| Sesame Street | |||||||||
| Oscar loses his voice | |||||||||
| Air date | March 8, 1991 | ||||||||
| Season | Season 22 (1990-1991) | ||||||||
| Written by | Judy Freudberg | ||||||||
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| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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SCENE 1 | At five o'clock in the morning, Oscar practices his yelling for an upcoming Grouch Yelling Contest, where he could win a free trip to Club Mud. Naturally, everyone on the block gets woken up and yells back at Oscar, who suggests they join the competition too. |
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Cartoon | "Martian Beauty" has nine hairs, nine bows, nine eyes, nine nostrils, nine arms, and nine toes. Artist: Bud Luckey (First: Episode 0316) |
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Muppets | Caveperson Days Caveman Bert reminds Caveman Ernie (his son) to take out the trash. Ernie realizes that his drum can also be used as a wastebasket, and is able to take several pieces of garbage to the dump at once instead of one at a time. (First: Episode 2667) |
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Song | Joe Raposo sings "I'm an Aardvark." Re-filmed version (First: Episode 2520) |
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Insert | Three of These Kids are playing policeman, but the other one is playing fireman. (First: Episode 0408) |
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Cartoon | A for Ape (who crashes into a tree and forms a SHAPE) (First: Episode 0602) |
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SCENE 2 | Telly listens in as Oscar continues practicing. Susan points out to Oscar that despite how happy he feels, if he keeps yelling as loudly and strongly as he does, he'll end up losing his voice and become really sad. Telly starts to worry but Oscar brushes off her medical opinion, even though he starts feeling a little hoarse. |
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Cartoon | Christopher Clumsy jumps over a hole, and falls into another hole. Artist: Cliff Roberts (First: Episode 0439) |
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Muppets | "The Sneeze Song," with Kathleen the Cow with a Pig, a Sheep, and Fred the Wonder Horse. (First: Episode 2784) |
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Film / Muppets | Alphaquest: S A swimsuit, Grover as a silly surfer, a seagull, the sunset and a submarine. (First: Episode 2729) |
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Song | Joe Raposo sings "Doggy Paddle." (First: Episode 1967) |
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Cartoon | Es un gato (First: Episode 1966) |
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SCENE 3 | Telly has followed Oscar to the Grouch Auditorium, where the contest is taking place; he tells the viewer how worried he is about Oscar's voice. The Grouch judge (Jerry Nelson) gives Oscar and his competitor (Richard Hunt) a phrase to yell as loudly and quickly as they can: "Beat it, scram, get lost, take a hike!" The competitor is eliminated for doing it too slowly, but Oscar yells the special phrase louder and faster, thus winning the grand prize. Telly goes up to congratulate him, only to find Oscar has indeed just lost his voice! |
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Cartoon | A dog, a girl and a lizard dance to a bongo beat. Artist: Karen Aqua (First: Episode 2795) |
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Insert | A group of girls perform a clap-cheer about happiness. |
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Muppets | The Two-Headed Monster drives a car, but puts on the seat belt first. (First: Episode 1966) |
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Cartoon | A British man narrates how chewing gum is made in Guatemala. Artist: ArtistMike |
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Muppets | "It is I, Captain Vegetable!" (First: Episode 1741) |
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Cartoon | A man displays the capital and lowercase A, and explains what an alligator is. (First: Episode 0006) |
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SCENE 4 | Telly tells Gina about the event and how Oscar has lost his voice. Oscar tries to get the two away from his trash can, but he speaks so softly now they have to get even closer. He feels miserable that he can't keep anyone away from him, so Telly volunteers to help and assembles everybody around the can to tell them to leave Oscar alone. |
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Cartoon | A baby bird falls from a tree. A boy puts him back, and in return, the mother bird saves the boy from embarrassment. (First: Episode 0550) |
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Song | Everyone has the same feelings, "No Matter What." Kids of all types play with a huge beach ball. (First: Episode 2782) |
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Muppets | Elmo bumps into Kermit the Frog on the way to the post office, begging to help him with one of his demonstrations, during which the post office closes - a perfect prompt to demonstrate open and closed. (First: Episode 2473) |
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Film | The sign CLOSED spins around. (First: Episode 0955) |
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Cast | Gordon preaches the importance of rain as it starts to do so in his office. (First: Episode 1578) |
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Cartoon | The Ringmaster presents 9 elephants. Artist: Jeff Hale (First: Episode 1366) |
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SCENE 5 | Big Bird and Snuffy need to stock up on birdseed and cabbage and intend to go to Hooper's Store for more. Big Bird realizes that he's promised to avoid Oscar's trash can, which is on the way to the store. They think they can jump over the can, then believe they can build a bridge. When those ideas falter, they put their heads together (CLUNK) and start brainstorming some more. |
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Cartoon | The boss of Muzby's Treetop Flowers tells his secretary that he doesn't want any calls unless they're important. Employee Henry tries to make an important call while hanging out on a limb. (First: Episode 2747) |
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Muppets | Ernie sings "Rubber Duckie." (First: Episode 0136) |
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Cartoon | S for Snail Artist: Jeff Hale (First: Episode 1158) |
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Film | A zydeco band plays "Bayou Pon Pon" while people dance and the townspeople of New Orleans wave at the camera. (First: Episode 2502) |
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Muppets | Waiter Grover: Grover tells Mr. Johnson the menu, which has the items numbered. Number 9 is the special of the day. It turns out to be a real number nine, but Mr. Johnson doesn't want it. (It's medium rare, and he likes his nines well-done.) (First: Episode 1377) |
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Cartoon | A dinosaur tries to move around a rock. (First: Episode 2744) |
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SCENE 6 | Big Bird has drawn up a map of the block. Using their imagination, they enter the map and sing a "Map Song" as they take the long way to get to Hooper's, avoiding Oscar's can entirely. |
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Cartoon | S for sing (First: Episode 0824) |
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Muppets | Muppet & Kid Moment — Herry and John-John demonstrate loud and soft. (First: Episode 0432) |
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Cartoon | When a bird pops a balloon, the balls represent Sad and Happy. (First: Episode 2102) |
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Film | Feet wearing all different types of shoes dance. (First: Episode 2601) |
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SCENE 7 | Big Bird and Snuffy proudly tell Gina what they've accomplished. Snuffy wants to go tell Oscar how well they avoided his trash can, and rushes over without thinking. Oscar starts to yell at Snuffy and realizes his voice is already coming back. He assembles everyone around his can so he can properly tell them to scram. He then announces the sponsors, and the credits roll. |
Notes[]
- This episode was later repeated in Season 24 as Episode 3030.
- The "Map Song" sequence would be used as a stand-alone segment in later episodes, with a new introduction that doesn't reference Oscar's voice problem.
- The audience for the yelling contest is performed by Jim Martin, Camille Bonora, Carmen Osbahr, and Kathryn Mullen.
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