Episode 2500

	Sesame Street
	Maria and the Fat Blue man
Air date	December 2, 1988
Season	Season 20 (1988-1989)
Written by	Cathi Rosenberg-Turow
Directed by	Jon Stone
Sponsors	I, M, 6

Picture	Segment	Description
	Cast	Luis sings "Baa Baa Bamba." (First: Episode 2360)
	Cartoon	A girl uses her imagination while sitting on a sofa. (First: Episode 0765)
	Film	the kids form a capital I. (First: Episode 0462)
	Cartoon	Capital I, he's quite a guy (First: Episode 0368)
	Muppets	Sesame Street News Flash Kermit the Frog is on a quest to interview people who have invented their own games. Elmo plays "the reporter game", where he pretends to be a news reporter, and then fights with Kermit over his microphone. (First: Episode 2185)
	Song	Sesame Street Creature Feature: The Sloth
	Celebrity	When Johnny can't play "One of These Things" with Big Bird, Jay Leno fills in. (First: Episode 2408)
	Cartoon	I thought a thought...about circles. Artist: Cliff Roberts (First: Episode 0247)
	Film	Kids with special needs do gymnastics at the Mamaroneck Co-Op Camp. (First: Episode 0953)
	Muppets	Cookie Monster stars in "The Ballad of Casey McPhee." (First: Episode 0516)
	Cartoon	Two kids wonder where some mysterious tracks on the ground came from. (EKA: Episode 1056)
	Muppets	Ernie & Bert — Ernie has Bert play a "Follow the Arrows" game, which leads him to the main camera, looking at the TV viewer. (First: Episode 1697)
	Cartoon	Sand I/i (First: Episode 0619)
	SCENE 1	Today, Luis takes the day off from the Fix-It Shop to take Telly fishing, leaving Maria to work. A Fat Blue vacuum cleaner salesman (Jerry Nelson) arrives and spreads some dirt around as a demo. His vacuum won't turn on, so he grabs another and throws more dirt around. This one won't turn on either, and neither does the third one. He decides to leave them with her to be fixed.
	Animation	Seis flores (First: Episode 1591)
	Muppets	The Count sings "The Batty Bat." (First: Episode 2096)
	Film	A Stool For Me (First: Episode 0513)
	Cartoon	A large bird munches on rectangle edges, making it the word "BIRD." (First: Episode 1173)
	SCENE 2	Maria hopes for no more interruptions, when game show music starts playing and a game show host (the salesman from before) enters to host "The Letter M Game", but keeps getting her name wrong. He blows some much time on it that they run out before she can even start playing. He gives her a letter M shirt (in a very small size) and his broken microphone to fix.
	Animation	M/m (Gordon voiceover) (First: Episode 2232)
	Cast	The Heartstrongs, Part 1 In this soap opera parody, Mr. Heartstrong (Gordon) fusses over the loss of his red shoelace along with Mrs. Heartstrong (Susan). They both feel sad until their son Barnaby (David) comes downstairs! What a surprise! But that feeling doesn't last long, as he soon learns of the lost shoelace. As it turns out, he came downstairs to change shoelaces in order to play baseball. Could this be a clue to the whereabouts of Mr. Heartstrong's lost one? (First: Episode 2163)
	Cartoon	A female head is drawn as its voice-over lists its parts, ending with earrings that "do nothing"...and promptly wiggle around. Artist: James Rizzi (First: Episode 0821)
	Cast	The Heartstrongs, Part 2 In the thrilling conclusion, the doorbell rings! Who could it be? It's Cousin Henry (Uncle Wally), who drops in for a surprise visit, which quickly becomes somber when the lost shoelace issue is brought up again. Just then, Mr. Heartstrong remembers what Barnaby said about a shoelace that didn't match, and as luck would have it, the missing one is in his left sneaker! This makes everyone happy! Cousin Henry pulls the snake-in-the-can trick on Barnaby, which gives everyone another nice surprise! "Woo woo!" (First: Episode 2163)
	Film	The sign CLOSED spins around. (First: Episode 0955)
	Animation	Counting 6 red balls (First: Episode 0278)
	SCENE 3	The man is back, now as a singing-dancing pizza man. He does his song and dance, but needs to remember the rhyme for the end. He completes the song and takes a bow, causing the pizza to spill on the floor. "Do you know how to fix a broken pizza?," he sheepishly asks.
	Cartoon	"Song of the Inuit Child" (First: Episode 2112)
	Muppets	The Two-Headed Monster reads the word "Pop" and blows up a balloon so they can pop it. (First: Episode 1569)
	Film	Kid voiceovers identify a horse's body parts (shown one at a time) and then the complete animal. Music: Joe Raposo (First: Episode 0428)
	Animation	The numbers 1-6 are carried away and/or demolished by construction equipment. (First: Episode 2270)
	SCENE 4	Maria decides to have lunch at Hooper's Store instead. However, Gina says she and David are completely busy with deliveries and hired someone to help out. To Maria's chagrin, the substitute is...
	SCENE 4 cont'd	...the Fat Blue man again! Maria is doubtful of his skills, but orders a tuna fish sandwich anyway. He doesn't know how to make her selection and she shows him. He walks off with it instead.
	Cartoon	The Magnificent Splasho demonstrates before and after. (First: Episode 0694)
	Muppets	Muppet & Kid Moment — John-John wants to count backwards. Grover tells him to count backwards from 10, but he has a little trouble. (First: Episode 0547)
	Song	"Paying Attention Song" (Charlie Tyson) (First: Episode 0934)
	Muppets	Forgetful Jones needs something to ride around the ranch. Clementine gives him clues: it has four legs, a bushy tail, eats hay, and neighs. It's his horse, Buster, who arrives with the jeep. (First: Episode 2081)
	Cartoon	Don't mess with the Mighty M. Artist: Bruce Cayard (First: Episode 1578)
	SCENE 5	Maria retells the events of her day and has put up a "HELP WANTED" sign to have someone help her catch up with her work. The man tries to apply, but she instantly declines and seals herself inside. He does, however, get a job as an announcer, who recites the sponsors.