| Sesame Street | |||||||||
| The city helper's surprise prize | |||||||||
| Air date | November 23, 1990 | ||||||||
| Season | Season 22 (1990-1991) | ||||||||
| Written by | Sara Compton | ||||||||
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| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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SCENE 1 | Mr. Handford welcomes the viewer when Maria finds out in the newspaper that the mayor is going to award someone the "City Helper's Surprise Prize" today, and the winner happens to be someone on Sesame Street. The prize will go to someone who comes up with great new ideas to help make the city a better place to live. She and Telly think it will be Mr. Handford, who put some color-coded recycling bins outside of Hooper's Store. Mr. Handford knows for sure that he's not the recipient, because the mayor asked him to present the award. And he will not tell Telly and Maria who it is, because then it wouldn't be a surprise. Telly becomes determined to find out who it is. |
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Cartoon | A paranoid bird doesn't like to be surprised ... unless it's a surprise party. Artist: John Korty (First: Episode 2088) |
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Muppets | Spaceship Surprise: Planet CH — Chunky Cheese welcomes the space travelers to the Planet CH. (First: Episode 2414) |
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Cartoon | Geometry of Circles #1 "Circle with Flower" (First: Episode 1393) |
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Animation | A rock does somersaults for its peers, but gets little applause. (First: Episode 2021) |
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Cartoon | J family jamboree (First: Episode 0365) |
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SCENE 2 | Big Bird presents the letter J to the viewer, and Mohamed, Travis, and Vanessa display things they have that begin with J, such as jeans, a jacket, and a jump rope. Snuffy emerges, and presents his J thing: a joke. ("Why did the Snuffleupagus cross the road?") |
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SCENE 2 cont'd |
From Hooper's, Telly laughs at Snuffy's joke and thinks Snuffy will win the City Helper's Surprise Prize for it. Mr. Handford tells him he isn't the winner, but is still keeping the secret under wraps, no matter how much Telly begs to know. |
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Cartoon | 'j' minuscula (First: Episode 0475) |
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Song | Joe Raposo sings "Water Baby" over footage of seals and kids swimming. (First: Episode 2016) |
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Cartoon | Animals walk. (First: Episode 0926) |
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Muppets | Grover sells newspapers in the street. He thinks they are for making paper hats, but a customer shows him they are actually for reading. The customer wants to buy a newspaper, but Grover won't stop reading the paper that the customer wants to buy. Grover reads about construction of a new building, a parade, and an expected rain shower, all of which occur as Grover reads. (First: Episode 1966) |
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Cartoon | Number factory 1-10 (First: Episode 2541) |
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Film / Cast | Gordon joins a class for some exercises. (First: Episode 1098) |
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Cartoon | A map of Africa morphs into the shape of animals that are found there. (First: Episode 2627) |
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SCENE 3 | Big Bird gathers Maria, Snuffy, and the kids in the yard to reveal the number of the day: 16. Maria points out that there are only 7 of them there, and they need 9 more to make 16 people. However, Big Bird points out that there are enough feet to count - 6 of them have 2 feet, making 12, and Snuffy's 4 feet make 16 feet altogether! They all decide to use their feet to play soccer. |
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SCENE 3 cont'd |
Telly is impressed with Big Bird's logic, and thinks he will win. According to Mr. Handford, Big Bird is not the winner. |
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Cartoon | I've Got the "Sixteen Blues" |
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Film | In stop-motion, a boy makes landscapes out of sand and water. (First: Episode 2039) |
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Muppets | Annette Monster and Frankie Monster sing "Love the Ocean" to urge others to "show respect for the sea" and refrain from throwing trash in the water. (First: Episode 2680) |
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Animation | A/a (Gordon voice-over) (First: Episode 2240) |
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SCENE 4 | Telly's goal is still to find out who will win the City Helper's Surprise Prize today. Just then, Sydney comes by with some empty soda cans for Mr. Handford. Mr. Handford points him to the recycling bins, and he almost makes the mistake of putting an aluminum can in a plastic bin. He arranges his recyclables on a table and sings "One of These Things" to help himself (and the viewer) figure out that the plastic cup doesn't go with the cans. He remarks, "You gotta have a sharp eye to get into recycling!" Telly is sure Sydney will win the prize, but Mr. Handford disagrees - though he admits it will go to someone for recycling. |
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Cartoon | A story of a cat who hated rain, wished for it to stop, and witnessed the disastrous effects of no rain. Artist: ArtistMike (First: Episode 2724) |
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Animation | Teeny Little Super Guy: Robert W. Shipshape gets a hat for his birthday, and it blows into the street. R.W. remembers not to cross the street without an adult; Teeny Little Superguy helps him across. Artist: Paul Fierlinger (First: Episode 1924) |
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Celebrity | John Moschitta, Jr. has a baby who has a name beginning with every letter of the alphabet. (First: Episode 2048) |
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Cartoon | I am dry, he is wet. (dog washing) Artist: Cliff Roberts (First: Episode 0309) |
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Muppets | "Long Time, No See" (First: Episode 1698) |
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Cartoon | A for Acorn (First: Episode 1626) |
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SCENE 5 | Oscar and Grundgetta are about to have lunch, and wonder why there is a crowd (including Mr. Macintosh and Jelani) gathering near Oscar's trash can. Mr. Handford conducts the ceremony from the stoop, and awards the City Helper's Surprise Prize to... |
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SCENE 5 cont'd |
... Oscar! He gets the prize because he is always coming up with uses for what others call "trash." Even his eating arrangement makes use of an old hubcap, shampoo bottle, and scarf. Oscar is outraged that he's been doing a good deed by using others' discarded items, and thus does not want the award. Mr. Handford says that's fine - they'll just recycle it to give to someone else next time! |
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Film | Old paper, new paper Music: "Blue Nosed Gopher" by Graham Preskett (First: Episode 0911) |
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Cartoon | Consonant Sound: J, jaguar (First: Episode 1144) |
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Muppets | Cookie Monster and The Beetles sing "Hey Food." (First: Episode 1815) |
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Cartoon | Number creatures #16 |
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Song | Joe Raposo sings "Pretty Baby." (First: Episode 0040) |
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Muppets | Muppet & Kid Moment — Ernie's lost the nickel he was going to use for candy, so Shola gives him another one. (First: Episode 0565) |
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Cartoon | A baby cries whenever he gets a beso. (First: Episode 0433) |
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SCENE 6 | Mr. Handford approaches Oscar with a small tree, which the mayor said Oscar could have instead of the medal. Oscar agrees to plant the tree inside his trash can - though he has Mr. Handford do it by dropping it down there, where it falls a long way and hits the dirt. Telly announces the sponsors, and the credits follow. |
Notes[]
- This episode marks the debut of David L. Smyrl as Mr. Handford, who continued to play the role through Season 29.
- Grundgetta appears in this episode not wearing her dress, fully nude like Oscar and most Grouches.
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