the season, and said the harvest festival subplot would help better focus the series by giving the characters a single goal.

[11] Damian Holbrook of TV Guide said "Go Big or Go Home" was an improvement on an already strong second season, claiming "the comedy seemed snappier, the relationships better grounded and the ensemble cast at their best.

He found particularly funny the scenes at the start of the episode which showed the part-time jobs Tom, Donna and Jerry had during the parks department hiatus.

Club said "Go Big or Go Home" not only included many fun moments, but that the jokes felt "fresher and more rambunctious" than they had in the previous season, and that the shows seemed to have discovered "a newfound sense of purpose".

[13] The Hollywood Reporter writer Tim Goodman felt the episode was a strong start to the season, and particularly praised Rob Lowe, whose character he said was "really beginning to jell".

[31] Blogcritics writer Jerome Wetzel wrote, "I can't express in words how good it is to have Parks and Recreation back on television."

[32] Matt Fowler of IGN said the episode was a pleasant way to return to the series, and was glad the harvest festival would give the characters something specific to focus on.

[27] Joel Keller of TV Squad felt the new Chris and Ben characters served as a strong springboard into the third season, and that the premiere episode lived up to the anticipation caused by the show's long hiatus.

[19] Eric Hochberger of TV Fanatic called the episode consistently funny, and said the new characters Ben and Chris were starting to hit their stride.

Hinckley cited the basketball game with Andy, Ron and Tom as a scene that feels too much like a sketch comedy bit rather than a natural progression of the script.