| Sesame Street | |||||||
| Dr. Nobel Price invents a puzzle | |||||||
| Air date | December 7, 1983 | ||||||
| Season | Season 15 (1983-1984) | ||||||
| Written by | Emily Perl Kingsley | ||||||
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| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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SCENE 1 | Oscar the Grouch hands Telly Monster a Monster on the Spot microphone for some impromptu reporting, assigning him with finding a great sound. Oscar dismisses birds singing, dogs barking, music from Micki's radio, Gordon playing the flute, and fire engine sirens as not being great enough. Telly gets frustrated and Oscar tells him he did it; he could listen to the beautiful sound of Telly complaining all day. |
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Cartoon | A cat makes noise with a telephone, typewriter, trumpet, and piano. When the cat leaves, the devices come to life, and when he comes back, they all sound at once, frightening the cat. (First: Episode 0844) |
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Song | "Three Is My Favorite Number" (First: Episode 0429) |
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Muppets | An Anything Muppet girl tells two different monster marching bands to play the same song and march together. (First: Episode 1450) |
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Cartoon | Donnie Budd sings about three trios of animals who live on a fat lady's lap. Artist: Bud Luckey (First: Episode 0299) |
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Muppets | Muppets cheer on a rocket launch. (First: Episode 0567) |
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Film | Stacy gets an examination at the eye doctor's and receives a new pair of glasses. (First: Episode 1129) |
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Insert | Maria joins the kids' stickball game in the park. Up at bat is a Muppet boy named Frankie, who's afraid of wearing his glasses because the other kids make fun of him. She shows him how important glasses can be and wearing them improves his swing. (First: Episode 1313) |
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Film | A figure skater illustrates forward and backward. (First: Episode 0439) |
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Muppets | An Anything Muppet boy teaches "forward" and "backward" with a group of Muppets who keep running over the boy when his back is turned. (First: Episode 0069) |
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Film | Footage of a city neighborhood; includes shots of a sno-cone vendor. Singer: "¡Linda paloma!" (First: Episode 0426) |
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Cartoon | H - Horse (First: Episode 0474) |
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Muppets | Ernie and Bert: Ernie's Guess What I Am Game — After Ernie pretends to be a dog and a duck, Bert's train impression works a little too well. (First: Episode 0645) |
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Cartoon | Harold and Howard think of H words. Artist: Cliff Roberts (First: Episode 0284) |
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Video | Scanimate kids intro (First: Episode 0798) |
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SCENE 2 | Big Bird and the kids play a bean bag game where the others try to get their bean bags the closest to Big Bird's, with Gordon as the judge. When they've all thrown their bean bags Gordon starts to make a call, but Big Bird says Mr. Snuffleupagus hasn't had his turn yet. Gordon turns his back to scoff at Big Bird's imaginary friend and Snuffy drops his giant bean bag from behind the construction doors. When he hears that he's won, he leaves to tell his mommy. Gordon looks behind the door to see no one there. "You know something? I'm getting a little tired of this myself," Big Bird sighs concerning Snuffy's absence. |
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Cartoon | A concert pianist shows up in a construction worker's lunchbox, singing the alphabet. (First: Episode 0449) |
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Muppets / Celebrity | Bob and Maria take their seats at Grouch Symphony Hall, sitting amongst an audience of grouches. They're there to see Oscar the Grouch who will be sharing the stage with Itzhak Perlman; Maria: "not the Itzhak Perlman?!" They'll be playing Johann Sebastian Blech's "Double Sonata for Violin, Vacuum Cleaner, Policeman's Whistle, Fire Engine Siren, Jackhammer, Automobile Horn, Elephant Jumping into Swimming Pool, and Nose." Maria thinks it's got to be a mistake.
The lights dim and Telly Monster takes the stage to introduce the musicians. Oscar enters in his trash can and Perlman arrives in a dirty tuxedo. As they prepare for the performance, Bob and Maria are astonished by the juxtaposition of a violin being tuned with that of the likes of a vacuum cleaner (and other oddities). Perlman plays several short selections intercut with Oscar's contributions (with help from Penelope inside the can). The piece ends with Perlman loudly blowing his nose into a handkerchief and dead roses thrown on stage from the audience. |
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Film | A gym instructor helps children perform a variety of stretching and bending exercises. (First: Episode 1018) |
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Cartoon | Ants carry a huge letter 'Q' uphill. (First: Episode 0787) |
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Muppets | Muppet & Kid Moment — Herry and John-John observe a letter Q. (First: Episode 0571) |
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Cartoon | Q - quarter (First: Episode 0046) |
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Cast | While reading the paper outside the Lincoln Center (near Henry Moore's Reclining Figure), Bob's attention shifts to three musicians. They play the recorder, bassoon, and guitar as Bob vocalizes from their sheet music. (First: Episode 1266) |
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Cartoon | A nutty dragon blows 5 puffs of smoke, which are blown away by a fan-hatted man. (First: Episode 0980) |
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Cast | Maria as Chaplin looks in a mirror and sees "ME." Maria's reflection is played by Linda. (First: Episode 1032) |
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Film | Sesame Street Animal Films: Elk feeding. Music: Robert Dennis (First: Episode 0793) |
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Muppets | Cookie Monster: Cookie Monster goes to the carnival and plays the "test your strength" game. Unbeknownst to him, the carnival barker is a dishonest man who rigged the game so nobody can win -- until Cookie finds out what the prize is. (First: Episode 0449) |
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Animation | Slide puzzle - elephant (First: Episode 0389) |
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SCENE 3 | In revealing his latest invention to Olivia, Dr. Nobel Price trips and falls, fracturing the picture of himself he was going to use for his newly-created "Doctor Nobel Price Game." Olivia helps Dr. Price put the pieces back together, and shows that the game has now become a puzzle. Dr. Price is inspired to create more puzzles, though he isn't too keen on the idea of having to trip and fall to produce each one. |
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Cartoon | Animated quilt patterns. (First: Episode 1470) |
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Muppets | Anything Muppets sing "How Do You Get From Here to There?" (First: Episode 0374) |
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Song | "Sticky" (First: Episode 1352) |
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SCENE 4 | The kids help Dr. Price put the puzzle together again, and Gordon announces the sponsors. |
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