Episode 0571

	Sesame Street
	David's poem about Maria / Oscar argues with his voice recording
Air date	January 7, 1974
Season	Season 5 (1973-1974)
Written by	Joseph A. Bailey
Production	August 13, 1973
Sponsors	Q, S, 4

Picture	Segment	Description
	SCENE 1	David shows Maria and the kids how a tape recorder works by sampling some audio of their voices and playing it back. He flips the tape over to side B to hear what else he's recorded, thinking maybe it's some notes he took for class. After a moment, his voice is heard in a poetic cadence, "Just a few thoughts I'd like to say about Maria..." He immediately switches it off, but Maria wants to hear the rest after hearing her name. David insists the Maria he's talking about is his sister's new cat, but she convinces him to play the rest back anyway. Finally he admits that the poem was about her, which Maria says was very nice.
	Film / Animation	Part 1: A boy declares he wants to build a building. He and an adult voiceover describe how the building will be made, intercut with stop-motion animation and live-action footage. The two then wait for the foundational cement to dry... (First: Episode 0142)
	SCENE 2	David and Maria use the recorder to capture audio of Oscar the Grouch inside his can telling them to leave him alone. Oscar eventually emerges and they play back the tape out of view on the 123 Sesame Street steps. The resulting exchange with his own voice recording convinces Oscar that he's quarreling with another grouch.
	Cartoon	S is for snow, Santa, and sleigh. (First: Episode 0134)
	Muppets	Ernie and Bert: Before and After — Bert explains the concept of "before and after" to Ernie using a plate of cookies. (First: Episode 0007)
	Film / Animation	Part two: With the cement dried, the boy's building is brought to completion. (First: Episode 0142)
	SCENE 3	Big Bird demonstrates "before" and "after" by opening and walking through the construction doors next to his nest, but he knocks Maria over in the process.
	Cartoon	"Jazz #4" (First: Episode 0006)
	Muppets	Grover the Assistant: Herbert Birdsfoot arranges three blocks for Grover to count. No matter how the blocks are arranged, they still add up to three. Herbert asks Grover to count some oranges as well. Grover confesses that he's good at counting blocks -- but he doesn't know how to count oranges! (First: Episode 0192)
	Song	Joe Raposo sings "New Life." (First: Episode 0281)
	Muppets	Ernie & Bert — Ernie can't sleep, so Bert tells him to count sheep. Ernie tries to count sheep, but it's dull -- so he starts counting fire engines. The noise from the imaginary fire engine wakes Bert up. Bert says that Ernie's waking up the whole neighborhood, and tells him to count something quieter. Ernie counts balloons -- but the balloon gets bigger and bigger, finally bursting with a huge explosion that wakes Bert up again. (First: Episode 0276)
	Cartoon	Willie Wimple: Tree Destruction Artist: Abe Levitow (First: Episode 0516)
	Cast	Luis, dressed as a magician, demonstrates addition by conjuring up the correct numeral when David and Maria arrive. As each person leaves, Luis switches the numerals to present subtraction. (First: Episode 0485)
	Film	A gorilla chases a woman, who registers her protest by shouting "No." She triumphantly drags the gorilla off. (First: Episode 0546)
	Cartoon	Hypnotic "Q" rainbow (First: Episode 0440)
	Muppets	Muppet & Kid Moment — Kermit asks Trey if he's seen a letter Q before. At first Trey denies it, but eventually draws one in the air with his finger. (First: Episode 0440)
	Cartoon	A trainer announces that his talking dog will say YES, but he says NO instead. Artist: Derek Lamb (First: Episode 0511)
	SCENE 4	Sam the Robot offers to make change for Bob to use on the bus. After inserting a one dollar bill into him and making a comment about the weather, Sam goes on and on with meteorological details. Bob asks if Sam knows what the word "stop" means, and Sam goes into another overly-detailed lesson on the word. He mentions having a STOP button on his back, which Bob proceeds to push. This shuts Sam down completely, resulting in Bob missing his bus because he couldn't get the change back from Sam.
	Film	A kid recites a poem about adding penguins. Music: Joe Raposo (First: Episode 0255)
	Cartoon	Four construction workers build a number 4. (First: Episode 0507)
	Muppets	Bob sings "The People in Your Neighborhood" with teachers and a newsdealer. (First: Episode 0276)
	Cartoon	Q for Quiet Artist: John Korty (First: Episode 0441)
	Cartoon	What if an elephant and a mouse had their features switched around? Artist: Cliff Roberts (First: Episode 0212)
	Muppets	Roosevelt Franklin says his ABCs. (First: Episode 0103)
	Cartoon	"Poverty Q": A figure demonstrates Q words, despite the unruly stem of his letter Q that keeps detaching itself. Artist: Cliff Roberts (First: Episode 0048)
	Film	A baby monkey Music: Joe Raposo (First: Episode 0280)
	Muppets	Herry Monster holds a sign with the word "NO" on it and tells Ernie that he can make him read his sign. Ernie replies "Oh no you can't!", and eventually gets the joke. He tries it on Bert, but the gag backfires when Bert bets he can get Ernie to read the sign. (First: Episode 0416)
	Film	The Mad Painter #4 (First: Episode 0344)
	SCENE 5	Big Bird reads a poem he forgot he'd written and hadn't finished. It's called "My Friend" and describes someone who's big and brown, but the name is left off of the end. Mr. Snuffleupagus comes along and can't think of who it might be since he's never met any of Big Bird's friends. After he leaves, Big Bird thinks about writing a poem for Snuffy. Bob helps him rhyme Snuffleupagus which makes Big Bird think about his previous poem mystery.
	Animation	Dot & Hill A-3 (First: Episode 0146)
	Film	Marching Band #4 (First: Episode 0529)
	Celebrity	Bill Cosby tries to count 4 kids. (First: Episode 0176)
	Cartoon	S - Serpiente (First: Episode 0382)
	Animation	Dot & Hill A-4 (First: Episode 0146)
	Muppets	Muppet & Kid Moment — Herry & John-John observe a letter Q.
	Cartoon	"Jazz #4" (repeat)
	SCENE 6	Oscar gathers everyone around for some grouch lessons, having them stick their tongues out, glower with their eyebrows, and hold their noses. He finishes by having everybody imagine making a sandwich out of disgusting things like moldy bread, mud, earthworms, and hair tonic; everyone vocalizes their disgust, which Oscar thinks make them sound even more like Grouches.
	Cartoon	Q -- that funny looking thing. (First: Episode 0131)
	SCENE 7	Snuffy announces the sponsors while everyone plays in the yard.
	CLOSING SIGNS	David holds the Sesame Street sign, while Maria holds the CTW sign.