Sesame Street | |||||||
Ernestine watches Natasha (repeat of 3395) | |||||||
Air date | December 19, 1996 | ||||||
Season | Season 28 (1996-1997) | ||||||
Written by | Judy Freudberg | ||||||
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Picture | Segment | Description |
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SCENE 1 | The Furry Arms Hotel is in its usual state of chaos: Honkers honking, Benny going on his break, germs attacking talking produce, and so on. Elsewhere in the hotel is a small yet much more calm room, where telephone operator Ernestine Tomlin works at her booth and answers a guest's question about today's sponsors. Humphrey and Ingrid bring Natasha to her in need of help: the chef has called in sick, forcing them to fill in and they need someone to watch Natasha. Ernestine volunteers to take care of her ("Unlike some people I know, I am able to do more than one thing at a time.") and the parents leave Natasha's carriage in her care. | |
Song | "Happy Happiness" (First: Episode 3320) | |
Animation | E / e Gregorian chant (First: Episode 3300) | |
Film | Jaws spoof presenting the letter E. (First: Episode 3300) | |
Cartoon | A man explains that the letter E begins both Enter and Exit. Another man named Roy runs through the doors. (new sound effects added; closing line cut) (First: Episode 0406) | |
Song | "Beautiful Baby" (remake) | |
Cartoon | Joe's Lap (limerick) (new music and sound effect added) (First: Episode 0617) | |
Muppets | Big Bird talks about between by showing that he is in the middle between Zoe and Radar. (First: Episode 3500) | |
Animation | The word TELEPHONE is displayed, followed by a ringing telephone. (First: Episode 3048) | |
SCENE 2 | Ernestine decides to show Natasha how to be an operator. She pretends to take a call and turns the headset toward Natasha, who just blows a raspberry into it. Ernestine tells her this is the wrong thing to do: "A telephone operator must remain polite and courteous at all times. (aside) Gag me with a phone." When a real caller phones in Natasha lets another loud raspberry rip, which the caller hears and they become very upset. Ernestine argues with them before hanging up, realizing what a bad example she's setting. | |
Song | "When You Grow Up" (First: Episode 2912) | |
Muppets | Astronaut Prairie Dawn floats on a space shuttle, when Elmo pops up out of nowhere, offering to help her. He soon learns that there is no need for a policeman, a construction worker, or a farmer in space (unless there's a cow). (First: Episode 2862) | |
Film | Children on a playground form the letters of the alphabet. (new music added) (First: Episode 1966) | |
Muppets | Baby Tooth and the Fuzzy Funk - Dixie dance Part 1 | |
Insert | Monty thinks he has found his calling, and sings about “Being a Birdketeer.” (First: Episode 3330) | |
Film | Fast and slow on the Shpritzer. (First: Episode 3455) | |
Muppets | Telly Monster demonstrates "Fast" and "Slow" to Cookie Monster by using a plate of cookies. To demonstrate slow, Telly eats one of the cookies in slow bites. After finishing eating, he asks Cookie Monster to eat a cookie slowly. Cookie Monster gives it a try, but ends up gobbling all the cookies on the plate. Telly considers it to be fast rather than slow, but Cookie Monster says it was slow in his opinion. (First: Episode 3253) | |
Cartoon | A door opens behind a mouse, who shrieks when she sees the E. Artist: Bruce Cayard (First: Episode 0616) | |
Film | Wegman's dogs form a letter E. (First: Episode 3267) | |
Animation | Planet E / e (First: Episode 2840) | |
Song | Jerry Nelson sings "I'm the Big One Now." (First: Episode 2876) | |
Animation | Counting to 10 (Latin rhythm) (shown in English, then Spanish) English version: (First: Episode 3193) Spanish version: (First: Episode 3045) | |
SCENE 3 | On the stoop of 123 Sesame Street, Linda shows some kids the sign for "butterfly," and they sign it as Carlo sings a song about the insect. | |
Film | How to say "butterfly" in sign language (First: Episode 3341) | |
Muppets | Grover sits in a park and recites a poem about a butterfly that he sees. (First: Episode 1967) | |
Cartoon | "I Have a Purple Bucket" (First: Episode 3467) | |
Film | Lamont, who lives in the city, visits his friend Adrian, who lives in the country. Together they ride bikes, swim, and have dinner with Adrian's family. (First: Episode 2800) | |
Animation | Airplanes carve the capital and lowercase T. (First: Episode 3230) | |
Film | Kids dance with the letter T, which is for triangle. (First: Episode 3271) | |
Cartoon | T is for Trash and Ticket (First: Episode 0020) | |
Film | A girl narrates a film of helping her dad, a pilot, fly a small plane. They fly through New York City, past the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. (First: Episode 3431) | |
Muppets | Baby Tooth and the Fuzzy Funk - Dixie dance Part 2 | |
SCENE 4 | The girls receive a call from a guest requesting a ham sandwich. Ernestine points out they have the wrong number; they need to call extension #13 for room service, which she offers to transfer them to. Instead, she and Natasha get a good laugh when Ernestine plugs the caller's line into her own extension and claims to be room service! | |
Cartoon | Number creatures #13 (First: Episode 2691) | |
Animation | Growing Numbers #13 (First: Episode 2924) | |
Animation | Thirteen hamburgers dance around. (First: Episode 2785) | |
Muppets | A baby Honker hatches from an egg and learns to honk like all the Honkers. (new sound effects added) (First: Episode 1616) | |
Cartoon | Babies and doggies pattern: What comes next? Artist: Keith Haring (First: Episode 3039) | |
Song | "There's a Lot of Different Ways to Get to School" (sung by Jerry Nelson) (First: Episode 2751) | |
Muppets | A series of trailers for school-related dramas are shown on WCTW's "School in the Afternoon" block. (First: Episode 2223) | |
Film / Animation | Circles of all kinds are displayed as funky rap music plays. (First: Episode 3126) | |
SCENE 5 | Humphrey and Ingrid return to collect Natasha, telling Ernestine that she should be proud of her attempt to teach their daughter the basics of being an operator. The proud parents discover that Natasha has picked up Ernestine's trademark snort before finding that they can do it as well. All the proud monsters leave as Ernestine answers one final call about the sponsors. She adds, "Sesame Street is a production of the Children's Television Workshop... but if you don't mind my saying so, I think you should know that by now, Ms. Cooney!" | |
COMING SOON | Coming soon on Sesame Street: Luis talks with Gabi about the training wheels on her bicycle. |
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