| Sesame Street | |||||||||
| Mother Chicken's new nursery rhyme | |||||||||
| Air date | December 7, 1993 | ||||||||
| Season | Season 25 (1993-1994) | ||||||||
| Written by | Joey Mazzarino | ||||||||
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| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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COLD OPEN | At Finders Keepers, Ruthie helps Telly announce the sponsors for today, blowing them from her tuba. She adds that Telly and the viewer will be hearing a new nursery rhyme which also involves the tuba. |
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SCENE 1 | Ruthie starts telling the story, explaining she used to work for Mother Chicken, a nursery rhyme writer and Mother Goose's main competition. |
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SCENE 1 cont'd | In a flashback, Ruthie and Mother Chicken fret over Chicken's latest rhyme - "Baa Baa Black Squid." Soon the two are dealing with a pig (Brian Muehl), a penguin (Fran Brill), an elephant (Peter Linz), and a hot dog (Jim Martin) and bun (Pam Arciero), who are either tired of their old rhymes or are in need of employment. Ruthie settles the problem by recommending they cooperate and be part of the same nursery rhyme. |
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SCENE 1 cont'd | Back in the present, Ruthie cues up a segment about lions as she polishes her tuba... |
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Cartoon | L for lion (First: Episode 2586) |
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Muppets | Elmo demonstrates top and bottom. (First: Episode 2999) |
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Film | Kids dance around at gymnastics to "Rockin' Robin." cut from the Noggin version |
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Animation | A group of round crayons draws a house, and is hesitant to let a square yellow crayon join, until it draws the sun. They all cooperate to make a rainbow. (First: Episode 3105) cut from the Noggin version |
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Muppets | "Street Garden Cooperation" (First: Episode 1956) |
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Film | The floating kids form an L. (First: Episode 3128) |
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Muppets / Celebrity | Jodie Foster tells Oscar what the word important means, and lists the reasons why he is important to her, making him more and more annoyed. (First: Episode 3117) |
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Cartoon | Apple: a riddle (First: Episode 2889) cut from the Noggin version |
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Muppets | Sesame Street News Flash: Old MacDonald's Health Farm — Old MacDonald opens a health resort for his animals. (First: Episode 2688) |
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Animation | ¿Que es esto? (una vaca) (First: Episode 1978) |
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Film | Footage of kids playing professions, alternating with footage of analogous real-life jobs. (First: Episode 2811) |
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Cartoon | V in space (First: Episode 0481) |
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Video | Fay Ray dresses up as different animals. ("It's Kermit the Dog!") (First: Episode 2639) |
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SCENE 2 | Ruthie continues polishing as she resumes the story, where Mother Chicken decides to write a rhyme similar to "Hey Diddle Diddle." First up is the pig, who can't play any of the suggested instruments Ruthie happens to have. He can play the tuba and blasts Ruthie through the wall with one note. Mother Chicken has her first line: "Say dooba dooba, the pig played the tuba." |
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Cartoon | Pinball Number Count #7 Artist: Jeff Hale (First: Episode 0989) |
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Muppets | The Count's Storybook Theatre The Count reads the story of "The Magnificent 7" who would save a village from becoming lonely. A mediocre 7 and a magnificent 5 show up first, to the behest of the villagers. Next time on The Count's Storybook Theatre: "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." |
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Cartoon | Seven piglets Artist: Owe Gustafson (First: Episode 1546) |
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Film | "Box City Recycling Rap" Kids sing a rap song about recycling. They build a city out of boxes and cartons. (First: Episode 2851) cut from the Noggin version |
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SCENE 3 | Next up is the penguin. Mother Chicken already has a line in mind: "The penguin jumped really high." The penguin struggles to jump very high, however, and Ruthie gives him some words of encouragement. He takes a running start and leaps so high he crashes through the ceiling and doesn't come down. |
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Animation | "Let's Count Penguins" Artist: Jane Aaron |
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Song | "Fixin' My Hair" (First: Episode 2734) |
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Cartoon | Consonant Sound: V, violin (First: Episode 1155) |
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Muppets / Cast | "Sing Your Synonyms" (First: Episode 2331) |
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Animation | A piece of paper floats down onto a table, then folds itself into a paper crane, which flies away. (First: Episode 2892) cut from the Noggin version |
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Muppets | Grover sings "Over, Under, Around and Through". (First: Episode 0258) |
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Animation | A child draws a picture of a dog, who goes over and under. |
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SCENE 4 | Mother Chicken's next line is written: "The elephant was happy and laughed really hard." Their elephant is sobbing instead, and Ruthie tries cheering him up by going into hysterics herself. Tired, she goes to lean on the wall, falling through the hole she previously put in it. The elephant finds it very funny and can't stop laughing. |
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Muppets | Big Bird comments, "That was funny!" |
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Cartoon | With the help of his assistant, Dr. Geo shows the viewer what a globe is. (First: Episode 2836) |
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Muppets | Ernie sings "Little Plant." (First: Episode 2144) |
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Animation | Yellow drops don't want to play with a red ball at first, but they make a good flower together. (First: Episode 1895) |
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Song | 14 Karat Soul sings “Hand Talk." (First: Episode 2622) |
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Cartoon | A hand draws a guitarist serenading a maiden, as well as the background. (First: Episode 0791) |
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Muppets | Little Bird's CASA is drawn. (First: Episode 2095) |
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Animation | Stop-motion: what goes in the hot dog bun? (First: Episode 1494) |
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SCENE 5 | Ruthie has somehow polished her tuba down to a trumpet. She continues her story, blowing the trumpet and producing a tuba sound. |
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SCENE 5 cont'd | Mother Chicken has finished her rhyme, but Ruthie points out "high" and "bun" don't rhyme. Suddenly, the penguin returns, having jumped all the way to the sun (returning wearing a pair of sunglasses). Ruthie notes how "sun" and "bun" sound the same, Mother Chicken does some re-writing, and the nursery rhyme is finished! |
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SCENE 5 cont'd | Back in the present, Telly loves the nursery rhyme and makes up one of his own about the sponsors. Mother Chicken, in voice-over, also chimes in to mention the Children's Television Workshop. |
Gallery[]
Detail of the Mother Chicken puppet in the Muppet Workshop, with costume by Stephen Rotondaro.
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